SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE ALD. RUSSELL W. STAMPER, II, CHAIR Al Durtka, Tyler Weber, Oscar Tovar, and Bruce Spann Staff Assistant, Chris Lee, 286-2232, Fax: 286-3456, clee@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liaison Gunner Raasch, 414-286-3467, Gunner.Raasch@milwaukee.gov Wednesday, November 2, 2022 1:30 PM Virtual Meeting This will be a virtual meeting conducted via GoToMeeting. Should you wish to join this meeting from your phone, tablet, or computer you may go to https://meet.goto.com/930335469. You can also dial in using your phone United States: +1 (312) 757-3121 and Access Code: 930-335-469. 1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order at 1:34 p.m. 2. Roll call. Present 4 - Durtka, Stamper, Spann, Johnson Excused 1 - Tovar Also present: Deborah Moore, Events & Outreach Coordinator (City Clerk's Office) Arlisia McHenry, Mayor's Office Christine Thompson Mosore, Mosorec International Foundation Inc. Boris Nayflisch Nevenka Bralic, Federation of Croatian Societies Dr. Alice Kones David Misky, Dept. of City Development Sequanna Taylor, MPS School Board Vice President Jackie Carter, PORT Milwaukee 3. Review and approval of the previous meeting minutes from July 14, 2022. The meeting minutes from July 14, 2022 were approved with a correction to page 6 replacing "Tanzania" with "South Africa" under item 7, C. within the comments made by member Bruce Spann. There was no objection. 4. Review and approval of terminating the sister city relationship with Daegu Metropolitan City, South Korea. City of Milwaukee Page 1 SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Mr. Lee gave context that the relationship had expired, there was no current local sponsor, the previous local sponsor (The Water Council) had withdrawn, the point of contact (Environmental Collaboration Office) no longer was involved, and there was no further local community involvement or interest to his knowledge. Member Durtka said that sister city relationships needed better structure and that this one had little activity and progress. Member Durtka moved termination, seconded by member Spann, of the sister city relationship with Daegu Metropolitan City, South Korea. There was no objection. Mr. Lee said that termination of the relationship would further require legislation through the Common Council process. 5. Discussion to set a signing ceremony to establish a sister city relationship with Tema, Ghana. a. Date, time, and location b. Sister city agreement c. Other aspects Mr. Lee said that there was tentatively set a signing ceremony to sign the sister city agreement establishing the sister city relationship with Tema for Wednesday, December 7, 2022 at 12 p.m. noon at Milwaukee City Hall Common Council Chambers. MPS School Board VP Taylor confirmed the date and said that MPS was planning a student exchange with Tema. Two schools were identified in each city. They were developing the curriculum, duration (one semester), host families, and VISAs. Their student exchange program would be renamed to Ceasar Stinson Learning Student Exchange Program to honor him. She would attend and MPS would give a tour to the Tema delegation. The MPS Superintendent was also invited to the signing ceremony. Chair Stamper said to add VP Taylor to the ceremony program as a speaker, that the draft agreement and draft ceremony looked good, and for Ms. Thompson Mosore to connect with VP Taylor on education exchange possibilities with Tarime. Member Durtka said that his wife was part of the Tema sister city relationship and student exchange initiatives. Mr. Lee said that further coordination towards the event would be done offline between all city staff and offices and those involved. Ms. McHenry said the Mayor's Office was good on the date and would work further with the clerk's office. 6. Discussion and planning of sister city related events or activities. a. Holiday Folk Fair Member Durtka commented. The folk fair would be held from November 18th through 20th at the Wisconsin Expo Center on State Fair grounds. It would be in-person since the pandemic. Great food would be plentiful. There would be two spaces for the sister City of Milwaukee Page 2 SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 cities booth. A flyer would be shared on the fair. There is a need for more students (4-8 grades) to attend given the busing transportation challenge. Perhaps County city busing could be used to transport students. The Irpin community would also be participating in the fair. He would work with Ms. Moore to distribute tickets. A list of volunteers would be needed. Ticket prices would be free for those over 65 years of age or with a military ID. Tickets would be $16 at the door, $12 in advance, and $8 for youths (for the entirety of all 3 days). VP Taylor concurred about the student busing issues and said she can look to see what she can do regarding MPS students being able to attend the fair. Mr. Nayflisch said that the Irpin community would participate with a food booth. Mr. Lee said that Ms. Moore would be coordinating the event, volunteers would be need to staff the booth, and items on each sister city would be needed from each local sponsoring community to display at the booth. Ms. McHenry said that some things from the booth in years' past could be found in storage, those things would need to be updated, display would need to be redone, and Ms. Moore had the student passport stamps. Ms. Moore said she is coordinating the event, the booth application was submitted, volunteers and items were needed, and she would connect with Ms. McHenry offline. Ms. Bralic said that the Croatians would participate in the folk fair with a music and dance performance and that their Strawberry Hill Povitica Company would be able to supply wholesale bread to sell at the folk fair as a folk fair or sister cities fundraising idea. Mr. Durtka said that the bread sale would have to take place at a cafe/food booth in the marketplace and not at the sister cities booth. Chair Stamper said for everyone to help promote the folk fair, that many different ethnic cultures and food would be present, and that the bread sale idea could be something for the meet-and-greet. b. Meet-and-greet Ms. Moore said that the plan was to look at holding a short program in the City Hall rotunda in the first quarter of next year and that she would continue to work in tandem with Ms. Thompson Mosore. Ms. Thompson Mosore said that the plan is to start small, have everyone and all sister city relationships engaged, have coordination and leadership come from the chair, use the folk fair to promote the meet-and-greet, and use social media to promote the event as well. Chair Stamper said for there to be a "Save the Date" flyer to pass out at the folk fair booth to promote the meet-and-greet. c. Other No other discussion. City of Milwaukee Page 3 SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 7. Sister city relationship updates or announcements. Ms. Carter said that she was serving as interim Port Director with the resignation of Adam Tindall-Schlicht, would continue looking at establishing trade via the ports between existing or future sister cities, and had no new updates. Dr. Kones said that there has not been much activity with the sister city relationship with Bomet County, Kenya due to the political elections taking place there. Mr. Misky said that he and the DCD Deputy Commissioner had went to Spain recently along with M7, WEDC, and Ingetine (Menomonee Valley) representatives to visit Talgo and other companies there about business expansion possibilities for both sides. There was no talk about sister cities. He will keep the committee updated about any opportunities regarding the matter. Member Johnson said that she was the Commissioner of the Department of Neighborhood Services, was attending the meeting for the first time as a member, was an exchange student in Germany, and was familiar with Ghana having visited there. While in Ghana, she enjoyed the beautiful coast and beaches. Mr. Lee gave an update. The number of current sister cities was at 6 with Bomet County (Kenya), Daegu Metropolitan City (South Korea), Galway (Ireland), Irpin (Ukraine), Tarime District (Tanzania), and Zadar (Croatia). Pending were the new sister city relationship with Tema (Ghana) with the signing agreement ceremony and the termination of the sister city relationship with Daegu. Expiring March next year was the sister city relationship with Irpin and a renewal application was sent but not received yet. Mr. Nayflisch gave an update on Irpin. Humanitarian efforts towards Ukraine and refugees, due to the war, were ongoing. Refugees in Milwaukee were being accommodated. Help from local businesses and communities were ongoing and still needed. The sister city renewal application was received and would be submitted. Ms. Thompson Mosore gave an update on Tarime. There were some collaborations being done between the cities. She would provide further details in a future report. They were working with youths and teachers on education/student exchanges. 8. Public comments. No public comments. 9. Next steps. a. Set next meeting date and time b. Agenda items for the next meeting To be determined. 10. Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 2:21 p.m. City of Milwaukee Page 4 SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Chris Lee, Staff Assistant Council Records Section City Clerk's Office City of Milwaukee Page 5