Ethnic Community Committee

City of Sterling Heights ETHNIC COMMUNITY COMMITTEE Official minutes of the Thursday, April 4, 2013 regular meeting. MEMBERS PRESENT: Sharron Allen Omie Brooks Ike Cabase Doug Najor Andrew Pulford Betty Rush MEMBERS ABSENT: Susan Kattula Steve Naumovski Linda Preka Iqbal Singh OFFICIALS PRESENT: Citizen Services Specialist Sue Giallombardo Community Relations Director Steve Guitar Sterling Heights Police Sgt. Jim Selewski 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda: MOTION by Andrew Pulford, SECONDED by Doug Najor. Approved 6-0 4. Approval of Minutes: MOTION by Pulford, SECONDED by Najor. Approved 6-0 5. Communication from Citizens: - Ann Zerzowski was in attendance. She stated that she attended the meeting in February as a guest and has since submitted her application to be a member of the Ethnic Community Committee. - Guitar noted that the City Council may schedule appointments in June. 6. Communications from the Sterling Heights Police Dept. – Sgt. Jim Selewski - Selewski urged everyone to be aware of their surroundings since there has been a rise in breaking  and enterings in the area. Selewski added that this is not unique to Sterling Heights. - Selewski said that churches are being broken into and the thieves are walking away with a lot of cash. He urged committee members to remind their pastors to make deposits regularly and quicker. 7. Agenda A. Revision of Ethnic Committee Mission, Goals and Objectives Statement - Guitar referred to the Ethnic Community Committee’s current Mission, Goals and Objectives Statement and pointed out that for whatever reason, there was an oversight pertaining to the term limit of members not having an expiration date. - Guitar pointed out that the Ethnic Community Committee is the only committee, commission or board within the city with no term limits for its members. - Guitar suggested the following revision be added to amend the committee’s Mission, Goals and Objective Statement via the attached Resolution and presented to City Council: > Members shall be appointed to serve for a term of three (3) years, except that of the members appointed for a term commencing July 1, 2013, three shall be appointed for a term of one (1) year, three appointed for a term of two (2) years, and four appointed for a term of three (3) years. A member shall hold office until the member’s successor is appointed and qualifed. An appointment to fill a vacancy shall be made by the Mayor, subject to confirmation of a majorty vote of the City Council, for the unexpired term only. Members of the board shall serve without compensation. - Guitar explained that the temporary term limits will be determined by a blind draw, whereas current members randomly select the number of years from a hat. He added that after the first renewal of the temporary term, all members will then serve three (3) year terms. - Once the committee approves the resolution proposing the revision, a second resolution will be presented to Council for approval. Members will then be required to resign and will be reappointed at a future council meeting (as yet to be determined, most likely June 18, 2013 or July 2, 2013). - Guitar noted that this will give current members an opportunity to reflect on their position and therefore, they may agree to a continuance of service or may choose to not continue service  in this capacity to the city. - Rush stated that she will likely retire from the committee, due to the her health issues. Rush has a difficult time getting transportion to meetings, but stated that she would like to be more involved and contribute more. - Allen offered to pick Rush up for future meetings and asked her to think about it before she officially resigns. - Pulford asked if term limits were necesssary, since members are serving on a voluntary basis, and asked if council wanted a member to step down, they would say so. - Guitar said that a majority of the other boards and commissions are voluntary, and said that Council does not simply ask a member to step down. He added that many other boards and commissions were set up through the City Charter, but the Ethnic Community Committee was created through a resolution of the City Council. - Najor made a motion to approve the resolution as written so that it can be presented to Council for consideration. - Motion seconded by Brooks; Motion approved 6-0. B. Sister City Partnership, Shengjin, Albania - Update - Giallombardo stated that she made contact via e-mail with Mayor Kacaj of Shengjin, Albania, notifying him that Sterling Heights will pursue an official sister city relationship with Shengjin. - Mayor Kacaj replied with an invitation for representatives of Sterling Heights to visit Shengjin. Giallombardo politely declined via e-mail. - Pulford asked that Community Relations send a link to view the City Council meeting at which the resolution is approved. 8. Receipt of Correspondence - Cabase stated that he shared a copy of the DVD highlighting the Cultural Exchange with members of PACCM. Several groups from the Phillipine community attended the event and they thanked him for sharing the DVD. 9. Old Business: None. - In regards to the Memorial Day parade, Allen asked if invitation letters were mailed to the groups that performed in previous Cultural Exchanges. Giallombardo stated that yes, letters were mailed but she hasn’t heard back from any groups. - Allen added that she spoke with someone from Welcoming Michigan who said that they were interested in participating  in the parade. - Allen reminded committee members to bring one or two bags of candy. - Cabase offered to make a CD of mixed songs from different ethnicities to play along the parade route. Please e-mail any suggestions you may have for songs to Cabase at cabase01@comcast.net - Giallombardo will get the flags and the banner to Allen prior to the parade. - Allen said that her display at the library for the month of February was a success, the theme was Unknown Inventors. - Guitar thanked everyone who attended the recent Getting to Know Your Neighbor symposium. - Allen enjoyed it and stated that it showed that immigrants can stick with their own culture while integrating with ours. - Andrew also enjoyed it and said it would be beneficial to do additional shows with various generations. - Cabase reminded members that they are invited to be a part of the Welcoming Michigan organization and it’s a nice way for committee members to get involved in the community. He added that he is volunteering with Welcoming Michigan’s ESL Chat program. The monthly sessions pair long time residents with newcomers for casual chat sessions about general topics. 10. New Business: - Guitar reminded members that they will have to resign at May’s meeting and will be re-appointed at a future council meeting. - Allen suggested that the committee look into purchasing flags representing the cities that the committee formed sister city partnerships with, for display at future events. - Giallombardo said she would look into various sizes and prices. 11. Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.