City of Lawrence

Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board

April 9, 2008 minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Stuart Boley, Kathleen Hodge, Linda Hyler, Jon Josserand, William Keel, Bob Moody, Bob Schumm, Andrew Tsubaki, Gina Ross, Ken Albrecht, Michael Kennedy, Kathleen Hodge, Kelly Herndon
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Lynn Ground, Lori Hutfles
STAFF LIAISON PRESENT:	Michael Tubbs
PUBLIC PRESENT:

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The meeting was conducted in City Commission chambers.  The Chair announced the presence of a quorum.    

Members introduced themselves to Kelly Herndon who has been appointed to the Board.

Minutes were corrected and approved for the March 2008 meeting.

FINANCE:

Boley spent two hours working with the bookkeeper.  He reviewed the financial reports dated 4/6/08 for the Board. 

Specific discussion occurred regarding the costs and fundraising associated with the recent van Zoest visit.  Although this money did not flow through our accounts, Boley wants us to report the income and expenditures of this visit.  Some details will be found in the recent Friends of Eutin minutes.

The documents were accepted pending resolution of the van Zoest visit.

REPORT FROM FRIENDS OF EUTIN (ALBRECHT/KEEL)

Minutes were distributed from the March 31 2008 meeting of the Friends of Eutin by Albrecht.  Some highlights of that meeting:

• A committee headed by Marc Greenberg is exploring the possibility of a return visit by van Zoest in September.  Friends of Eutin are exploring fundraising opportunities for this event.

• Friends of Eutin would like to organize a visit by a delegation from Lawrence to Eutin to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the sister city relationship in 2009.  The dates of March 14-22, 2009 are being explored.

• A classical guitar quartet is considering a trip to Eutin in June 2009.

• Fifteen Lawrence high school students will be going to Eutin this summer, the largest group ever sent to Eutin in the 20-year history of the program.  Friedemann and Winnie Eisert will accompany the group to Eutin.  For the summer of 2009, the new German teacher at Central JHS, Elissa Schlumpf Heymach, is planning to accompany the students to Eutin for three of the six weeks.

• In late September, we expect 15 students from Eutin with their teachers Alheid Szelinski (with her husband Holger) and Harrold Kühning.  The group will stay until the first weekend in November before heading to Chicago for a short stay.

• James Brown reported that the KU summer language program in Eutin currently has ten students.

• Nick Springmeyer, a student in the KU School of Business will hold the summer banking internship at the Sparkasse Holstein in Eutin.  The Sparkasse plans to send Christian Sachau for an internship in Lawrence later this summer.  This internship program is ten years old.

REPORT FROM FREINDS OF HIRATSUKA (TSUBAKI/KENNEDY)

Kennedy believes we have twenty students for the upcoming exchange. 

Discussion arose concerning the Lawrence Children’s Choir and a potential 2011 visit to Hiratsuka.  Although preliminary discussions have been made with the Choir Director, no formal presentation has been made to the Children’s Choir Board regarding a visit to Hiratsuka, and due to circumstances with the Choir, no presentation is currently anticipated before June 2009.   Discussion occurred concerning the necessity of having a very long lead time for a Hiratsuka visit especially if homestays are involved, although this is generally not what the Choir utilizes in their international travel.

2008 COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

Keel passed out the current membership of committees.  The current memberships are listed below.  People wanting to change their membership should contact Chairman Keel.

Scholarships:

Chair: Keel.  Schumm, Kennedy.

Scholarship Fundraiser:

Chair: Moody.  Ground, Hodge, Hutfles.

20^th Anniversary Exchange Eutin 2009

Chair: Abrecht.  Keel, Boley, Kreicker

20^th Anniversary Exchange Hiratsuka 2010

Chair: Tsubaki.  Kennedy, Moody, Kreicker 

Third Sister City

Chair: Schumm.  Hodge, Josserand, Ross, Ground

Membership Event

Chair:  Hyler.  Tsubaki, Josserand, Herndon

Public Relations:   

Chair:  Hodge.  Moody, Albrecht, Hutfles, Herndon

SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL:

Discussion occurred regarding attendance at the Sister Cities International Convention to be held in Kansas City.  Josserand, Schumm, Hodge, and Hyler have volunteered to attend partial portions of the Convention.  The City Manager has approved to attendance of Michael Tubbs.

Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm.

Jon Josserand, Secretary

Minutes approved - March 14, 2008