Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board
December 10, 2008 minutes
Approved January 14, 2009
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Linda Hyler, Jon Josserand, Bob Moody, Andrew Tsubaki, Ken Albrecht, Michael Kennedy, Kathleen Hodge, Gina Ross, Kelly Herndon, Bill Keel, Stuart Boley, Lynn Ground, Bob Schumm, Kathleen Hodge |
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MEMBERS ABSENT: |
Lori Hutfles |
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STAFF LIAISON PRESENT: |
Cynthia Boecker |
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PUBLIC PRESENT: |
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The meeting was conducted in the City Commission chambers at 5:30 pm. Chair Keel announced the presence of a quorum.
Board Vacancies
Keel brought up the topic of upcoming vacancies on the Board. He had been informed that the board position representing Friends of Hiratsuka is becoming open. Michael Kennedy currently holds that position and has expressed interest in continuing his service. Keel and the board discussed the excellent coordination that Kennedy has provided to the Board as it regards student groups going to and coming from Hiratsuka. The Board commended Kennedy for his work. The Board recommended that Keel communicate the Board’s interest in having Kennedy continue in his role to the appropriate representatives of Friends of Hiratsuka and to city staff.
Minutes
The minutes from the November, 2008 meeting were distributed. Minor changes were suggested and the minutes were approved.
Accounting Documents – Boley
Accounting documents for the month as well as for the first eleven months of the year were distributed and discussed. Boley explained that the Free State Credit Union is now the Credit Union of Johnson County.
In a continuing effort to consolidate bank accounts, Boley requested permission to close the “921 general account.” By motion the Board approved of this action.
In explaining the accounting documents, Boley explained that 2009 membership money and prepaid travel receipts will not be “booked” until the new year in an effort to make the annual reports more meaningful.
Report from friends of Hiratsuka (Kennedy and Tsubaki)
Lawrence participants for the upcoming exchange met on Saturday, November 22. There are 20 students with two alternates. The first $300 was collected. The group will meet again this next Saturday. Checks will be delivered by hand to Boley.
Friends of Eutin (Albrecht and Keel)
· Friends of Eutin met on November 20th.
· The tentative dates for a visit from Lawrence to Eutin as part of the 20th year exchanges will be May 29 – June 4. Keel will be sending out letters of invitation to the Board and other individuals seeking Lawrence participants.
· The Eutin guitar orchestra group is planning to visit Lawrence mid-June
· Professor Baron is developing a possible display in Eutin of Kansas area photographs taken by Caroline Young.
· Prof. Michael Bauer, KU Professor of Music, will be taking a number of graduate students interested in organ music to northern Germany next summer. As part of that, they will visit St. Michaels Church in Eutin on July 22.
· The friends group anticipates sending 13 Students next summer.
Scholarship Committee Recommendations for Summer 2009:
Keel presented recommendations from the scholarship committee:
· There were three applications for the Eutin program. Program costs are $2,500. Scholarship amounts of $300, $500, and $1,000 were recommended, totaling $1,800.
· There were seven applications for the Hiratsuka program. Program costs are $2,000. Scholarship amounts of $0, $0, $500, $500, $1,000, $1,300, $2,000 were recommended, totaling $5,300.
· Total amount of recommendations was $7,200.
Current guidelines recommend that a maximum of 25% of the current scholarship account balance be used annually to provide student scholarships. ($23,573 x .25= $5,893 this year) In addition guidelines recommend a scholarship to any student be limited to 50% of the program costs. The scholarship committee recommends the waiving of both of these guidelines for this year to accommodate the need presented in the applications.
Considerable discussion occurred among the Board as to the history and reasoning behind these two policies. There was reluctance by some in waiving these policies. Others cited the unusual need among this year’s applicants, and that this is not an every year occurrence.
Upon motion to accept the scholarship committee’s report, it was approved; 11-Yes, 1-No, 2-Abstain.
Budget:
Continuing discussion occurred relative to the upcoming budget.
Boley recommended an amount of $2,500 be designated to support membership records development. Discussion occurred on the topic of these records. Continuing discussion of the proposed budget will occur next mnonth.
New Sister City Committee
Schumm updated the Board on matters of current new interest.
The meeting was adjourned.