City of Lawrence

Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board

May 13, 2009 minutes

Approved 07/08/09

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

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The meeting was held in the city commission chambers at City Hall at 5:30 on May 13, 2009. Bill Keel, Chair, announced the presence of a quorum.

Review of Documents:

Minutes from the April 8 regular meeting and April 22 special meeting were approved as corrected.

Accounting documents for April were distributed. Boley requested deferral to next regular meeting to as he had not yet reviewed the reports. Boley indicated that he had obtained two new ATM cards for the Eutin teachers. This was complicated slightly due to the fact these accounts are now with the new Johnson County Credit Union.

Announcements:

Gina gave an update on Andy Tsubaki’s recovery. Good wishes were expressed by the board for his continued improvement.

The Chair indicated that the IRS 990 form for the board had been filed about 10 days ago.

Also, the request for City of Lawrence funding for 2010 had been submitted. The request was submitted at the FY 2008 actual level of funding, which was also the FY 2009 funding request level, amounting to $12,000.

In recent years the board has received city funding support at its requested level of support.

However, in last year’s budget cycle, the city reduced its level of support from the requested $12,000 to $7,500 for FY 2009, the current year.

The board acknowledged and discussed the severe funding pressures on the city commission for the upcoming year, and considered further reducing its level of funding request for a year, as an acknowledgment of this demand on public resources.

Schumm moved that an amended funding request be submitted for FY 2010 at $6,500, in recognition of this funding pressure. This would be $1,000 below the current year’s level of funding, and $5,500 below recent levels of support. Motion failed 3 – 6.

Schumm moved that an amended funding request be submitted for FY 2010 at $7,500. ($3,000 for stipends; $4,500 for operations). This is the current level of funding for the board, which is $4,500 below recent levels of support. Motion passed 7 – 2.

Old Business – Committee Reports:

Public Relations Committee (Hodge)

Hyler discussed the scheduling of this year’s membership event. She discussed the problems associated with holding this event too close to the fundraiser. Noting that last year’s function was held during the visit from the Hiratsuka students, she also noted that timing the membership with the visit from the Eutin students would be problematic.

Discussion occurred. Schumm volunteered the possible availability of his residence for an event this fall, if this would help with an event.

New Sister Cities Committee (Schumm)

Schumm updated the board about the trip the Schumms and Hodges will be making as a goodwill informational visit to Iniades Greece, which is seeking closer relations and possible sister cities status with Lawrence.

They will stay approximately three days in the Iniades area to learn more about the area, and to meet individuals in Iniades who are involved with cultural and tourism programming, and whom are promoting closer relationships with Lawrence.

20^th Anniversary of Eutin Exchange (Keel)

An itinerary and delegation roster for the upcoming Lawrence-to-Eutin trip in recognition of the 20^th anniversary of Eutin-Lawrence relations was distributed.

20^th Anniversary of Hiratsuka Exchange (Tsubaki)

Because of the illness of Professor Tsubaki, there is not much new to report on this exchange.

Possible Transfer of Scholarship Funds to Douglas County Community Foundation (Boley)

Boley indicated he had received some documents as requested by board members from DCCF regarding the possibility of moving scholarship accounts to the community foundation. Boley indicated that board members will soon receive copies of these documents. A number of questions were generated and discussion ensued. This matter will be discussed later in the summer.

Ad Hoc Committee on Policies and Procedures (Josserand)

Josserand indicated that the committee had collected application forms from both the Eutin and Hiratsuka exchanges as well as codes of student conduct from USD #497 and the Kansas State High School Activities Association. The committee had met to review these documents and explore avenues for policy recommendation. Josserand distributed a memorandum which made a number of recommendations:

• The requirement that trip participants maintain acceptable conduct between selection and the trip should be clearly documented in information to students and parents.
• That the policies committee establish an application “timeline” to help evaluate and guide policies for students, parents, the friends groups, and the board.
• That the committee recommended consideration development of a standard form to be signed by students and parents incorporating a number of existing boilerplate notices (liability waiver, codes of conduct, requirement of meeting attendance, payment schedule, medical issues, etc). The form would be signed after the selection process and awarding of scholarships.
• The committee noted the lack of any written policies or agreements regarding selection of chaperones or teachers, the lack of any liability waivers or conditions of participation from them, or any written understanding regarding the role of chaperones or teachers. The committee recommended that these relationships become better understood and documented.
• The committee recommended that each fall that there be a required meeting with the trip coordinators of each trip and the board, for the purposes of reviewing and evaluating the most recent trip, and identify areas of improvement for succeeding trips.

Josserand indicated that with the Board’s concurrence, that the committee would meet again in mid-June to proceed with further development of recommendations along these lines. The board indicated general support for the committee’s direction.

Keel indicated that he would be absent from Lawrence due to his professional teaching commitments in Germany. The board discussed plans in his absence. The board will continue to meet for its regular monthly meetings.

Next Regular Meeting: June 10, 2009, 5:30 pm at City Hall