Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board
December 9, 2009 minutes
|
MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Bill Keel, Stuart Boley, Jon Josserand, Bob Moody, Kelly Herndon, Bob Schumm, Linda Hyler, Lynn Ground, Ken Albrecht , Gina Ross |
|
MEMBERS ABSENT: |
Kathleen Hodge, Andy Tsubaki, Dennis Christilles, Michael Kennedy |
|
STAFF LIAISON PRESENT: |
Cynthia Wagner |
|
PUBLIC PRESENT: |
Chip Blaser, Douglas County Community Foundation; Darrel Ward, incoming member of the Board |
The regular monthly meeting was held in the city commission chambers at City Hall at 5:30 on December 9, 2009. Chair Keel announced the presence of a quorum.
Announcements:
The Chair introduced Mr. Darrel Ward, who is an incoming member of the Sister Cities Advisory Board. He will be filling the position created the expiring term of Stuart Boley.
The Chair also welcomed Mr. Chip Blaser, who is the executive director of the Douglas County Community Foundation.
Review of Documents:
The November minutes were approved as distributed with minor editing corrections.
Accounting – Hiratsuka trip:
Because of the savings achieved in the 2009 Hiratsuka trip, especially airfare savings, Boley has consulted with the Hiratsuka trip coordinators and prepared a proposal which would authorize refunds to families whose students participated in the 2009 Hiratsuka student exchange. The proposal, in essence, revised the final cost of the Hiratsuka trip for participating families from $2,000 to $1,600.
By motion his proposal was adopted by the board. The proposal will provide refunds to families ranging between $0 and $400 depending upon the level of final payment made by the family for the trip, and scholarship support of the student. Most families would receive a $400 payment.
Under the approved proposal, total refunds to families would amount to $7,000, and would leave remaining cash reserves for this trip of $7,894.
These transactions would close out the 2009 Hiratsuka trip accounting.
Accounting:
The accounting documents were distributed and explained. An initial amount of $17,500 has been transferred to the Douglas County Community Foundation as an initial transfer of scholarship monies pursuant to previous board direction. Boley said that the fall balance of the scholarship account was approximately $24,000 which pursuant to board policy would allow for a maximum of approximately $6,000 for student scholarships for next year. Because of the uncertainty of a 2010 Eutin exchange, there are some unknowns about this process this year.
Boley explained that the current bookkeeper will not be working for the board in the next year, but that a potential individual had been identified who may work on behalf of the board.
It was noted that last month that the co-election of Herndon and Ground as co-treasurers may have not occurred. By motion, the Board elected the two as co-treasurers.
Moving Trip Accounting to the City:
Wagner and Boley discussed. Draft policies are being drafted for the trip coordinators, which would require them to:
· Establish an annual trip budget in coordination with the Board
· Checks from families for exchanges will be made payable to the City of Lawrence
· Deposits of these payments will be made by the city on a periodic batch basis
· A final accounting for trip receipts and expenditures will be required
· A policy regarding reimbursements will be established
The board discussed the possibility of having a policy to respond to situations such as that experienced by both the Eutin and Hiratsuka exchanges which would pertain to the total cost experienced with trips and need for any refunding of amounts paid. The Chair appointed Ground, Herndon, and Boley (if available) to an ad hoc committee to consider such a policy.
Douglas County Community Foundation
Chip Blaser explained to the board the range of investment alternatives for the scholarship funds which DCCF will administer. Basically, around 90% of the foundations investments are managed as a common fund. The remainder is invested in more conservative cash-like accounts.
After discussion, the chair appointed a three person committee of Ground, Schumm, and Herndon to work with DCCF on this issue.
This being the last meeting of Stuart Boley’s service to Sister Cities as a member of the Board, the Board expressed its deep gratitude to Stuart for the hard work and contributions he has made to the Lawrence Sister Cities programs.
Membership Renewals and Recruitment (Josserand)
Josserand explained that membership renewals will be mailed soon. He also distributed lists of names of people who might be solicited for membership and renewals. Since time did not exist for a review of these documents, he requested time in the January meeting for this purpose.
Budget (Hyler)
Hyler discussed her proposed budget. The budget will be discussed more at a future meeting.
Website (Josserand)
Josserand demonstrated the information about sister cities which has been placed on the city website. The information includes basic email and contact information for board members and basic information about sister cities programs. It is the intent to continue to improve the quantity and quality of sister city information on this site.
The information may be viewed at:
http://www.lawrenceks.org/advisory_boards/sc/
The meeting was adjourned.