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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/06/2024 - Meeting Minutes MINUTES FOR THE Sister Cities ADVISORY BOARD Date: Nov 6th, 2024 Time: 5:OOPM-6:30PM Roll Call: The following members of the Sister Cities Advisory Board were present: • Ross Chambless • Annie Quan • Matilyn Mortensen • Sheri Sorenson • Rose Kjesbo • Nicole Pessetto Also Present: • Katherine Matheson (Staf •Joshua Paluh The following members of the Sister Cities Advisory Board were absent: • Ahimara Suarez •John Wilson • Stacee Adams • Olga Efimo Approval of the Minutes: Chambless motions to approve 9/4/24 minutes. Mortensen seconds. All are in favor of approval of minutes. Minutes are approved for September 4th, 2024 Public Comment: No Public are present for comment. Staff Repor 1. Matheson shares that the Economic Development team has hired Mariah Johnson.Johnson will be supporting Sister Cities board and effort 2. Board Member Ricardo Beccerra resigned from the board 3. New Board Member Jane Kim 4. Matheson will be sending out board meeting stipends soon 5. International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) group from Europe came and met with city staff to discuss the important role of women in leadersh 6. Board subcommittee for new sister cities was not able to meet after last weekend. a. A meeting is scheduled for two weeks from now to continue discussion. 7. Annual Report is due January 30th to the Mayor's off a. Matheson assigns pages for each subcommittee to fill out on t annual report b. Staff will edit pag c. Board can discuss 8. The Consul General of Netherlands will be visiting from Nov 18th for an informal meet and greet with city staf Briefings by the St a. Updates on Sister Cities: i. Chernivtsi, Ukraine: 1. Sorensen shares that the refugee group was not able to get into the Kris Kringle Market this year. a. Quan suggests the Holiday Market and Mortensen suggests the Wasatch Community Garden Market. i. Rose Kjesbo has a contact at the Community Garden and will get it to Matheson to share with Sorenson 2. Sorensen shares there is going to be a fall festival at the Columbus Center. a. It is free and everyone is encouraged to bring a dish to share. b. This is put on by Ukrainian refugees. c. Matheson will connect with Sorensen 3. There may be a Ukrainian Christmas celebration on Jan 17th 4. Sorenson is looking for ways to raise money for a Ukrainian Choir to perform at cultural events across the area. a. The choir are in need of equipment. Microphones, speakers, etc. 5. Sorenson met with Alan Lipp of August Mission and has scheduled a meeting to find ways to help refugees in Salt Lak 6. Mayors of Chernivtsi and Salt Lake Mayor will be meeting for an online call at the beginning of December for the first tim a. There is potential visit for a delegation from Ukraine to Salt Lake in Summer of 2025 b. Chambless did an interview with a past Salt Lake City Mayor and they explained it was difficult to form t relationship 35 years ago. i. Chambless will share the interview he did with the board. Sorenson left board meeting due to a family emergency ii. Izhevsk, Russia: 1. No Updates iii. Keelung, Taiwan: 1. No Updates iv. Matsumoto,Japan: 1. Chambless shares that there was a delegation visit from Salt Lake to Matsumoto City in the beginning of October. a. There were speeches, some ceremonies, and tours of their city. b. It was a three day visit. c. Matheson shares that the mayor gave a speech to students in Matsumoto and being a women in politics d. Matheson shares there were some very important observations on the city side on connecting smaller businesses in the two cities. i. Small Business business exchange e. Quan was present and the thought of doing art exchanges between the two cities as well f. Chambless connected Angela Brown with someone that runs in the Artisan fair in Matsumoto. g. Chambless will connect with Matheson to share media/articles that made in Matsumoto during the visit v. Trujillo, Peru: 1. Matheson shares there is a delegation that will visit Salt Lake December 3rd. 2. Ahimara will be taking over as the head of the subcommittee since Becerra left vi. Torino, Italy: 1. Pessetto tried another way of communication with Michael Homer who is the Honorary Consul in Utah, but could not get a hold of them. 2. Festa Italiana took place. Chambless and Staff were ther a. Board let the public pin where their families were on a large map of Italy. i. Very positive response. People were excited to share their heritage. b. The number one question the staff got was: "Do y have recommendations on where to go in Italy?" i. The board may want to try to connect with Visit Salt Lake to put together some sort of online info explaining Sister Cities with recommendations where to visit. c. Council Member Petro spoke about Sister Cities before one of the headliners at Festa Italiana which was great exposure for the program. d. Mathesons also shares that the city engagement team created a form for us to fill out that will help our boa keep track of interested community members for future tabling events. Business: 1. Matheson shares that with the increased funding, the board could table for each sister city in 2025. a. Chambless asks if city staff can put together a document with even b. Matheson shares that staff can do that, but the Board will need to take t lead on applying and partaking in these tabling events. 2. Board Vote on Process to Approve New Sister Cities a. Matheson asks if the Board should do that now or wait? b. Chambless suggests the board wait until the subcommittee meets. i. Board approves of waiting 3. Meeting in December a. Board leans toward not meeting in December and meeting in January b. Board decided to move the meeting to the second Wednesday in January- the 8th. c. Matheson shares the board need a quorum in that meeting to make decisions d. Board decides to keep board meetings every other month in 2025 e. Matheson shares that for the board to get the application process scheduled, the board may need to add February as well. i. Board is okay with this. ii. Every other month will start after February Adjournment: Mortensen motions to adjourn. Pessetto seconds. All are in favor of adjourning. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. — ae��auz 4 — Ross Chambless, Chairperson This document and the recording constitute the official minutes of the Economic Development Sister Cities Advisory Board meeting held on November 6th, 2024.