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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/05/2025 - Meeting Minutes MINUTES FOR THE Sister Cities ADVISORY BOARD Date: February 5th, 2025 Time: 5:OOPM-6:30PM DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, FIRST HALF OF THE MEETING AUDIO WAS NOT RECORDED. PLEASE SEE THE MINUTES FOR ANY DETAILS NOT RECORDED. Roll Call: The following members of the Sister Cities Advisory Board were present: • Ross Chombless • Matilyn Mortensen • Nicole Gallo • Stacee Adams • Jane Kim • Sheri Sorenson • Annie Quan Also Present: • Katherine Matheson (Staff) • Joshua Paluh • Mariah Johnson • Lorena Jensen-Riffo The following members of the Sister Cities Advisory Board were absent: • John Wilson • Rose Kjesbo • Olga Efimova • Ahimara Suarez Approval of the Minutes: Adams motions to approve 1/8/2025 minutes. Sorenson seconds. All are in favor of approval of minutes. Minutes are approved for January 8th, 2025 Public Comment: No one there for public comment. Staff Report: By Katie Matheson 1. Submission of 2024 Annual Report Status a. Staff submitted the report to the Mayor's office on time, and is working on submitting it via transmittal to City Council. b. Matheson will be letting Chambless know if they get asked to present it to the City Council. 2. Presentation on Sister City Application Review Committee a. Slideshow presented by Matheson. b. Staff wanted to help inform the board about how the process is and answer any concerns or questions. c. Johnson is going to send the slide show out later for board members to be able to read through it easier because it is really small on the screen. d. Chambless asked Matheson to clarify how applications are collected. i. The current applications have been gathered over the last few years waiting for the process to be finalized and so the application review committee could compare several at once. Briefings by the Staff: a. Updates on Sister Cities: i. Chernivtsi, Ukraine: 1. Fall festival for Ukrainians a. Put together a choir. b. Need money for equipment c. Sorensen is wondering if funds can be used to help them purchase some microphones. i. Matheson and Johnson will follow up on this. 2. The Ogden Winter Market in December was dead for the refugees trying to sell items. a. Sorensen helped them signup for the expo center this coming December instead. b. Chambless asked what kind of materials and crafts they are trying to sell. i. 3. January 11 there was the Chriscringle event. Sorensen wants all of the board members to go next year. 4. Sorensen is going to send Johnson a calendar of events to help keep the board up to date. 5. The Porcelain War movie about the Russian invasion of Ukraine was done in partnership with the Sundance film festival. 6. Sorensen is helping a few refugees to find employment. 7. Briefing on the news about a group helping build houses for refugees. Sorensen wants to figure out if the same group that helped build for others struggling can help her. a. Quan going to get contact information over to Sorensen to help get houses. 8. Sandy has a new Sister City from Ukraine. 9. Matheson gave a run down of the two city Mayors' conversation and meeting on February 3rd. a. Staff is drafting an official letter inviting them to come and visit. 10.Johnson gave a run down of the goals the subcommittee set. 11.Adams just amplified the goals and expressed her desire to bring more eyes to the Ukrainian community through the goals the committee set. ii. Izhevsk, Russia: 1. Mortensen said that staff and committee have agreed to start the process of moving Izhevsk into a marital status unless we hear from them this year. iii. Keelung, Taiwan: 1. Quan brought all of the photo albums for board to see and for staff to archived and make available for the public to see. a. Albums are from the previous chair. 2. Sending a "christmas card"to Keelung to let them know what SLC has been up to and check in on them. 3. Committee wishes to table at the Asian festival being held on June 7th, 2025. a. Mortensen is going to figure out about details about tabling there and bring the information back to the committee. iv. Matsumoto,Japan: 1. Johnson gave updates on the goals set by the subcommittee. V. Torino, Italy: 1. Gallo found a potential contact for the pen pal program 2. Gallo's husband is helping with the higher education exchange with the university. 3. Chambless mentioned that Milan, Italy is going to be hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics a. Staff is going to reach out to world olympic cities about getting all of Sister Cities connected since Torino mayor is very proud they are a previous Olympic host. 4. American Italian Civil League programming where there could be a potential partnership 5. Mortensen would like to look into a lecture art series vi. Trujillo, Peru: 1. Johnson gave a subcommittee goal update to the board. Business: 1. Sister City Applicants review and vote i. Bharatpur Metropolitan, Nepal 1. Majority in favor to push application forward. ii. Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico 1. Majority in favor to push application forward. iii. Aghdam, Azerbaijan 1. Will not be moving this application forward iv. Pangaea, Ethiopia 1. Majority in favor to push application forward. 2. Chair and Vice Chair Election and Appointments a. Sorensen asked if 1 year was too long or short. b. Nominate to have Chambless for another year. c. Board approved Adams to be Vice Chair. 3. Update Sister Cities Bylaws a. Amount of members that make up a quorum. i. Board agreed to vote on next time. 4. Sister City Committees - public participation a. Mortensen makes motioned, Chambless seconds, all in favor. Adjournment: Sorensen motions to adjourn. Mortensen seconds. All are in favor of adjourning. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 6�0 J)4k Ross Chambless, Chairperson This document and the recording constitute the official minutes of the Economic Development Sister Cities Advisory Board meeting held on February 5th, 2025.