2020-10-05 Sister City Commission MinutesEdmonds Sister City Commission
Meeting Date: October 5, 2020
Pos. 1 Rae Podrebarac
Pos. 4 OPEN
Pos. 7 lyoko Okano
Pos. 10 Karyn Heinekin
Student Representative:
Pos. 2 Katy Renz
Pos. 5 Gillian Lim
Pos. 8 Michele Fellows
Pos. 11 OPEN
Commissioners Absent: Michelle Fellows (unexcused)
Staff Liaison: Carolyn LaFave
Call to Order: 6:04
Guests:
Administration:
Pos. 3 Greg Lange
Pos. 6 Laura Braithwaite Otto
Pos. 9 Gabe Longoria
Pos. 12 OPEN
• Approve/Amend Agenda: Karyn moved to approve with amendments, Kathryn seconded.
Approved
• Financials: We have $8,186 in our 100 Public Account. The 200 account may be near $900. As we
are not doing the exchange, and we offered to not take the $5,000 from this year's budget. We
have enough for next year, so will not ask for $5,000 for a potential 2021 exchange.
New Business:
• 2021 Student Exchange Discussion
o Currently monitoring Japan travel laws. The US is still not permitted, and Japan is
starting to open up to other countries.
o Hekinan has shared that they may not know until next March. We let them know that
we are not calling it off, but we will need to make a decision by end of February.
o Our chaperones from 2020 prepare us for recruitment for 2021, should we move
forward. We would not move forward to soliciting until at least January 2021.
o Kathryn recommended facilitating a casual communication effort between students in
both areas as some form of exchange or connection. Carolyn will look into this via the
Instagram account or Facebook.
Continuing Business:
• New commissioner training
o We brought this up with Carolyn and Laura.
o This would be a guidebook for any new commissioner. We may have more trainings
moving forward — so this could be an outline for this.
■ Open Public Meetings
■ Biased Training
■ 30-minute training video
• Increasing visibility
o Museum Scarecrow Festival https://historicedmonds.org/annual-scarecrow-festival/
o This festival has been going on for 4-5 years. You put your scarecrow together. After the
due date (161n — 31St), upload a photo, and people get to visit and vote.
o This was another item we discussed in January. We need to have it completed by 6pm
on November 151n
o We can all contribute at a different time one item at a time.
o Karyn, Katy, and Greg will meet up on Saturday at 9:30 to build the structure at Greg's
house. Other commissions can stop by to decorate with their favorite Japanese
elements.
o We have to be willing to lose anything we donate.
• Greg's visit to Japan
o Greg is hoping to revisit next February. It had wonderful snow. He was able to see things
he did not see before and visit our friends from previous exchanges. The mayor was very
gracious. It reminded him of what we do as a commission and encourages the
connections.
Announcements: None
Next Meeting: Oct 261n
Adjournment: 6:55