HomeMy WebLinkAboutFHSCAC.2020.0930.Minutes Sister Cities Advisory Commission Meeting of September 30,2020
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION
September 30, 2020
1. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE—Chairman Carroll
at 4:05 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL—Chairman Carroll
Present: Chairman Carol Carroll; Commissioner Vicky Derksen; Commissioner
Lisa Ristuccia; Commissioner Bev Tall
Absent: Commissioner Enrique Melendez; Vice Chairman Nicholas Stumpf;
Commissioner VACANT
Staff Grady Miller, Town Manager; Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive
Present: Assistant; James Smith, Economic Development Director
Attendees:
3. CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.01(H),public comment is permitted(not required)on matters NOT listed on
the agenda.Any such comment(i)must be within the jurisdiction of the Commission,and(ii)is subject to
reasonable time,place,and manner restrictions. The Commission will not discuss or take legal action on
matters raised during Call to the Public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal
action.At the conclusion of the Call to the Public, individual commissioners may(i)respond to criticism,
(ii)ask staff to review a matter, or(iii)ask that the matter be placed on a future Commission agenda.
4. CONSIDERATION OF Approving the January 15, 2020, Meeting Minutes.
Moved by Commissioner Bev Tall, seconded by Commissioner Vicky Derksen to
APPROVE the minutes of September 30, 2020 meeting.
Vote: 4-0- Unanimously
5. DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION OF 2021 Meeting Dates.
Moved by Commissioner Bev Tall, seconded by Commissioner Lisa Ristuccia to
APPROVE the 2021 meeting dates.
Vote:4-0- Unanimously
a
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6. UPDATE ON Recruitment for Sister Cities Advisory Commission Vacancies.
Town Manager Miller said we've streamlined the whole process and now we have an
opportunity to get people based on their interest level. Applicants may rank by
interest,the boards and commissions that they are interested in, so there's a good
chance for each applicant. As an example, Planning and Zoning Commission has a
finite number of seats that are open, but we don't want to lose out on good
candidates that might be good for other boards and commissions.So now, applicants
have the opportunity to apply for multiple openings instead of just one.
There are 2 seats available for Sister Cities Advisory Commission.The deadline for
applications to fill vacancies for all boards and commissions is 09/30/2020. The
Subcommittee interviews for vacancies will take place on October 6 and 7, 2020.
7. UPDATE ON Fountain Hills Sister Cities Corporation.
1. Each Sister City Update
2. 20th Anniversary Updates
3. Increase our Board Members by 2 or 3 for specific skill sets
4. No exchanges in 2020& possibly 2021 in person
Chair Carroll updated the Commission on the below items:
1. Each Sister City Update:
We just had our first meeting last week since COVID started, so we had our January
meeting and then in September. We had been talking in between, but we had no
official meetings.
We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and one of the things that we're
taking the year to do is promote sister cities and bring it back into people's knowledge
base. I talked to Linda McFaII at the paper and Brent Cruikshank and they're going to
do a 7 Series articles supposedly in a row. There will be Four articles about the sister
cities from the commissioners who are from the board and who are their sponsors.
They will talk to Christine Colley about Germany and Belgium, Elizabeth
Matej-Horchem about Poland and they will talk to Enrique Melendez and Roxanne
Borycki from Arizona Travels about Ataco, El Salvador. Christine's actually got a
connection with the Casterly person and we're going to ask her if she will be our
champion and join our board as a Casterly representative. So we should have all of
the towns and articles written. We're also going to do one on the students and how
we won't have exchanges this year. But instead we're going to spend our time on
increasing awareness and membership.
2. 20th Anniversary Updates-
Increase membership to 65+ and have membership get-together.
Logo redesign & digital materials to refresh our communication tools
Launched a newsletter July for once a quarter release
Sponsorships of appropriate activities
Adding a second student scholarship and increasing amounts to $1000
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Add Specific fundraisers for those Scholarships.
3. Increase our Board Members by 2 or 3 for specific skill sets we need:
Technology Specialist
Membership Driver
New Secretary approved, which is Michal Suchanek, as Clayton Corey is retiring off
the Board.
4. No exchanges in 2020 & possibly 2021 in person.
Chair Carroll said that Germany and Poland have both decided that they won't be
doing it in 21 either, and so maybe in late 21 they'll allow our students to go over, but
we're trying to figure out how that works because every other year skips. So it would
mean two Poland trips in a row instead of 1 going to Germany, and so we're working
those out with the leadership in all the countries.
We will be working on setting up digitally and introducing a club at the school to get
students together and continue to learn about the other countries. Until we can do
exchanges again.
8. UPDATE ON Fountain Hills Sister Cities Corporation New Board.
Chair Carroll gave an update to the commission of the current board members on the
Fountain Hills Sister Cities Corporation.
2020& 2021 Fountain Hills Sister Cities Board is as follows: Carol Carroll, President
Elizabeth Matej-Horchem,Vice President & Rep for Poland Christine Colley,Treasurer
& Rep for Germany and Belgium Michal Suchanek, Secretary Luke Salzman, High
School Representative & Coordinator Andre, student representative Suzanne Nann,
At Large Roxanne & Hank Boryczki, Rep for Ataco, El Salvador Frequent visitors and
volunteers: Commissioners: Bev Tall, Lisa Ristucci, Nick Stumpf.
9. ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Commissioner Bev Tall, seconded by Commissioner Vicky Derksen to
adjourn at 4:50 p.m.
Vote: 4-0- Unanimously
SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION
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0444_
Carol Carroll, Chairman
ATTEST AND PREP ED BY:
Angela piritu, cutive Assistant
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular
Meeting held by the Fountain Hills Sister Cities Advisory Commission in the Town Hall Council
Chambers on the 30th day of September 2020. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and
that a quorum was present.
DATED this 17th day of March 2021.
Angela E piritu, Executive Assistant