Community Relations Commission

1 COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION 2 SISTER CITIES SUBCOMMITTEE 3 4 Minutes for Meeting on 5 October 1, 2014 6 7 Present: Chair Bruce Doughty, Commissioners Safa Hamed and Dale Duda. 8 9 Absent: Commissioner Elliot Bruckman, Member Gerri Kirby. 10 11 Place: Northbrook Public Library, Study Room 2. 12 13 Chair Doughty called the meeting to order around 7:00 p.m. He welcomed 14 Commissioners Hamed and Duda to this first official meeting of the Sister Cities 15 Subcommittee. He then provided an overview for the meeting. 16 17 18 Information Gathering 19 20 Chair Doughty reviewed some of the information gathered to date regarding other 21 cities that have established Sister Cities relationships. These cities include 22 Burlington, Vermont and Palatine, Illinois, among others. Chair Doughty and 23 Commissioner Hamed shared information learned from conversations with the 24 leaders of the Burlington and Palatine organizations. Chair Doughty also noted that 25 he and Commissioner Bruckman were scheduled to meet in the coming week with 26 Carole Wolf, who heads up Highland Park’s Sister Cities group. Commissioner 27 Bruckman had already spoken preliminarily with Ms. Wolfe and had found her very 28 helpful. Chair Doughty observed that further information may be gathered in the 29 future, but with the coming input from Highland Park, the Subcommittee would 30 seem to have sufficient information to proceed, at least initially. 31 32 33 Subcommittee Overview 34 35 Chair Doughty provided an overview of the initial process that the Subcommittee 36 will follow over the ensuing months. Items include developing a mission statement, 37 adding a youth member to the Subcommittee, developing a plan to find candidate 38 cities, developing criteria to evaluate candidate cities, identifying candidate cities, 39 vetting candidate cities and choosing one to propose as Northbrook’s initial sister 40 city, presenting that proposed candidate sister city to the Commission, and, with 41 Commission input and approval, presenting that candidate to the Village Board. 42 Commissioners Hamed and Duda emphasized the importance of involving youth in 43 the project. The Subcommittee discussed different possible resources at Glenbrook 44 North High School for helping identify a youth member. 45 46 1 47 Initial Discussion of Evaluating Process 48 49 Chair Doughty provided an overview of the mission of the Subcommittee, noting 50 that it will be consistent with the Commission’s mission and will be the framework 51 for the process that the Subcommittee will follow. Among other things, the 52 Subcommittee’s mission will have a cultural and educational focus, and its work will 53 be both inclusive across the Village and transparent. Chair Doughty stated that he 54 would draft a mission statement for the Subcommittee to review at its next meeting. 55 56 The Subcommittee then discussed various methods for identifying candidates, 57 including word of mouth, responses to publicity, and information available from 58 Sister Cities International. The Subcommittee next turned to criteria to be used in 59 evaluating candidate sister cities. Initial factors identified included size, 60 government support, public interest, and opportunities for cultural and educational 61 exchange. The Subcommittee agreed to discuss the identification methods and 62 evaluation criteria more at its next meeting. 63 64 65 Timeline 66 67 The Subcommittee agreed to meet next on October 29, 2014, aiming to accomplish 68 the various tasks outlined above. 69 70 71 Adjournment 72 73 The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:00 p.m. 74 75 76 77 Respectfully submitted, 78 79 Bruce Doughty 80 Chair, Sister Cities Subcommittee 81 2