Town of Cary
SISTER CITIES COMMISSION
Minutes of February 21, 2002 Meeting.

Present: Samuel Fudzie, Barry Mitsch, Sarah Sheffield, Steve Morrison, Nadette Welterlin-Hugg, Ildiko Trombitas, Scotty Elliot, Janice Stolzenberg and Jinnie Davis (the newest member to the commission).

Guest: Mr. Ian Henshaw

Introduction: The members individually introduced themselves to Ms Jinnie Davis who is the newest member to be appointed to the commission.

Previous Minutes: The minutes of the January 17th, 2002 meeting were read. Barry Mitsch motioned to approve the minutes. Ildiko Trombitas seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.

Treasurers Report: The treasurer was not present to give his report on the association's account. The balance in the account was expected to be the same from last month since there has been no activity and the expected refund of $500.00 from the Chamber of Commerce has not yet been received.

Markham: Barry gave a report on the planned inner-city trip to the city of Markham The trip is being organized by the Cary Chamber of Commerce. The trip is planned to depart from Cary on Thursday to return on Sunday. About 43 individuals have signed up to go on the trip. The breakdown of the individuals that have signed to go on the trip include 4 Town of Cary commissioners, 18 Cary Chamber of Commerce members, 4 to 5 developers, 4 Town of Cary staff members and the Principal of Cary High School. Barry gave a brief run-down of the planned activities to be executed during the trip which includes signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Town of Cary and the City of Markham.

Travel Agent: Sarah informed the members that a bidding document is being prepared to soliciting bids from the various travel agents that would like to be selected as the official travel agent of the Sister Cities Association of Cary. Sharon, Mary Lou and Sarah to work on putting together the bid proposal. It was recommended that the Town of Cary must look at the bid proposal before it goes out to the various travel agents.

Le-Touquet: Nadette informed the members that she is considering organizing a trip for young kids from Cary to visit Le Touquet during the Spring of 2003.

Database: Steve was commended by Barry and the other members of the commission on his good work of putting together a data base of about 370 entries to be used as a mailing list by the Sister Cities Association of Cary. Suggestions were however put forward by the members as to how the database should be edited and organized. Steve promised to edit and organize the list. The database is to be used as a mailing list to solicit membership into the Sister Cities Association of Cary. It was suggested the mail to be sent out to the people on the data base have a return address to help edit the list for future use.

Sister Cities Association of Cary: Towards signing on more membership to the Sister Cities Association of Cary, Barry will provide a short note to Scotty directing people to the Sister Cities Association of Cary on the web. This short note is to be published in the Town publications and programs.

Sister Cities Catalogue: Sarah distributed the printed catalogue to the members. Sarah to e-mail the PDF file to the members. Barry to e-mail the PDF file to the city of Markham. Nadette will e-mail the PDF file to Le Touquet.

Other Matters: Barry read a letter he had received from the newly appointed mayor of Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

Scotty informed members of the upcoming March 17, New Orleans style Jazz Band Music to be presented by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at the Herb Young Community Center. Scotty solicited members to volunteer to help at the event.

Barry informed members of a seminar, "How to do Business in Canada" being planned by the Cary Chamber of Commerce. Barry will try to get the Sister Cities Association of Cary to be co-sponsors.

The meeting was adjourned at 8.30 pm

Next Meeting: The commission's next meeting is March 21, 2002.

By: Samuel Fudzie