Town of
Cary
SISTER CITIES COMMISSION (SCC)
Minutes of
Present: Mary
Lou Addor, Mary Brice, Jinnie Davis, Lisa Englert, Amy Feistel, Sharon Hannigan,
Cricket Harrell, Ian Henshaw, Steve Morrison, Sarah Sheffield, Darrell Stover
(Staff Liaison)
Absent: Samuel
Fudzie, Jack Smith (Council Liaison)
Guests: Karen
Gray (Deputy Town Clerk), Sue Rowland (Town Clerk)
Handouts: Agenda
(Ian), Minutes (Jinnie), Proposed Itinerary for Lazy Daze Delegations (Ian)
CALL TO ORDER: Vice
Chair Ian Henshaw called the meeting to order at
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Re
the separation of minutes for the Sister Cities Commission (SCC) and Sister
Cities Association (SCA), Jinnie Davis stated that the Town of
LAZY DAZE DELEGATIONS:
Update on Lazy
Daze Invitations/Responses to Sister Cities: Ian
Henshaw reported that letters have been sent to all the sister cities. We are
expecting two or three representatives from Le Touquet
Activities: The commission
reviewed Ian’s proposed itinerary covering activities from August 21 through
26. Karen reported on her inquiries so far:
she needs to know the number of persons and desired time for the tour of
the SAS Soccer Park; the Water Treatment facility is also available for a tour,
however Mary Lou indicated that our initial interest was in Cary’s water
conservation and sustainability efforts as publicized by Jennifer Platt; Karen
will check with Jennifer. Karen has also called about other activities such as
the Durham Bulls game and will check on the possibility of vouchers for ballpark
food. The group discussed shifting activities to group them by geographical
location and eliminating others (e.g., Hemlock Bluffs, zoo) that we may not have
time to accommodate. Mary Lou mentioned that we had originally drawn up an
extensive list of possible activities; Sue Rowland asked for a copy of the list
to see which ones might fit and to begin involving appropriate staff. Karen
asked Ian and Mary Lou to include her, Sue, and Darrell on pertinent e-mail
messages and to keep them informed of our plans.
Ian reported that we still lack formal itineraries from our
visitors. Steve suggested presenting our completed itinerary to them and
allowing them to organize their own schedules around our core events. The
subcommittees will handle meeting and departure of their delegations on Thursday
and Tuesday; our core activities will occur Friday, Saturday, and Monday, with
Sunday being a free day.
Sue mentioned that many elected officials will be at a
Regency Amphitheatre event on the evening of August 22 and invited our guests to
attend. The commission agreed to a
For Monday’s itinerary, Sue asked if the commission would
like her to request the Chamber of Commerce to handle the scheduling of tours of
local businesses and to host a lunch. Commission members were ecstatic in their
acceptance of her offer. The afternoon will be spent in RTP; our sister cities
may be particularly interested in biotechnology companies. Karen will ask RTI
for information regarding tours of EPA and appropriate biotech companies. Lunch
at EPA is also a possibility. Some of these organizations may require
identification for tours; the sister city liaisons will alert their delegations
about the need to bring their passports along. We may also need the names of
those attending the tour and a photocopy of the first page of their passports.
Karen will find out what kind of identification may be needed for SCC members
accompanying the visitors on the tour.
Meals: Currently we have no meal
plans for Friday breakfast or lunch. Sue suggested that the hotels may offer a
complimentary breakfast. Darrell Stover will call the Food Factory to ask about
12 donated meals for lunch; any commission members attending will pay their own
way. Amy suggested that the liaisons also inquire about dietary restrictions.
For Saturday night dinner, Amy suggested Lucky 32 and will
check on their willingness to donate meals. If so, she will make a reservation
for about
Lodgings: Karen is working
on hotel rooms (e.g., with the new manager at the Hampton Inn). She will ask for
12 single rooms (or cut back to double, if needed).
Transportation: Sarah Sheffield
asked about transportation for our guests over the weekend. The liaisons agreed
to include in their letters the suggestion that the delegates consider renting a
car for activities and days beyond the core schedule and for their free day.
Steve noted that subcommittee members are free to interact further with their
delegations if desired. For transportation to and from the airport, Amy and
Steve have trucks and cannot take many passengers but can take luggage.
Lazy Daze: Mary Lou said
that we plan to put two booths together to form one large one. Mary can get a
table, and we have used Sam’s in the past. Amy has two six-foot tables.
Our assigned location is near Ashworth’s; Darrell will
follow up on a preferred location near Cary Elementary, if recent reseeding
allows. Steve will check with Ken George on borrowing his tent. Mary Lou
discussed the scheduling of volunteers for Lazy Daze and is maintaining the
sign-up sheet and the detailed agenda.
Publicity. We hope to have
television coverage of the reception. Darrell suggested issuing a press release
out of Susan Moran’s office. Members discussed the purpose of the release: to
announce the visit of our foreign delegations and to publicize the sister cities
initiative. Darrell will talk to Sue and Karen about releasing it in a timely
fashion via the town channels (e.g., a PSA followed by weekend updates).
Other: Sharon Hannigan suggested
compiling a basket of brochures and other informational items as background for
our delegations. Sue and Karen offered to obtain Town of
As
for gifts for the delegations, Jinnie checked with Ford’s Fancy Fruits at the
Farmer’s Market about donating baskets of N.C. food and products. They can
only offer us a 20% discount on their baskets, which range from $26 to over
$100. Amy will try her contact at A Southern Season for baskets. These gifts
will probably be placed in the guests’ hotel rooms or be available at the
front desk upon their arrival. Lisa will check with someone at the First Flight
Centennial Commission for gift items. The
SCC agreed not to pursue a proclamation. Karen mentioned possibilities of gifts
from the Town of
Ian
will draft the official correspondence for each delegation with the additional
information and questions that have come up and will send to Sue and Karen for
review. Sue requested that the letters not be sent out until next Monday, after
Karen has had a chance to check on hotels. She also suggested asking what else
the representatives might be interested in doing while in town, so we can obtain
pertinent information for them. In the meantime, sister city liaisons can
communicate informally with their contact persons via e-mail but will copy Sue (sue.rowland@townofcary.org)
and Karen (karen.gray@townofcary.org)
on their messages.
Official
Contacts from our Sister Cities:
Meath. No further business from
Le Touquet. Cricket Harrell
will be gone from the beginning of August till late on August 23.
Hsinchu. Amy will be gone the first week of August. She has written the
UPDATE
ON LE TOUQUET SUMMER EXCHANGE: Cricket noted how instrumental Karen Gray was in helping with
the exchange program; commission members acknowledged Karen’s role with a
round of applause. Steve singled out Cricket’s significant contributions in
her tireless (and very successful!) efforts to obtain donations of free meals,
free tickets, etc., and her many hours of work on this program. He also
recognized Mary Brice for planning and implementing the well-received picnic
(where Mary Lou, Jinnie, and Sarah also helped). Steve himself organized a trip
to the beach with five other chaperones from the host families. With Ian’s
help, we were allowed to use space at
Steve reviewed the students’ schedule so far and discussed
the remaining activities. Noting The
Commission
Planning Calendar: Ian
suggested tabling this agenda item until September, when the commission has more
time to consider it. Jinnie agreed.
OTHER BUSINESS: Cricket
is missing the black binder she lent us for Spring Daze. No one present knows
what happened to it.
Mary Lou suggested holding the next commission meeting
sooner, because it is currently scheduled for August 21, in the midst of our
sister city activities. The members agreed to meet instead on August 13, on the
third floor of Page-Walker. Karen will check on holiday schedules and post the
notice. If another special meeting is needed, Karen needs 48 hours’ notice.
CULTURAL EVENTS: Darrell
reported on upcoming cultural events, notably the reggae band at Page-Walker. He
reminded the SCC that Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Resources has
programming funds for special events, if the commission decides to sponsor such
an event (our Lazy Daze activities do not qualify). Steve suggested discussing
at a later meeting the possibility of sponsoring one program a quarter. Darrell
noted that the deadline is early October if we wish to publicize our events in
the spring brochure.
ADJOURNMENT: Mary
Lou made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and
The meeting was adjourned at