HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/25/2014 SCC Subcommittee Minutes
Sister Cities Commission
German Sister City Subcommittee Meeting
August 25, 2014
Meeting Location:
Mount Prospect Public Library
Conference Room 130
10 S. Emerson, Mount Prospect, IL 60056
I. Call to order by Chairman Skip Farley at 5:45 p.m.
II. Roll Call: Skip Farley, George Busse, John Eilering, Georgia Mitchell, Paula Randant and Mayor
Arlene Juracek
III. Approval of July 29, 2014, Minutes: Accepted as submitted
IV. Citizens to be heard: None
V. Old Business
A. Hameln: Reviewed letter written by George Busse to Lord Mayor of Hameln inquiring as
to their interest in pursuing a Sister City / Twinning relationship with Mount Prospect.
Letter was approved but consensus was to have it signed and sent by the Village Mayor
and not the Subcommittee or one of its members. Busse will redraft letter for Mayor’s
signature and forward via email to the Mayor’s office for her to sign and mail.
B. Wulfenbuettel: Paula Randant requested help from our Sister City Sevres in contacting
Wulfenbuettel. Sevres and Wulfenbuettel are Twins. She has not gotten a response
from Sevres. Randant will continue to seek their help
C. Hildesheim: Georgia Mitchell had nothing new to report. There is a Bosch office in
Hildesheim.
D. Leinfelden-Echterdingen (L-D): Georgia Mitchell talked to a colleague about who is
located in the Power Tools Division of Bosch in L-D and believes they may be interested
in helping us explore possibility of twinning with L-D. L-D is located in southern
Germany and not in the vicinity of the other north-central German cities we are looking
at. Most of the early settlers of our area in Illinois came from north-central German.
However, the Bosch headquarters are located in L-D and the subcommittee agreed it
should be on our list of possible twins. Mitchell will follow up.
E. Sister City Commission organizational recommendations were discussed with Mayor
Juracek. The Subcommittee continues to recommend that there be a French and a
German Subcommittee that are independent but who report to a Sister City Executive
Committee. The Executive Committee should consist of three members - a
representative from each subcommittee and a Chairman appointed by the Mayor. The
Executive Committee would oversee the activities of the Subcommittees with a primary
focus on maximizing cooperation and avoiding conflict. Communication with the Mayor
regarding Subcommittee plans and activities should be transmitted though the
Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is the Mayor’s Sister City point of
contact. The membership of the Subcommittees was also discussed but no final
recommendation was made.
VI. New Business
A. At previous meeting, ideas regarding a mission statement for the Sister City program in
Mount Prospect have been discussed. It was suggested that mission statement be
generated by either the German Subcommittee or the Sister Cities Commission for
review and approval by both should be forwarded to the Mayor.
B. It was pointed out that while we use the term “Sister City,” the Europeans are more
familiar with “Twinning.” While the Subcommittee believes we should continue to
operate under the Sister City term, it was suggested that in correspondence with our
European contacts the term Twinning should be included.
VII. Other Business - None
VIII. Next Meeting: September 29th at 5:45 p.m. in the Mount Prospect Public Library.
IX. Adjourn: Chairman Farley adjourned the meeting at 6:40 p.m.