City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended the City Council consider City sponsorship of the Culver City Sister
City’s 50
th
Anniversary Community Celebration and, if approved, approve a
Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Culver City Sister City
Committee (CCSCC) related thereto.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
On April 21, 2009, the City entered into an Agreement with CCSCC to “develop and
administer diverse programs and activities to promote art, culture, education, civic
affairs and economic development, and enhance the relationships with Sister Cities
through ongoing activities.” The Agreement states that both the City and the CCSCC
agree that “the broad goals of the City include advancing international understanding
and cooperation, exchanging ideas and information, and establishing goodwill and
positive relations in the community and with the citizens of Sister Cities.”
The CCSCC has been allocated $16,600 for Fiscal Year 2012/2013, which includes
$14,000 for discretionary expenses and $2,600 for the reimbursement of required
insurance policy premiums as outlined in the Agreement. CCSCC representatives
have met with staff to begin to discuss plans for events on January 12, 2013 to
commemorate the 50
th
Anniversary of the CCSCC. Because CCSCC representatives
believe that the costs to produce events associated with the 50
th
Anniversary will
exceed what is budgeted to the CCSCC for discretionary expenses this fiscal year, the
CCSCC has requested the City Council consider approving an additional $948 in
funding for the Anniversary events. The $948 includes $348 estimated for the cost to
Meeting Date: 11/12/12 Item Number: A-2
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM: (1) Consideration of City Sponsorship of the
Culver City Sister City Committee’s 50
th
Anniversary Community Celebration on
January 12, 2013 and (2) Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding Related
thereto.
Contact Person/Dept.: Shelly Wolfberg Phone Number: (310) 253-6008
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Culver City Sister City Committee President; (E-Mail) Agenda and
Meetings – City Council (11/08/12)
Department Approval:
Martin R. Cole (11/07/12)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (11/06/12)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by M. Noller) (11/07/12)
City Manager Approval:
John Nachbar (11/08/12) City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
rent four rooms at the Veterans Memorial Complex and $600 estimated for a banner
to be purchased and displayed across Overland Avenue. Upon staff’s further
research, staff learned that the cost to hang a banner across Overland Avenue,
including materials, labor and the City’s permit fee was closer to $1,250. Additionally,
installation costs may increase prior to the banner being hung. Therefore, the City
Council may wish to consider reimbursement for a banner costs not to exceed $1,300.
A copy of the CCSCC’s request is found in the Attachment.
In addition to the waiver of room rental fees and the cost of the banner, some City staff
time would be spent on the planning, preparation and/or promotion of the event.
Should the City Council approve the request, the fee waivers, hard costs and staff
time, would collectively meet the minimum contribution of $1,000 to qualify the event
as City-sponsored.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
If the City Council recommends approval of an amount up to $1,648 to be reimbursed
to the CCSCC for the cost of room rentals and the banner over Overland Avenue, the
City Manager would initiate an administrative action to transfer the approved additional
support from the Appropriated Reserves – 10116100.910200 into account
10116100.517500 – Contributions to Other Agencies.
ATTACHMENT:
Letter from CCSCC to the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council, dated
November 6, 2012.
MOTIONS:
That the City Council:
1. Designate the CCSCC 50
th
Anniversary community celebration as a City-
sponsored event and determine the amount of a reimbursement for event costs in
an amount not to exceed $________;
AND
2. Approve a memorandum of understanding with the CCSCC related to the
reimbursement of costs for the event;
City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
AND
3. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents;
AND
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.
MEETING DATE: November 12, 2012
AGENDA ITEM: Consideration of City Sponsorship of the Culver City
Sister City Committee’s 50
th
Anniversary Community
Celebration on January 12, 2013 and Approval of a
Memorandum of Understanding Related thereto.
ATTACHMENTS
Pages
Letter from CCSCC to the Honorable Mayor and Members of
the City Council, dated November 6, 2012.
1
Culver City Sister City Committee, Inc.
Culver City, Uruapan, Kaizuka, Iksan City, Lethbridge,
United States Mexico Japan South Korea Canada
November 6, 2012
Dear Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council,
December 10, 2012 marks the 50
th
anniversary of the creation of the Culver City Sister City Committee
(CCSCC) by the City Council of Culver City. CCSCC is planning a community celebration of this once in a
lifetime event on Saturday, January 12, 2013. We are planning a free event open to the public on Saturday
afternoon at Vets Auditorium that will showcase our 4 current sister cities: Kaizuka, Japan; Uruapan, Mexico;
Iksan, Korea; and Lethbridge, Canada in each of the rooms at Vets named after each of our sister cities. Each
room will have information about each city’s unique culture, demographics, statistics, language and more. We
will also have additional family friendly activities in the Rotunda Room.
That evening we will hold a Celebration of Cultures Dinner at the Courtyard Marriott Culver City open to the
public. The dinner cost has been kept as reasonable as possible to allow for many community members to
attend. We are inviting the Mayors of each city as well as the leaders of their sister city committees to join in
the celebration and have already received affirmative responses. In addition we will be honoring founding
members as well as community leaders who have contributed to the success of our citizen diplomacy activities
through the years. The festivities will include entertainment representative of the four countries.
We appreciate the current City Council of Culver City playing a leading role in the 50
th
Anniversary program
and co-sponsoring the events of January 12, 2013 with the Culver City Sister City Committee. We are
evaluating and adjusting our current annual budget to allow for the additional expenses that will be incurred in
the execution of such a major event including the visitation of dignitary guests from all four countries, and are
requesting these two additional areas of financial support from the city:
• waiver of fees associated with room rentals at Vets Auditorium for the January 12
th
afternoon program.
Based on our MOU with the city, the cost for 4 hours usage of the 4 rooms is $348.
• the cost of hanging a banner across Overland Avenue which we understand to be $600.
On behalf of our Board of Directors and our President, I look forward to working together to offer our
community an anniversary celebration worthy of the 50 years of ongoing service in international citizen
diplomacy whose end result includes taking Culver City around the world and bringing the world to
Culver City.
Sincerely,
Barbara Honig
Vice President, 50
th
Anniversary Chair
P.O. Box 1072, Culver City, CA 90232 - 1072 www.culvercitysistercitycommittee.org