CC 10-10-2023 Item No. 5. Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and International Delegations_Supplemental Report1
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
SUPPLEMENTAL 1
Meeting: October 10, 2023
Agenda Item #5
Subject: Updates to the Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and
International Delegations
Recommended Action
Adopt the updated City of Cupertino’s Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship
Cities, and International Delegations, which aim to ensure efficiency within the Sister and
Friendship City program and clarity on travel expenses and gifts.
The following sentence from the original 2018 Sister City policy was inadvertently
omitted from attachments B and C: “An additional $5,000 will be considered for adult
delegation visits every 5 years”. Staff has corrected the attachments, which are included
with this report as attachments D and E.
Staff’s responses to questions received from councilmember are shown in italics.
Q1: Does the policy state who pays for staff who accompany council members traveling
to sister cities? On Page 29, the paragraph: “All other Council or City Staff....in advance
by the City Council" didn't seem clear to me. (Vice Mayor Mohan)
Staff response: This policy does not address staff travel as it is a Council policy.
Q2: Who has requested this policy update and when was such a request made?
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: Based on the discussion during the council meeting on April 13 regarding the
upcoming Sister City trip, staff committed to provide clarifications, where needed, and further
streamline the program.
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Q3: There were a few other policy updates requested by the residents during the 2023-24
Work Program creation process, but they were not approved by the Council, such as a
request to update noise level policy and sign ordinance. Through which agenda setting
process, has this item been prioritized over other items? This is to ensure that the city
operations follow the Council direction, per Municipal Code and to ensure transparency
in city operations so we give fair treatment to every item and every request.
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: At times, staff makes the administrative decision to bring forward policy revisions
for Council consideration when policy adjustments are necessary.
Q4: The staff report states "Staff recently met with all Sister City representatives in order
to gather feedback and incorporate their recommendations whenever possible."
Please provide meeting dates and meeting minutes and attendees of these meetings.
This is to ensure transparency and accountability for policy recommendations, especially
since the Council would have to adopt policy updates based on staff recommendations
created from these meetings with representatives. (Chao)
Staff response: Staff met with representatives from all four Sister Cities on September 15.
Attendees included Alysa Sakkas (Toyokawa), Helene Davis (Copertino), Angela Lee Chen
(Hsinchu) and Reena Rao (Bhubaneswar). This was an informal meeting, and no meeting
minutes were recorded.
Q5: The staff report states "As part of the research on similar programs in other cities,
staff reviewed the Sister and Friendship City policies in cities throughout California:
Santa Cruz, South San Francisco, Bakersfield, Irvine, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Mountain
View, Pasadena, Redwood City, San Diego, San Jose, Vallejo and Watsonville."
I would like to know the number of hours of staff time spent to prepare this policy
updates, including meeting with the sister city representatives, which normally are not
done by any city staff, as the Council members were normally the ones engaging with
sister cities, and the time spent researching the policies for the 13 cities mentioned.
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: In an estimated total, staff spent less than 10 hours of research on this policy
including the meeting with representatives and the research into the 13 other cities.
Q6: Since the staff has done thorough research on other policies, could these policies be
made available, and a summary be made available? What policy updates proposed are
in reference to these policies? (Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: As aforementioned explained, minimal research was conducted for the proposed
policy updates. The research was mainly to understand which cities have an established
Sister/Friendship program. The obtained policies are attached as Attachment F.
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Q7: The current policy states that the "eligibility requirements" include
o Detailed accounting of prior year actual revenue and expenses
o Summary of prior year activities
o Proposed budget plan
o Fundraising plan"
I am curious where do I find such report from each sister city in the past 4 years?
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: Sister City Committees are required to provide this information to staff on an
annual basis. Staff is working to consolidate this information from prior years and can be made
available once finalized.
Q8: One important change is the minimum size of the student exchange program is
change from a minimum of 5 to none. As a result, a student exchange with only one
student would receive $2500 funding from the City. Please provide the rationale for such
a change and any supporting documents to support this recommendation.
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: This recommendation was proposed by the Sister City representatives. Council can
consider this recommendation and make changes as desired.
Q9: One important change is that the termination of any sister or friendship city
relationship would be done administratively. Please provide the rationale for such a
change and any supporting documents to support this recommendation.
(Councilmember Chao)
Staff response: This recommendation streamlines the program so that in the rare case that a Sister
or Friendship City relationship needs to be terminated, staff can respond in a timely manner and
notify the Council through an informational memo. Similar to question 8 above, Council can
consider this recommendation and make changes as desired.
Q10: What are our current Friendship Cities, please provide name and Country.
(Councilmember Moore)
Staff response:
• New Taipei City, Taiwan
• Taichung, Taiwan
• Tongxiang, People’s Republic of China
• Xianning, People’s Republic of China
Q11: What rooms/facilities are included for free use and what is their total cost along with
staff and equipment use? 18 meeting rooms per year for 4 Sister Cities are granted for free
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and exclude Cupertino Community Hall and the Quinlan’s Cupertino Room but there are
many meeting rooms throughout the City. (Councilmember Moore)
Staff response: The Sister City Committees can reserve any facility that is not excluded in the
Policy. They generally use the following rooms:
• Social Room
• City Hall Conference Room
• Memorial Park Picnic
• Portal Park Building
Attachment G, provided with this report, outlines the cost of the waived fees and staff cost.
Meeting room space for up to 18 times costs the City about $482 per year.
Q12: The policy does not explain how much is granted through the Festival Fee waivers
annually to the various Sister Cities, please provide the Festival Fee waiver policy and the
totals granted to each Sister City. The adopted FY 23-24 Budget does not show the festival
grants on pages 378-379. It does show a $77k reduction for removal of contract services
for 4th of July fireworks. (Councilmember Moore)
Staff response: Attachment G, provided with this report, outlines the cost of the waived
Festival Fees and staff cost. The Festival policy can be found on the City webpage
“Festival Information.”
Q13: The Staff Report lists a number of cities whose Sister Cities were reviewed, please
share a report on what was found. How many cities have both Friendship and Sister
Cities, how much money, sheriff, staff, and facility use is donated to these organizations
in other cities compared to Cupertino? Are we granting far more or less? Do some cities
take a pause on granting when in a financial crisis? (Councilmember Moore)
Staff response: Please see the response to question 6 above. Attachment F, included with this
report, includes examples of policies or procedures from other cities. Most other cities do not
include details regarding the cost of the Friendship or Sister City program. The recommended
updates to the policy include language that provides the City the flexibility to approve expenses
based on budget availability.
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Attachments Provided with Original Staff Report:
A. 2018 Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and International
Delegations
B. Redline: Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and International
Delegations
C. Clean: Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and International
Delegations
Additional Attachments Provided with Supplemental 1:
D. UPDATED Redline: Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and
International Delegations
E. UPDATED Clean: Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and
International Delegations
F. Sister and Friendship City Policies and Protocols From Other Cities
G. Sister City Program Cost Fee Waivers