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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - AIPCA Meeting Minutes from April 17, 2025Ames International Partner Cities Association April 17, 2025 Minutes for In-person meeting at the Ames Public Library Attendees: Karla McCollum, Marina Kraeva, Katrina Hardin Williams, Michael Abrams, Nicki Mackey, Laura Hansen, Jessica Fincham, Valerie Stallbaumer 1. Call to Order by Marina at 5:42pm. Karla and Nicki arrived about 10 minutes later. 2. Approval of March 20, 2025 Minutes. Michael made a motion to approve. Marina seconded. Valerie made the correction to Nicki’s name in sentence 2 of the minutes. 3. Treasurer report by Laura Hansen. There was a deposit of $75 from checks and $171 from Zeffy. As of April 7, the treasury total was $5,639.52. A check for $200 will be received from the City of Ames for mailing the newsletter. There will be an update of the point of contact in July, 2025. Marina made a motion to approve the treasurer report. Jessica seconded it. 4. Karla reported on the Podujeva, Kosovo and City of Ames meeting that occurred earlier today. Six members of the Podujeva delegation included their mayor, the director of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural development, the director of Inspection, and heads of other departments. The AIPCA delegation included Karla, Marina, Laura, and Nicki. They met with Ames Mayor John Haila and members of the Ames Reginal Economic Alliance. The primary interest of the Podujeva delegation was to learn more about agricultural topics. They are trying to increase the yield of their corn. They want more seed purity and disease resistance. The Kosovo consulate said that today’s meeting was the best they ever had in terms of its organization. There are eight Iowa and Kosovo partner city relationships in Iowa. A special occasion for Kosovo is June 19, the Liberation Day for Kosovo from Serbia. Dr. Curt Youngs of ISU is already working on agreements and arrangements with the Kosovo people. Karla said that our job is to connect with the people. She also said that she will keep Mayor Haila informed on updates with our partner city relationships of Koshu, Japan and Podujeva, Kosovo. 5. There are talks about three to five Kosovo agriculture students coming to Ames and some of our ISU agriculture students going there in exchange during the Spring or Fall of 2026 to study planting or harvesting issues. Karla and about five other people will go to Podujeva. 6. The AIPCA meeting was adjoined at about 6:30pm when volunteers started to arrive for the Crane Folding Project sponsored by the Japanese American Society of Iowa. Yoko Tanaka, representing the society, was present to teach all the people to fold 15 x 15 cm colorful squares of paper into the traditional origami cranes. We watched her Power Point presentation and made the cranes with Yoko and a few others helping people create the cranes. We made 77 that evening. The goal is to make 1,000 cranes from various people in Iowa and display them at the Iowa State Fair to create more awareness of the Iowa —Japan partnership. Leigh Carlson, International Relations Coordinator, from the Iowa Economic Development Authority was also as a guest at the crane folding event. 7. The meeting adjourned at 6:35pm.