Sister Cities committee negotiates trust rules after trustees raise concerns

Members of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Sister Cities Committee reported on May 15 that efforts to create a small-purpose trust to pay for quick, hospitality-related expenses for visiting sister-city delegations are stalled after trustees of the city's trust funds raised objections.

The committee has proposed a narrow trust to hold modest sums for items such as flowers, receptions or short-notice hospitality for visiting delegations, committee member Paul Solon said at the meeting. "As you all know, Christina and I have been diligently laboring to get a trust in place in accordance with specifications, which this committee has determined," Solon said, describing the group—s goal of creating a readily available fund for small, local expenditures tied to sister-city activity.

Committee members said trustees expressed two main concerns: that public (city) money should not be commingled with private donations in the same trust, and that the trustees want greater formal oversight of any expenditures. Paul Solon said the trustees raised the possibility that every disbursement be approved by the full City Council, a change committee members said would defeat the purpose of having a short-notice fund. "That would mean waiting sometimes as long as a month before we could make an expenditure," Solon said, adding that such a delay would undercut the fund—s use for quick hospitality needs.

In response, committee members described a possible compromise they plan to take back to the trustees: restrict the trust to private donations only, and permit the city manager to certify expenditures up to a dollar threshold (committee discussion suggested $1,000 to $2,000), with larger amounts requiring City Council approval. Solon said the proposal remains under discussion and is not final. "So we are probably moving to where the trust would have to be modified so that it could only receive private money," he said.

Trustee Tom Watson was identified in committee remarks as the trustee who raised the commingling concern and offered cautionary examples about misuse; Solon recounted that Watson cited a hypothetical where a donor could try to use contributed funds to finance a personal trip unless rules prevented it. Committee members said the trustees— concerns prompted additional drafting and more meetings.

Committee members emphasized that the trust is intended to encourage transparent, reliable funding for receptions and hosting so volunteer organizers and school partners are not left covering costs. Members said an alternative is for the city to allocate hospitality funds directly in the annual budget to avoid the accounting problems trustees flagged.

Next steps: Solon and Christine (committee member) said they will meet with the trustees next Wednesday morning to pursue the private-funds restriction and the city-manager certification threshold, then return to the committee with a revised draft before seeking City Council action. No formal vote or ordinance was taken on the trust at the May 15 meeting.

Ending

Committee members said they expect further drafts after their meeting with trustees and will report back; the committee did not set a firm dollar threshold in the meeting and described the proposal as preliminary.