College Place youth commission recommends creating sister‑city committee after international presentations

College Place — The College Place Youth Advisory Commission on April 16 voted to recommend that the City Council create a College Place sister‑city committee, after viewing a welcome video from a prospective Mexican partner and discussing candidate Italian cities and a range of exchange programs.

The commission said the recommendation will be presented to the City Council at an upcoming workshop; commission staff said the workshop option is May 6 with a likely vote to follow during a regular council meeting the week after. Commission members also agreed to hold a special commission meeting before the end of April to advance planning and to assemble materials for the council presentation.

Commission staff member Miss Garcia led the discussion and asked commissioners to brainstorm stakeholders and program ideas. “I would like you guys to just all turn on your microphones and feel free to, engage in this conversation,” Garcia said, opening the brainstorming segment. Members identified schools, Walla Walla University students, local businesses, ASB/student groups, and community organizations as potential partners.

The meeting included a recorded welcome from a community the commission repeatedly referenced as Hunga Payol (rendered variously in the meeting transcript as “Huongopao,” “Hunga Payol” and similar spellings). Commission members described that video as a prompt for cultural exchanges and noted that community members with ties to that town now live in the Walla Walla/College Place area and have offered to travel and testify in support of a sister‑city relationship.

Commissioners sketched a range of early programs they want the committee to pursue: pen‑pal exchanges, youth art shows, a film or arts exchange, joint sports/recreation activities (for example, a virtual shared‑miles running challenge), and small gift packages or displays (T‑shirts, university bookstore items, lavender from local farms, or symbolic mascots) to send between cities. Commissioners also discussed logistical limits on shipping food and the need to check import rules before sending perishable agricultural goods.

Members agreed to invite local schools and student associations to contribute art and packages and noted that local business owners and organizations such as community arts groups could help host youth exhibits. One commissioner offered to contact Davis Elementary (the principal there was identified during the meeting) and student leaders said they could coordinate ASB contributions and university marketing or makerspace efforts (3D printing and shop projects) to produce keepsakes.

As a next step, commissioners agreed on a motion recommending that the City Council form an official College Place sister‑city committee and to present the project to council staff for scheduling. The commission recorded a motion, received a second, and the chair announced, “the ayes have it,” approving the recommendation. The group planned to present at the May 6 council workshop (a nonvoting session) with the intent that the item be scheduled for a formal vote at a subsequent council meeting (options discussed included May 13 or later).

Commissioners also noted a practical hospitality offer from the Mexican community contact Javier Hernandez: that visitors could be accommodated at a city‑owned resort and assisted with local transportation during a visit, a detail commissioners said could lower the barrier for an eventual in‑person exchange.

The commission set a special meeting in the coming weeks (members discussed April 30 and May 7 dates and agreed April 30 was likely best) to prepare materials and finalize who will present to the City Council. The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

The commission did not adopt bylaws or formal partnership language at this session; instead the action forwarded a recommendation to the City Council to create a committee that would develop formal partnership agreements and implementation details.