There were several speakers from the floor last Friday on the agenda item dealing with the Culver City Sister Cities Committee.
All praised the work of the CCSCC and its contributions to international understanding, yet recognized the wisdom of having a subcommittee of the City Council and the CCSCC meet to set forth recommendations for the future.
After Councilmembers Scott Malsin Gary Silbiger gave resounding endorsements to the CCSCC and Councilperson Carol Gross indicated that she was pleased that such a subcommittee would be formed, Councilman Steve Rose began his attack.
First, he listed the sister cities that he had visited – four times to Kaizuka, Japan, and also visits to Iksan, Korea, and Letheridge, Canada.
Praise Followed by Attack
He also acknowledged the expense of the garden in front of the Julian Dixon Library that was built by Kaizuka as a gift to Culver City. Then he began to attack the CCSCC by saying that he had been trying unsuccessfully to get information from them for a year, and he would vote against the motion that had been recommended by city staff.
Mr. Rose specifically said he wanted to know the tax ID they used for their accounting purposes, and he added that he had not received a response.
Turning to insurance coverage, he said he wasn’t going to keep our children from traveling to another country (the CCSCC would be responsible for that), but that he didn’t think the CCSCC had investigated the question of liability.
Another concern he had was the status of the CCSCC as a non-profit organization.
Madame President
When Sonia Karroum, president of the CCSCC for the past two years, spoke during the public comments, she only introduced herself and said that she would save her three minutes to respond to any questions the Council members might have.
Mayor Alan Corlin agreed to this. After Mr. Rose raised his concerns, Mr. Silbiger suggested that Ms. Karroum be allowed to speak to the concerns. City Manager Jerry Fulwood and Ms. Gross indicated that they thought these could be dealt with by the subcommittee.
Mr. Silbiger stuck to his guns. He insisted that Ms. Karroum be given an opportunity to respond. Mayor Corlin asked Ms. Karroum what she wished to do. She chose to answer the concerns of Mr. Rose. She said that:
There is a city tax ID number used by the CCSCC on their checks.
The City Attorney indicated that liability was covered by the city since the CCSCC was an entity of the city.
Since the CCSCC is part of the city, the City Treasurer’s office indicated that deductions taken by individuals for gifts to CCSCC were up to them and their accountants. Far from having hidden their finances from the city as Mr. Rose alleged, the CCSCC collected public money only by invoicing for specific expenses.
Since such payments were made by the City Treasurer, the financial story was available to the City Council.
Council member Rose replied that that’s what the CCSC had been telling him during the past year! It was another rare evening.
The Case for Continuing to Fund Sister Cities Why Sister Cities Resisted Becoming a 501 c3
Wirtten by Sonia Karroum
The points I will be addressing are:
- Community and City Council involvement.
- Questions of liability.
- The Japanese dignitaries’ dinners — Are we selling the city’s name to receive donations?
- Can individuals claim their donations to our committee?
- How is the money spent?
The first point, City Council and community involvement:
It was established a couple of weeks ago that Culver City Sister Cities Committee was founded by the City Council at their meeting of Dec. 10, 1962.
At that meeting, there was a motion that the mayor convene these two committees and guide them until chairmen are appointed. So it seems to me that the appointment to these two committees was not meant to be long term. But it was meant as a directive to the group until such time as they elect their own chairmen.
You Have Been Around
Of the present Council members, Mr. Corlin, Mr. Rose and Ms. Gross have been serving for seven years, Mr. Silbiger for five and Mr. Malsin for one.
During those years, per CCSCC by-laws, and by precedence, you have been honorary and ex-officio members of the Committee.
You have received all notices, flyers and invitations.
You Are an Eyewitness
You have participated in presenting commendations commending one person and another, and proclamations, proclaiming one event or another. As such, you have been apprised of our activities and have participated in them.
Some of you have hosted families from our Sister Cities. Some of you have traveled to our Sister Cities.
The community also is apprised of our events, by email, by press and by regular mail.
How Could We Improve?
I don’t see a better form of advertisement to the community than the local newspapers, which have been very generous with their coverage of our activities.
We are also accessible via the city’s website, through a link to the Sister Cities Committee.
So, in my opinion, we have apprised the Council and community of our activities many times, and again to the point of no reproach. We have been receiving a lot of interest in our organization, and in our Student Exchange program. We actually had to turn down some students for lack of space in them.
Regarding questions of liability:
When the present officers of the Committee took office a couple of years ago, there were concerns of liability, too.
Our concerns were specifically about exchange students who go to visit other lands and those who come to visit Culver City. Are they covered?
We inquired with the city, and we received assurance from Mr. Nick Kimball, senior management analyst in Budget and Finance, that our committee was covered under Section IV of the liability insurance policy entitled: “Who Is an Insured.” (Page 23 of the report articulates who is covered.)
Receiving Assurance
In response to my inquiry, Mr. Kimball, on March 28, 2006, responded by email that yes, the umbrella policy f the city covers “employees, servants or volunteers while acting within the course and scope of their employment or duties as volunteers.”
Once my concerns were alleviated, we continued with the very successful program we had been running so far.
Many of our officers would not have accepted to continue their volunteer services had the question of liability not been clarified by the Administration at the time.
I’ve asked Dale Jones, former Culver City Chief Administrative Officer and lifetime member of the CCSCC, to respond to this one. Here is his answer:
Publicity Cannot be Bad
“There is certainly no bad publicity received by ‘selling’ the Culver City name. Besides, we are not selling. We are giving.
“What if these were kings, queens, prime ministers or mayors giving us money for the orphans? Would it make a difference then?
“This is very similar to the airdrops of food and supplies to Berlin during the Cold War.
“By ‘selling’ the name of the United States, we were giving an opportunity to the German people to live. You have to look at the good public relations with the Sister Cities, especially Uruapan, by helping the 90 children who have no home or parents.
Keeping Money Separate
“There is no city money spent to help those children. Whether or not the Council continues funding the Sister Cities program has nothing to do with the orphans and Japanese.
“I was an orphan. My father died before I was born. My mother died when I was two. I was raised in various foster homes until I was 12. Then I lived in a home, which was run by the Masonic Lodge of California. I have no regrets about living there. It was an opportunity for me.
“That’s what we are giving those kids — a better opportunity.”
Next, can an individual claim donations to our committee?
As previously established, we are an organization of the city, formed by the City Council and chaired by its mayor at inception.
Our officers’ terms are one year. Oftentimes, a new member might assume an officer’s position and just follow the inherited practices of doing the tasks at hand. We see nothing wrong with the practice.
Actually, the terms of our officers serving on the Board are shorter than a Councilman’s. Yet, it is the first time that Council has brought up these issues to anyone’s attention eve though they have been going on longer than the present officers have been serving on the committee.
Tax Deductible or Not?
In answer to whether people who donate to the city could claim the donation on their tax returns, I asked our City Comptroller Marlee Change and our City Treasurer Crystal Alexander, who responded with the following:
“We provide letters acknowledging the receipt of items or cash. We don’t opine as to whether that would be tax deductible for that individual or company since it depends on their tax situation, frankly. I believe some are finding it deductible since they’ve given on multiple occasions and asked for the acknowledgement letter each time.”
Finally, how is the money spent?
All the people who traveled to our sister cities paid for their own tickets. The city did not incur any expenses for airfare.
The only expense was the executive gifts that are taken to present to the officials of the city in the name of our city, as good ambassadors should.
Airlines tickets were borne by each person who traveled without any expense to the city.
The money is not received. It is allocated and reimbursed upon presentation of bills.
Funding from the City
In closing, I would like to say that the $14,000 allocated to the Sister Cities Committee has been put to very good use. I will let our Treasurer, Matt Brown, enumerate to you all the projects undertaken and accomplished, and how the city’s money, so generously donated, was spent.
The committee welcomes the Council’s scrutiny because it will shed some light, give information and set policies that might be needed.
The extent of our contribution is the countless volunteer hours that are contributed by members of the committee.
I hope that the Council will choose to continue to fund CCSCC.
Identifying Our Duty
We, we educators, government officials and parents, have a moral obligation to the youths of Culver City. We have an obligation to teach the youths who come to visit Culver City that we have a democracy that is alive, and that everyone has the freedom to speak up, to give his/her opinion. That we have a democracy that works. That not one person makes the decision in our country, that all people have a say in what happens to the majority.
Culver City is thriving. We are proud of its economic growth. Therefore, I urge Council to continue funding CCSCC.
Why Sister Cities Resisted Becoming a 501 c3 Why Sister Cities Resisted Becoming a 501 c3
Wirtten by Matt Brown
Are we or are we not a 501 c3 organization?
The suggestion from the City Council for the Culver City Sister Cities Committee to become a 501 c3 organization was proposed but strongly opposed by the Board at its meeting of April 4, 2007.
The energy needed to organize fundraisers would certainly detract from the main purpose and mission of the CCSCC. If the CCSCC were obligated to become a 501 c3 organization, deprived of city funding and additional expectations put upon it, the committee would probably dissolve and cease to exist.
I quote from two sections of our by-laws:
“Section 4: Requirements Upon Dissolution:
“Any funds remaining in the account(s) of the CCSCC shall, upon dissolution of the CCSCC, be distributed to one or more charitable, educational, scientific or philanthropic organizations approved by the majority vote of the Board of Directors. Additionally, all official records, exhibits and memorabilia shall be surrendered to the city of Culver City Chief Administrative Officer.”
“Section 3: Orphanage Endowment Fund:
“Notwithstanding any other directive in these By-laws, all monies which have been or will be contributed to the Endowment Fund benefiting the Casa de Cuna Orphanage in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico, shall be expended only on behalf of this orphanage. Interest accumulated by the fund shall be dispensed at least quarterly to the officials in charge of the Case de Cuna Orphanage.”
With the support of past Culver City CAO Dale Jones, the CCSCC has also established a second endowment fund for the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Accumulated interest payments on a second CD are also made by CCSCC on a quarterly basis to the Orphanage Casa Hogar. (Same case scenario in case of dissolution.)
