City Council

A. DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION ON ESTABLISHING A SISTER/FRIENDSHIP\nCITY POLICY AND WHETHER TO CONSIDER ESTABLISHING\nRELATIONSHIPS WITH ADDITIONAL CITIES\nThe City of San Gabriel first established a Sister City relationship with the City of\nCelaya, Guanajuato, Mexico in 1967 through the United States/Mexico Sister City\nAssociation. The City also endorsed a Friendship City with Changhua, Guandong,\nTaiwan through the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce in 1986. In the past few\nyears, City officials have been approached by additional cities with requests to\nestablish new Sister City relationships. There is no fiscal impact related to this\nitem.\nCalifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Determination: Not a Project as\ndefined in Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines.\nRecommended Action:\nStaff recommends that the City Council discuss the Sister/Friendship City\nprogram and provide direction on how to proceed. The following options may\nhelp to guide the discussion:\n1. Direct staff to return with a policy to guide how the City interacts with the\ncurrent Sister City partners and how to consider future partnerships.\n2. Continue without a formal policy and consider new relationships on an ad\nhoc basis.\n3. Determine that the City should not enter into new relationships at this time.\n4. Any other options that the City Council decides based upon discussion at the\nmeeting, including some combination of the options listed above.