CITY COUNCIL INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
Meeting: September 6, 2023
To: Cupertino City Council
From: City Manager’s Office
Re: Update on the Renewed Friendship City Organizations Background
The Cupertino City Council established its Friendship City program in September 2016. Although less formal than a Sister City relationship, a Friendship City relationship is an additional way to foster cultural exchange at a local level.
The Friendship City relationships between Cupertino and the affiliate cities are coordinated and managed by local committees comprised of community members. These committees maintain communication with the affiliate city, while coordinating and implementing activities related to the Friendship City Program.
Each Friendship City relationship is established for a two-year period. In 2021, the City approved the following Friendship City relationships:
New Taipei City, Taiwan
Taichung, Taiwan
Tongxiang, People’s Republic of China
Xianning, People’s Republic of China
Yilan, Taiwan
In July, staff reached out to the above-mentioned Friendship Cities to begin the renewal process for these relationships. All Friendship Cities, with the exception of Yilan, Taiwan, responded to the request expressing their interest to renew and provided the necessary documentation, as outlined in the Sister and Friendship City policy (Attachment A). The renewal documents serve to document the activities of each organization and meet the requirements for renewal from the Sister City Policy. The renewal documents are included in this memo as Attachments B, C, D, and E.
Staff has reviewed the applications and the City Manager has approved the renewal in alignment with the less formal structure of these agreements and to help facilitate the process. These four Friendship City relationships are now renewed for another two years until August 2025.
Staff intends on providing proposed revisions to the Sister and Friendship City policy to Council later this year. At that time, the Council may wish to further refine the processes identified in the policy to facilitate these relationships.
Sustainability Impact
None.
Fiscal Impact
The Sister and Friendship City policy (Attachment A) states that Friendship Cities are not eligible for City funding. Although there will be staff time involved to facilitate the Friendship City program, fiscal impacts to the City general fund are minimal. _____________________________________
Prepared by: Astrid Robles, Senior Management Analyst Reviewed by: Tina Kapoor, Deputy City Manager
Matt Morley, Assistant City Manager
Christopher D. Jensen, City Attorney
Approved for Submission by: Pamela Wu, City Manager
Attachments:
A – Sister and Friendship City Policy
B – New Taipei City Renewal Documents
C – Taichung Renewal Documents
D – Tongxiang Renewal Documents
E – Xianning Renewal Documents