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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council July 17, 2006 Page 6 Mrs. Mills added that the most that they came away with during the Conference is the fact that we cannot just be in our own little world, we have to become more global. We have to start from our homes to our community, spread out to the state, the Federal Government and countries. Mrs. Mills stated that the titles of the seminars were not interesting, but when you attended them, you would come away with so much information. Mr. Saponaro indicated that they were so impressed that a small village like Mayfield Village would send municipal officials. A lot of communities have a hard time getting elected officials to come to the Conference and be so involved. Yet, when they are involved, their programs blossom to have a greater impact. The collaboration of municipalities, schools, governments and citizens are vital. If anyone has any questions after the meeting or would like to just talk about Sister Cities, they are welcome to discuss them with Mr. Saponaro. Mr. Buckholtz stated that he knows that when anyone goes on a trip like this, they get really pumped up from seeing people from all over the world and get in touch with what is going on and realize that the preconceived notions that people from all over the world are not actually what you see on the news. Then you get home and you get really busy and would not like to lose the glow. This is a vital organization. Globalization started out as an industrial initiative instead of a cultural initiative. Mrs. Mills shared that she also met Ambassador Mezekala, an Ambassador from Africa who served under Nelson Mandela who went to Ohio University. Mr. Saponaro indicated that when he walked into the Embassy, the Ambassador stood there and greeted each individual and someone took your picture and then when they were done, she walked around and had conversations with everyone. This was amazing. Years ago, Mr. Saponaro met Nelson Mandela in 1993. In fact he has a picture with him holding his son. He shared that with the Ambassador. She was gracious. She loves Ohio. These are ordinary people doing extraordinary things, like everyone in this room. It does not take much. Mrs. Mills added that they stressed that people have to learn to give back to their community. Mr. Buckholtz stated that we will be a leader in this area as we have already adopted the concept of government working with people working with schools. We have done the tough stuff first. We have already been pushing the Mayfield business alliance. We are already halfway there. This is the important part. Mr. Saponaro, Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Cinco thanked Council for allowing them to attend. Mr. Buckholtz thanked them for representing us.