Board OKs funding for mayor’s Japan trip
Sister City Program supporters told the Hot Springs Board of Directors Tuesday night that benefits the city receives from the cultural/educational exchange warrant using taxpayer funds to send the mayor to the celebration honoring the silver anniversary of the city’s kinship with Hanamaki, Japan.
The board unanimously adopted a resolution approving funding for Mayor Pat McCabe to attend the 25th Sister City Anniversary Celebration in Hanamaki. McCabe, citing a conflict of interest, abstained. The resolution designates him as the board member who will represent the city in Japan.
Sister City Program Executive Director Mary Zunick told the board the mayor’s travel expenses to the September event won’t exceed $4,000. The city budgeted $22,000 this year for board travel.
The resolution was moved from the consent agenda to new business after concerns were raised about the propriety of using taxpayer funds for the trip. Mark Toth told directors Tuesday night that
underwriting the trip imperiled public support for a worthwhile program.
He suggested sending a student delegation, whose expenses are funded through private dollars raised by the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation, in the mayor’s stead, noting public dollars would be better spent by sending a representative with knowledge of the program.
He said sending Zunick, whom the Japanese government appointed as the city’s honorary consul of Japan last month, at taxpayers’ expense made more sense than subsidizing a trip for the mayor.
“I don’t support elected officials traveling at taxpayers’ expense,” he told the board. “It undermines public confidence, and it undermines, in this instance, public support in the city’s Sister City Program.”
Zunick said Hanamaki’s mayor will be part of the delegation scheduled to visit the city later this year, putting the onus on Hot Springs to reciprocate. Carla Mouton, chairwoman of the Sister City Foundation, told the board the city hasn’t sent its mayor to Hanamaki since 2002.
“In the Japanese culture, much respect and esteem is placed on the position of the mayor in the city,” Zunick told the board. “To send the mayor is a special statement of respect to our sister city.”
She said the program has injected $2.2 million into the local economy through 391 Hanamaki citizens and 658 of its students visiting the city. A new enterprise about to take wing can also be attributed to the program, as a local entrepreneur who received an internship in Hanamaki is working to open a sake shop.
“He’s in the process of opening a new business, a sake industry,” Zunick said. “Much of the economic impact is through tourism, but this would be offering a brand new industry to the area. It’s all because of the economic exchange that took place through our Sister City Program.”
Numerous intangible benefits have also flowed to the city, she said, citing the enrichment and perspective students and citizens have gained through experiencing Japanese culture firsthand.
Zunick said McCabe will have a busy itinerary during the anniversary celebration, where he will be the guest of honor at a banquet for the 25 to 30 people she hopes will be part of the city’s delegation.
“He’ll have a full agenda representing the city of Hot Springs,” she told the board. “He’ll be visiting with city leaders and speaking on behalf of the citizenry of Hot Springs at a special celebratory banquet that will be held in honor of all the travelers from Hot Springs with a special position at the head table next to the mayor of Hanamaki.”
According to the city’s website, the program started in January 1993 when a group of Hanamaki citizens noticed the two cities shared similar geographies and tourism-centered economies, including bathhouses channeling thermal waters from nearby hot springs.