At the Clarion City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 19, there were some special guests. Various officials from both near and far attended the meeting to promote a sister city relationship between Clarion and Kosovo. This action has been discussed for the last few months. A resolution at last week’s council meeting made it official.
According to the resolution, in March of 2011, the Iowa National Guard entered into a State Partnership Program with the Republic of Kosovo for the purposes of fostering mutual interests and establishing long-term relationships between the citizens of Kosovo and the State of Iowa. Since then, officials have encouraged the development of relationships that extend beyond the military relationship existing between the Iowa National Guard and Kosovo Security Forces, to also include Iowa and Kosovo cities, schools, and businesses.
Towards that effort, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Superintendent Joe Nelson spoke about his work towards this partnership and his goals for Clarion and students especially. “When I became a superintendent, I wanted to help make it possible to send and host kids where they can learn in an environment of global sharing.” Nelson has a background of working with a Kosovo sister city partnership previously as an educator in Johnston.
Dawn Larson, the economic development specialist for the city of Fort Dodge, who works with the Fort Dodge/Kosovo partnership, also spoke. She described the great impact that the international relationships built have on both communities involved, especially students.
Kosovar official Artan Duraku, Chief of Mission at the Kosovo Consulate in Des Moines, was also present. Duraku visited Clarion only a few weeks ago with the Kosovar Minister of Agriculture. He stated, “Through this type of people-to-people approach, a little city like Clarion can play an important role in bringing our communities together.”
Clarion city officials spoke glowingly about the sister cityhood plan. Mayor Duane Asbe fully supported the partnership. “We want to be good neighbors not only locally but also outside of the community and even out into the world.” He added that this would broaden the horizons for many locally and abroad. On the ground level, councilmember Andy Young also explained that any planning on behalf of the sister cityhood partnership down the road would be the work of a committee rather than just city officials.
In the end, the council unanimously endorsed the sister city resolution. It read in part, “the City Council wishes to support and encourage information sharing and exchanges between a sister city through education, business and industry, health and wellness, and arts and culture.” Duraku and Larson noted that, though it isn’t final, they are leaning towards Clarion partnering with the city of Junik in western Kosovo.
Also at the meeting, Larry Pump, CPA, gave a presentation on the city’s audit. Pump noted that the city funds appear sound and that he found no improprieties. The council completed the third and final readings of ordinances 609 and 610, both pertain to property maintenance and the rental housing code. Both of these will help new city inspector Lisa Kist begin rental inspections in the near future. The ordinances were formally adopted after the third readings. The council also approved a final pay request with Voltmer for $9,680.93 for the airport lighting project and a notice of acceptability of work with them
