Q.C. cuts expenses for Sister City's visit

Queen Creek's Town Council has scaled back a request to host a delegation from its sister city in Mexico, saying it couldn't justify spending $3,500 on an itinerary that included a trip to the Grand Canyon and a casino.

Instead, the council voted 5-1 Wednesday night to spend $500 to accommodate about 20 people from Jesus Maria in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to include activities like a reception, a town hall meeting and tours of town facilities.

Sister Cities is an international organization that matches up cities and towns around the globe to allow for networking and cultural exchanges.

Queen Creek officially became a sister city with the Mexican town in 2001. The two towns exchanged groups once before officially becoming sister cities and have hosted less than 10 trips back and forth since, said town spokeswoman Dee Anne Thomas.

The local Sister City organization was originally considered a town committee in previous years and had a budget of about $3,000 for trips over the course of a whole year, said Thomas and management assistant Sandy McGeorge.

But in 2006, that committee became its own nonprofit group and was supposed to request using the same requests other community groups use starting in 2007, Thomas said.

A couple of months ago, the delegation from Jesus Maria contacted Queen Creek to say the Mexican city's new mayor wanted to become familiar with the Arizona town. That trip is now scheduled for later this month. The usual method for requesting funds wasn't followed, and the town hasn't been able to get in touch with members of the organization, McGeorge said.

Councilman Jon Wootten said he thought the Sister Cities program itself was a useful tool for getting to know other cultures, but the request that went before the council Wednesday was beyond the bounds of what's normally covered.

"It was a little surprising to see a request that included sightseeing," Wootten said. "That was the concern."

At the same, Queen Creek officials said they wanted to be good hosts.

"We didn't want to leave the Jesus Maria people out in the cold with tickets they couldn't use," Wootten said.

McGeorge said she doesn't know how much Jesus Maria typically spends to host Queen Creek trips, but that meals and lodging are generally covered.

Thomas said the town wouldn't have paid for the casino trip because of transportation provided by casinos.

But Councilman Jeff Brown, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the measure, said he couldn't support giving any money for the trip when the itinerary included a casino trip, patronizing a restaurant outside town limits on the town's dime, and other items.