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What does the future hold for Fayetteville, Saint-Avold sisterhood?
- Details
- Tuesday, 15 October 2024
- Written by Evey Weisblat, CityView Today
When the mayor of Saint-Avold, France, stepped onto the newly renamed Saint-Avold Avenue in downtown Fayetteville last year, it was a symbol of a decades-long friendship between the two cities, and a commemoration of the French mayor’s first visit to Fayetteville.
Fayetteville and Saint-Avold have been paired as part of the International Sister City program since 1993, but the relationship had been stagnant for many years, until 2021, when Kris Johnson founded the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance, an independent nonprofit organization that has supported the program through new cultural and educational exchanges between the cities. This includes facilitating and raising funds for delegations from both cities to visit each other in 2023 and 2024.
“They’ve rekindled the relationship,” Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen told CityView, referring to the Friendship Alliance.
But more recently the 30-year sister city relationship has been marked by tensions between Fayetteville City Council members and the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance that emerged during the Fayetteville delegation’s trip to Saint-Avold in late May, which included Council Members Mario Benavente, Malik Davis and Courtney Banks-McLaughlin.
Conflict around the trip stemmed from an unscheduled outing to Paris that the three city council members took in the middle of the visit. Members of the delegation previously told CityView the council members had disappeared unannounced and during important group discussions one day in the trip, while the council members maintain they had received permission to leave.
Now, council members are reconsidering the structure and nature of the Saint-Avold sister city program.
At a recent Fayetteville City Council work session, the council declined to fulfill a $15,000 request from the Friendship Alliance to support the costs of hosting nine French teachers and three students from Saint-Avold, who are visiting Fayetteville from Oct. 18 to Oct. 30 for an educational exchange program with Cape Fear High School and Massey Hill Classical High School.
Two representatives from the Friendship Alliance, Sylvia James and Stacie Ferry, presented the request at Monday’s meeting. Friendship Alliance director Kris Johnson, who could not attend Monday’s meeting, told CityView on Tuesday the group had initially submitted the proposal for the trip and request for funding in June, after discussing it with Saint-Avold city officials during the trip in late May. The board of the Friendship Alliance has been fundraising since then, and has raised $15,000. In light of the funding request being denied, Johnson said, they will now have to stretch the money they’ve raised to cover the costs of accommodations for the Saint-Avold guests.
Funding request
The request for funding was initially set for a vote at the last council meeting in September, but the council tabled it for a more in-depth discussion at the October work session.
At an agenda discussion prior to the September meeting, Benavente pushed for the October discussion, explaining he wanted to reconsider funding allocations for the program.
“I’m not saying that we need to hold that against the kids involved in this otherwise good program, but to me, that is a concern about the leadership and the judgment of this group,” Benavente said.
Benavente is one of the three council members who went to France and made the day trip to Paris.
Mayor Mitch Colvin also expressed concern at the September meeting about fulfilling the request amid competing budget priorities.
“I do want to get a little clarification about where we’re going with this,” Colvin said. “You know, what’s the ROI? I like Kris [Johnson]. I like the program. But again, you know, are we going to do this each year?”
The council ultimately expressed willingness, via a unanimous consensus vote on Monday, to support the educational exchange trip with an in-kind donation of a van for transportation, and asked the Friendship Alliance to submit a revised request to be approved at the next council meeting on Oct. 14.
Speaking to CityView, Johnson declined to comment on whether she believes there is any connection between the denied funding request and concerns raised by members of the Friendship Alliance about the council members’ behavior in France. She expressed appreciation to the council for offering to assist with transportation for the trip — and optimism about a positive relationship moving.
“I’m not looking to burn any bridges,” Johnson said.
During the work session, other council members raised concerns about fulfilling the $15,000 request to the nonprofit.
The city previously spent $10,000 for the Saint-Avold delegation’s visit in 2023, and $7,846 for the travel expenses of the three council members who went to Saint-Avold earlier this year. The nearly $8,000 for this year’s travel expenses was appropriated from the city’s general fund.
Banks-McLaughlin also said she had concerns about the amount of funding in the organization’s request being considered at the meeting.
“I do think that it’s a great idea to have teachers coming from Saint-Avold to visit our city, but it does give me heartburn,” Banks-McLaughlin said. “The fact that we are using taxpayer dollars and we have other organizations that need funding.”
Johnson said the Friendship Alliance has been supporting the sister city relationship that the City of Fayetteville entered into three decades ago. She said the municipality of Saint-Avold has been generous in the past, and “rolled out the red carpet” for previous Fayetteville visitors, paying for meals and lodging for the Fayetteville delegation when they visited in May.
“My point is that the city council … and the city government of Fayetteville made this relationship,” Johnson said. “I mean, they’re the ones that created this relationship.”
Prior to the council reaching consensus to provide transportation assistance to the Saint-Avold group, Jensen proposed a motion to fund the group with $10,000, but the motion ultimately failed, as it was not seconded. She told CityView she hoped the conflict during the May trip was “not the reason” that the initial $15,000 funding request was not fulfilled.
Jensen told CityView she hopes that Fayetteville can maintain the relationship with Saint-Avold as it looks to the future. She expressed frustration that the volunteer-run Friendship Alliance may not get the support it needs from the city to keep the relationship with Saint-Avold afloat.
“Well, it’s sad that you have volunteers that are putting their time and their money and their resources to make this a good thing for our city,” said Jensen, “and it’s going to fall by the wayside.”
Johnson told CityView she was grateful for the city’s offer to provide transportation assistance, and will provide them with
the necessary information.
“I’m really truly hopeful that this year will be the start of student exchanges,” she added. “That is such an amazing opportunity for students in Fayetteville.”
Johnson said the Friendship Alliance has several destinations planned for the Saint-Avold teachers and students, including tours of local universities, landmarks and historical places.
A new sister?
The debate over funding requests led city staff and council members to reconsider the nature and purpose of the sister city program, as well as its management by a private organization (the Friendship Alliance) and informal structure. Currently, no one on city staff oversees the program.
Several council members and the city manager recalled recent talks with members of the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation about exploring another sister city relationship that would focus specifically on shared economic development opportunities. Mayor Mitch Colvin mentioned there were companies in South Korean and African cities that have also expressed an interest in establishing themselves in Fayetteville.
“There were cities close to military bases, large military bases that had [shared] strategic interests,” Colvin said during the work session. “And we’ve actually, economically, had a few of those companies that either [have] come here or give interest for here.”
Hewett said there are other cities that Fayetteville officials and economic development leaders “feel culturally, economically may foster that type of relationship that we want, which is the whole purpose of the sister city.”
Ultimately, Benavente moved to establish an “ad hoc” group that would report back to the council with an expanded Sister City program. The motion gained consensus.
Up & Coming Weekly Editor's note: Cumberland County's Private First Class William M. Shaw, a casualty of World War II is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France. The American Cemetery in Saint-Avold is the largest American military cemetery in Europe. The street running in front of the cemetery is the Rue de Fayetteville. The 30 year sister city program with Saint-Avold holds significant military history with the city of Fayetteville.
