Perhaps it could be billed as a Sister City summit.

Leaders from Iniades, Greece, tentatively are scheduled to come to Lawrence in mid-October with the goal of touring the community and discussing the possibility of becoming Lawrence’s third Sister City.

“I’m very optimistic about it,” said Bob Schumm, a Lawrence businessman who is on the city’s Sister Cities Advisory Board and made a trip to Iniades earlier this summer. “I’m quite sure it will happen eventually. Their political will to do this is extraordinary.”

But ultimately, Lawrence city commissioners will have to give their political approval before Iniades could be added to Lawrence’s two existing sister cities — Eutin, Germany and Hiratsuka, Japan. Mayor Rob Chestnut said he’s open to the idea, depending on how much a new program may cost.

“It goes back to that conflict between the things you would like to do and budget constraints,” Chestnut said. “But I certainly would support making the contacts. The program provides a great opportunity for community members, a great opportunity for students. It is the type of program we ought to see if we can expand, if the budget allows it.”

Schumm is telling city leaders the program will come at little to no cost for the near future. The Sister Cities Advisory Board receives about $7,500 each year from the city, in addition to private fundraising. The board has been saving about $1,000 a year in case the opportunity to add a third sister city arose. The board has accumulated about $6,000 it could use to fund activities related to adding Iniades.

“This is a program where things really go a long way with a little bit of money because it is all volunteerism,” Schumm said. “We have enough retained earnings to go three or four years without asking the city for more money. It could even be longer than that, depending on private fundraising.”

Discussions about adding Iniades as a sister city began in July 2008, when the mayor of the Greek city proposed the idea, in part, because Kansas University has been sending theater students to the community each summer since 1986.

Talks have intensified since May, when Schumm, fellow board member Kathleen Hodge and their families traveled to Iniades — at their expense.

“It is a fabulous opportunity for cultural exchanges,” Hodge said. “The history is just mind-boggling. I have an 11-year-old daughter who loves Greek mythology, and we were able to take her and show her the real stuff.”

The city actually is a collection of about five villages. The entire municipality has a population of about 10,000 people, and relies heavily on agriculture, including growing corn, wheat and rice. Although not directly on the coast, Iniades is near the Gulf of Patras. The town takes its name from an ancient city of the same name that in mythology was founded by the great-grandfather of Apollo.

Schumm said Iniades leaders are extremely interested in forming a sister city relationship because exposing students to English-speakers is considered to be very important in Greece. In addition, the program would make it easier for residents of Iniades to obtain travel visas to the U.S.

“The government in Greece does not allow travel abroad very easily,” Schumm said. “You have to have a real defined purpose to leave the country, and they look at this as a golden opportunity to travel to America.”

Exact dates for a traveling party from Iniades to come to Lawrence this fall are still being determined, Schumm said. And no date has been set yet for the city to consider the Sister City request.