This week consisted mostly of intergovernmental meetings and a deposition.

Monday was the monthly dinner meeting of the Mayor’s Association. Last month the mayors decided to draw up language that basically said the current school board diversity policy was “broken” and that we believed the school board districts should be the same as the county commissioners. At this meeting there was much debate about what the resolution should say. Most of it focused on solutions. I asked if we all agreed the system was broken and if so we should state that in a resolution. There was unanimous agreement that the system was broken but no support to make that our resolution. Instead we agreed that since we couldn’t unanimously agree then we should not do a resolution. We also briefly talked about whether or not the Mayor’s meetings were open meetings. According to Mayor Bob Matheny of Zebulon, the mayors have discussed this in the past and could not decide if it was a public meeting. But it was decided that if anyone wants to come to the dinners then they are welcome. In my opinion since we are acting on behalf of our towns and since our meals are paid for by taxpayer dollars, this should be a public meeting. I will continue to investigate this with lawyers and the School of Government.

Tuesday began with an early morning meeting of the Wake Transit Leadership Team. In attendance besides myself were Mayor Meeker, Mayor Jones, Commissioner Chair Webb, Commissioner Bryan, Councilor Baldwin of Raleigh, Councilor Robison of Cary, Ed Johnson of CAMPO, Howard Johnson of the Cary Chamber, David King of Triangle Transit, Joe Millazzo of Regional Transportation Alliance, Harvey Schmidt of the Raleigh Chamber, Tim Maloney CAMPO, and Gerry Cohen of the NC General Assembly. Mr. Cohen reviewed bills introduced in the NC House and Senate related to transit funding. Attendees made recommendations to changes in the wording. Specifically we wanted to make sure if the bill stated that a county could proceed alone if its referendum passes and other county referendums failed. The team also asked that the language in the bills not be specific regarding interlocal agreements after the referendum and before commissioner approval of the tax. These changes will be made and presented to the Wake County delegation.

Tuesday evening began with my weekly meeting with interim town manager Ben Shivar. Our main issues at this point are all focused around the economy and its effects on the town. Cary remains in good shape financially.

Tuesday night I welcomed Congressman David Price to a town hall meeting in the council chambers moderated by council member Gale Adcock. This was timely since the stimulus bill was signed hours earlier by President Obama. Unfortunately, this was not the question and answer session I expected but mostly long critical political statements followed by a question. One of the questions even asked the congressman if he would resign if the stimulus package didn’t work. These kinds of remarks and questions were insulting and embarrassing to me as an observer. Most of the time was spent listening to people rant about what they disagreed with politically instead of finding out information about the stimulus package which was what I was interested in. It is a shame that people are still more interested in spreading hate rather than working together on solutions in this time of crisis. I am proud of Congressman Price for withstanding insults and providing the best information he had available. It should be noted that he and his office have done a great deal to help Cary over the years. God bless him for his service and commitment to Cary, North Carolina, and the country.

Tuesday was also the vote and decision by the school board to pay for the required road improvements for Panther Creek. This will allow the modular units to open once their site plan is approved. Hopefully the school board has those site plans ready to go since we have been dealing with this issue for months. The resolution of this issue was a long time coming and I am glad that both boards finally agreed. I received calls by Ron Margiotta and Eleanor Goettee informing of the news. It should be noted that these two board members really worked hard for Cary not only on this issue but on the reassignments. I appreciate the hard work that all the school board members do. Maybe one day they will reconsider the implementation of their current economic diversity policy.

I spent most of the day Wednesday giving a deposition in a law suit and my involvement on council in the early 2000s. That was quite an experience for me. Being grilled by a lawyer for seven hours straight (with the exception of 20 minutes for lunch) was taxing. Knowing that they were trying to put words into your mouth and you were trying to not only pay attention to every detail but measure your speech for accuracy was difficult. Needless to say I had a massive headache when it was all over.

Emails this week consisted mostly of thanks by the people in the involuntary annexation proposal and parents upset about the traffic situation at Panther Creek. It should be noted that a change in the traffic pattern was approved by council on Thursday night, agreed to by the school system on Friday, and installed by Cary staff Friday afternoon. We will continue to work on the traffic issues in that area.

Well that is about it for this week. I will hopefully post again by Sunday, March 1^st.  Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

This week was dominated by controversial issues in addition to the normal meeting schedule. Three major issues, Panther Creek High School entrance safety, Panther Creek High School modular units, and an involuntary annexation proposal generated tons of emails.

Monday’s meetings were staff related. I first met to discuss the agenda for Thursday’s regularly scheduled council meeting. We realized at this time that there may not be council support to continue with the involuntary annexation proposal. It was decided that information should be added to the red letter agenda (the agenda I use) in case there was not enough support to continue with the involuntary annexation proposal. It was my job to let council members know that if they were opposed to continuing with the proposal then they probably should vote to stop the process before having the public hearing.

Monday’s second meeting was with staff and Rick French to discuss having the Rock N Roll hall of fame concert come back to Cary. It was a good discussion and at this point it seems like a good possibility. Mr. French and staff are working out the details to see if a proposal can be brought forward.

Tuesday I usually have a meeting with the town manager to discuss issues. Unfortunately, our town manager was serving jury duty so we talked several times by phone about the controversial issues mentioned and about the work session to be held that night.

Tuesday night the council had a work session on three topics: EMS response, our water shortage response plan, and site design standards. The presentation from the fire chief on EMS response showed that Cary arrived in 5 minutes or less more than 90% of the time. Another important point was that our first responders (Cary firefighters) had more than a 20% survival rate when they resuscitated a cardiac arrest patient whose heart had stopped. This is significant since the national average is 5% to 7%.

The second topic was on Cary’s Water Shortage Response Plan (WSRP) which is required by July 1^st of this year. There are 9 criteria that must be met by this time. Our staff reported that 5 were almost already in compliance. The remaining criteria required further data collection. We should have our plan ready in plenty of time before the deadline. This plan should allow municipalities in the region to be similar so that when Phase 1 water restrictions are mentioned on the media it isn’t as confusing. I should point out that at this point Cary’s water supply is more than adequate even in a drought but conservation is crucial. The smaller the peak demand for water is the longer we can wait for the next plant expansion which pushes back our need to incur more debt.

Our third topic on Tuesday night was on site design standards. A consultant was present to hear council discuss what is important to them in site plan design. Our discussion centered on mixed use. Some council members pointed out that we have asked staff to encourage this type of development but when it comes forward then it is controversial and council members don’t support it. I understood this to mean the Crosland proposal at Davis Drive. I commented that density is the issue that needs to be a high priority when infilling with a mixed use project. I believe the majority of the council agrees. The discussion continued until around 8 PM and I believed the consultant thoroughly understood our issues.

Wednesday evening I met with Chatham County commissioners George Lucier and Sally Kost. The meeting was very cordial but can be summarized as a list of demands from Chatham County. Their requests included: not to annex into Chatham County, enter into an agreement with Chatham County that both would have to approve before annexation, request a legislative authority to create an agreement between the two boards about annexation, and work together to plan the area around Jordan Lake on the Cary side. Personally, I believe there isn’t interest on the current county to annex into Chatham County. I have reservations about signing an agreement binding future councils and actually question its legality. I also believe that there will eventually be pressure for certain areas on the border of Chatham County to develop. If that happens, the closest access to water and sewer would be Cary. Unfortunately, previous boards and councils on both sides have created a bad relationship that has created a lot of bad feelings. Hopefully, we can work together in the future as good neighbors. At least that is my intention.

Wednesday night I met with council member Adcock and Portman along with staff to discuss the current annexation proposal that was on the agenda for Thursday night. Having gone through this process before when I was on council I had really heard all the information before. I am philosophically opposed to involuntary annexation. Why, because anything “forced” should be as a last resort. In other words, there needs to be a compelling reason to use force. In my opinion, this proposal did not present a compelling reason. Having said that, I believe staff did an unbelievable job with information to support this proposal. They poured their hearts and souls into this proposal to move forward based upon direction given by previous councils.

Thursday was council meeting night. I was supposed to meet with cub scouts at 5:30 but they were a no show. Instead I watched the “tea party” against involuntary annexation from inside town hall. The council meeting had several issues that were resolved. The school board had previously offered to pay half of the road improvements for Panther Creek High School modular units. Since no one on council sponsored that proposal it was rejected by lack of action. Also during the meeting we voted to abandon the involuntary annexation proposal of ten areas. Our last big action was to pass an ordinance to begin addressing safety issues at Panther Creek High School entrance. A left turn is now not allowed in morning hours from the drop off area. There were also 4 items discussed in closed session.

Friday’s only duty was to do a taping of a Public Service Announcement on Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open the dialog about the importance of open government and freedom of information on local, state, and national levels. The first national Sunshine Week was held in 2005. This years Sunshine Week is March 15 through March 21^st. During that week Cary wants to emphasize the importance of open government and the freedom of information.

Friday, like the rest of the week, was a busy day for emails. I started by notifying the school board that their proposal was rejected due to lack of action. This created a few emails which were unfortunate. But from what I observed the school board is now ready to agree to do the road improvements and finally get the children in those modular units. I hope this happens first thing next week.

There were also a lot of emails about Panther Creek safety especially since there was a bad accident involving two students. Fortunately, those students were not seriously injured. Some parents berated council for not doing enough and demanding traffic lights. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that the DOT requires certain criteria to be met before allowing us to install lights. In this instance we don’t even come close. So our chance of getting traffic signals in this area is very slim.

We also received several nasty emails regarding the modular units at Panther Creek. Unfortunately, someone passed out a flier with misinformation which upset a lot of people. As I said earlier, I believe the school board is now ready to agree to the road improvements which should get these units open.

We also received a lot of nice emails on Friday related to the abandonment of the involuntary annexation proposal. It was nice to get pleasant emails for a change.

We received many other emails this week. One criticized our selection of motorcycles for the police department. One criticized our EMS response times to areas west of Highway 55. One, which received a citation for speeding, questioned the use of police to give tickets in these tough economic times. One email questioned our conservation efforts. One interesting email asked Cary to start programs for teen employment (work crew program). We received several emails for and against Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). We also received a few emails on littering which is becoming a significant problem in Cary.

I also received a few letters this week. One interesting letter in particular asked for my resignation because I am creating debt for “frivolous” items such as town amenities. He doesn’t seem to understand that the amenities not only improve the quality of life but bring huge economic benefits to local businesses. In one week last year it was estimated that the NCAA soccer championships brought in millions of dollars to Cary. This benefits all citizens whether you use the amenities or not. He even implied that my property reevaluation was influenced by me because it only increased by about 5%. Unfortunately, when he was visiting my tax records he forgot to notice that my house burned down in 2002 and it was re assessed when it was rebuilt in 2003. So my assessment period was much smaller and I have been paying higher taxes as a result for several years.

On a positive note, I received a letter thanking me for my involvement in the recent school reassignment. Though I did spend a lot of time on this issue along with other council members, the majority of the work was done by Ron Margiotta and Eleanor Goettee.

Well that is about it for this week. I will hopefully post again by Sunday, February 22^nd. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

This week consisted of meetings related to schools, meetings with lawyers, and staff.

On Monday council members Adcock, Frantz, and I met with school board members Rosa Gill and Kevin Hill. The purpose of the meeting was to answer questions related to getting the Panther Creek modular units approved so they can be used. The issues and timeline related to this situation were summed up well with a posting by council member Frantz:

“Cary gives Wake County $1.4 million to help purchase the 70 acres Panther Creek High School is located on.

Cary also agrees to invest $2.5 million in roadway improvements associated with the construction of Panther Creek High School. This included the connection and widening of McCrimmon Parkway as well as the construction of two full access drives into Panther Creek High School.

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year enrollment at Panther Creek High School is 1498 students WITHOUT a senior class (capacity is 1600). WCPSS should be well aware that once the following school year begins and Panther Creek has grades 9-12 they will be well over capacity and require modular/mobile classrooms.

WCPSS completes application for modular permits on April 23, 2008. However for some reason it takes WCPSS nearly a month to deliver the application to Cary as Cary does not receive this application until May 16. (9 MONTHS AFTER THE START OF THE 2007-2008 SCHOOL YEAR and 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE START OF THE 2008-2009 SCHOOL YEAR). The application however was incomplete. It left out required information such as the number of modular units, classrooms, and a site plan.

Cary informs WCPSS that we need a complete application. After WCPSS finally responds with all the required information, Cary informs WCPSS on July 15 that a traffic study would be required, and that traffic improvements may also be required depending on the study’s findings.

WCPSS completes the required application for a traffic study, and on July 30 Cary contacts our traffic consultant for a price quote.

On Aug 1 that quote is sent to WCPSS. (2 day turnaround)

On Aug 13 (2 weeks later) WCPSS finally pays for the traffic study and the consultant is instructed to proceed.

During this time Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, town staff and I work to develop a solution that would allow WCPSS to receive their certificates of occupancy (CO) immediately. WCPSS simply has to sign a bonding agreement that states they would agree to make any required improvements identified in the traffic study. WCPSS refuses to sign an agreement - instead WCPSS officials go on TV claiming the delay is Cary’s fault - seriously.

On September 9 (2 weeks after the 2008-2009 school year has started) the traffic study is completed and WCPSS is notified the study has indicated needed traffic improvements along Highway 55 as a result of the additional traffic created due to the addition of modular classrooms (22 classrooms totaling 23,984 sq. ft.). WCPSS is again informed that should they sign the bonding agreement they can obtain their CO.

In November WCPSS submits a request to Cary for waiver from the required roadway improvements along Hwy 55. The request is denied by Cary’s Planning and Development Committee and then unanimously denied by Town Council at our Nov. 20 2008 meeting as it would be illegal for Cary to waive the required roadway improvements. This information was conveyed to WCPSS numerous times prior to their request for waiver. Council does however agree to extend the timeline to when WCPSS would need to begin roadway improvements to 18 months. Again, if WCPSS signs a bonding agreement they can receive their CO immediately.

WCPSS drags feet for 2 more months consulting with attorneys.

At council’s January 15, 2009 meeting - at the request of Councilor Gale Adcock and myself - council unanimously agrees to further extend the timeframe when WCPSS must begin roadway improvements to 3 years as we are sympathetic to the school system’s financial issues given the current economy (however, according to two school board members WCPSS has the funds to cover the roadway improvements). Again, should WCPSS sign a bonding agreement committing to the improvements WCPSS will receive a CO immediately.

On February 2, 2009 WCPSS officials meet with Cary officials - myself included - to further discuss this issue and educate WCPSS on Cary’d land development ordinances. No resolution.

Yesterday we learn that WCPSS will make an offer to Cary that they will fund up to $750,000 of the required improvements if Cary will be responsible for the remainder (roughly $750,000). Cary has yet to receive an official offer.

Now here we are - 17 months after WCPSS knew Panther Creek would require mobile classroom units - with students taking class in media centers, the library, and hallways while mobile classrooms sit on site empty. Nice.”

About the only thing I could add to his posting is that the high school’s site plan was approved for 1600 students. Currently the school board is in violation with approximately 500 students more than what is approved. At the meeting there was one question that was not answered by the school board related to the traffic study required for the modular units. They questioned the afternoon trips as not being peak hour trips (which is used to trigger improvements). Staff reviewed the traffic study once again and determined that afternoon trips were not being counted and current required improvement are correct. Since the meeting the school board passed a motion to offer up to $750,000 in road improvements. Unfortunately, they have not sent this to council in writing. It is my feeling that there is no support for this proposal if it comes forward. The only way to know for sure is to get one in writing and see if there are two council members willing to sponsor it to get it on the agenda.

Tuesday’s only meeting was a phone meeting with interim town manager Ben Shivar on various issues. This week most of our discussion centered on the school board’s $750,000 unofficial proposal to mitigate the Panther Creek required road improvements.

Wednesday I met with lawyers for over three hours discussing an ongoing law suit. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss that information on a post. But once the case is resolved I am sure I will have plenty to say.

Thursday I attended the Wake Schools Community Alliance Meeting in Holly Springs. My initial purpose was to listen and to offer advice if asked. A few days before the meeting I was notified that I would be given three minutes to speak. So I basically said that the current diversity policy is not having the intended outcome and should be changed. The way to change policy usually has to be done by changing the policy makers and that is done at the polls.

Friday I had a conference call meeting with staff about a potential big concert at the Amphitheater. The purpose of that meeting was to make sure staff, council, and the venue manager were all in agreement of how to proceed with potential concerts.

Sunday I met with a potential candidate for the NC House. One of the interesting items we discussed was the partisan division in the Wake County delegation which is preventing a lot of new initiatives to help this area.

Sunday afternoon I participated in an Eagle Scout ceremony for Jonathan LaDue. One unique fact about this Eagle Scout was that he was only 12. What a great achievement for someone so young.

Well that is about it for this week. I will hopefully post again by Sunday, February 15^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.

This week included several meetings, a state of the town talk, and a meeting with a congressman.

Monday was made up with calls to council members to learn of any concerns before I met with staff for the pre-agenda meeting. Monday afternoon I met for about a half hour with staff on the agenda and discussed items. After reviewing the meeting agenda it appeared the town council meeting would be light and short (actual meeting on Thursday ended around 8:15).

Tuesday started with my regularly scheduled weekly meeting with Ben Shivar, interim town manager. We talked about various issues and a little about my upcoming trip to Washington which is now set for February 23^rd.

Later on Tuesday I met with staff and council members Gale Adcock and Don Frantz regarding the downtown streetscape plan. This meeting was in response to downtown property owners, Mr. Ladd and Mr. Ashworth, who asked us to consider modifying the streetscape to allow more parking next to their businesses. Staff will contact the property owners with our comments and ask if they would like to bring modifications forward for council consideration.

Wednesday morning I spoke at the Cary Chamber’s Eye Opening Breakfast and delivered a modified version of the State of the Town. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until after the talk that the microphone wasn’t working properly and a lot of people in the back could not hear. Staff has now agreed to interrupt any talks if there are technical difficulties even if it isn’t a town event which this was not. I feel the talk went well as I focused the talk more on the economy, the current local environment, and attracting business.

Thursday the council met in closed session (before the regularly scheduled council meeting) to discuss information related to selecting the next town manager. All I can tell you at this point is that we have eliminated the applicants down to a list of strong candidates. We are also on schedule to naming a new town manager in March or April.

Thursday night’s council meeting was fairly uneventful. The only vote that was not unanimous was our resolution on supporting the Economic Stimulus package. Council members Frantz and Smith opposed the resolution. I viewed the resolution as sending a message to our federal representatives that says, if a stimulus package is approved Cary has several “shovel ready” projects that should be considered. I also believe we owe it to our citizens to make sure our interests are represented on a federal level.

Friday I met with Congressman David Price, Mayor Faulkner of Morrisville, and Mayor Sears of Holly Springs on the Western Wake Wastewater Treatment Facility. Also in attendance were representatives from all towns including Apex. We discussed the status of this project with Congressman Price and asked him if he believed it would be a candidate for the stimulus package. He said based on its regionalism and the fact that it was infrastructure it would be a likely consideration. We also asked about the stimulus package in general. He stated that although no on really knows what will be approved he believed it could contain some tax cuts, some funding for states, and even some funding directly to municipalities.

Feedback I have received on this web site asked me to speak more on personal issues and or thoughts. So I will take this opportunity to explain how I prepare for talks and documents. Preparing for 15+ minute talks, such as the Chamber Breakfast talk, requires a significant amount of preparation for me. I think most people believe that the Public Information Officer writes these talks or documents like the State of the Town but I write all of them. For talks I will usually create an outline and speak from that. I usually give it a few dry runs just to try and smooth transition points. For documents like the State of the Town, I also create an outline but then go back and write using the outline for a guide. My main proofreader for most of my documents is my wife, Belinda. She is an excellent writer and even a greater judge of content. The important town documents and the text for Cary Matters are sent to the Public Information Officer, Susan Moran. She is the best Public Information Officer we could possibly have. I haven’t even come close to questioning any of her edits.

Well that is about it for this week. I will hopefully post again by Sunday, February 8^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.