The week included several holiday events, a committee meeting, and a personal event.

On Monday of this week I traveled to Georgia to bury my mother’s ashes. She died on July 5^th and my brother felt it would be appropriate to bury her ashes beside her parents grave on her birthday. Her birthday was Tuesday, December 1^st. So at about 10 AM on Tuesday, my brother and I put her remains in the plot, wished her a happy birthday and a restful peace. Then I headed back to Cary.

On Tuesday night when I arrived I had a conference call with the town manager and mayor pro-tem. Discussion included DOT projects and how to handle groups that are asking staff to do research for them. Tuesday night I went to the Wynston Ridge Homeowner’s Association meeting. Wynston Ridge is where my home is located. I did not participate in the meeting (only observed) but joined Jack Smith to answer questions after the meeting. Their questions included the widening of Holly Springs Road, schools, and greenways.

Wednesday I attended the Town of Cary Employee Recognition luncheon. Out of the 1100 employees, 650 were in attendance for the luncheon. I was fortunate to shake hands and talk with about 450 of them. What a blessing it is to talk to people who choose  a career in serving others. God Bless each and every one of them. Council member Adcock was also in attendance and also spent time thanking the town employees. I said a few words of thanks after the blessing and then had to hurry back to my daytime job.

Wednesday night I was scheduled to attend the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Elected Official Holiday Reception but had to cancel at the last minute due to work commitments that had to be addressed.

Thursday I chaired the Operations Committee for council member Smith who was out of town. We discussed five items but were in agreement so everything went on consent for the rest of the council. Items discussed included: $10,000 to assist with payment of a supplemental agreement for professional consulting services to complete the US 64 Corridor Study, Consideration of adoption of amendments to Policy Statement 157 for the Citizens Issue Advisory Group, denying an exception to the policy to allow additional street lighting in the Wynston Ridge Subdivision, agreeing to proposed improvements to be incorporated into the North Carolina Turnpike Authority’s Western Wake Freeway Project, and acceptance of a bid award for the Black Creek Greenway Phase II.

Friday I had an interview with Jane Paige from the New Homes and Ideas Magazine. In addition to being a cheerleader for Cary in the interview she wanted to know about how I felt my term was going. I told her I felt it was going well and that I had an excellent staff and a great council. I talked about the main objectives from the 2007 election which included growth, schools, roads, and the environment and how we have made progress in those areas. I will be very interested in reading what she captured from the interview.

Saturday morning I gave welcoming comments at the seventh annual Ole Time Winter Festival in downtown Cary. Unfortunately, it appears the weather hurt the attendance. I talked with organizers about combining this event with the Jaycees Christmas parade. Hopefully, we can make that happen next year and make it a great day of holiday celebration.

Saturday night I introduced the official Holiday tree lighter. This year the honor went to Assistant Fire Chief Don Daniels who is retiring on January 1^st. He has spent 37 years working in our Fire Department and will be sorely missed. The tree lighting ceremony was held inside the council chambers because of the rain. At the end of the performances we all headed outside to light the tree. It was a lot of fun and we even had snow. OK, so the snow was man made.

Emails this week included complaints about the automated meter reading system, the new noise levels at the amphitheater, HVAC inspections, the holiday tree (instead of Christmas tree), the Bowden house sign, and Cary’s expansion into Chatham County.

Next week will be a busy week for me including the swearing in of Mayor Holcombe of Morrisville, the swearing in of Mayor Pro-Tem Robison of Cary, welcoming officials to the NCAA Men’s College Cup, a council meeting, and the Christmas parade.

Well that is all for this week. I plan to next post on Sunday, December 13^th. Please feel free to leave a comment on my post.