February 2nd, 2008

Relatively speaking this week was a slow week as mayor.  I actually spent over 20 hours performing mayoral duties. Since council meetings are held every 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays, there are occasions at the end of a month where there is an extra week. This month allowed one of those extra weeks.  I was able to attend my daughter’s basketball game and watch her play which made it a special week.

This week included some informative meetings, some political meetings, and one interview. The interview was by a graduate student from UNC’s School of Government Study.

Early in the week I met with staff to review this year’s process for board and commission appointments. Although council had decided not to incorporate a new process this year we ended up with a hybrid of two previous processes. After talking about the details I sent out a proposal summarizing what I thought was the process that we agreed on to the rest of the council. That process suggested that a slate be presented at the next meeting by the liaisons for each board. It was recommended that the slate include all potential appointees with four or more recommendations from other council members. Then the liaison was tasked to interview for the remainder of the slate. Council members will then be allowed to pull and discuss recommendations at the meeting before making appointments. Liaisons are currently interviewing applicants and will present their slates at the February 14^th meeting.

I met with Thomas Crowder from the Raleigh Council about future transit in the area. He was interested in what Cary citizens and town council members thought of combined bus services and future light rail in the area. The following morning I talked with Mayor Meeker about the same subject (a slightly different plan). I have agreed to sit down with Meeker to discuss his ideas on transit along with our municipal managers.

Another significant meeting I had this week was with two Chatham County Commissioners, their manager, and Apex Mayor Weatherly with his town manager. We discussed Chatham County’s concerns with the proposed new wastewater lines going through Chatham County as part of the Western Wake Wastewater Facility project. They want the ability to tap on to our line coming out of the wastewater facility. Chatham County commissioners also expressed that they do not want Cary or Apex to annex in Chatham County. Their third issue was that we not oppose their request to obtain more water from Jordan Lake. We agreed to consider their requests and discuss them with our respective councils. 

The remainder of the week’s meetings consisted of a few smaller meetings with little town significance.

A lot of time this week was spent on email. Email topics cover about anything you can think of. One email asked me why Cary was so humid. While I try to respond to all emails addressed to me I can run as much as a week behind depending on how much response is required. There was a lot of email this week between council members about the potential of sitting down with school board members. Speaking of emails, I guess I had better stop writing this journal now so that I can answer some. ;-)

Well that is about all for now. I hope to post again on Saturday, February 9th. Until then, have a great week and I’ll talk to you later…