February 16th, 2008

This week was made up of staff meetings, numerous interviews, and a difficult council meeting. This was my most difficult week as mayor because of all the media attention and controversy surrounding issues related to schools, water, and developer fees.

The week started with an enjoyable dinner meeting this week with a friend and campaign supporter who presented me with a wonderful gift of framed election mementos. He and his wife are good friends and really care about my well being and about the Town of Cary. Nothing is more fun than having a great meal with good friends.

The staff meetings for the week included performance issues, agenda review, and a town management meeting. The staff also held a work session with council to discuss the town’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Discussion included roadway Level of Service, pedestrian and bicycle elements, as well as how we wanted to address ultimate widths of roads. One main point the council made was that a “one size fits all” approach to any of these was probably not a good idea. Unfortunately, this approach will be difficult for staff to propose and implement. But since we have the best staff in North Carolina I am sure they will come up with something.

Interviews this week were numerous and included every aspect of the media and non media. One of the most entertaining interviews I had this week was with a boy scout who asked about the drought. After giving an answer to one of his questions he told me “I’m sorry but I don’t think my scout master will accept that.” Being told an answer was unacceptable was a first for me. ;-) Another non media interview was with a faith based mentoring program. This interview was very enjoyable for me since we had a lot of the same core beliefs on what is important in life. Media interviews included several on the drought and how Cary will potentially assist neighboring municipalities. Other interviews had to do with the council potentially raising development fees for water and sewer (we tabled this at the council meeting for 2 weeks to allow more data). The other media interest of the week included a Cary School system and Cary participating with other governments of discussions about reassignment. The school issues caused me many sleepless nights this week and much criticism after my vote. More on that later.

I met with Apex Mayor Weatherly and key members of his staff about the potential sharing of water with Durham and Raleigh. His main concern was that since they are part owner of the water plant then they should have a say in any decision to assist Durham and Raleigh. He is absolutely right and we assured him that we have been working with his staff to keep their town updated on any movement in the direction of assistance.

The main event of this week was the council meeting. While there were several important things on the agenda like board appointments, water/sewer development fees, and the budget public hearing, the most controversial was creating a roundtable discussion with neighboring municipalities on school reassignment. My feeling was that this was very similar to the 2003 Mayor’s Task Force on School Reassignment. I asked council members during the week prior to the meeting to please be prepared to show how this task force would be different from the previous task force. I also asked for their intended ultimate outcome of this process. From what I understand, the ultimate outcome is to present a set of findings to the school board. That left several questions: How is the information is going to be received by the school board? Is it possible that the information is going to be ignored? If so, then why are we going through this process? If I do not support this initiative then what do I propose to do?

Based on the information I have received I believe the initiative is very much like the one proposed in 2003. The end product will probably be another great set of recommendations that will be presented with every good intention. I believe the school board will read this but will not be willing to make much change. Why? If you turn the tables and all the municipalities in Wake County presented Cary with a set of recommendations then how do you think your elected officials would receive them? It would probably be thanks but no thanks. In addition, add the fact that the school board receives constant criticism and will more than likely receive this as more of the same. So I felt there was no reason to go through this process. It would have been easy politically to go along with the majority’s initiative. But when I hear council members say “we feel we have to do something” then that sealed my decision. To be totally open and honest, I don’t take action just to do something. I take action to make a difference. Having said that, what do I plan to do and what am I doing in regards to the school reassignment problem? Since I was asked these questions by numerous citizens this week I thought I would share some of my email responses. Here are some excerpts from emails which, for the most part, answer these questions on what I have been doing and what plan to do:

“…I have spent numerous hours with school board members and staff working on potential solutions to problems with reassigning Cary nodes. I have met with them individually to find out what their philosophy is and how they intend to set policy based on their philosophy…

…since I am an engineer by trade I approach things analytically:

First you have to understand the problem, get all the data, and look at all the possible solutions and outcomes. My understanding is that the school board’s policy is focused mostly on diversity (not a surprise) and overcrowding. When I sat down with Chuck Dulaney and had him go through every Cary node being reassigned, I saw two things. All the data was in a database and all the decisions were from his interpretation of the policies set forth by the school board. I also noticed the set of exceptions that he used: optional year round/traditional, sibling rules, nodes not being allowed to be moved for 3 years, etc. Except for the raw data, everything was in his head. The decision to move certain nodes was based on his knowledge of how the nodes were populated. This makes it significantly difficult for the school board to make substantial policy adjustments when it is all in Mr. Dulaney’s head. I believe it is too complex for the school board members to understand and so they rely heavily on Mr. Dulaney for recommendations. I believe this is one of the reasons why the school board is so reluctant to make changes during the reassignment process. The good news is that SAS is working on a program to allow all of Mr. Dulaney’s parameters and criteria to be put in a program. This will allow everyone to see the actual criteria used in reassignments. It will also point out any mistakes or flaws that Mr. Dulaney might have made in his current process (I am not knocking Mr. Dulaney and actually think he is brilliant. I am just pointing out how extremely complex the problem is.) It will also allow what-if scenarios to be played out in instant. I believe there is great potential for knowledge sharing and should make reassignments more straight forward and predictable.

How much will this help? This will help to the extent that the school board will allow changes under their current philosophy;  and philosophy is the big issue. How do you change the school board’s philosophy and can you change it? I believe if you are going to make any headway with the school board then you have to work closely with them. That is, you have to create a relationship where you can call them and they can call you about specific nodes and talk about potential solutions. That HAS been working and I have actually had a school board member ask my advice on a node. Unfortunately, the initiative proposal has damaged that relationship with at least two of the school board members based on calls and emails. …

So how do you make big change? I believe big change comes at the ballot box. The school board believes strongly in their position and philosophy. No matter how parents, committees, council members, mayors, etc complain they will not change their minds. I can’t really blame them. Would you change your philosophical beliefs?...

So in summary, the problems are obvious, the data is available and anyone can get it. The data along with the criteria used in decisions should be available to everyone before next year’s round of reassignments. The solutions for some change in the near future are made by working within the framework of the school board’s philosophy. To change the philosophy you have to change the school board which means major change is on the shoulders of the voters.”

I also received numerous emails on a Cary School system this week. Here is an excerpt from an email addressing that issue:

“…Huntersville, NC (north of Charlotte) is investigating the possibility of creating their own school system. They estimate that it would cost roughly $300 million to build ten schools (roughly 3 times our operating budget). Cary would have to build or buy its schools (probably more than ten) because existing schools belong to Wake County. The $300 million does not include desks, materials, books, teachers, buses, administrators, operating costs, etc. So it seems likely to me that the cost would require a tax rate at least three times our current rate. Talking with financial experts in the town, they guestimate it would be much higher. While some parents would be willing to pay this, our fixed income residents could not afford that kind of tax increase and would be forced to move. So I cannot consider this a viable option unless someone proves my information wrong. Unfortunately, it appears in some instances that this is being proposed for political gain (I know it was years ago). …”

Although controversial issues made this week a tough one, the week ended on a positive note. I was able to take my daughter and her friends to see the changeover at RBC (from a basketball court to a hockey rink) and a hockey game due to the generosity of the Mayor’s Association and the Centennial Authority.

Time to start writing for the March edition of Cary Matters so I guess I had better close. I hope to post again on Saturday, February 23rd. Until then, have a great week and I’ll talk to you later…