March 1, 2008

The mayoral duties for this week included a trip to Washington, a couple of tapings for Cary TV, and several key meetings.

The week started with an agenda meeting to prepare for our Thursday council meeting. Fortunately, there were no big controversial issues on this week’s agenda.

Before I left for Washington I did a taping for Cary’s Sunshine week. Sunshine Week is March 16^th through 22^nd and is a national initiative to open a dialog about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Cary has always had open government but I believe we have now made a strong commitment to making Cary’s government as transparent as possible. If we can do more please let us know.

I spent two days in Washington this week. The plans were to meet with Rep. David Price, Rep. Brad Miller, Senator Richard Burr, and Senator Elizabeth Dole to discuss their support for Cary’s 2009 Federal Agenda. This agenda included appropriations of $3 million for the Western Wake Regional Water Reclamation Facility (our share is $72.5 million), $1 million for the Walker Street Grade Separation project (we will spend $14.7 million), $300,000 for Cary Police Technology (this is a $10 million project), $300,000 for preservation efforts of Cary Elementary ($17 million project), and $415,000 for stream restoration (in downtown and west Cary). While I was not able to meet with Representative Price (he was called to the floor for votes), I was able to meet with his excellent staff. They were very helpful and supportive. Later, I was able to meet with Representative Miller, Senator Burr, and Senator Dole. All were VERY supportive and promised to do what they could to help Cary. One interesting side story is about Leader Dole. Leader Dole is a dog (Schnauzer) and is the grandson of the original Leader Dole presented to Bob Dole in 1984 when he became Senate Majority Leader (see Leader’s family history at http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/development/Gifts/Dole.htm ). Like one of Senator Dole’s staff, Leader came in and greeted everyone. Once greetings were over Leader had a seat until our meeting was over. Then, at the end of our meeting, Leader bid everyone good day and left with Senator Dole. I was amazed. What a cute dog! Senator Dole, like all our congressional members, was very kind and gracious and made us feel very welcome. They all pledged to work with us on issues and I am truly grateful.

My arrival back from Washington was an adventure for me since I had 30 minutes to get from the airport to the taping of the March episode of Cary Matters. The March episode will feature the “green movement” as the feature story. It also addresses questions on property taxes related to re-evaluation and developer fees (impact fees). The taping was with Mayor Pro-Tem Julie Robison and was a lot of fun. Hopefully, the information is beneficial in helping citizens understand what we are working on as a council.

Thursday was a busy day that started off with a meeting of area mayors and School Board Chair Rosa Gill. Two main topics were discussed. The first topic centered on obtaining and providing land for schools. We all agreed that towns needed to be involved much earlier in the process and Ms. Gill agreed to take that back to her board. The second topic was on a form that was required of speakers visiting schools. This complaint originated when Mayor Weatherly and Sheriff Harrison were invited to schools but were asked to sign a form (regarding how they would speak and act) before their talk. Both found it very offensive. The policy originated from an incident at Enloe High School last year. In the meeting Ms. Gill offered to exempt elected officials. The mayors didn’t necessarily like that. So Ms. Gill said she would take this issue back to her school board members for re-evaluation. All mayors, including myself, understood the purpose of protecting children but thought there was a better way to accomplish this than a form. We also pointed out that a form wouldn’t stop someone from speaking on anything they would like. At the end of our meeting, the media was waiting for the attendees to comment on the meeting. In my comments I stated I would sign the form but did have a problem with requiring speakers to sign a form. Interestingly, I was invited to read at Cary Elementary the next day and was not required to sign a form.

Speaking of my visit to Cary Elementary, I was invited to participate in Read Across America for two fourth grade classes. I had a great time in each class as I read Dr. Seuss’s Fox in Sox. In case you haven’t read that one it is a tongue twister. Then I presented certificates to students for reading achievements and then answered questions. Questions I fielded varied from “What is your favorite color” to “Are we going to run out of water”. These were very bright kids and a lot of fun. I can’t wait to participate in this next year.

There were a few meetings this week with people concerned over various issues (including one I will have this afternoon). In addition, I will be presenting a proclamation to an Eagle Scout this afternoon. While it takes a lot of time to meet with citizens and attend ceremonies, I believe it is one of the most important duties I perform as mayor and the most enjoyable.

Email traffic this week continued to be focused on schools. Council members are working on what should be put on our legislative agenda. I sent the following email to council members today regarding schools for our legislative agenda:

Council members,

As we continue the process with the school board to make recommendations to improve our schools, I believe we must also work together as a council to update our legislative agenda regarding schools. I believe the issue should cross party lines and be a comprehensive solution to the various problems related to schools.

I’ve discussed with many of you, and many others, what the NC General Assembly can do to best help Cary and other municipalities to improve our school situation. I have concluded that the right solution must not only include at-large elections for the Board of Education, but a county-wide impact fee so that development provides funding to support infrastructure costs, and a county-wide Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance to help guarantee school capacity.

Cary is a unique position to take the leadership role in this area. By advocating for these items together, I think we can relieve a lot of stress on the system and on our citizens.

Please let me know your thoughts on these high priority items. The proposed wording is as follows:

“The Cary Town Council unanimously supports a comprehensive proposal including establishment of an at-large electoral process for Wake County Board of Education members, implementation of county-wide school impact fees, and an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. Together, these measures will give citizens the voice they deserve in determining school policy, and establish the funding and capacity needed to ensure Wake County Schools deliver a quality education.”

Well that’s about it for this week. It was a busy week and it took me a while to make this posting available. It is my hope that these postings are providing needed information to the community. I welcome comments and suggestions (even though it might take me a week to respond due to email volume). I hope to post next week on March the 8^th.