December 7, 2008

This week consisted mostly of social events, ambassador events, and a few meetings.

Monday began with a regularly scheduled meeting with the town attorney. The purpose of these meetings is to make sure I have up to date information regarding town law suits. Although I can’t talk about the law suits I can say that the town is currently working on just a handful and I have the utmost confidence in our legal representation.

Monday evening I attended the annual meeting of the Wynston Ridge homeowners association. I stayed after the meeting to answer questions the attendees had about town affairs. Questions ranged from the timing of certain road improvements to questions about park facilities. There was also interest in the town’s economic status.

I only had a brief staff meeting on Tuesday so I took that opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping with my daughter Cara.

Wednesday was the town’s annual Employee’s luncheon. I greeted (shook hands) with 641 employees according to the Human Resource counter. Once everyone was seated I thanked the town staff for a great year and a job well done and wished them a happy holiday season. Cary is lucky to have employees that care about their jobs and the people that live in this town. I believe this is one of the main reasons Cary is such a great place to live.

Wednesday night I attended a reception for the NCAA College Cup. I gave a brief welcome to the members of the NCAA committee and the college cup committee. Cary has been designated as a “Championship City” by the NCAA. This means that Cary will host national championships until at least 2012. We share this pilot program title with St Louis, San Diego, San Antonio, Indianapolis, and Cleveland. This year was our sixth straight year of hosting the Division I national championship in soccer (we alternate men and women). We will host the men’s college cup in 2009 and the women’s again in 2010. Hopefully, we will become the regular home of the national championship in soccer. It is estimated that this event combined with a Capital Area Soccer League tournament created over $3 million in revenue for the local economy. We are also looking to host a national championship in lacrosse and in Division II baseball.

Thursday my wife and I had dinner with a big campaign supporter from last year. I really enjoyed seeing them and it is hard for me to believe that I have been in office a year already. I guess time flies when you are having fun.

Saturday I presented a proclamation to Dr. Gatwood who was the music director for the Cary Messiah for over 30 years. He brought joy to many citizens over the years with song and music. I was honored to recognize his accomplishment.

Saturday evening was the town’s official tree lighting ceremony. Steve Daniels of WTVD was the MC and I introduced our official tree lighter, Kay Yow, the legendary coach from NC State. We surprised Coach Yow by naming the gym in the Herb Young Center after her. She is truly an ambassador for Hope, Optimism, and Courage as she continues to battle cancer while living life to its fullest. God bless her and all she does.

Sunday evening I attended the Cary Messiah performance at Westwood Baptist Church; what an unbelievable performance. If you can’t get in the holiday spirit from listening to that performance then you might have a little Scrooge in you. ;-)

This week’s emails were dominated by citizens from Cary and Morrisville who are upset at Morrisville’s new Land Use and Transportation Plan which calls for much more dense development. There were various other emails including concerns about school reassignment.

Well, that is about all I have for this week. I’ll close for now and hopefully post again by Sunday, December 14^th.