Harold’s Blog: Celebrating Chief Bazemore & New Cary Stats

Cary, NC — This week was a typical non-council meeting week made up of mostly meetings.

Monday

Monday, I met with a representative of CALEA (the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) for our police department accreditation. The purpose of CALEA’s Accreditation Programs is to improve the delivery of public safety services, primarily by:

• Maintaining a body of standards developed by public safety practitioners
• Covering a wide range of up-to-date public safety initiatives
• Establishing and administering an accreditation process
• Recognizing professional excellence

CALEA’s goals are to:

• Strengthen crime prevention and control capabilities
• Formalize essential management procedures
• Establish fair and nondiscriminatory personnel practices
• Improve service delivery
• Solidify inter-agency cooperation and coordination
• Increase community and staff confidence in the agency

They spoke highly of our police department and I believe the interview went well.

Holly Brook Neighborhood Meet & Greet

Later Monday, I attended a Holly Brook neighborhood meet and greet.

When the Holly Brook sewer system failed in the early 1990’s, the Town worked with the homeowners and Wake County on a mechanism whereby the Town would receive wastewater from the subdivision and treat it at the South Cary Water Reclamation Facility. Twenty plus years later the residents came to the Town requesting annexation.

Unfortunately, the statutes changed and the Town was unable to make this happen without legislative action. Representative Nelson Dollar, Senator Tamara Barringer and the entire Cary legislative delegation supported the Town’s request for annexation on behalf of the residents. The bill passed and Holly Brook became part of the Town of Cary on July 1. Town staff, Mayor Pro-Tem Smith, and I were on hand to answer questions and talk to the residents.

I was there a little over an hour.

Tuesday

Tuesday I met with the town manager, deputy town manager, and assistant town managers for our weekly meeting. In our conversation, we discussed scheduling issues and for-profit requests for town services. Our meeting lasted about half an hour.

Later Tuesday I met with a developer, the developer’s representative and a property owner about a proposal at Ten-Ten and West Lake Roads. We discussed the merits of the project and concerns that I and others have expressed. Our meeting lasted about half an hour.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I met with organizers of Cary’s first professional tennis championships.

Cary’s Professional Tennis Championships 

Positioned to begin at the conclusion of the US Open, the Cary Tennis Championships, an ATP Challenger Tour Event, will attract many of the top ATP professionals and capitalize on the excitement created from the biggest Grand Slam. Cary is afforded the opportunity to host this annual event as a result of our efforts to get the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Training Center here.

Although we lost that effort to Orlando and Mickey Mouse, we did make a huge impression on the USTA. The tournament will be the week of September 14, 2015, and I hope everyone will show up and show the USTA how many tennis enthusiasts we have in Cary.

Friday

Friday, I had the privilege of participating in the retirement ceremony for Police Chief Pat Bazemore. What an amazing person! We will miss her greatly.

Celebrating Chief Bazemore

She became a mother and a high school dropout at 17, but her determination and drive led her to be one of the greatest law enforcement officers in Cary history. She had many firsts as a first DARE officer, first School Resource Officer and first female Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Deputy Chief and, of course, Chief.

She was a leader in the state and represented Cary well as:

• North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police (past Region VII president)
• North Carolina Police Executives Association (past Vice President)
• North Carolina Training and Standards Commission
• North Carolina Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Board of Directors
• FBI National Academy Association

Through her leadership, Cary became and remains one of the safest places in America to live, work, play and raise a family. God bless her!

Selecting a New Police Chief

There is an ongoing process for selecting the next police chief. Deputy Chief Godwin will be acting as police chief during this time.

Emails from Staff

Emails from staff include the 2015 2nd quarter report. Here are some of the notable items:

• Cary’s population is 153,865 as of July 1, 2015, which is a 2.7% increase for the last 12 months
• 164 acres were annexed this quarter
• The town has 37,212 acres or about 58 square miles
• 444 single family lots, 58 townhomes, and 29 multi-family units were added this quarter
• The average single family dwelling was 3854 square feet compared to 3571 square feet in 2011
• Cary had the 2nd most single family permits in the county. Cary permits were 15.2% of the total and Raleigh’s was 19.2%
• Cary now has over 25,000 manholes, 917 miles of pipeline, and 43 pump stations
• Cary’s property crime increase 11% while violent crimes dropped 33%

Emails from Citizens

Emails from citizens this week included a comment about the US Postal service, a complaint about cable installation, and a conspiracy accusation from a Morrisville resident about my vote on the golf course amendment.

Get in Touch

Next week’s activities include several meetings, several candidate meetings, a quasi-judicial hearing, a meeting with consultants about hiring the next town manager and an event with the Friends of the Page Walker Hotel.

Well, that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, August 9th. Although I have Facebook and Twitter accounts those are not the best means of communications with me. Please send all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org and email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

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From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht. Photo by Jessica Patrick.