Entries by Harold Weinbrecht

Harold’s Blog: Cary Town Council, Elected Officials and More

May 7, 2018 /2 Comments/in , , , , /by

This was a typical spring week with a regularly scheduled council meeting and several events.

Monday I contacted council members to hear of questions and concerns they may have had about the agenda for Thursday’s meeting. Later in the day I met key staff members and went over the agenda.

After the agenda meeting I met with staff to hear about a legal issue and to get a preview of the budget. The staff will present the budget on May 10th to the council at our quarterly meeting. That discussion will include what to do about the increasing costs of recycling, the need for more sidewalks, and the need for more road improvements. Property taxes will probably remain the same in this year’s budget but that will be a council decision. After the May 10th work session other scheduled work sessions include June 7th, June 14th, and June 28th. It is likely that we will not need all of those work sessions.

Harold’s Blog: State Legislature, Transportation and More

April 23, 2018 in , , , , /by

Monday morning I talked with the Executive Director of CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) and the Vice Chair about Wednesday’s agenda. We agreed that the agenda was straight forward and based on the presentations we believed the meeting would take an hour to an hour and a half.

Monday afternoon I met with a high school senior and her parent for an interview about local government. Her questions focused on the impact of growth, governmental relationships, and future changes. We talked about half an hour before I gave her a tour of town hall.

Harold’s Blog: Cary School of Government, Cary Road Race and More

April 16, 2018 in , , , , /by

Spring finally arrived in Cary this week. I participated in a lot of spring related activities in addition to other meetings and events.

Monday I joined council member George in a taping of Cary Matters. Our episode was about the opioid crisis and our pilot program funded by the $100,000 Bloomberg grant. Our first take had several stumbles but we nailed it on our second take.

Later Monday I met with the town manager for my weekly one-on-one meeting. We talked about several projects that have been approved and proposed. We also talked about our budget mini-retreat coming up on May 10th. Our meeting lasted about half an hour.

Harold’s Blog: Town Council Meeting, Highway Changes and More

April 9, 2018 in , , , , /by

This week had events or meetings almost every day.

Monday started with attempts to contact all council members to hear of concerns or questions about Thursday’s regularly scheduled council meeting agenda. I was able to contact all council members but one and there were no major concerns. Later in the day I met with management and directors to go over the agenda. Following the meeting about the agenda I met with the deputy managers and public information officer to talk about gas station issues.

Harold’s Blog: Water Treatment, Gun Dialogue and More

April 2, 2018 in , , , , /by

This week consisted mostly of meetings.

Monday I facilitated two meetings at Apex town hall. The first meeting was the Cary Apex Water Treatment Advisory Committee which makes decisions on our water treatment. Cary and Apex are the only two voting members. At this meeting we heard about the water treatment expansion to 56 mgd (million gallons a day) which will go online soon. Currently our maximum demand on peak days is around 40 mgd. Per capita usage has been going down for years and has now leveled off.

Harold’s Blog: Town Council Meeting, Cary Branding and More

March 26, 2018 in , , , , /by

This week was typical for a week that included a council meeting.

Since there was a CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) meeting on Wednesday I talked with the Director on Monday morning to go over the agenda for the monthly meeting. The CAMPO meeting agenda was straight forward with mostly informational items so our meeting time was short.

Later Monday I attempted to contact all council members to hear of any questions or concerns about Thursday’s council agenda. I was only able to talk with four of the council members and there were very few questions. Later in the day I met with staff and went over the agenda items. We believed at the time that there weren’t any significant concerns.

Harold’s Blog: Triangle Council of Governments, Arbor Day and More

March 19, 2018 /1 Comment/in , , , , /by

I started Monday with a visit to Carpenter Elementary to participate in Read Across America. I read the book “The Most Magnificent Thing” by Ashley Spires. The students were very attentive and comprehended the story well giving several lessons learned from the book. Then I spent about fifteen minutes answering questions. Before I left they presented me with a gift bag of goodies from Carpenter Elementary. Then I did a selfie with those students whose parents had approved of allowing pictures. It was a great time and I hope they invite me back in the future.

Harold’s Blog: Crabtree Crossing, Smart Cities Grant and More

March 12, 2018 /16 Comments/in , , , , /by

Monday started with my weekly town manager one-on-one meeting. We talked about a variety of topics including having an additional neighborhood meeting to hear concerns from the residents near the Penny Road Kildaire Farm Road gas station proposal. We also talked about an issue with some faulty town’s water meters in town. The cost and replacement of those meters will be covered by the manufacturer. The Green Level Church Road widening was also discussed. NCDOT would like to do the entire set of improvements rather than the ones they have planned. So we will probably enter this as a LAPP (locally administered project program) project. Other topics included the upcoming Cary/Morrisville joint meeting, an update Fenton development agreement process, the Glenaire rezoning proposal, and the approved gas station near Weldon Ridge School sites which is upsetting citizens.