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Harold’s Blog: Highway Expansion, Maynard Water Tower and More

Cary, NC – This week was my last week before a family vacation.

Monday – Wake County Mayors

Monday I met with the Wake County Mayors in Garner. All mayors were in attendance except the Mayors of Apex, Knightdale, Raleigh, and Wendell. The meeting included a presentation about the upcoming census from a non-profit NC Counts Coalition and from a Wake County Planner. Residents will be invited to respond to the census starting mid-March 2020 either by internet, telephone, or paper. Read more

Downtown Cary

Harold’s Blog: Transportation Plans, Cary Fire Department and More

Cary, NC – This week was mostly meetings with a couple of events.

Monday – Preparing for the Week

Monday I met with the town manager for our weekly one-on-one. Topics included a potential bond referendum, downtown businesses, the land development ordinance, the mall site, and the Fenton site. Our meeting lasted about 45 minutes.

Later Monday I met with the Chief Executive Officer of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. We talked about several things such as Cary businesses, potential class A office sites, and Cary’s diverse population. Our meeting lasted about half an hour. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Town Trip, Fenton Sale and More

Cary, NC – This week I joined council members, staff, and dozens of business leaders in an inter-city visit to the Dallas, Fort Worth area. Our visit included Irving, Fort Worth, and Frisco. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Downtown Development, Ordinance Changes and More

Cary, NC – This was a busy week for me with meetings and events.

Monday – Downtown Development

Monday I contacted council members to hear of questions or concerns about Thursday’s upcoming meeting. Since there were no scheduled public hearings or discussion items on the agenda there were very few questions. However one council member did have a question about a street renaming.

Monday afternoon I met with the owner of TAC (Triangle Aquatic Center) and the deputy town manager. The owner gave us an update of the expansion project and wanted to meet again to talk about partnering with the town on future expansions. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Cary Water, Transportation Future and More

Cary, NC – This week was a busy week with lots of meetings.

Monday – Cary Water Treatment

Monday’s first meeting was with the town manager for my weekly one-on-one. Topics included downtown development, future meetings, and legal issues.

Next I chaired a meeting of CAWTF (Cary/Apex Water Treatment Facility) advisory committee to consider the fiscal year 2020 capital and operating budgets. This committee has two voting members, the mayor or manager from Apex and Cary. Cary staff made a presentation and requested an operating budget of $9,955,933 for the Jordan Lake raw water intake/pump station and associated facilities. Cary’s portion of that would be $7,666,068. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Downtown Park, Local Mayors and More

Cary, NC – This was a busy week but typical for this time of year.

Monday – Town Advisory Board

Monday I contacted all council members but one to hear their concerns and questions on the upcoming agenda for Thursday’s regularly scheduled meeting. Since the agenda was short there were very few questions.

Monday afternoon I met with key staff members to go over the agenda. Our meeting was short and we believed the council meeting would be short as well. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Quasi-Judicial Hearings, Economic Update and More

Cary, NC – This week was a typical week for mayoral duties.

Monday – Preparing for the Week

Monday I met with the town attorney, town clerk, chief strategy officer, our quasi-judicial attorney, and others to go over our quasi-judicial process. Recent rulings have now required evidence to be presented in opposition to a proposal from an expert witness to deny a proposal. So no matter how bad we think a proposal may be we can’t vote against it without an expert witness giving us reason. Many council members feel this basically ties our hands in quasi-judicial matters. That is, we will basically have to approve every quasi-judicial proposal since it is rare that an expert witness speaks in opposition to a quasi-judicial proposal. I suspect that council will create a new process which takes us out of the decision process since we basically have no decision to make. Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Plans from Mayors, Ribbon-Cutting and More

Cary, NC – This week was a slower week than last week.

My Monday meeting with the town manager was cancelled due to illness. Get well soon Sean!

Tuesday – Cary Tennis Park

Tuesday I taped the first version of Cary Matters ever held on location. The episode was at the Cary Tennis Park promoting the Cary Tennis Park. I was joined by Mayor Pro-Tem Bush for the taping. I was so excited to be on location and at the Cary Tennis Park that I adlibbed a lot which caused us to do three takes. After taping the episode we taped promotions for tournaments that will be held at the tennis park throughout the year. We finished after about 45 minutes.

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Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Cary Work Retreat, Downtown Park and More

Cary, NC – This was a very busy week with several meetings in addition to the annual council-staff working retreat.

Monday – Local Government Leaders

Monday I joined council member Robinson and the town manager in a meeting with TJCOG (Triangle J Council of Governments) officials. The purpose of the meeting was to find out how we could help each other. We offered to take more of a leadership role to help communities in need (we have already been doing this in several areas such water and sewer). Read more

Cary Mayor

Harold’s Blog: Butterfly Preservation, State Legislature and More

Cary, NC – This was a slower week than normal since it included Valentine’s Day.

Monday – Neighborhood Traffic Safety

Monday started with my weekly one-on-one meeting with the town manager. We were joined by the Public Information Officer. We spent about 30 minutes talking about issues including the upcoming staff-council working retreat and a legal matter.

Later Monday I joined the Deputy Town Manager, two police captains, the director of transportation and facilities, engineers, and others in a meeting with Cameron Pond residents about traffic safety issues. Their neighborhood is divided by Carpenter Fire Station Road which means residents have to cross that road to get to neighborhood amenities. While this is a state road, town staff agreed to work with the neighbors and NCDOT to try and find a solution. The solution may include a mid-block crosswalk with median for pedestrian refuge. Read more