Retreat 2017

Often, we take advantage of the location as well, meeting with elected officials wherever we are, sometimes seeing the surrounding area and getting a taste of how they have handled challenges, locally.

I’m sure that  Councilman Don Frantz and Mayor Weinbrecht will also blog about their views/experience, but I thought I’d take a different path, and share my experience. 

Moving on out

Don and I drove together to Wrightsville Beach on Thursday afternoon – there are probably some folks that might find that interesting, or maybe surprising.  One of the best things about my relationship with Don is that although, ideologically, we are very different – we are more similar in so many ways.  We both respect each other, believe each is a person of high integrity, enjoy each other’s company, and both love Cary.  With that as our friendship foundation, the rest is just gravy. I learn a lot from Don and his perspective, and the opportunity to have 2 hours in the car with him is one I wouldn’t ever pass up.  Once we arrived, we had a “social dinner” with council – absolutely no “work talk” – so we could just spend time continuing to get to know each other.  That connection is important – and one that I really treasure.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

I’ve never been to Wrightsville Beach before, but it was off-season, and a good locale for us to convene our meeting.  I think I ventured outside once, right after lunch – so although we were “at the beach” I saw the beach from my window, and took a brief walk at lunchtime.

Wrightsville has 2800 full time residents – that swells to 30,000 over the summer.  Their police department is larger than average due to their needs in the summer, and of course they have to do beach replenishment every 4 years that costs about $10 million.  Talk about some unique challenges.  They also have an incredibly low tax rate – 13 cents with about 1/3 of their revenue coming from parking – almost $3 million.  We had lunch with Mayor Bill Blair, and Mayor Pro Tem Darryl Mills and Alderman Hank Miller, the other 2 Alderman were unavailable.  We shared some of our experiences as well – as they are in the process of considering how to build new Town Chambers. I learned so much from our lunchtime conversation!

Lunch walk

Cary – Where success is never taken for granted

That was the slide title, and I think a great kickoff on Friday to our day. We reviewed where we have been – from a suburban small town to a more established city, to where we are headed.  We talked about how we’ve become a mecca for the young family, while also increasing our diversity.  And, most surprisingly, we’ve gone from a bedroom community to actually an employment center.  It’s true.  More people COME to Cary to work, than leave.

Journey to Work Flow

Y’all know some of the interesting Town stats, but here they are again:

•  – Less than 17% greenfield developable land – with more redevelopment likely to come
•  – Cary grew 65,000 people from 2000-2017 (now more than 159,000 people)
•  – Based on 2010 census, 67,372 come to Cary for work while 64,108 leave, while 11,221 live/work in Cary
•  – Raleigh (NOT RTP) is a Top Destination for work
•  – Our town diversity is growing, from a minority mix of 18% in 2000, to 30% of our population  now being a mix of Latino, Asian and African-American, with more than 15% of that being Asian.

Trust and Confidence in Govt

We spent time talking about how trust in our government has declined over the years. Using data from the Edelman Trust Barometer, and Gallup Poll information, we saw how trust in all types of environments has declined.  There are lots of reasons for this decline – some has to do with employment rates, others to scandals like the Flint Water Crisis, and some to events like “Bridge-gate” in NJ.

When it comes to trust – we don’t do so well in NC – we rank 43^rd in Trust – with only 51% of respondents in NC who trust their state government.  And this was BEFORE HB2.  Hey, we aren’t the worst.  Illinois is at 25%, and North Dakota is really happy at 81%.  Probably not surprising to you that Americans in general, are still more trusting of their Local government than State – about 71% to 61% on avg.  

Since 1999, the Town of Cary has collected our own data, to see how you feel when it comes to trusting your government.  We do this by asking you what you think, every other year, with our Biennial Citizen Survey Report.

We care about what you think, and we do our best to proactively address your concerns and stay on top of emerging trends.  We’ve been doing pretty well there – you all gave us high marks.

Town Council Effectiveness

We looked at our past Bond Referendums – and how those have passed, or not, and the percentages – remembering that all of our bond referendums in the past, (excluding 2012), were without tax increases.  Our goal is to maintain the valued trust you give us, and to ensure that we continue to reach out and involve you in our decision making process.

Fiscal Sustainability and Aging Infrastructure

My view

We took a look backwards, again, to look at our tax rate, and used an example home built in the 1990’s, which was when we had a big building boom.   We saw that, as you can imagine, buying a house in Cary has been a great investment. From 1993, to 2017, the taxes on that property have only gone up about $120 – not including the increase in appreciable value of that property.  So, you get all the resources, like new parks, greenways, new fire stations, new roads, a senior center, the Cary Theater and Cary Arts center, for just $120 more in taxes.  Now, I do realize that that home appreciated in value, and a lot of that is because Cary is a great place to live – and because of all of the amenities we provide.  That means that you have also had a great return on your investment in Cary.

Our goal is to continue to keep that investment growing – and to do that, we need to continue to invest in our community, and that means investing in our aging infrastructure (stormwater, roads, bridges, etc.)  Although NC is at a grade of C, Cary is about a B to B-.  Here are some interesting stats:

•  – We have 1,035 miles of water mains
•  – 24% of them are more than 40 yr old
•  – Cary maintains over 25,000 manholes, and 9600 fire hydrants (we provide those services for Cary, Morrisville, Part of Apex and RTP)

Public Works Infographic

And yes, we have the best facilities, bar none – whether it’s our Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources facilities or Firestations.  I mean, c’mon, it’s why we won the GOLD AWARD.  (Take a look at the video that got us the award.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=E8Ja4FQILTs

•  – Cary has 46 parks, community & art centers and sports and entertainment venues and 76% of them are more than 10 yrs old
•  – 79 miles of greenways
•  – 60% of our streets are at least 20 years (major resurfacing is done on 20 year increments)
•  – 33% of our sidewalks are at least 20 years old.
•  – We spend $6 million/year to resurface about 5% of our roads – in 2011 we spent $1 million.

Medians

We ended with a discussion on medians.  Overall, we determined to keep our plan – that our medians are just one of our defining Cary characteristics.  Some folks said that there are two kinds of streets – ones that have medians, and ones that need medians. 

When it comes to medians in Cary, you might be surprised to learn that we have 43 miles of them in Cary, 20 miles of those are planted.  The council’s determination is that they should be planted (when 6-8 ft or wider) and if they are too small to be planted (4-6 ft) they will be brick filled.  Many of our medians today are maintained by HOAs – and that is because they were conditions offered by the developer at the time of the rezoning.  We’ve worked hard to catch up and plant many medians that had been put on the “back burner” during the recession.

Of course, there are costs to this – roadside maintenance is required – and that costs the town today about $1 millon/year – or about $20/household.

Planted medians

Saturday – Wrapping it all up

So, after  long day on Friday, we had a bit of a shorter one on Saturday.  We did an exercise where we looked at where councilmembers and staff go about and around Cary.  Allowing us to see what areas are seen by us all, what are favorites spots are, and where there are areas that some don’t see, much at all.  It was interesting to see the various routes some folks take, and how a few of us see a lot of Cary, and how a number of us stay to smaller concentrated areas.

Don exercising

Our Maturing Community

After that, we looked at how Cary has matured.  It’s good for us to review all of this so that we can ensure we address any relevant trends.

•  – Cary’s population tripled between 1990 and 2010
•  – Cary’s median age in 2015 = 39.9, and we’ve aged!  In 2000 the median age was 33.7
•  – Our Town of Cary STAFF median age is 44
•  – Cary has the oldest median age of the 14^th largest NC cities

We discussed methods and code enforcement initiatives that might help address our aging housing, as well. This means that we need to be concerned about some of our older forgotten “middle neighborhoods,” where we have heavy concentrations of renter occupied homes, and how we continue to support Project Phoenix.  We then ventured on another team exercise, to take a look, and brainstorm in small groups to answer the prompt:

When you think about our community and these trends, what excites you?  What concerns  you?  What are technical issues, and what are adaptive issues.”

Group Exercise

Park Naming

There was a bit of consternation regarding the naming of what we were calling the AM Howard Farm.  This was an item on a previous council agenda, that was tabled to the Retreat. A lot of good discussion – but we ended up with Good Hope Farm Park.  The farm exists in the “Good Hope” area, which was news to me.  I learned that Green Hope School was named that way – because it was between the Green Level community and the Good Hope community.  Hence – Green Hope!  I was OK with the name of AM Howard Farm – since the farm had been there for 80 years – but there were good reasons to name it for the community, as well.

Roundtable

We ended with a roundtable of Council members sharing some of their concerns, priorities and issues.  You know mine, but here was my list:

• – I want us to return to our “Technology Town of NC” innovative roots.  We need to find new ways to leverage and enable technology to reach our citizens, engage and share.
• – I still have a pet peeve when we change road names, right in the middle of the road.  It’s confusing for our citizens.
• – Affordable housing is still a concern for so many in our community.  As housing prices soar, we need to find ways to have a diversity of housing stock – so that our teachers, police officers, public servants, senior and service personnel can afford to live here
• – Branding at the Town.  We need it.  The Town Seal is not our brand, and its use is protected.  We need a way to share what’s great about Cary – for economic development purposes, and more.
• – Bicycle and Pedestrian safety in Cary and our surrounding area is a deep concern.  As you all know, we have had deaths and significant accidents in our community – and with more and more people texting and being distracted while driving, I believe we need to invest in more off-road routes.
• – American Tobacco Trail signage: Being a heavy user of the American Tobacco Trail and the routes west of 55, I’ve seen a number of near misses in that area. I also think we could do a better job of signage, so direct people to park at the trailhead, rather than on O’Kelly Chapel road.
• – Louis Stephen road to Little Drive – the access to the back of Parkside Town Commons is blocked right now for 1 main reason, and that’s while we wait for approval for the railroad crossing (while we close another one, which will be very soon.)  That will provide the extension of O’Kelly Chapel, to Little Dr.  What we’ll need next, is the extension of Louis Stephens to Little – and that road is in 3 jurisdictions, a small bit in Cary, some in Morrisville and the rest in RTP.  So that might take awhile.

So, long long post, but hopefully you got an idea of what your Town Council and Staff review, as we move forward to continuing to keep Cary a remarkable community.

2017 Retreat

Since I’ve been on Council these “retreats” have been planned to be in areas where we can learn from the local experience. For instance, when we went to Winston-Salem, we spent time with the local folks getting a sense of what it took for them to revitalize their downtown. What did they do? How did they do it? What would they NOT do again?  The idea being that we could learn so much from others who have attempted much of the same thing.

This time, our retreat agenda was focused on exactly THAT – but in Charlotte. We know we aren’t Charlotte and folks would probably say that we don’t want to be Charlotte, but there are always things that we can learn from another municipality that has, and is, facing similar issues and struggles.

Since I know that Councilman Frantz is posting HIS feeling on our trip, I’ll try not to cover what he did, and focus on what I learned during my “sick stupor” in the Queen City. (Yes, it’s true that I was sick during the whole trip – my biggest worry was that I didn’t want infect anyone while there.)

All Aboard

When we were first discussing Charlotte as a location, I asked if we could take the train, and what a great plan that was. The trip was fantastic – a real opportunity to use our transit system while having time to connect with staff and other council members. We had lunch on the train so that we could hit the ground running when we arrived.

Getting ready to board the train

Don, Harold, Jennifer and Lori – ready to go (Jack and Ed were already in their seats!)

We were lucky enough to have our own train car for our group of folks. After settling in we had several presenters from Amtrak that provided us with background on the Piedmont Improvement Program underway. This program’s goal is to make the train more reliable and safer, and the results are pretty impressive. The Carolinian (train from Charlotte to Raleigh and the return) has gone from a 4 hour 20 min trip in 1990 to a 3 hour, 10 min trip now. With their safety awareness outreach programs, they have seen a reduction in fatalities on the tracks as well.

Here are some interesting stats:

• Travelling at 55 MPH, it takes a mile for a train to stop

• Trucks are involved in 10 times more accidents than trains

• It is illegal to walk on the railroad tracks, they are private property

• Amtrak in NC also allows you to check a bicycle as luggage for free!

• Because of the increase in interest and ridership, a new midday service has been added between Raleigh and Charlotte

• The Cary Amtrak Station received an award from OneRail for being a National Example of Success

• The Cary Depot is the 4th busiest station in NC with 89,000 passengers

• The Cary Depot is the 2nd in the nation for customer satisfaction with a 94% customer satisfaction rate

• NC Train volunteers all over the state act as good will ambassadors – and they volunteer their time to help passengers. A number of Cary citizens are volunteers, including the president of the Train Volunteers, Bob Warner, who was on our trip

• The NC Train Volunteers are having their annual meeting in Cary this year, to be held at the Cary Theater!

Me and Bob Warner (Train volunteer extraordinaire)

The View

Seeing Cary and Morrisville from the train was so enlightening.  The new underpass at Morrisville Parkway is coming along nicely, and seeing the impact for many miles on either side of that, gives you a real view of the investment that Amtrak is making in NC.  We also slipped by the new bridge on Hopson Road, hopefully all of these improvements will improve the speed and reliability of the train schedules, as well.

Looking up Morrisville Parkway towards Target, from the train

Part of the drainage work, south of Morrisville Parkway

Shhhhh. It’s a Secret.  (Not really!)

One last set of cool items to share.

In case you were wondering, the colors used on the trains are the colors of the NC State flag. (Who knew?) And, the locomotives used on the NC Piedmont area are named for cities along the Raleigh-Charlotte rail corridor. The number of each locomotive corresponds to the incorporation date of the city that it is named for. For instance, the “City of Salisbury” is #1755. And…. (drum roll please)…  there is a new locomotive to be added soon, to be called the “Cary #1871.”  (Obviously, Cary’s incorporation date is 1871.)  How cool is that?

The NCDOT equipment program uses refurbished locomotives, which ends up being about half of the cost of newly purchased locomotives. The train that will be the Cary was originally built in the 60’s, and retired in 2013. It will cost about $900K, but a new car, fully decked out is about $4 million. They will start the refurbishing process once acquired, and all of the materials for these refurbished trains are sourced from NC businesses (from the textiles for the carpets and seats, to the wiring, brake shoes and lighting.)

The christening of the Cary locomotive will be this fall, with our own Mayor doing the honors. It should be a lot of fun!

First Stop, The Met

Our first stop was a redevelopment project called the Metropolitan.

We were met by Peter Pappas, the CEO of Terwillger Pappas who described the history of the property, from Charlottetown Mall, to Midtown Square mall, to what it is today in Midtown.

Talking about the history of the Metropolitan

The mall was the first enclosed shopping mall in the Southeast when it opened in 1959. But over time it declined, and eventually became an outlet mall. Eventually, Pappas purchased the property (2001ish) and turned it into the current mixed-use development. The 23 or so acres includes a few anchors such as Target, as well as a 10 story mixed use building that includes Trader Joe’s, Best Buy and others. It also includes condos. The discussion centered around public/private partnerships – where Charlotte worked with the owners on connections to greenways, infrastructure improvements and structured parking. It was an interesting history lesson and a long process, that goes to show you that nothing in this area of redevelopment is quick, or easy.

The urban feel of the Met

We toured the Metropolitan, and although a nice development, it’s VERY urban feeling. I wish we went to see the other Pappas property, Birkdale. I have visited that development and really like that implementation of mixed use development, and can see something like that in Cary, for sure.

Next was dinner at King’s Kitchen – a really cool not-for-profit restaurant. stablished in 2010, The King’s Kitchen donates 100% of their profits from sales to feed the poor in the Charlotte region. They also partner with local area ministries to and provide all types of training, guidance and employment internship opportunities to folks that need help.

The sweet potatoe fritters, ohhhh… right…. but Don covered that in his blog.

Day 2 – Center City Partners and Transit

We started with an overview of the Center City Partners, an organization that seems like a mix between a Chamber of Commerce and an internal city economic development group. This organization is funded by an additional (very small) tax on the area they support in Center City.

The Center City Partners have a small staff and a board of directors, and their goal is to promote the economic, cultural and development of the area. They manage events such as the Thanksgiving Parade, bring arts into the community and work closely with the Charlotte Planning department.

During our discussion with the folks from the planning department, learned of their planning framework used called the “Centers, Corridors and Wedges Framework.”

This framework is used as their planning guide for the areas within Charlotte, to help guide their development and to provide guidance on their infrastructure investment. The picture shows how they have used the visual (see, the centers as darker blue? And the wedges created by the purple transportation corridor?) From this framework, they have another 60 (?) planning guides, that details the guidelines for these specific areas.

What I like about this document is the overall visual it provides, and the direction for the expected types of uses in the areas. The guiding principals apply to the areas on the map. For instance, in the transportation corridors, you expect to see higher densities, compared to the “wedges.” Of course, Charlotte has 775,000 citizens (in the urban area, 1.5M including the surrounding area) and almost 300 square miles; where we in Cary have 150,000 citizens and 55 square miles. So, size wise, there are differences for sure, but there are always lessons that we can learn from each other.

Transit

We got a great overview of the Transit Plan and Charlotte’s commitment to light rail.  The first 9.6 miles of the light rail went live in 2007, at a cost of more than $460 million.  It was originally proposed in the1980’s, when the voters in Mecklenburg approved a ½ cent sales tax to fund it in 1998.  The extension of the Lynx is in development now, an additional 9.2 miles for about $1 Billion.  Its cost increases are due to the routes of the trains – going over bridges, to the medians, and underground, all of which increases the cost. I was a bit surprised at the numbers, and thought that they were low.  Yes, low.  Why?  Because in the Wake County Transit Advisory meetings, we were told that Light Rail averages $100 million for a 1/4 of a mile.  So, these cost estimates looked way better.

I really loved riding the Lynx; it was easy, clean, and the Lynx app helped me figure out when the train was coming.  I could see something like this in Wake County – SOMEDAY.   But I’m not sure we have the current need.  But transit is about vision, and a strategic look for our community and our future as well as the current requirements.  Here were some of the “truths about transit” that were shared with us:

Check out more at :  Truth about Transit

South End

We hopped on the Lynx to South End, a redeveloped community along the transit route.

This historic area sits right on Charlotte’s 1st railroad – and way back when it connected it’s textile manufacturing community with Charleston, SC.

We met with the son of the original developer, hearing how the name came about (his dad just slapped up “South End” on one of the chimneys!), their commitment to leveraging the original buildings and how they created this urban area that now contains a mixture of shops and high end residential aimed at the millennials.

The apartment communities had an urban feel, with lots of concrete, metal and contemporary furniture. They had amenities that you would expect – pools, grills, fitness centers and even dog parks and stations – but they also had “transit rooms” – just outside the stations where a rider could comfortably watch for their train while sipping free coffee and watching the news. Not bad. But, these weren’t cheap apartments, with 1 bedrooms starting at $1500 for 800 sq ft.

Since transit is a key amenity of these apartments – it’s not surprising that some of these apartments have less than a single parking space for each unit.

This area is in transition – changing from dismantled warehouses, to a new urban transit hub, and it’s surrounded by poverty, and some high crime areas. Another challenge for this redevelopment area.

We went to lunch at a cool little place called the Ice House via the Atherton Mill development project. Within that project was a really unique little market – called Atherton Market – with all types of vendors selling everything from pickles, to baked goods, to soaps and more. Eclectic, fun, and truly interesting, with one of the original trolleys sitting in the back of the market.

Talking about the original trolley system

More redevelopment, art and more

After that we strolled around the area, getting a walking tour of the Camden Dilworth project and Camden Road redevelopment, the process and plan from the architect and founder of Centro Cityworks and the founder of the Historic South End. Interesting how this area redeveloped, up and down Camden Road, not all concentrated in one area as I expected. We talked about the pros and cons to having retail on the street level, the difficulty in obtaining financing, and the TIF financing that Don spoke about in his blog. The rest of the crew went to the Elder Art Gallery – but I bowed out and went back a bit early to the hotel to take care of my bronchitis.

Last Day – Bus Tour

We headed out first thing to drive around Charlotte communities. Seeing the more established areas like Dilworth and Myers Park, we got a real sense of the differences between the communities, and the identity they each have, and are proud of.

Stopping at Plaza Midwood, we spoke to a representatives from the Charlotte Neighborhood and Community Partnerships and from the Merchants Association. They spoke of the programs that have helped with the revitalization of their neighborhood from façade improvement programs (we have that!), to outreach with new developers to get the kind of development they want in their community.

Harris Teeter on the corner

Walking through this neighborhood several of us noticed that the new Harris Teeter had some great features, many of which wouldn’t currently be allowed if it was built in Cary. An example was the transparency requirement – this building had integrated art, which really accomplished what I think we want to see via our current transparency requirement. The Harris Teeter was also positioned in a way, on a corner, that made the front of the building more inviting, what we call “activating” a corner. It had a great rooftop seating area (in a Harris Teeter!) with a green roof! Talk about great sustainability, in a grocery store.

Side of Harris Teeter with integrated art

Green Roof on the Harris Teeter

Another “take away” was some of their crosswalks. The crosswalks we saw used what is called Thermoplastic paint, and added a great way to uniquely identify and delineate the crosswalks. Our current plan for crosswalks in the downtown area are focused on using different paving materials, much more expensive, and not as visually appealing, I think. Seeing these crosswalks, how they have worn (really well), and how visually appealing they were, was a real eye opener.

Unique painted crosswalks

Crazy Council Members

Along the way – we saw some of the newly implemented (and somewhat controversial) reverse angled parking. Instead of pulling into a parking spot, cars back into their spots along the street.  I actually like the idea.  Studies have shown (and our tour guides agreed) that it has slowed down traffic in the area.  It’s also safer, and provides more parking than traditional parallel parking.

Reverse angled parking

Finally we visited another unique place… a Lowes Home Improvement Store with parking on the roof. Nice to see how a store like this can fit in a more urban area, and still not take up a lot of horizontal parking.

Lunch and the Music Factory

We had lunch at Amelie’s French Bakery – a well known spot in NoDa (Northern Davidson’s Art District) where we were joined by the Mayor Pro-Tem of Charlotte and the Charlotte city manager and a member of the University City Partners.

BRIEF DESSERT INTERMISSION

An amazing dessert (photo by City Guide)

Ok, I had the best dessert I’ve had in years there – called a Salted Caramel Brownie.

I found the recipe soon after – this sucker is getting made at my house, soon. (If you make it, let me know!)

Finally, we headed to the Music Factory. It was really a combination of everything we have seen – the unique use of older buildings to reinvigorate and spur economic development, while still preserving the historic area.

Home Bound

Afterwards, we headed to the train for our trip home. One of the best parts of taking the train was the ability to work and connect while traveling. On the way back we debriefed, shared our thoughts and just relaxed. It was a long trip, and considering I was sick, it seemed even longer. But all in all, it was a great trip and I believed I learned a lot, and hope to take it into account as we move forward in Cary.

Getting there

Council members Adcock, Robinson and I carpooled to Wilmington, which ended up making the drive so much fun.  We talked about kids, recipes, families, food, history, eating, meals… well, you get the idea. All that talk about food made us incredibly hungry by the time we got there- and we joined the rest of the folks at the restaurant.  It was so nice to really get to know my fellow members on a more personal level.  Each of us brings a unique perspective and set of life experiences to council.

DAY 1 – Getting to know each other

Photo by Brent Miller

We started the day with a session aimed at improving our effectiveness as a council.  As the “newbie” on the council (28 days by then!) I was soaking it all up.  This council has a great working relationship; I’ve noticed the respect and consideration of fellow members at the table. In fact, all of the council members have reached out to me – offering to assist me in coming up to speed.  I’ve felt VERY WELCOMED. The exercises focused on what we each want and expect from our fellow council members.  Words like “respect, preparation, fairness and honesty” were at the top of the list for all of us. At one point I got a chance to show Jack a few things about his new phone.

   TAKEAWAYS: Look for opportunities to agree. Be open-minded. Preparation is key.

Land Use

The next 3 hour session was on Land Use Planning. Anyone that sees a 3 hour session on that topic might normally look for significant caffeine to help them muddle through. But I have to give the staff and consultants huge kudos. They did the unheard of. They made it fast-paced, fun and incredibly interesting.

Demographic data: Information from Cary’s data, combined with the 2010 census data gave us a real view into our changing demographics.  The Cary population (about 140,000) has become more diverse, in many ways echoing the diversity of the US population as a whole. We are seeing a growing Asian and Hispanic population, and an increase in the number of seniors.  (I’m not that far off from that population.)

In Cary from 2000 to 2010 – we have seen that the number of folks 65+ has increased from 9.7% to 16.2%, our Asian population has gone from 8.1% to 13.1%, Latino population increased from 4.3% to 7.7% and more than 19% of our Cary residents are foreign born.

Trends presented: Across the country, cities are finding the need to have a diverse set of housing stock available, for all types of folks.  Apartments for kids just entering the workforce as well as for people looking to downsize later in life. One of the consultants presented a best-practice from Dublin,OH – a community faced with many of the same issues.  It did make me think – after my children leave and enter the workforce, will there be affordable housing for them here in Cary, so that they may live and work close to family?

Cary Land Use Map

The Town has not looked at the Land Use plan in an overall cohesive manner (across the entire town) since the original document was created in 1996.  I participated on the Planning and Zoning board when we looked at several area plans (Northwest and Southwest plans) and they have guided the town as we move forward. But now the time is right for us to update that document, taking into account our changing demographics while keeping our culture intact.  Plus, it’s a real opportunity for us to make the plan and our vision better – more readable, and easier to understand. And, most importantly, to involve the citizens.

   TAKEAWAYS: The “engaging the community” component was one of my favorites.  The consultant echoed what I’ve often felt, that communities that build connections, ones that tap into the emotional attachment we have with our Town, are the ones that THRIVE. Great ideas were shared on ways to increase citizen participation in the visioning and planning process – such as receptions that involve refreshments (yes, beer), making them real EVENTS with speakers, and using all kinds of outreach, including social media.

We should see updates from staff as they march forward to put this next vision and planning set of sessions together.

Intergovernmental Effectiveness

This section should have been called “working well with others.”  The goal, of course, was to help us all navigate the intricacies and complexities of working with outside organizations and agencies, in order to meet our town’s goals. We heard from the Town’s federal legislative consultants – where they provided insight into mechanisms and methods for engaging at the federal level. We also heard from a representative from the NC League of Municipalities, and our NC Legislative consultant.

   TAKEAWAYS: This is a difficult time in our country – everything is impacted by the budget, and everything we do impacts the budget.  It’s also a time where the NC Legislature is reexamining what authority municipalities have, and should continue to have, all while being a highly partisan atmosphere.  At the town, we need to ensure that we continue to invite our elected state and federal officials to events where we celebrate our accomplishments in town, share with them our challenges as well as our wins. I will be reaching out to our representatives to introduce myself, and of course, thank them for their service.

Wrapping up Day 1

We finished about 5:45pm, with a short break before dinner with everyone. All and all, a great first day for my first retreat.

DAY 2

Customer Service

We started the day with a focus on Customer Service. We ALL agreed that the Town has great staff, but there is always room for improvement. Before we arrived, we each watched a 1 hour webinar by Dennis Snow, a former Disney Executive and author of Unleashing Excellence the Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service. The webinar was informative, and provided some great examples and best practices from his years at Disney.  I jotted down some of his quotes that really resonated with me.

When we treat our responsibilities as tasks, we treat our customers as tasks; they end up feeling processed. When we treat our responsibilities as opportunities to create positive experiences, customers feel valued.

We must look at everything through the “lens of the customer.”  Only then will we be able to improve.

Create “customer wows.” Moments that a customer will remember.

Hold ALL employees accountable for customer service.

We then walked through the council survey feedback (we had all been asked to take a survey on how WE feel the Town staff does in the area of customer service.  I was glad to see that measurement and metrics would be a key part in implementation of new customer service methods.

At one point, Council member Robinson and I spoke quite passionately about the need to update the Town website, especially the Google search engine and ability to navigate through the pages, as well as finding new ways for alerting citizens to field closings. Bill Stice informed us that a new Google server will be coming online, to help, soon.  We both see the need for some improvements, and will be talking more about these requests.

Capital Projects and Funding

Luckily, when it came to this session, I had already been briefed by Scott Fogleman and Ben Shivar earlier in the week.  The issue at hand was to discuss and for the council to provide direction regarding upcoming capital projects in town such as roads, fire stations, and new parks. Currently, the Town has available funding options through a Bond that was approved by voters in 2003.  That bond funded a number of projects such as the Davis Drive and High House widening, Walnut Street, Louis Stephens extension, traffic signaling system, Cary Arts Center, Middle Creek Park and 20 miles of greenways, and more.  However, many of the council members feel that voters were promised that bond with no new taxes.  Because of that, we decided to let the remaining authority associated with the 2003 bond expire.

Note: Information provided by staff shows that document shared with voters DOES SAY we MIGHT have to raise taxes, but there had not been a tax increase with prior bonds.

That means, if we are to continue to improve and build out roads, add parks and new services, we will need to find new ways to fund those projects. Currently, we have a few options.

1. Use the rest of the bonding authority, discussed above.  (Council decides NO.)
2. Delay and choose not to do projects. (Possible, but will impact quality of life)
3. Create a new bond, with a list of proposed projects associated with it. (This would MOST LIKELY cause a tax increase.)

We unanimously agreed that we should let the voters decide.  Staff was asked to start the ball rolling, to put it before voters on the November ballot. There will be a number of work sessions and opportunities for citizens to be involved. I’d love your input as we move forward.

Boards and Commissions

The last session of the afternoon, and I was expecting this to be more difficult that it was. Kudos go to Sue Rowland, our Town Clerk, for making what I was sure would be a painful discussion, to be enlightening and eye-opening.

The Boards and Commission survey was reviewed – many thanks to the153 people that took the survey (board members, council, former board members, and staff liaisons.) Having been a board member on several boards and commissions, I have always felt that that service was a great way to provide input to the town.  The survey results were no surprise to me, many of the respondents felt there was clear direction and focus for the Planning and Zoning Board, the Parks and Rec, Public Art and Zoning Board of Adjustment. It was good to see that so many people feel the way I do – that there is GREAT value to the town from all these groups.

It’s always important to re-evaluate where we are, and what boards and commissions have fulfilled their mission. It’s often easy to START something – it’s way more difficult to STOP.  But that’s what we needed to consider. We had to look at the current slate of boards and commissions and evaluate their goals, missions and objectives, and to OBJECTIVELY consider if they needed to continue.

Citizen’s Issue Review Commission – known as the CIRC, was created to provide citizens with a formal process for directly bringing issues to the town.  I was the chair of the Mayor’s Task Force that created the commission, so this one was a hard one to talk about.  At the time of its formation, there really was no other way to address the council with an issue (besides the 3 minutes at “Public Speaks Out.”)  Now, though, Council members have been utilizing the “pink slip process” that allows a Council member (and another sponsor) to add an item to an agenda.  This procedure was not utilized when the CIRC was born, and it’s made it much easier for citizens to bring issues directly to their council members, and for those council members to act on it.

What I love about the CIRC is that it is comprised of Town of Cary School of Government graduates – folks that have taken the time to participate in 8 weeks of classes, learning about the Town, how it works, and how to engage.  (I’m a proud graduate, and I hope you’ll consider applying to attend.) We agreed to look at moving the CIRC to an advisory task force as needed.

Economic Development Commission – known as the EDC, have been concerned with their status for awhile.  They made a proposal to council before I joined, to disband the board since we now have a stronger relationship and partner with the Cary Chamber of Commerce. There is also a Economic Development Governing Board (with council members, the Chamber, and the Town Manager) and we decided to add to that with members of the EDC, and to eliminate the current EDC.  Thanks so much to the EDC for everything they have done – it’s also through their hard work and effort that Cary’s been successful enticing businesses to open, relocate or expand in Cary.

Town Center Review Commission – known as the TCRC – was created to review the Town Center District site maps, enhancement projects and streetscapes.  With the addition of the Downtown Manager, and the current projects moving forward, along with the role of the Planning and Zoning Board, the council wasn’t sure that it is still needed. Additional discussion will occur with the board members, but this was our feedback to staff.

Sue Rowland shared with us that she will be planning a work session on the boards. I requested that we spend some time looking across all of our boards, given the new information we received from staff on our changing demographics.  I’d like to see where we might be able to put some additional focus from the LENS of some of our customers – such as the senior community, the disabled and the younger generation.

Closing up