June 1, 2008

This week consisted of a few staff meetings, an interview, a reception, and a council meeting. The highlight of the week was the naming of Kids Together as Marla Dorrel Park.

Each week I mention that I have staff meetings. One staff meeting I have bi-weekly, on weeks of a council meeting, is an agenda meeting. This is a meeting with the town manager, the directors, the attorney, the town clerk, and the Mayor Pro-Tem. The purpose is to make sure I understand every item on the agenda. Why? Because it is my duty to run the meeting, be informed, and be able to help council and staff when an issue arises. Usually, in these meetings I ask questions about items I have read that are not completely clear especially those that are on the consent agenda.

The first meeting of public interest this week was an interview with a reporter from Money Magazine on Cary being one of the top places to live. I was under the impression that I would have significant input on their evaluation. That was all put to rest when the reporter introduced herself and said she had all the data she needed but just wanted an update on an issue. Her first question was about the “school problem”. I found out she was from Manhattan and she didn’t really understand the school situation and all that has occurred in this area related to schools. So I spent a few minutes explaining everyone’s roles and answered questions she had about forced year-round schools and reassignments. The good news was that I was able to spend ¾ of our hour speaking on issues the council is working on to make the town better. She was unaware of a lot of them and hopefully I shed a better light on Cary. I felt good about the interview but I am not sure how Cary will fare because of the school issues.

On Wednesday of this week there was a legislative reception at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences sponsored by the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. This was well attended by the businesses and elected officials in the area. The main significance of this meeting was to meet people in the legislature and people in businesses that affect Cary and its residences. I was only able to stay about 45 minutes because of a scheduled taping of Cary Matters.

Speaking of Cary Matters… the taping was done on Wednesday evening with the main topic for June being the switch to roll out carts for recycling starting next spring. The decision to move recycling to roll out carts will prove to be beneficial to all over time. The carts themselves will be easier to get to the curb, allow residents to recycle more volume and materials. The automated collection will reduce the risk to workers that collect the materials. In addition, the automated process will save Cary residents over a ½ million a year in costs once the initial investment is covered within four years.

Thursday was a council meeting with the highlight being the naming of Kids Together as Marla Dorrel Park. Kids Together took eight years of fundraising and several years to build. Marla Dorrel was an integral part of getting this park built. This is a unique park in that it is designed for children with special needs. In addition, the park’s design also incorporates many plants and features that will interest adults. It is a park on which we should model all future parks. Who better to name this park after than someone who put time in to getting this park built, someone who cares about children, and someone who loves this town. God bless Marla Dorrel and the work she and others did to make a dream become reality.

Sunday was the eight birthday for Kids Together Park which is now called Kids Together playground at Marla Dorrel Park. Katal the dragon led the kids on parade and then Marla Dorrel read a story about the park before kids participated in crafts and enjoyed refreshments. It was a great party and the kids (and adults) seemed to enjoy themselves.

Emails this week covered a variety of topics. Two topics of interest were Cary’s first environmental board and a proposal on Cary’s animal population control. Council received, and is reviewing, email which included applications of those interested in serving on the first Environmental Board. Other emails included discussion about Erv Portman’s proposal to have Cary animals spayed and neutered unless licensed otherwise. This seems like it would be a good topic for an issue advisory group. Mr. Portman is to be commended for tackling such a difficult and controversial issue. It will be interesting to see where this proposal goes.

That’s about all I have to report for this week so I’ll close for now and hopefully post again by Saturday, June 8th.