Holidays and Writing Annual Address

Happy New Year!

Writing Annual Address

I haven’t been involved in activities the first week of the year so there is nothing to report. I have spent the time writing the annual address. At the time of this journal posting, I am about 2/3 done and already have about 6800 words. Of course, I will need to trim it down once I have a draft. I should send it to staff for fact checking next week.

Town Manager’s Report

Sean’s Message

Happy New Year! I am excited to start the work of 2024. I look forward to my meetings with all of you next week as we gear up for what appears to be a busy month after the quiet time of the holiday season.
Enjoy your weekend.
Sean

Maintenance and Gate Work Continues at the Downtown Library Parking Deck

In our continuing efforts to improve and maintain the library parking deck, you will see construction activity at the deck over the next few weeks. To start, crews working on behalf of Cary will repair the Walnut Street entrance beginning Monday, Jan. 8. This work will require closing the Walnut Street entrance for approximately two weeks to repair soil conditions and replace the current asphalt driveway with a new concrete driveway. 
Additionally, we’ll leverage the closure to install the second phase of the parking deck gates. Specifically, this includes gate arms and smart parking technology/equipment. The Walker Street entrance will remain open during this time. On or around Jan. 18, the Walnut Street entrance will reopen, and we’ll shift to the Walker Street entrance to install the same type of gate equipment. Walker Street access will be closed for approximately three days. Dedicated traffic control staff will be at each entrance during peak usage hours and signs will be in place to assist motorists with wayfinding. Notifications have been distributed to the tenants of One Walker, retail businesses, and the library. For more information about this work including when gates may be activated, please visit our website.

First Walk of 2024

On New Year’s Day, Cary Teen Council and Cary Greenways Committee collaborated to present First Walk 2024. This event highlighted the White Oak Greenway, showcasing the mural wall at the railroad crossing tunnel in Davis Drive Park. More than 80 participants joined in the walk for Cary’s first event of the new year.

Lead and Copper Rule Revisions

As part of the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) , the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring all water systems to create an inventory of every water service line in an effort to eliminate lead. Cary has approximately 75,000 service line connections and no known lead lines, but approximately 6,500 of these have unknown material. Cary will engage the citizen community to help identify the materials in those connections. On Jan. 10, a flyer will be mailed to these 6,500 properties inviting residents to request a free of charge service line inspection or to self report their service line material. The flyer includes step-by-step instructions on how to identify the service line material and residents can report their results using an online survey form. Residents can access additional information on the  Service Line Inventory webpage. Under the requirements of the LCRR, the service line inventory must be submitted in October and be made publicly available. Cary’s goal is to not only have no lead service lines, but also to eliminate all of the unknown service line materials.

Upcoming Meetings

Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Board
Monday, January 8
5:15 p.m.

Information Services Advisory Board
Monday, January 8
6:00 p.m.

Zoning Board of Adjustment
Monday, January 8
6:30 p.m.

Environmental Advisory Board
Tuesday, January 9
6:00 p.m.

Human Relations Inclusion & Diversity Task Force
Tuesday, January 9
6:00 p.m.

Senior Advisory Board
Wednesday, January 10
12:00 p.m.

Historic Preservation Commission
Wednesday, January 10
6:30 p.m.

Council Work Session
Thursday, January 11
4:45 p.m.

Council Meeting
January 11, 6:30 p.m.

Mayor’s Mailbox

  • Sadly, several emails from mentally ill residents. This usually happens this time of year and unfortunately, they are very nasty.
  • A complaint about GoCary not driving to a Morrisville church.
  • A complaint about crosswalks on Academy Street.
  • A complaint about Parks and Rec reservation software.
  • A complaint about speeding on Walnut Street.
  • A complaint about reckless driving on Walnut Street.
  • A request to promote a private survey (we do not have that authority).
  • A complaint about lifeguarding at private pools (we do not have authority to regulate that).
  • A complaint about the Chinese Lantern Festival: “This is not a time to showcase a small minority of people who are hell bent to kill, steal, and Destroy America and everything we stand for the Luciferian Kazarian mafia. Are you one of their bots? Good Day!”

Next Week

Next week’s activities include staff meetings, a meeting of the Atlantic Tire Tennis Championships board, a Western Wake Town Hall, a Human Relations, Inclusion, and Diversity task force meeting, a council work session, and the first regularly scheduled council meeting of the year.

Well, that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, January 14th, 2024. Although I have Facebook and Twitter accounts those are not the best means of communication with me. Please send all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org and email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.