Monday evening was the Western Wake Republican Club’s second annual Spring Fling event at the Business Network Center in Cary. The event was well attended and special guests included North Carolina Republican Party Chair candidates - in no particular order other than my personal preference ;-) - Chad Adams, Tom Fetzer, Bill Randall, and Marcus Kindley. Local officials from Morrisville, Holly Springs, and Apex were also in attendance, as was WCPSS School Board Member Ron Margiotta.
Citizen volunteers who have been assisting us (greatly) with the Town of Cary’s Climate for Student Success Schools Forum, our Forum Moderator Steve Strauss, Councilor Jennifer Robinson and myself also met on Monday to further discuss the upcoming education forum. It was a good meeting as our moderator had the opportunity to hear about our goals and vision for the forum which will in turn allow him to better moderate the discussion – which I am sure will be lively.
On Tuesday evening council held a worksession with no set agenda. It was an opportunity to discuss whatever we felt important. Council reviewed our goals from the council retreat as well as the role of board and commission liaisons and our upcoming education forum.
This was council meeting week. There wasn’t much on the agenda as there aren’t many development projects taking place these days. Council did however make a decision on whether or not to change the method of elections in Cary. After exploring the possibilities of instant runoff voting (IRV) and plurality elections council decided to stick with the non-partisan traditional runoff election method. I am pleased. If you have been reading my blog you know my thoughts regarding IRV – I don’t like it (and that’s putting it nicely). I was genuinely interested in hearing citizens thoughts regarding the switch back to plurality elections (Cary utilized this method until 2000 when we switched to runoff elections). Unfortunately I didn’t get a lot of feedback regarding plurality (until I stated such at a council meeting – then I received a few emails). Most folks I heard from were special interest groups and politicos both in support and in opposition to IRV. Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate any and all feedback, I just wish more “average citizens” had taken the time to weigh in on the topic. I would like to thank Chris, Joyce, Perry, and Andrew for all their help.
30+ citizens spoke during the public speak out portion of our meeting to voice their support of the $14 million proposal from Triangle Aquatics Center (TAC) to the town to purchase the aquatics center. The majority who spoke were children – some as young as 9 years old. You couldn’t even see one girl who spoke – she was shorter than the podium. All you saw was her hand go up to grab the microphone. It was adorable. It was very encouraging to see so many children so passionate about their sport and its future in Cary. Council also received a lot of emails this week in support of the proposal. I received one email in opposition. Council will review the proposal along with all capital expenditures during the budget process beginning this month.
I also want to remind everyone about the Town of Cary’s Climate for Student Success Forum that is coming up on May 11, from 8am – 1 pm. in the Cary Town Council Chambers at 316 North Academy Street in downtown Cary.
The forum is an opportunity for local leaders to come together to discusshow municipalities can support the Wake County Public School System.Successful case studies and keynote speaker, Elaine McEwan -- thebest-selling author of 10 Traits of Highly Effective Schools -- will highlight distinguishing qualities and unique characteristics of schools that help all students make outstanding gains in performance.
We’re inviting local municipal and county government elected officials and staff, business leaders, WakeEd Partnership officials, and the general public. Your participation and voice are vital. We hope you can join us aswe discuss how to work together to cultivate a high performance schoolsystem that focuses on student achievement in every school.
Please RSVP tohttp://www.townofcary.net/cssf/cssf.php to reserve your seat and if you have any questions please contact climateforstudentsuccess@townofcary.org.
Well that’s about all for now – as always, thanks for reading and see ya next week!
