Special Public Meetings to be held this week on School Funding, Fiber Optic Project, and Long-Range Projects NR
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 8, 2000
SPECIAL PUBLIC
MEETINGS TO BE HELD THIS WEEK ON
SCHOOL FUNDING, FIBER OPTIC PROJECT, & LONG-RANGE PROJECTS
CARY, NC – The Town of Cary will hold three special meetings this week to discuss long-term infrastructure budgeting and two major innovative projects, both having tremendous potential to improve the quality of life of Cary citizens. On Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, Cary’s Fiber Optic Overlay Project committee will meet in the Town Council Chambers to hear a presentation of the business plan for a Town-built broadband system just completed by Raleigh consultants Rendell and Associates. On Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM, Council will meet in the Chamber to discuss the Town’s capital improvement budget, and on Thursday at 6:00 PM, the Town will hold a public hearing on its $3.7 million schools funding project. All meetings are open to the public and will be carried live on Cary’s Government Access Channel (cable channel 11).
THE FIBER PROJECT
Tomorrow’s fiber meeting is the culmination of months of work. Following citizen outrage over rising cable TV rates without significant improvements in services, the Cary Town Council in January of 1999 directed staff to freeze cable TV franchise renewal talks with Time Warner Cable to pursue other options. One method may be for the Town to construct a fiber optic network along all of Cary’s 450 street miles. The network would contain numerous fibers that could be leased on a long-term basis to companies providing entertainment (cable TV), data/internet, and telephony services. Having multiple service providers would bring competition to these services and, thus, the lowest rates and highest level of services to the people of Cary.
In April of 1999, the Town Council voted to fund the fiber project’s feasibility study up to $100,000. Raleigh’s Rendall and Associates was selected to do the study; the study was completed and a report finding the project to be feasible was issued in January of 2000; Rendall was then asked by Council to prepare a business plan for the project at a cost of $125,000. This plan will be presented for the first time tomorrow night.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT BUDGET
In the coming year, which roads will be widened? What parks will be built? Where will water and sewer be improved and extended? And how will the Town of Cary pay for these infrastructure improvements? These are this issues that will be analyzed on Wednesday night at Cary’s CIB work session will the Town Council. New this year is the context within which these decisions are placed as Cary begins its first 10-year planning window—the Capital Improvement Plan. Until now, the Town had looked out five years to determine where the needs would be and how and when each would be funded. Now, the Town is looking out 10 years to make sure that there’s a plan to deal with the millions of dollars worth of proposed projects designed to keep Cary a great place to live and work.
THE SCHOOLS FUNDING PROJECT
Thursday’s 6:00 PM special schools meeting will give citizens an opportunity to comment on the same issues discussed by six community leaders at a public forum on April 26th; that is, where and how to utilize the millions of dollars that Cary plans to spend in the coming year to address local education needs. Under the funding plan, the Town will join with local businesses, organizations, and even private citizens in supporting the creation of a new, non-profit corporation—Cary Education Foundation--that will collect charitable donations to be used to support operating and building schools for Cary children.
After introductory remarks, citizens who have gather in the Council Chambers will have just over an hour to spend up to 5 minutes each commenting on the following:
1. Eligibility for Funding
Should the funds be limited to public schools or should they be made available to all types of schools--public, private, parochial, home schooling? Should funding follow the child or stay with the school? Should funds be available for schools outside Cary but where Cary kids attend? What if the schools are outside Wake County? Outside North Carolina? Private schools outside Cary?
2. Appropriate Uses of Funding
What should the money be used for and who should decide--the non-profit (Cary Education Foundation), the teacher, the principal? Should funds go towards teacher salaries, bonuses, and training? Should funding be limited to technology, supplies, equipment, and other "physical" needs? Should any of the funds be used for direct support of students such as scholarships, "vouchers", extracurricular activities?
3. Cary Education Foundation Board of Directors
Who should serve and for what term? What sectors of the community should be represented—teachers, parents, businesses, fund-raisers? Is Cary residency required, or could a member work in Cary and live somewhere else? What, if any, ex-officio members should there be? Should Foundation meetings be open to the public?
Detailed information about both the fiber and the schools projects is available on the Town’s website at www.townofcary.org.
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| PRIMARY CONTACTS: | Mayor
Glen Lang, 859-0459 Bill Stice, MIS Director, 469-4027 Christa Butler, Budget Director, 469-4311 Sue Rowland, Town Clerk, 469-4011 Bill Coleman, Town Manager, 469-4002 Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, 460-4951 |
