Town of Cary

Proclamation Request Guidelines and Procedures

Proclamations are ceremonial in nature and are provided by the mayor as a service to Town of Cary residents, employers, and Town employees, with the goal of honoring and celebrating Cary people and events and increasing awareness of noteworthy issues among citizens throughout the Town. These public service documents are strictly honorary and are not legally binding. Issuance of a proclamation does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by the Town of Cary government.

Proclamations are reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure compliance with these guidelines and procedures. For consistency and to ensure we are treating everyone equitably, the mayor will only issue a proclamation that complies with the guidelines.  For additional information or questions, please contact the Town Clerk’s Office at (919) 469-4011. 

Guidelines

1.      Proclamations must support the Town’s Mission Statement and Statement of Values. 

2.      We will only issue proclamations for Cary residents or for Town of Cary events. 

3.      For retirement proclamations the person must have been employed with their current employer for 25 years or more.

4.      For birthday proclamations the person must be at least 75 years of age.

5.      For wedding, church, or pastoral anniversary proclamations the anniversary must be 25 years or more.

6.      Any proclamation request for a Town board, commission or committee member must be approved in advance by the clerk’s office. 

7.      Any proclamation request for a Town employee must be approved in advance by the department director.

8.      Annual or other repeat requests must be made in writing for each occasion in accordance with these guidelines. Proclamations are not automatically renewed.

9.      Only a Town-recognized event, sponsored in whole or in part by the Town of Cary government, may be used as part of an advertisement or commercial promotion.

Unfortunately, we cannot issue proclamations for commercial purposes, such as the opening of a new business, a new service, a new product, or a new professional service. 

We will not issue proclamations taking sides in matters of a political issue, addressing personal convictions, campaigns, or events.

Generally, we will not issue backdated proclamations.

Procedure

All requests for proclamations must be made in writing to the Town of Cary Town Clerk’s Office at least 10 business days prior to the date when the proclamation is needed. To make a request please send an email with "Request for Proclamation" in the subject line to mary.fealey@townofcary.org or mail the request to the Town Clerk’s Office, Town of Cary, P.O. Box 8005, Cary, NC 27512-8005.  Each request must be accompanied by the name, telephone number and email address of a person who can answer questions about the proposed proclamation.  We regret that we cannot honor phone requests due to the large volume of requests we receive.

Individuals or organizations seeking a proclamation must include the following information with the request:

·        Name of organization;

·        Proposed text for the proclamation, including facts about the subject matter and enough information to make four points. Avoid repetition, and emphasize the most important items or issues;

·        Specific title of what will be proclaimed, including name, day of the week, or month to be proclaimed;

·        Date of the proclamation presentation;

·        Date the proclamation is needed; and

·        Action to be taken when the proclamation is ready for pickup (person to be notified either by telephone or email when the proclamation is ready).

Any draft language submitted is subject to editing or revisions.

Once a proclamation request is made, the Town Clerk’s Office, on behalf of the mayor, will contact the person requesting the proclamation to notify them of the status of the request.

The original proclamation will be issued to the individual or organization (including individual recipients) at no cost.

All proclamations must be picked up at the Town Clerk’s Office unless prior arrangements are made.