Minutes of the Town of Cary

2007 Retreat Committee

December 12, 2006

4:15 p.m.

Room 11130

316 N. Academy St., Cary, NC

Committee Members Present: Ernie McAlister, Jennifer Robinson and Nels Roseland

ACTION: Mr. Roseland moved for the approval of the December 4, 2006 committee meeting minutes. Mayor McAlister provided the second, and committee granted unanimous approval.

The committee set the retreat for March 16-18, 2007. The preferred location is the Wilmington Hilton. The second choice location is Grandover.

Mayor McAlister noted that the county commissioner chair and the school board chair both expressed a willingness to attend the retreat. The committee agreed to invite representatives from both of these elected bodies for lunch on Friday the Friday afternoon session, and dinner. Each group will have their own session, with a 30-minute presentation by their representatives and a question and answer period. Mayor McAlister voiced his preference that the first session should occur as part of the end of the lunch period, and then everyone could move to another room for the question and answer period.

Town Manager Coleman will get the questions for the school board session and the county commissioner session from individual council members. This will determine the timing for these two sessions, and staff can work the remaining agenda items around these two sessions.

The committee concurred with Sandy Jordan reporting on the 90-day deliverables of the new economic development position, followed by a council discussion about what they want to see happen in this area. This presentation style will be similar to the county presentation style noted above.

The committee agreed that the downtown and performing arts discussion can be one topic.

The committee determined that the purpose of the open space session is to determine the Town’s strategies for the future.

The group decided that a Chatham County update is not necessary at the retreat, since a joint meeting of these two groups is being planned for January or February 2007.

Based on the committee’s direction at the December 4 meeting and this meeting, the staff will put together a proposed agenda. Town Manager Coleman will outline the main questions/issues for each session and provide it to the committee for their comments (at their next meeting). Then he will provide it to the full council to get everyone’s comments on the main questions/issues for each topic to ensure the retreat covers the issues of importance to the council.

The topics for the agenda include:

• Town’s relationship with the Wake County Public School System
• Town’s relationship with the Wake County Commissioners
• Budget and finance status report
• Downtown Initiatives (review town center area plan with the intent of clearly articulating the council’s vision for this plan, streetscape, Cary Elementary, performing arts, park, downtown library), including discussion on performing arts center planning – specific steps and timing needed to nail down details to begin taking action (timing, land acquisition status/obstacles, scope/ funding, contribution targets/thresholds, seating capacity/revenue, cost, etc.)
• Economic Development Update
• Transportation Thoroughfare Plan and Policies and Land Use and Area Plans (the town center area plan will be a separate discussion) – this is a two-part issue: (1) broad overview of the transportation plan and land use plan and special area plans and (2) development standards and design requirements (including subdivision requirements – standards for public infrastructure where newer standards could be considered to save money both during development and in future maintenance (curb and gutter style, parking, design criteria, street lights, street trees) [this was discussed at the December 4 meeting]
• Status of open space program and future strategies
• An update session at the conclusion of a meal about the quality of life initiative and how it has changed the way staff is operating (this was discussed at the December 4 meeting)

The committee will meet again sometime the first week of January to review more specific details of the retreat and the proposed agenda with Mr. Coleman’s specific questions/issues that he develops. Committee members will also provide their questions/topics for the session with the school board and the session with the county commissioners.