DRAFT (contact Town Clerk for official minutes; 919-469-4011; sue.rowland@townofcary.org)
|
Work Session of the
Town of Cary, NC
Present: Mayor Ernie McAlister, Council Members Marla Dorrel, Jennifer Robinson, and Nels Roseland; Mayor Pro Tem Jack Smith arrived late, and his arrival time is noted in the minutes
Absent: Council Member Julie Robison
Mayor McAlister began the meeting at 4:43 p.m.
The council made a minor modification to the new Statement of Values to read: Our organization exists to serve our citizens. We will be open, ensure access, encourage involvement, and be accountable to our citizens (instead of consider the needs of all citizens). Following this change, by consensus the council concurred with the new mission statement and statement of values.
The mission statement and statement of values follow:
Mission Statement At the Town of Cary we focus every day on enriching the lives of our citizens by creating an exceptional environment and providing exemplary services that enable our community to thrive and prosper. Statement of Values To achieve our mission we will uphold the following values: 1. Our organization exists to serve our citizens. We will be open, ensure access, encourage involvement, and be accountable to our citizens. 2. Employees are our most important resource. We will attract and retain the best employees and invest in their personal and professional growth. 3. We will be honest, ethical, and diligent. Our actions will comply with local, state, and federal laws. 4. We will treat everyone with dignity, respect and fairness. 5. We will achieve the best results through effective teamwork, strategic partnerships, and community participation. 6. We will provide outstanding customer service that is polite, friendly, and responsive. 7. We value creative thinking and innovation. We will continue to be nationally recognized for excellence in local government. 8. We value growth that balances desired service levels, economic benefits and continued stability for our community. 9. We are cost conscious. We spend public funds responsibly and effectively to ensure the Town’s short and long term financial strength. 10. We are committed to proactive, comprehensive planning to guide the future of our community. 11. We will preserve and protect our environment. We will be good stewards of our finite natural resources. Mayor Pro Tem Smith arrived at 4:53 p.m.
Steve Straus discussed the input-outcome linkage example. Refer to Exhibit A attached to and incorporated in these minutes for the example he distributed. The four main topics on the first page of Exhibit A are areas in which council wants to focus (and are included below), and the other information is given as examples only.
1. The Town of Cary is an unusually safe community.
2. The Town of Cary maintains a small town feel.
3. The Town of Cary is defined by its distinctive sense of place.
4. The Town of Cary activity builds community for all its people.
Council comments on the model:
Mr. Roseland likes the model; he questioned the leaf collection category being on this list. He concurred that pedestrian/traffic is important.
Mrs. Robinson stated the gathering of people (common open space) and the scale are important issues. She personally wouldn’t want a 20 story building (scale). She believes higher densities are important as long as people have a place to congregate.
Mr. Roseland wants it spelled out that Cary is a neighborhood of community spaces, and he believes these common areas are critical to the Town’s character.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith thinks we’ve had too much multi-family development and not enough industrial and office and institutional. All plans need to be consistent with council wishes and then council should uphold them.
Mayor McAlister stated the council needs to understand what they want development to look like.
Mrs. Robinson wants to come to a consensus regarding what the council is looking for in development. Then, she’d like a checklist.
Mayor McAlister stated the land use plan could be the basis of the consensus.
Mrs. Robinson stated a council member can deny a rezoning if they believe it will degrade the community. She’d like guiding principles for this so everyone knows how the council will critique each proposal.
Ms. Dorrel stated staff has lots of measures already in place. She doesn’t see the value in this particular exercise (Exhibit B). Mr. Straus stated it should be meaningful if all council members agree on initiatives and routinely get the results of indicators and view it as a scorecard and come up with areas for improvements. Ms. Dorrel stated we have well developed, very detailed ordinances. She doesn’t want to wait until people are unhappy to learn that something isn’t working. She thinks the staff looks at council’s votes to determine if ordinances and plans need to be changed.
Mr. Coleman stated the Straus process has caused staff to review what we do and how we do it and whether we’re focusing on the goals and initiatives that council wants to accomplish for the community. As manager, he wants to maintain and improve quality of life for the citizens of Cary, and at the retreat he heard some council members say that they believe this is degrading. He thinks it’s important to spend time to define what we mean by the term “qualify of life” and ensure decisions are directed towards this. Staff has begun this process with the budget with a review of focus areas, which is the basis for department and division work plans that support these initiatives. He stated the Straus model is a concept based on how council members have defined quality of life, and it will provide staff a format in which to develop work plans. He stated this is where the four main areas on Page 1 of Exhibit A originated. He thinks the four areas define what council means by quality of life. He added that through the budget process staff will tie resources to those purposes. Two out of the four main areas deal with how people feel, and he thinks it will be difficult to create measures to make people feel a certain way. He noted that the only way to measure this is more frequent citizen surveys.
Mrs. Robinson stated the process feels reactive. However, based on Mr. Coleman’s comments she stated this can be the lens through which council makes decisions. Mr. Coleman stated staff will need to review the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) to ensure what we require in the regulations and planning processes support and require this type of development (as outlined in Exhibit A).
Mr. Roseland doesn’t like results based measures for sense of place. He also stated that he always wants to know acreage purchased with the open space budget and how many acres were actually graded for development. He stated for each open space acre bought, we develop about eight acres. He stated the County has a goal of 30% open space preservation (undeveloped land), and the LDO has measures. He suggested looking at meaningful data to determine if the LDO should be updated.
Mr. Coleman reiterated that with the exception of Page 1 of Exhibit A, all the other information is provided to give examples. He stated staff will develop this information through the budget process.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith thinks staff should always determine how something fits with council’s overarching goals. He doesn’t want to get gridlocked into the measurements. Mr. Coleman replied that council and staff need to respond to constant change, and he thinks this can be done with these four main statements and council’s vision statement (yet to be developed).
Ms. Dorrel stated if everything stems from these four main initiatives and bullets underneath, then the council should spend more timing making sure this information is right and then give it to staff. She stated the council needs to develop consensus on the major items before giving it to staff.
Mr. Roseland asked how we measure the small town feel on undeveloped space vs. already developed space. Mr. Straus stated the staff could track it. Mr. Roseland predicted that Cary will be built out in four years, so council needs to determine what it should look like now.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith thinks items 2 (small town feel) and 3 (sense of place) are the most impactful.
Mrs. Robinson wants to move item 1 (safety) to the bottom.
Ms. Dorrel disagreed; she likes the safety issue being item 1. She wants to make it exceptionally safe instead of unusually safe.
Mr. Straus suggested adding infrastructure. Mr. Coleman stated item 4 (builds community) addresses infrastructure as an overall goal and we can focus on utility and operational issues here.
Mrs. Robinson thinks bullet 1 under item 2 should go under item 1. Mr. Straus suggested separating out the safety vs. efficiency aspect. He stated item 2 would address efficiency, and bullet 3 under item 1 would address safety and security and would include transportation.
Mrs. Robinson stated item 2 should address the accessibility of public facilities as well as state that the Town promotes places for people to congregate.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith wants to add to item 3 (second bullet point) that the Town values business opportunities.
Ms. Dorrel asked if we should minimize the number of bullet points. Mr. Straus stated too many bullets will dilute it, but it would also be a tradeoff with fewer initiatives.
Ms. Dorrel stated the consumer and business aspect isn’t addressed. Mr. Coleman stated this format was developed to see if council agreed on the overall concept. He believes many initiatives are missing (i.e., economic development, financial management, etc.). If council agrees with major topics, then staff can try to fill in what’s missing and let council react to it.
Ms. Dorrel stated the small town feel is subjective and council gauges it individually. She suggested a follow up discussion on this point.
Mr. Roseland left the meeting at 6:13 p.m.
Mr. Coleman stated staff will compile council comments and get back with council.
The vision statement was discussed. See Exhibit B attached to and incorporated in these minutes for the information provided by Public Information Officer Susan Moran on developing a vision statement.
Ms. Dorrel stated the vision statement will provide a lens to look through and will serve as the test. She stated it should be broader that just the municipal organization, and the entire community should be able to use it.
Mr. Robinson suggested to rework the last sample statement (last page of Exhibit B) and be brief. She suggested, “Cary is a friendly, safe and attractive hometown.”
Ms. Dorrel stated Cary is participating in a cultural exchange with its sister city Markham, Canada. As part of this art exchange, some of the artists provided quotes about the spirit of Cary from their viewpoint. She read some of these quotes:
“Cary’s a mixture of old and new. Our community has changed from a small village to a progressive town bordering on city status. Cary has embraced an outstanding approach to public art, city parks and recreational facilities while proudly protecting our historic town areas for the future. We are justly proud of the accomplishments made as we progress to the future with continued anticipation of success to come.”
“I grew up in a small rural community in eastern NC where people cared about each other and my well-being was the concern of everybody, not just my parents. I believe that some communal spirit is exhibited throughout Cary. It’s a place where good neighbors have built good neighborhoods, and we have utilized our village resources in order to serve the village.”
“My painting reflects the excitement felt by families in Cary as they enjoy this celebration of community life.” (This was specifically about Lazy Daze.)
She likes the phrase, “We are justly proud of our accomplishments.” She also likes the “continued anticipation of future success.” She believes this is the spirit of Cary. She likes the phrase “it’s a place where good neighbors have built good neighborhoods” and the idea of “celebration of community life.”
Ms. Dorrel thinks the phrases above reflect strong neighborhoods and building a sense of community. Part of her vision for Cary is that people come here for life.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith likes “America’s Hometown.”
Ms. Dorrel left the meeting at 6:22 p.m., which resulted in less than a quorum.
Mr. Coleman stated staff will work with the four major focus areas (Exhibit A), and he stated this might help clarify the vision. He stated it would be difficult for staff to create a council vision.
Mayor McAlister suggested that Mr. Coleman e-mail all council members the improvements to the four focus areas, and the individual council members can send Mr. Coleman their comments.
Mayor McAlister adjourned the meeting at 6:29 p.m. |