Policy Statement 157

Establishment of the Citizen Issue Advisory Group Process and the Citizen Issue Review Commission (CIRC)

To offer a mechanism for Citizens to petition the "Town of Cary" to authorize a group of citizens to meet for a short, defined period of time with a mission and a goal as an advisory group that would study, develop and recommend improvements on a specific topic.

A group of citizens may request assistance with becoming an authorized group on specific topics of improvements that meets at least one of the following goals of the Town:

· No current policy exists, or Citizen group feels existing town policy needs improvement, or

· A project, proposal, or idea that has a positive overall improvement impact to the Town of Cary

This policy shall be applicable to groups of 5 – 15 citizens who bring forward an issue with the purpose of providing a benefit to the town, upon Town Council sanctioning and approval of formulated recommendation by this group of citizens.

After a group of 5 or more citizens have formulated an idea or issue that they feel needs to be addressed by the Town of Cary an “Application to Form an Issue Advisory Group” (attached) shall be submitted to the Citizen Issue Review Commission (CIRC). The application shall be completed by the group and state the name of the primary contact of the group, name of the group, as well as other information requested on the application. The application will be submitted to Town of Cary Administration Staff and the CIRC will review these applications monthly and make a determination if a project qualifies for recommendation to the Town Council to be sanctioned as an authorized Town of Cary Citizen Initiated Advisory group.

The CIRC will meet monthly, as needed, to review applications. A simple majority is all that is needed to approve or deny for forwarding to Town Council or to table the application to request additional information.

The CIRC will be made of 7 randomly selected citizen volunteers who have completed the Town of Cary School of Government.

The CIRC will be allowed to develop operating procedures for the commission and any additional criteria/qualifications to which an application is denied or approved along with those set forth by the Special Task Force for Issue Advisory Groups.

CIRC Review Outcomes: Four outcomes can be the result of the CIRC review process.

1. Approval of the application, and the recommendation that it is forwarded to a designated Town Council meeting for consideration

If an application is approved for recommendation to the Town Council of Cary the group shall be provided guidelines and a template for presentation by the Town of Cary Staff. The Citizens group will prepare the presentation and will be notified as to which Town Council meeting the presentation will be on the agenda. The Citizen group will have a maximum of 15 minutes to present their proposal to Council. (Question and Answer session after the presentation will be at Town Council discretion.)

The Town Council will vote to approve or deny the request for a Town Sanctioned Issue Advisory Group. If approved, the Council will provide a timeline for the group to complete its mission/goal.

If the group’s request is sanctioned it will be subject to the public Open meeting law and must return to Town Council with its mission/goal achieved. Services provided to a sanctioned Issue Group by the town will be limited to providing reasonable physical meeting space and reasonable staff support for meeting minutes.

Upon completion of the presentation of recommendations from the group the Town Council will perform due diligence and schedule a public hearing before taking action on recommendations. After public hearing is completed Town Council is allowed to take action.

If the group is denied sanctioning by the Town Council then the Town Council will provide feedback to the applicant and the group will be allowed to resubmit after 180 days with a max of 2 submissions.

If an application is denied by the CIRC the Primary contact of the group will be notified in writing with feedback as to why the request is being denied as well as the following town representatives:

· If Primary Contact lives in the ETJ of Cary just the 2 At-large representatives.

The group will have the right to resubmit the application back to CIRC with revisions within 90 days. If denied for a second time the group will need to wait 180 days since last submittal before resubmitting.

If an application is tabled by the CIRC the Primary contact of the group will be notified in writing with feedback as to why the request is being tabled as well as what additional information the CIRC may need in order to move the application forward. The CIRC can develop its own operating procedure around this process. Applications should not be tabled for more than one monthly meeting.

If an application seems to fit into existing process or board/commission already existing within Town government. The CIRC is allowed to redirect the group to that Town of Cary board/commission or department to handle the group’s request.

Application to Form an Issue Advisory Group

Primary Contact name: ___________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________________________

Phone:

Day_________________Eve__________________E-Mail:________________

Group Name:______________________________________________________________

How many members are currently in the group? There must be a minimum of five citizens supporting this issue, and no more than 15 on the application. Provide contact information on Page 2 of this application. ___________

What are your objectives?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How will the goals or mission of the group benefit the Town of Cary? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please include any additional information that may be helpful in making a decision to approve this advisory group. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If further detail for any question is required, please attach it to this application.

Please submit to Sue Rowland at sue.rowland@townofcary.org or Cary Town Hall P.O. Box 8005, Cary NC 27512-8005.

(On Page 2, please provide contact information (name, address, phone, and/or email) for the rest of your group members, with a maximum of 15 people in your group.)

Below is a completed example application for a requested Issue Advisory Group.

Application to Form an Issue Advisory Group

Primary Contact name: John Q. Public

Address: 1234 Cary St. , Cary, NC 27519

Phone: Day (919) 555-1234 Eve (919) 555-5555 E-Mail: myadddr@nc.rr.com

Group Name: Pedestrian Safety Initiative for Cary

What are your objectives?

To create a set of recommendations for the Town that will focus on increasing the safety of non-automobile traffic (pedestrian and bicycle) in our growing town. The growth of the Town, coupled with new “uses” (i.e. mixed use), increased traffic, more cyclists and recent accidents near schools, heightens the need for this type of Advisory Group.

How will the goals or mission of the group benefit the Town of Cary?

More and more citizens are trying to find ways to save money and improve their health. Cary has long been a supporter of safer cycling initiatives and pedestrian safety is a natural extension. With more mixed use development, more restaurants and shopping closer to homes, it will be a natural progression for citizens to find healthier alternatives to their automobiles. However, the suburban makeup of Cary has made some of these shopping areas, school roads, and other venues too dangerous for foot and bike traffic. A concentrated effort should be made to look at all facets of this problem, and to make recommendations on addressing the issue.

Please include any additional information that may be helpful in making a decision to approve this advisory group.

This group will include walkers, drivers, bikers, students, parents, and people in new areas with Mixed Use building in progress. We may need resources such as contacts with Parks and Rec, additional research on what other cities are doing, and some staff support to find this information.

If further detail for any question is required, please attach it to this application.

Please submit to Sue Rowland at sue.rowland@townofcary.org or Cary Town Hall P.O. Box 8005, Cary NC 27512-8005.

(On Page 2, please provide contact information (name, address, phone, and/or email) for the rest of your group members, with a maximum of 15 people in your group.)