The Town is continuing its organization-wide focus to establish a collaborative governance structure. We are doing this by creating meaningful interdepartmental and cross-functional teams, finding experimental approaches to challenges identified in Imagine Cary, and capitalizing on our existing platforms and the strengths of individuals through incremental changes in behavior. These activities are encouraged throughout the organization, with second quarter efforts centered around documenting and monitoring progress on the Catalog, Stormwater and Eastern Cary Gateway Teams.

Pit Crew

Our largest interdepartmental team, the Plan Implementation Team (PIT Crew), includes volunteer members from all departments. The PIT Crew’s concentration has been on the ACT Chapter of the Imagine Cary Community Plan, which does the following: evaluates initiatives and actions of small group processes, validates and expands recommended implementation actions, and ranks individual actions based on the group’s consensus. The PIT Crew continues to gather information about connections between various initiatives, logical progression of future activity and resource requirements.

Branding

The Town is undertaking its first major community branding initiative in an effort to give our current citizens—as well as future generations—the best jobs and opportunities in an increasingly competitive regional, national and global marketplace. Branding for the Town, which was initiated in the second quarter, is a recommended action in the Imagine Cary Community Plan. The goal is to uncover the community’s identity and formulate a compelling and ownable brand strategy that positions Cary for increased success. Cary’s Branding Initiative Steering Committee, which is part of Town Council’s Economic Development Committee, selected two finalists, Bigfish Creative Group from Arizona and North Star from Ohio, from eighteen proposals for in-person presentations, tours, and meet-and-greets in early 2018. Each firm will receive $10,000 to complete a deliverable related to the project for evaluation by the Town.

The Town Council is expected to select the preferred firm in Spring 2018.

“Next Steps" From Staff Reports

As part of our continued effort to make our staff reports more user-friendly and purposeful, staff added a “Next Steps” section in September. The goal of this section is to provide Council and citizens with a better understanding of what happens after Council takes action. It also serves as an internal accountability tool. The following staff reports had action identified for this quarter:

• Reduce Congestion through Intersection Improvements Projects (September 14) — Improvements along High Meadow Drive have progressed to include hydrant relocation and a partial sidewalk completion. Crews are still working on the undercut of the asphalt base as well as curb and gutter improvements.
• Cary Parkway and High House Road Intersection Improvements Construction Bid Award (September
  14) — After Council rejected the bids for this project, staff re-evaluated the bid proposals, re-advertised the project for bid, and a staff report is planned for Council action at the January 11 meeting.
• Updated Policy Statement 172 (November 16) — This policy, regarding proposed transit fare and service changes, has been updated and is reflected on our website.
• Amendment to Traffic Schedule 9 (November 16) — After approval by Council to amend the traffic schedule along Wolfs Bane Drive, No Parking signs were installed on December 13. Police also began enforcement along the corridor. In this quarter, police have written three parking tickets. Staff is currently monitoring the new enforcement.