The research portion of our Community Branding project is underway and expected to continue into early 2019. The process, which is being led by our consultants, North Star Destination Strategies, includes structured one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and surveys as well as informal conversations with citizens, workers, and visitors in various spots around Cary. 

In addition to quarterly guidance from the Town’s Economic Development Committee, an interdepartmental team of staff — along with Council liaison to the EDC Jack Smith — is meeting regularly to assist with the day-to-day demands of the project.

In late September, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Declaratory Ruling and Order (“the Order”) that will further erode local government control over siting of small cell wireless facilities. While it mirrors in some respects the 2017 legislation passed by the NC General Assembly, it goes beyond that legislation in many areas. For example, the Order further limits aesthetic and undergrounding requirements, mandates even shorter permitting turn-around times than required by state law, and further limits fees local governments may charge for processing applications. Staff is analyzing the very lengthy Order for its effect on Cary and may propose further amendments to the LDO to comply with the Order and preserve our rights. 

Russ Overton, Carla Witherington, Jesse Troublefield, Jerry McCormick and Penny Holler traveled to Baltimore, Maryland on September 23–26, 2018, to attend the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) annual conference to learn about best practices from a wide range of speakers and experts. This year’s conference focused on sustainable communities and building communities that last. The staff were joined by Chief Allan Cain as representative of the Center for Public Safety Excellence Board of Directors and Council Member Jennifer Robinson, who presented “Analytics for Safer Communities” and participated in a panel discussion on blockchain technology.

Cary’s digital transformation and connected community story shined at Dreamforce, an annual Salesforce user conference. The conference provided productive training opportunities to inspire staff to incorporate additional Salesforce integrations into our organization’s workflow. Cary staff from Planning and Development, Finance, 
IT, Manager’s Office, PRCR, and Public Works attended the conference. 

CIO Nicole Raimundo took the stage at the Government Keynote session to spotlight Cary’s journey to date and plans to create a connected community. The presentation highlighted Cary projects, including case management, traffic signal integration, Waze, Live Message texting, and the Alexa skill. Also emphasized was the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources registration and reservation application. The session included a video that the Salesforce team produced about Cary as the first Salesforce Connected Community. The keynote ended with a call to action to support Hurricane Florence survivors in the Carolinas. 

Cary IT staff co-led several sessions and panels about Cary’s innovation journey. Town staff participated in the creation of a Town of Cary story podcast and engaged in a Customer Advisory Board meeting for the Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud. 

On August 15, the Town joined municipalities across the country in marking #CityHallSelfie Day, a day for municipal workers to snap a selfie while at work. Several employees completed the #CityHallSelfie Scavenger Hunt and many more shared their selfies on social media. Dozens of selfies were shared by Town employees, resulting in hundreds of thousands of impressions. #CityHallSelfie Day also saw participation from Council members, citizen advisory board members, the Chamber and local business partners. 

In Keeping Cary Great, staff worked together this past quarter to continue to operationalize the Catalog. With guidance from the Town Manager, a small team from the Town Manager’s Office assigned an initial priority classification to each of the Town’s 1,600+ projects and services. Afterwards, the department directors coalesced in small groups to do the same, with each team examining a subset of the Catalog to compare against the initial priority work. The results were truly impactful: unprecedented conversation and collaboration among Town decision-makers beyond their own functional areas. With the goal to inform decision-making with knowledge supported by transparent and accurate data, the Catalog has decisively ripened to serve as the Town’s prioritization tool for its many projects and services.