On June 14, volunteer advisory boards and commissions members were given the opportunity to represent their group at a rap session facilitated by Tru Pettigrew. Members engaged in an open conversation on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and they will share a recap with the remainder of their boards.

The newly created Senior Advisory Board gathered virtually for its inaugural meeting in May. The board is made up of seven citizens with a wide range of ages and backgrounds working together to create an inclusive and connected environment to support senior services in Cary.

In June, Mayor Pro Tem Don Frantz announced the winner for Cary Elementary School’s Honor a Teacher Award. This program is facilitated by the Cary Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Cary. Each of the five nominees demonstrated outstanding service to the community through dedication and diligence during a stressful and unpredictable year. Laura Hahn (4th grade), Lauren Keadle (2nd grade), Katherine Phillips (2nd grade), Emily Walsh (1st grade), and Angela Winterton (kindergarten) were nominated for the 2020-2021 Honor a Teacher Award, and Katherine Phillips was named this year’s winner. 

June marks Cary’s 20-year anniversary in providing reclaimed water to its citizens and businesses. In 2001, Cary became the first community in the state to bring reclaimed water to its citizens. Over the past two decades, the system has grown to more than 80 miles of pipeline and 900 program participants. The sustainable practice of reusing highly treated wastewater replaces the need to use potable drinking water sources for irrigation. 

The 2020 Water Resources Year in Review report, released in June, tells the story of Cary’s interaction with this important natural resource. This year’s report relates water usage to the effects of the pandemic, population increases, seasonal changes, and rainfall. Total water demand decreased 6% from 2019 to 2020. The report evaluates production and capacity at Cary’s water treatment facility, flows and capacity at its three water reclamation facilities, and much more. View the report at bit.ly/CaryWater2020.

Additionally, the annual Water Quality Report is available online at waterreport.townofcary.org. The report shares the results of more than 400,000 tests performed last year to ensure the water meets or exceeds all state and federal regulatory requirements. It describes how Cary continues to make its water system more resilient, how water flows through the community, and how Cary is building its infrastructure for today and the future.

Police completed its Property and Evidence Storage Improvement project in May. The 15-week renovation yielded much needed space for evidence storage and a safer work area for packaging and processing evidence for officers. The project increased the overall area by 736 square feet, doubling the space of the secured vault in the primary evidence storage area and allowing for more shelving and improved ventilation. 

Cary Fire, in partnership with the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Cary Community Emergency Response Team, participated in Smoke Detector Saturday on June 5. Firefighters and partners canvassed 414 homes in Cary Mobile Estates and Chatham Estates and installed 122 smoke alarms in 86 homes; 16 of those homes had no smoke alarms at all.

This quarter, Fire launched First Arriving, a digital dashboard system, in the fire stations and administrative office. The monitors broadcast a rotating menu of timely department and Cary news as well as real-time weather updates and targeted incident notifications, including directional maps and response times. The platform will help Fire improve internal communication, a key objective in the department’s most recent strategic plan. It also integrates with other data platforms, such as social media channels, and allows for custom videos. 

Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) are one of the most important pieces of safety equipment in the fire service, as they allow firefighters to enter hazardous environments to do their job. As Cary’s SCBA reached the end of their service life, Fire replaced them with ones that meet the latest National Fire Protection Association recommendation. An exciting upgrade the newer model provides is a personalized communications module that allows an incident commander to check the status of a firefighter without tying up a radio channel. Cary Fire is the second department in the country to get this new module. 

To further reduce the community’s waste to the landfill, staff worked with the Environmental Advisory Board and members of the local nonprofit Toward Zero Waste to envision how Cary can provide composting as a service. Staff submitted a grant application to the N.C. Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service with a proposal to develop Cary’s first food waste recycling drop-off site. This idea builds on Cary’s longstanding support of backyard composting and seeds an alternative localized site for increased participation. This quarter, the division awarded funding through the Community Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant to help Cary develop the pilot residential food waste recycling drop-off site at the Citizen’s Convenience Center. Staff is working through the design, construction, and coordination of the program with a goal of launching this new solid waste service in the fall.