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Advisory Board Meeting

Town of Cary · Human Relations, Inclusion, & Diversity Advisory Board
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 6:00 pm · Conference Room 11130, 316 N. Academy Street, Cary Town Hall, Cary, NC 27513

Advisory board meeting Police and public safetyAppointments and personnel

Agenda document Full packet Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

Cary's Human Relations, Inclusion, & Diversity Advisory Board approved its annual report and a set of recommendations aimed at making the town's advisory boards better reflect Cary's diversity, and reviewed the criteria for the town's Hometown Spirit Award, discussing whether its language around 'traditional American pastimes' should be broadened to be more inclusive of immigrants.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The board heard from the town clerk's office on the Hometown Spirit Award, an annual honor for a Cary resident who preserves small-town community values, and discussed whether to revise its criteria and add a scoring rubric to make selections more consistent; the chair will gather members' recommendations by email for further discussion in September. Cary Police Community Engagement Captain Robert Carey described the department's community programs, including Project Phoenix, which helps identify students who may need support, and answered questions on crisis-intervention training, support for people on the autism spectrum, and notifications about crimes at schools. The board approved its annual report and, separately, approved recommendations to improve advisory board representation, including inviting applicants to public meetings rather than board shadowing, building a pipeline from the Teen Council, adding DEI training for council members who serve as board liaisons, and updating language on ability status and diversity goals; those recommendations will be included in the annual report. A separate item on translating public safety information was deferred to September. Mayor Harold Weinbrecht reported the town is still taking budget input and that the next council work session is August 28; Council Member Lori Bush said 84% of respondents rated a recent special town hall meeting as good to excellent.

How the votes went

The agenda and the April, May, June and July minutes were all approved without objection. The annual report passed unanimously (7-0) and the board recruitment recommendations also passed unanimously (6-0).

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Sign up for Public Speaks Out by calling the town before noon on the day of the meeting; each speaker gets three minutes. Comments that arrive after noon are passed to the council as correspondence instead.

Town of Cary's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Presentation · 2Other · 2Discussion item · 1Staff or committee report · 1Proclamation or recognition · 1Procedural · 1
  1. 1. Hometown Spirit Award
    Discussion item
    Speaker: Clerk?s Office No advanced preparation is required.
  2. 2. Police Department Discussion
    Presentation Police and public safety
    Speaker: Police Department No advanced preparation is required.
  3. 3. Annual Report
    Staff or committee report
    Speaker: Renee Poole Members should review and come prepared to share feedback for a vote to be taken.
  4. 4. Advisory Board Demographics
    Presentation
    Speaker: Jess MacDonald No advanced preparation is required.
  5. 1. Demographic Data – Board Recruitment Recommendations
    Proclamation or recognition Appointments and personnel
    Speaker: Jess MacDonald Members should come prepared to review, provide feedback and finalize recommendations.
  6. 2. Translation of Public Safety Information Update
    Procedural Police and public safety
    Speaker: Jess MacDonald No advanced preparation is required.
  7. 3. Volunteer as a Board in the Community
    Other
    Speaker: Jess MacDonald/Asheesh Prajapati No advanced preparation is required.
  8. 4. Community Engagement Update
    Other
    Speaker: Dev Hirji No advanced preparation is required.

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