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Advisory Board Meeting

Town of Cary · Environmental Advisory Board
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 6:00 pm · Virtual / Conference Room 11130, Call-in information will be available on agenda, For in person attendance: 316 N. Academy Street, Cary, NC 27513

Advisory board meeting Environment and sustainabilityGrants and outside fundingParks and recreationRoads and transportation

Agenda document Full packet Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

Cary's Environmental Advisory Board takes up three items on February 10: an update on the town's electric vehicle charging infrastructure, a briefing on the Shading the Future Duke Energy grant, and development of a new Cary Tree Steward program. The board also hears from its staff and council liaisons and takes public comment.

None of the three items call for a board vote; the board is advisory and typically reviews staff work and shares member updates.

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

Nine of the board's twelve members attended: Chair Mia South, Dustin Cote, Aaron Hope, Ron Madl, Terri McLeod, Emily Neuhauser and two Teen Council representatives in person, and Rachel Porter by video. The board adopted the agenda and approved the January 13 minutes without objection.

Energy Manager Sara Caliendo told the board Cary has 43 electric-vehicle charging ports at 13 facilities, 19 of them reserved for the town's roughly 700-vehicle fleet, of which 18% is part of Cary's Green Fleet. New ports are coming to two downtown parking decks later in 2026. Caliendo said staff are weighing whether the town should own and maintain future chargers or contract the service out; members asked for a follow-up presentation once cost estimates are ready.

Caliendo also updated the board on Shading the Future, a $25,000 Duke Energy grant for planting about 200 shade trees on public and private land to cut energy use. She and Urban Forester Leslie Moorman are using GIS mapping to pick priority sites; members asked that the planting skip Bradford pear and crepe myrtle trees. Caliendo said the town's planned Tree Steward program grew out of Branching Out, a federal grant that was canceled in early 2025, and staff still intend to launch the Cary program later in 2026.

During public comment, a resident described invasive-species removal underway in the Kildaire Farms neighborhood and suggested the town find a way to recognize similar volunteer environmental work. The board received no written comments this month.

Who spoke

1 member of the public spoke.

  1. A resident described invasive-species removal underway in the Kildaire Farms neighborhood and suggested the town find a way to recognize similar volunteer environmental work.

The board received no written public comments this month. One resident spoke in person about invasive-species removal.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

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 (7)

Discussion item · 4Procedural · 2Staff or committee report · 1
  1. For any public interested in listening to the meeting, please call 1-650-479-3207 and enter access code (2558 738 3277) and password (82343437), followed bt # when prompted.
    Procedural
    Call-in number and passcode for members of the public who want to listen without attending in person.
  2. 1. Instructions for submitting public comments
    Procedural
    How to submit written comments to the board ahead of the meeting.
  3. 1. Board Member Profile
    Staff or committee report
    Board member Aaron Hope presented his board member profile to the group.
  4. 2. Member HOA Share
    Discussion item Environment and sustainability
    Board members shared environmental issues they are seeing in their homeowners associations.
  5. 1. EV Infrastructure
    Discussion item Environment and sustainabilityRoads and transportation
    Energy Manager Sara Caliendo told the board Cary has 43 electric-vehicle charging ports across 13 town facilities, 19 reserved for the town's roughly 700-vehicle fleet. New ports are planned for two downtown parking decks later in 2026, and staff are weighing whether the town should own and maintain future chargers or contract the service out.
  6. 2. Shading the Future Duke Energy Grant
    Discussion item Environment and sustainabilityGrants and outside funding
    Caliendo updated the board on Shading the Future, a $25,000 Duke Energy grant for planting about 200 shade trees on public and private land to cut energy use. She and Urban Forester Leslie Moorman are using GIS mapping to pick priority sites; members asked that the planting skip Bradford pear and crepe myrtle trees.
  7. 3. Cary Tree Steward Program Development
    Discussion item Environment and sustainabilityParks and recreation
    Caliendo said Cary's planned Tree Steward program grew out of Branching Out, a federal grant the town lost when it was canceled in early 2025. Staff still intend to launch the Cary program later in 2026.

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