The Wake Forest Town Board’s March 15 meeting began with a happy note with the resolution of appreciation for Beverly “Bev” Whisnant for her recently ended service on the Historic Preservation Board.
Whisnant has been a member of several civic and historical groups and served on the board of most. She was the primary founder of the Wake Forest Historical Association and still serves on the board as the secretary. She is a former Wake Forest Citizen of the Year, a member of the Ailey Young House Steering Committee, the Community Christmas Dinner Committee, Kiwanis, the General James Moore Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a volunteer for the Wake Forest Historical Museum.
It went on to the mayor’s Monarch Pledge in which Mayor Vivian Jones said she would again pledge for the Monarch Butterfly Milkweed Garden at Joyner Park and soon to be one at the Northern Wake Senior Center. Jennifer Ennis with the Wildlife Federation later noted that the garden at Joyner Park was natural, not planted, but the one at the senior center will be planted.
Jeannette Johnson, sustainability coordinator, gave a presentation about the town’s litter prevention program. We have all seen the Show Some Love Keep Wake Forest Clean signs, and Johnson said the program has shown results in the decrease in public litter. She said cigarette butts are the Number One litter problem nationwide. Almost half of the town’s departments are involved in the litter reduction program.
There were no speakers at the two public hearings – the 2022-2023 budget and a text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance.
The consent agenda passed unanimously. It called for approval of budget amendment #3, an installment purchase agreement for police vehicles and scheduling two annexation requests, one for Traditions Townhomes on Traditions Grande Avenue and one for the Hamlet at Quail Crossing on Wait Avenue.
Senior Planner Kari Grace asked the board to authorize the town to secure the professional services of Houseal Lavigne Associates for $337,905 to update the Unified Development Ordinance and the Manual of Specifications, Standards & Design. The vote was unanimous.
Purchasing Manager Randy Driver said the board needed to amend the current purchasing policy to allow the town manager to approve purchases for up to $1 million because “They (suppliers) won’t hold the prices but for about ten days now. That is one of the big issues.” The current limit on purchases without contract is $125,000. Driver said the supply chain problems are also affecting delivery of some items. The vote was to approve.
Strategic Performance Manager Lisa Hayes said the town’s Strategic Plan, which provides an overall vision the town was begun in 2012 and revised in 2015, 2017, 2019 and this year. Raftelis Consultants worked to provide the workshops and public input opportunities as well as working with the town staff and commissioners to find, sort, prioritize and define the new vision statement and the five goals.
Those goals are sustaining excellent town services; creating accessible housing opportunities; fostering a safe, diverse and welcoming community; investing in transportation and infrastructure; and advancing community and economic prosperity. The new mission statement is: The Town of Wake Forest is committed to delivering superior services and celebrating the diversity of our organization. The tag line is: Where innovation meets opportunity.
During this spring and summer the consultant and the town staff will work on metrics and standards to measure the town’s advance toward meeting those goals and in the fall, after the town commissioners adopt those there will be a scoreboard on the town’s website to track that progress.
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4 Responses
Just for clarity, though the pollinators don’t care who plants for them, the Senior Center Garden is being planted and maintained by Neuse River Hawks Wildlife Club, not the town. ?
I would have spoken about the budget and remind the Board that it would be wise to spend frugally and take each monetary item like they did during the 2008-13 recession. I do believe that they would not have looked upon that positively. So I did not bother.
Thank you Carol. I do need to say you and three others were also founding members of Wake Forest Historical Association. We all love this wonderful old town, don’t we?
My comments about the Monarch pledge related to the statement in the pledge that the Town of Wake Forest was taking a leadership role in helping the monarchs by planting milkweed gardens at Joyner Park and at the Senior Center. This statement ids in error. The Town has taken no leadership on this issue. The milkweed at Joyner Park is naturally occurring (was not planted by the town and requires no maintenance). And, the milkweed garden at the Senior Center was already planted during the pandemic by members of the local chapter of the NC Wildlife federation (the Neuse Riverhawks ). The milkweed goes dormant in the winter but it will become obvious as spring progresses and will be flowering and attracting monarchs in the summer. All labor and materials for that garden were provided by the Neuse Riverhawks (nothing provided by the town) and it is maintained by the Riverhawks. So, there really are no examples of the Town taking a leadership role in planting milkweed or in helping the monarchs.