The Mayor of Cary Harold Weinbrecht

The Mayor of Cary shared some fun facts: the town of Cary is a 33% larger landmass than Paris France, Cary is 40 square miles with a population of 167,000+ people. The town has been growing steadily at around 2.5% per year and is seeing a lot of redevelopment and new development.

The mayor mentioned a branding campaign coming up and the question they asked the branding company was whether or not we should remain a town or a city.

In North Carolina, we are more like a Dillon’s Rule state. Which means you can’t do anything unless the legislature says you can.

Harold explained to the GWDS that the people of the town of Cary are like his CEO, and he learned early on to not disrespect his boss. He also mentioned the importance of listening in serving in government.

When working with an “us versus them” council he asked a trusted counsel for advice and was told “it’s all about communication. If you want to work together as a group, you’ve got all respect for each other. Respect, of course, is earned is not given. And you have to earn that respect and the way you earn that respect as work with them every day.”

Never disregard what anyone has to say. Try to listen with an open mind. You may surprise yourself. – Harold Weinbrecht

We discussed the new developments coming to Cary including the additional development around the Library, the Downtown Park, the redevelopment of Cary Towne Center and the largest development in Cary’s history called Fenton.

Mayor Weinbrecht mentioned his blog where he laid out what could happen to the site of the old Library.