I enjoyed a very productive Council meeting last evening.

Congratulations to Chief Todd Wright, who has received Chief Fire Operator Status, a job well done, and we are proud of him and his entire Department.

Interesting discussion on the Public Comment policy, which I favor having each individual, speaking for three minutes, even if there is a Group.

The most interesting discussion was the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Transporation Funding, whose primary task, will be to provide recommendations to Council on Transportation Funding, and also serve as a voice for the Town, on regional transportation issues.

I am supportive of this Task Force, but want to make sure that we have transportation experts, involved with this entity, and that we really emphasize that we need to make sure that we are providing a report to Council , and information that no other Committee can provide.   I also think that we can connect the Open Data initiative with our Transportation efforts, enabling citizens to utilize data from the DOT to provide us ideas on funding formulas, apps, etc. to solve our problems.

The Hotel Motel Occupation Tax discussion is very exciting, with four very interesting projects, an expansion of RTP Park, Cedar Fork District Park,  a Civil War History Park, and a Public Private Partnership for a Sports/Recreation facility.    We look forward to deciding on a project by the end of August, and I am looking forward to contunuing the discussion.

The evening ended with a spirited discussion on Northwest Park, where I am still in favor of voting for the Design part of the Project, taking the phased approach concept.   We will be briefed in two weeks on the RTP Park estimates, and I hope we will be able to vote the Northwest Parks after we have this information.    We do not have to fund the entire park but I do think we need to move forward with design, and that there is an expectation with the community that we do but also need to balance and weigh the RTP Park as well.

Finally, Bridge Community Church and another company are interested in leasing the old Fire Station!

My prayers go out to Tony Chiotakis and his family for the tragic loss of his son in law.

Looking forward to Office Hours tomorrow!