He said his son received a ticket in Holly Springs and was sent to traffic school. He said the traffic school’s instructor in Raleigh laughed when he heard where the ticket was issued and said about half the people in traffic school had been ticketed in Holly Springs.
“We’ve got a reputation, guys,” the resident said. “You can’t hide under your council computers here. You know it’s there. You know it’s a fact.”
Councilman Chet VanFossen said residents ask what can be done about speeding, request speed bumps and want police protection.
“My theory is, if you don’t go over the speed limit, you’re not going to get a ticket,” he said. Councilman Tim Sack said he agreed and said that the resident gave the impression that the police officer was doing something improper.
“I think this is more about attitude than the amount of tickets that we’re writing,” the resident said. “I much prefer to have police officers who are well trained and who enforce the law rather than a number of weeks ago there was a concern they weren’t friendly enough,” said Councilman Hank Dickson.
“I’d like to have friendly police officers and also professional police officers,” said Councilman Parrish Womble. “It doesn’t hurt to be friendly.”
Mayor Dick Sears said resident complaints he received were split between people who thought the town police write too many tickets and people who thought the police aren’t writing enough. Forum rebuttals
During the “Other Business” portion of the meeting, Sack addressed comments made about the town’s budget during recent candidate forums. He said during the forums, comments about waste in the town’s budget. He asked why the people making the comments hadn’t identified the waste in the budget during the last six months. He said Apex had a $60 million budget as compared with Holly Springs’ $20 million budget.
“We’re not that much different in size,” Sack said. “I think we’re running an efficient, effective budget. … To say that there’s waste in that budget in the amount of $1 million or more, it’s a sound bite. … We have a sound budget, it is a good budget, and it was gone over line by line.”
During the public comment period, a local asked for clarification on comments made at recent debates. He asked about comments about the town maxing out its credit card. Sears said the town does not use credit cards for long-term debt. The resident also discussed money involved in building a new community center. Other meeting news
As part of its consent agenda, the council adopted a resolution about “reality check” growth principles, adding to the town’s guiding principles for managing development. The principles include improving regional transit, promoting vibrant development centers and sustaining green space.
The council adopted an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance, affecting authority in the decision matrix regarding development plans, allowing some smaller plans to be approved or denied by staff. Developers can appeal decisions to the council.
The town Finance Department was recognized for receiving the Certificate of Achievement award for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for the fourth year straight. Department head Drew Holland thanked his employees.
“Getting this award pretty much says we do know what we’re doing,” Holland said. The council approved a $170,000 contract for an upgrade to the town’s existing equipment at its 911 call center.
Wake County Commissioner Lindy Brown addressed the council about an assessment of community health services. The county will be evaluating the town on residents’ safety; behavioral, physical, economic and environmental health; and lifelong learning.
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