Cary council and staff review mission and values, favor keeping core principles while proposing wording tweaks

Town staff led a session reviewing Carys mission and its adopted statement of values, then asked council members to sort those values into "timeless" (core) and "timely" (priorities) buckets and suggest edits.

Allison Hutchins, director of organizational development, summarized the history: Carys statement of values dates to 2006 and the Imagine Cary Community Plan (adopted 2017) serves as the towns long-range blueprint. Hutchins asked members to use breakout tables to indicate which values are enduring and which are flexible priorities.

Why it matters: Council and staff use the values to connect operational decisions to long-term strategy and the budget. Several council members told the retreat they considered nearly all eleven items to be timeless but proposed modest wording changes to reflect Carys current priorities.

Key takeaways from table reports:
- Replace or expand the word "citizens" with "residents" or "community" to reflect Carys diversity and ensure inclusive language.
- Emphasize "safety" explicitly and add language on transparency and accountability as timeless commitments.
- Reframe "we value growth" toward a balanced formulation that emphasizes maintaining service levels, resilience and stewardship rather than prioritizing expansion above all else.
- Highlight employees as the town's most important resource and preserve investment language for recruiting and retaining staff.

Council members also recommended weaving equity and accessibility language more consistently throughout the statements and making the values more actionable for annual budget priorities. Staff said they would compile the breakout inputs for follow-up and potential wording proposals.

Next steps: The retreat schedule included additional budget and service-level discussions; staff will assemble council edits and propose a path for formal consideration at a future meeting. No formal vote was taken on changes at the retreat.