Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver visited with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey on Tuesday, September 27th. She discussed how Hillsborough has responded to the recent tragic murder of two teens in western Orange County. She also discussed work from the town board’s work session this week. This is a transcript of their conversation, edited for clarity. Listen to the full interview here.
Andrew Stuckey: Jenn, how are you on this beautiful day?
Jenn Weaver: I am doing quite well, thank you.
Stuckey: Glad you could be with us. Unfortunately, I am going to have to start with some news that nobody really wants to talk about, but is on everyone’s mind. That is the murder of the two teenagers in Orange County from earlier in the month. Since that is a lot closer to y’all up there in Hillsborough, I just wanted to check in and see what you are hearing from the Hillsborough community about that.
Weaver: As you can imagine, it is a very tragic event for such a small, close-knit community. These two kids were each members of schools that play each other in sports. I think people are really just trying to keep their minds on the victims and their loved ones, and trying to help the kids in the community who did know them process this. It is a lot to take in because it is shocking. This is the third young person who was killed in this way in the broader Orange County community in the past couple of months. So, it is pretty rough.
Stuckey: It has been a difficult time. We are kind of in that phase now where we are not hearing anything, and I think that is causing a lot of people to get a little uneasy as well.
Weaver: Yes, and I can understand that. I also just encourage people to remember that the person of interest is a juvenile. There are really important reasons for being especially careful when it comes to talking about people who are underage and suspected of a crime, even serious crimes like this one. I think we need to have faith that things will unfold and recall that everyone is entitled to a fair shake in our justice system, which not everybody gets. We want to do our best here in Orange County to be sure that they do.
Stuckey: The Sheriff’s Office put out a statement late yesterday that sort of reiterated that point. They can’t say as much as they would normally say because it is a juvenile. We just have to sit tight, which is what we are all going to do going forward. Let’s talk about things that are a little bit lighter, but still important. There was a work session for the town board yesterday, and you said that it was a little bit deep in the weeds about the advisory committees. I actually want to get deep in the weeds about the advisory committees. How does that work? What kind of input do the advisory committees have? If somebody decides that they want to be on an advisory committee, what kind of input do they actually get to have with the town leaders once on the committee?
Weaver: A lot of that depends somewhat on which advisory board it is. Some of these have their own enabling legislation and are quasi-judicial, like the Board of Adjustment, the Planning Board, or the Historic District Commission. The Tourism Development Authority has its own enabling legislation. Those have a little bit more strict parameters that they work under and are part of the actual development process. We also have boards like the Parks and Recreation board that do not have their own enabling legislation. We depend on those for advice on the shape that our community takes in our public spaces. The way this came about was some curiosity by board members to get clarity with these boards, given some of the questions that have come up in recent years about how they operate and how many people should be on them. Margaret Hauth was the presenter on this, and she said that in her 30 years with the town, they have never taken this deep of a dive. It really seemed like a great opportunity to make sure that the appointment processes and the rules of procedure are clear because we want those to be transparent. We want people to understand what their roles are and where to find that information.
Stuckey: Before we move on from the board, is anything coming up next that you are looking forward to that the board is looking forward to as well?
Weaver: I am not sure exactly when we will see this, and I mention it almost every time we talk because I’m so excited about it, is our comprehensive sustainability plan. I know our staff is hard at work on that draft, and so I think we are all eager to see that because it’s something that is going to be important for us. We refer to in many of our meetings that when we have a comprehensive sustainability plan, this will help us answer some questions and provide some guidance. We are all looking forward to that.
Stuckey: Excellent. I look forward to when that gets unveiled as well. I wanted to talk about something a little bit outside of Hillsborough as well. This wasn’t on my radar until the last couple of days when it popped up that Blackwood Farms Park will not be reopening until next month. It has been closed for over a year now. I didn’t know anything about the park and when I was reading about what it is going to be like when it reopens. It sounds pretty glorious. I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about what that will be for Hillsborough when that park does reopen.
Weaver: I think that Blackwood Farm Park was one of those best-kept secrets, not that anyone was trying to keep it a secret. It was a park that was still relatively new. People were really starting to discover it when the county decided to make these improvements, which required it to be closed down for a while. I know that area was already heavily used by people in Hillsborough and the surrounding Hillsborough area, and I think people are just really excited. I am excited just looking at some of the pictures of this pavilion. I think we are all eager to see what that will mean event-wise for when it opens up again because it is probably going to be really great.
Stuckey: It seems like it went from just an open recreation park to having an infrastructure now where it can actually house some festival-type events.
Weaver: That’s right.
Stuckey: I know that there is a lot going on around Hillsborough this weekend as there tends to be pretty frequently, but this one seems even busier than usual. What have we got in Hillsborough this weekend?
Weaver: It is very busy because we have three very high-traffic events just in terms of the number of people that they typically bring into town. We start Friday night with our September “Last Friday,” and then first thing Saturday morning is the Carolina TarWheels BikeFest. That launches out of Hillsborough and rolls around through the beautiful countryside here. Sunday is the return of the Historic Hillsborough Half Marathon and 5k, which is a race that goes through the town of Hillsborough and down Riverwalk into the Occoneechee Speedway. It is a terrific event. It won awards in its first year from running circles. We are really excited to have that back. Now, I cannot say that without acknowledging that there is a Hurricane coming up, bringing some bad weather. I encourage folks to please pay attention to the websites of the organizers for any updates depending on the weather.
Stuckey: We are on the verge of having this beautiful fall weekend with all these events planned and it is looking like it is going to be a challenge for a lot of those outdoor activities this weekend.
Weaver: It does look challenging, but I’m going to wait until the last possible moment to accept that fate.
Stuckey: I think that is the appropriate and spirited thing to do. Well, we are out of time. It is always a pleasure, Jenn. Thanks a lot and I look forward to next week.
Weaver: Likewise. Have a good one!
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