Protesters began to gather in the hours before the Mayor's annual "State of Cary" address outside of Cary Town Hall to voice opposition against a rumored Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office expansion in the town.
People marched with signs outside of the town hall, and local activists with groups including Cary Indivisible projected images and messages onto the town hall building, such as "STOP ICE TERROR".
Some people went inside the building once the mayor's address began at 6 p.m., to speak during the Q&A portion against the proposed ICE building.
But Mayor Harold Weinbrecht didn't address this immediately. Instead, he opened his town hall by speaking about his desire to rebuild public trust in the aftermath of the forced resignation of former Town Manager Sean Steagall.
Steagall was forced to resign last December after it was revealed he misused public funds for personal gain and luxuries, prompting investigations from the Wake County District Attorney and State Bureau of Investigation.
Cary will be audited, investigated
Weinbrecht spoke candidly about the relief felt by the Town Council in no longer working with Steagall, who he said created a "toxic environment" in addition to deceiving the council by hiding his management of public money,.
"If you disagreed with him, he would ridicule you, he would marginalize you," said Weinbrecht. "He took information from (the town) council and distorted it for staff, he took information from staff and distorted it for council."
The mayor said Steagall was "lucky" to get away with his actions.
He owed Steagall's ability to carry out his behavior due to the town's council-manager form of government, where a manager is elected as a chief executive overseeing a municipal government's operations.
Weinbrecht says Steagall exploited his job's duty to handle the flow of information between the Town Council and town staff.
Rebuilding public trust will happen through transparency during a review from the State Auditor and an internal investigation conducted by the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, the mayor said.
The town has appointed Deputy Town Manager Russ Overton as the interim manager.
Cary has "no authority" to stop ICE office
The majority of the crowd in the town hall arrived to hear about rumors of a newly leased office for ICE operations on Regency Parkway, however.
Weinbrecht said it's not been confirmed what exactly the leased office will be used for by the federal government, but the town has "absolutely no authority to stop it."
Public records indicate that the federal government leased an office building at 11000 Regency Parkway near the Koka Booth Amphitheatre as a future home for ICE administration, according to a story first reported by WIRED magazine.
Numerous people who delivered public comment denounced the mayor's comments and pleaded him to take action against any proposed ICE expansion in the town.
"It can be done, but is there the political will do so? It sounds like from your end, there's not," said Jason Williams.
Weinbrecht said he encourages protests, but that "if you have a public statement, you're asking for an invitation. You're asking them to come here."
"I'm worried about our immigrants, and I'm worried about drawing attention by making a political statement," he said.
Residents are expected to gather again to voice opposition against an immigration enforcement facility during the next Town Council meeting on March 12.
