Cary, Morrisville officials talk merger

Morrisville spokeswoman Stacie Galloway said that the topic arose during a discussion about land use at Cary's annual retreat. Two Cary council members said they would like to talk to the Morrisville Town Council about merging the two towns, she said.

“Although we highly value the current relationship we have with the Town of Cary, we haven’t heard from our citizenry or our Council that it is necessary to take that drastic step of combining our governments,” Morrisville Town Manager John Whitson said.

“Morrisville partners with Cary in many efforts that result in savings and improved services for our residents," he continued. "We’ll continue to investigate any options that accomplish that task through regional cooperation.”

Galloway said that the Morrisville Town Council has requested a meeting with the Cary Town Council to talk about topics of mutual interest, but merger is not on agenda.

The merger of For North Carolina municipalities requires that first, a majority of both town councils must approve a voter referendum on the effort. Voters in both towns must then pass the referendum.

Cary had an estimated population of 137,483 in October 2009, according to the town's Web site. Morrisville had a population of 11,816 in 2004, according to the most recent statistics on its Web site.