Cary Mayor Weinbrecht talks financial challenges, town achievements in 'State of Cary' address

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht held the 'State of Cary' address' Wednesday morning.

The ballroom was filled at the Prestonwood Country Club with members of the Cary Chamber and other officials.

Weinbrecht did not shy away from recognizing the challenges they are dealing with, especially regarding the end of 2025 -- where former Town Manager Sean Stegall stepped down after an audit revealed financial issues.

He highlighted their efforts to be transparent, the state of the investigation, and what they plan to do moving forward to ensure it never happens again.

The current interim town manager is Russ Overton, who has served in various leadership roles before.

"I had a council member sitting down here that described it as an oil spill," Weinbrecht said. "And to me, that is such a perfect analogy. We're going to be going through cleaning up this oil spill for weeks, if not months. We don't know what we're going to find, but we know we're going to have to confront it and face it."

The mayor shared the town received around 40 different awards and accolades in 2025. He also shared updates in areas of sports venues and entertainment.

While the town saw minimal population growth, they are still finding ways to increase mix-income housing and bring more businesses to downtown.