News About Town: The Board of Commissioners is preparing for the annual planning conference, with a lengthy to-do list at hand. The conference will start in Matthews on Thursday, February 27, before moving to the Chetola Lodge in Blowing Rock for two days. The Board will use conference time to prioritize goals which, when those goals become actionable, will likely become part of regular Board of Commissioners meetings.

News Around Town: Natisha Rivera-Patrick, President & CEO of Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity, has been working with local agencies for the past eight months to form the Matthews Affordable Housing Alliance. This partnership connects community groups and nonprofits to identify and tackle issues surrounding affordable housing opportunities in Matthews. With a goal of ensuring everyone has access to housing, the Alliance seeks to change the conversation about what affordable housing is and who it serves, while working to dispel misconceptions.

One Good Thing: On February 6, Governer Roy Cooper proclaimed this week (February 10-14) as School Bus Driver Appreciation Week in North Carolina. The proclamation is an extension of North Carolina’s Love the Bus program, an initiative is a way to raise appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers nationwide, and provide an opportunity for parents and children to learn more about the safety and environmental benefits of school bus transportation. School. How so, you ask? School buses reduce traffic by keeping more than 17 million cars off roads each year, the American School Bus Council says, while also saving approximately 2.6 billion gallons of fuel.