observed as we convene for the Durham County Commissioner's meeting it is crucial to recognize the painful truth of our history that we stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Kataba Eno banichi shakori and Tuscarora peoples whose deep connection to this land predates our arrival we acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred leading to the disposition of indigenous peoples from their homelands their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit may we humbly honor the ancestors and Elders of these nations both past and present by committing ourselves to fostering understanding healing and justice for all who inhabit this land let us walk forward together with Open Hearts acknowledging the past and embracing a future Guided by compassion respect and unity I will now have commissioner Burns lead the Pledge of Allegiance may we all
stand I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you thank you Vice chair burns are there any adjustments to the agenda Madam chair yes if I could um this afternoon I became aware of a potential issue and just spoke with ACM Pierce so if I could ask that we pull an item from the consent agenda I hope we have everything resolved and hopefully it's just a clarification but it's 24- 0473 that's the contract with Alliance okay yeah yeah we'll pull that when we get to
m. at the veteran service office located on the second floor of the Durham County Human Services building at 4:14 East Main Street you can contact veteran services for more information at 919 5608 387 uh the Durham lowincome homeowners
net website you'll also find links on the DPS mobile app the parent portal app which also includes
m. m. m. m.
m. m. online there is a link for registration and spots are filling fast the Durham County Board of Elections and kids voting Durham has extended the deadline for entries for their future voter sticker contest until
m. org residents of the unincorporated parts of Durham County will receive their 2425 Durham County Solid Waste decal with their annual tax Bill to be mailed in August residents may continue using their 2324 decal until the new ones arrive for more information you can visit the Durham County website or you can also call 563000 the Durham County Tax Administration will mail 2024 tax bills to Durham County property owners in mid August taxes are due September 1 2024
but must be paid by Jan uary 6 2025 to avoid interest and additional costs for information you can visit the County website um or you can also contact uh Durham County government call center at [Music] 919-560-3980 this new plan aims to preserve downtown's unique character while supporting continued growth and development give feedback in English or Spanish and there are links um on the website you can find out information on how to register to vote in Durham County On The Board of Elections page there will I'm sorry there you will also find information on registration deadlines how to register in person online or by mail as well as how to do same voter
registration during early voting deadline to register for the November 24 election is October 11th for additional questions please contact 919-5671 this opioid treatment program helps detainees recover from addiction and there is a link to the Deco I'm sorry dcso Start Talk podcast um there's a link online and lastly do do you need free and confidential HIV or STI testing the durm County Department of Public Health can help you can call or text Ashley at 99698 1303 or Jerel at at 919 314
7541 that concludes the announcements published in tonight's agenda thank you clerk Wallace um before I move to the board for more announcements my only announcement is a more of a shout out I would like to ask Dr Rod Jenkins to please stand up to be celebrated for just completing his PhD program [Applause] director Jenkins is our director of the public health department and he's just completed his PhD from Chapel Hill yeah we'll forgive you for that but congratulations sir I'll now bring it to the board for Nance Vice chair Burns we had some really great announcements um as our clerk did State I hope that people do take the time to follow them the only only one that I really have right now that I want to highlight because we got some great proclamations uh if anybody did not see
today today was uh the day that we swore in our new superintendent of dur Public Schools uh Dr Anthony Lewis so the page has turned on D public schools and I just invite um everyone if you like me you miss Dr mbinga but we're glad that we have Dr Anthony Lewis here so please welcome him engage him and let him know what is important to us and our ethos here in Durham and how we want our kids taken care of uh my other announcement I want to give a quick shout out the governor actually did a proclamation today so we are going into black business month and y'all already know I I stay in that pocket but he did do a proclamation today um on econom on Equitable Economic Development leaders and um he shouted out a lot of references to Durham uh we will probably be doing a similar Proclamation before the end of the month as well as doing a series of events for Med week but who he did shout out or take a time to he shouted out the reto program many people actually got access to those dollars he
shouted out a lot of streets on Paris Street about how we have been you know a center uh for black business but I did want to uh shout out Tammy Hall there she she sending it back so Tammy Hall actually ran that H um the hood program for the state and she was the architect for reto so congratulations to her and all that she's done um and and congratulations on the proclamation today for the governor so yay [Applause] thank you Vice chair Burns commissioner Howton thank you madam chair I just we just the County Commissioners just came back from our Statewide conference um that we have every year and that's all 100 counties across the state have a conference every year and I just want to give a a shout out to kids voting this is the first year that kids voting has had a booth at our uh Statewide conference and signing up other counties
to start participating in kids voting it was really exciting to see them there so I just want to give a shout out for that because um up until now I think we're the only County that's had kid voting so I'm hoping it'll be across the state so thanks I want to thank all the uh individuals that's been working in that program for years uh I think um uh Omar Beasley is in the room and he's been working with that program and and anyone else that's been working with it it's it's amazing to see um kids voting and when we go as um electors to be interviewed by kids voting they they don't play around with us they give us some tough questions so congratulations thank you commissioner howon commissioner Jacobs well thank you for commissioner Howton for bringing that up kids voting is started as kids voting Durham
and it's now being launched um Statewide and our former commissioner Ellen reow is the Statewide co-chair along with Gary bevens also another former County Commissioner so um it is really exciting I just wanted to share um two things that are not in our announcements but are time sensitive um tomorrow at the main library is an information session from 6:30 to 7:30 about the rise Center and that is um to that is a new Assessment Center that has opened next to our new youth home and it is a resource for parents and children who may be struggling with mental health or any other types of Behavioral issues it is a place that children and families um can go to to get help and that is right next to our new youth home so there is an
information um kind of input meeting and information meeting tomorrow at the library 6:30 7:30 also on Wednesday August 14th and then on um there is um a in-person meeting about a a rezoning on Miami Boulevard and paage Road and this is an in-person meeting um and I'm blanking actually I'm not really being helpful you probably know commissioner Burns what time is it I got to look on my calendar um 5 o' Wednesday night okay I don't know so you're just making it up I am I need to look at my calendar but it is an inperson session 5:30 to 7 it's a drop in session at 12 Davis Drive so especially for people that live in that part of town that is an in-person session and then there is a zoom session on August
m. and Monica I'll make sure I send that to you because we really should make sure people have that so they can sign up um for the link for the zoom especially and then also we have this sitting at our seats um which is on Thursday is um City Hall also city and county selfie day um so especially for our staff or anybody who wants to participate in um showing your love for Durham County government and Durham city government too so thank you you can go ahead and take your selfie today and then just post it on August 15th great idea with the hashtag # City Hall selfie and # deor rocks by BR you have one more yeah this is the last one I just because we have so many people in here and as always we encourage you and invite you to come back um so that you can see a lot of the really great stuff that we
com it is on our social media to complete a request for more
com and please apply as we're building places so that folks do
not feel displaced in this community thank you okay thank you Vice chair Burns yeah I think that concludes announcements uh we'll now move us to minutes and I'll entertain a motion to approve our minutes for the July 8th regular session so moved moved by commissioner Jacob second by commissioner Howton all in favor say I I any opposed wa the minutes are passed unanimously we'll now move to our ceremonial items starting with our first Proclamation that I believe commissioner Howton I pass to you oh Mike Duram Board of County Commissioners Proclamation Purple Heart month 2024 whereas the people of Durham County have great Administration and the utmost gratitude for all of the citizens of our community who have selfishly served in the armed
forces which has been vital in maintaining the freedom and the way of life enjoyed by our citizens and whereas citizens of our community have been wounded in action or killed in action while serving in the armed forces and have been postly awarded the Purple Heart for their ultimate sacrifice and whereas the purple heart is the oldest American Military decoration and was created as the badge of military marage made of purple cloth in the shape of a heart with the word merit sewn upon it on August 7th 1782 in newor New York by George General George Washington and whereas the Heritage it
represents is sacred to those who know the price paid to wear the Purple Heart and whereas August the 7th is nationally recognized as the Purple Heart Day now therefore n Alum chair of and behalf and on behalf of the board of County Commissioners do hereby Proclaim August 2024 as the Purple Heart month in Durham County we urge all citizens to display the American flag as well as other purple other public expressions of recognition of our Purp Purple Heart recipients this the 12th day of August 2024 Durham Board of County Commissioners thank you so much commissioner Howton and I see we have our veterans team uh here to join
us oh Mike you got to press the right button to the light on there you go I'm on now uh Commissioners thank you so much for presenting this proclamation to us um and to our our Purple Heart recipients in our larger veteran Community um I'm Jonathan KS one of the veteran service officers with Durham County veteran services also joining me today is our director Lois Harvin Raven our veteran service officer supervisor Lindsay Atkins um veteran service officer Halen Warez Ruiz and our newest veteran service officer kwami Hester this is a very special month for us um our Purple Heart recipients are very special people anybody who serves and puts on the military uniform makes some form of sacrifice our Purple Heart recipients sacrifice has come in the form of um
injuries that have been sustained due to enemy action whether it's direct or indirect and many of them are left with disabilities um either physical and or mental U because of those experiences and that sacrifice makes them very special we wanted to come before you with this proclamation to to honor those folks and you all doing this um is part of that recognition publicly recognizing as our elected officials how important these people are to the protection of our freedoms in our country in addition to this we also have some special programming that Miss Wallace read about we are hosting a tea for our Purple Heart recipients from 2:30 to 4:30 pm on Thursday August 22nd in our office suite and we want to recognize them um and we invite them from Durham County to come we want to recognize you we want to thank you and we also want to make sure
that you know about the benefits that are that are out there we want to make sure that you are not forgotten if you know know um a Purple Heart recipient um here in Durham County please let them know about our event um even if they are maybe a little less little reluctant to come give them our phone number more importantly we want to make sure that they have the health care and the benefits that they're entitled to um given their status as Purple Heart recipients and before I I turn the microphone over to um to Lindsay Atkins our supervisor I do want to share one other thing um with you all of course we could not do our work um without your leadership as our commissioners without um the leadership of our assistant County Manager Tammy Hall and um and from countless other staff and you recognize and see what we're doing to uh to help our veterans and their families um I want to let you know that other agencies are also recognizing what we're doing and just recently our office
received an award um from the Department of Defense as a uh top perform former um in in regard to Viet Vietnam War commemoration um I'll show this to you right here and I'll read a small snippet of [Applause] it and this uh the snippet that I'm going to read actually comes uh from a letter from Major General Edward Crystal since the inaugura inauguration of the commemoration in 2012 your organization has Faithfully represented our nation by selflessly hosting five or more events which thanked and honored our Vietnam veterans and their families as such your team is among the top 15% of the more than 13,000 commemorative partner organizations that have participated in this Noble effort and of course we wouldn't receive this award and we couldn't do the work that we do um without your support so thank you very much and I'm going to turn the microphone over to
linday thanks thank you Jonathan and again I Echo the sentiments without the leadership of this um County Commissioners our County Manager assistant County Manager we couldn't do what we do um we do our best to make sure that we're representing Durham County and the veterans of Durham County over 15,000 veterans in Durham um about 10,000 are still not receiving the service that we believe that they are eligible for and entitled to uh whereas we recognize purple heart which is a physical injury during combat we all know that there are moral injuries as well uh there are psychological injuries and it's our goal to see if we can touch every veteran and their family here in Durham County so we thank you for the support you've given us but we still need more support because we still have a lot of veterans and family members out there that are not aware of the services that we provide we want to celebrate our veterans and I want you to know we plan
to come before you more with celebratory items like this because it's important for us to sometimes take a breather because we are really um working feverously to make sure that we are answering the phones going out into the community to meet the needs of our veterans and we still need some help uh we know that this year was was tight fiscally but we are looking forward to uh better years and days where in which we can make sure that we're touching all of our veterans so thank you so much once again again for all that you do uh we believe that we are the Envy across the state in terms of the relationship we have with our our elected officers as our County Manager in that office and and just all of the Departments that work with us and we have great Partners here in Durham in the Durham Community uh as a veteran I'm proud to be a veteran in Durham County so again thank you thank you and thank [Applause] you thank you so much to the entire
veteran services team and I see your leader very humble leader Miss director Lois Harvin Raven if you want to just wave that you're also here thank you for joining us and for all of your service and Leadership from your amazing team um I know every time that us as a board or even individually have attended meetings we constantly hear from our veterans community members this is not just a Durham thing but that they can sometimes feel forgotten um so thank you so much for making sure that our veterans are not forgotten and that are continuously reminded that we are grateful for their service and we're grateful for the sacrifice uh that they've made and also shout out and thank you to all of the staff as well as at our veterans hospital here in Durham who take care of our veterans with a great amount of Love uh was able to join I think it was back in January joined them on you know they were on the picket line of just organizing for better treatment for their staff to be able to provide the
best care uh for our veterans so just want to give them a shout out bring you back to the board if there's any other comments hi shs I I just want to Echo our Deputy director's uh sentiments I don't think there's anything I can say about a Purple Heart veteran that would that would be worthy of the service or the sacrifice they gave so I just want to hit the second part um again a lot of people in here who are not usually in here uh we have about 15,000 V and to this point we service about 5,000 we've added an additional staff person I think the year before uh director Raven correct me if I'm wrong we added a car but one of the things that I have found especially in the black community I'm talking to us we have not always felt very welcomed at the VA like that's my dad that's my brothers and we often say to ourselves I don't even want to go down there because I will get turned down let me be very clear we have a staff that has the capacity to take the time to do the paperwork with you so that you can get access to these
services that you so richly deserve so that you can get the designations that you deserve and so that you can get the disability that you earned and that your children can benefit for those things because I do not think you understand how many millions of dollars are sitting in the a Sheet's fund simply for scholarships for your children so I I ask you I beg you I implore you please go to this office and seek out I see Lois doing this because here's the other and that'll help out your ask because if you get run if you get overloaded with people then you can come back to us and ask for some more people you see the cyclical nature in my request there so if you come to us for help I can help that office and maybe we can punch a hole in that 10,000 uh those 10,000 people in Durham that we don't get to help simply because they don't know that they can get some help so go to them those are good people let them work with you on your paperwork and again get access to what you have earned and what you deserve thank you Vice shair Burns anyone else
commissioner Howton um Madam chair I thank you I I just want to uh Kudo um ditto what you just you said earlier you know um you know this is a very small group of folks that do human a Humane job but does it in a way of it's love and appreciation for all the people that they work with and you know I've been here long enough to know how small it was in the beginning I think it was only one person it was one person and she has grown her team and needs to continue to grow her team so we just honor you and appreciate the work that you do do and we want to continue to support that so thank
you thank you commissioner Howton thank you I'll now pass it to our next proclamation to commissioner Jacobs Durham Board of County Commissioners Proclamation child support Awareness Month 2024 whereas children are entitled to financial support from their parents and Durham County North Carolina continues to improve its efforts at child support Collections and whereas Durham County North Carolina Child Support Services is dedicated to serving families and children in Durham County and whereas in state fiscal year 2023 2024 15 million 300,000 to $254 40 was collected and dispersed
providing support for the children in approximately 7,576 cases and whereas children who do not receive adequate financial and emotional support from their parents may experience greater difficulty in becoming happy healthy and productive adults and whereas concerned and dedicated judges County attorneys Clerks of Court Sheriff's personnel and child support person professionals work to establish and enforce child support orders for the Durham County's children one of our County's most vital resources now therefore I N on L chair and on behalf of the Durham Board of County Commissioners do hereby Proclaim August 202 for as child support Awareness Month in Durham County and commend its observance to all citizens
this the 12th day of August 2024 thank you commissioner Jacobs and we have director hi thank you very much Board of County Commissioners um I would just want to say that uh this is a critical program to Durham DSS and the Durham County without it our children and our families would not have the support and resources that they need to prosper and I do want to highlight each month the state sends a shoutout list um and that list is the um top allocated collections in the entire State um Durham made that list five out of the 12 months and so I just want to give a shout out to janni calh Wanda Boyd Dela Robinson Kay Adams and avette Stewart totaling 130,000 for five families um last year child support professionals have participated in fatherhood events throughout the community um local community outreach and engagement um efforts throughout the triangle they are committed to positive interaction and partnership with our Community Partners and child support
participants I also want to um commend our court system uh we have rolled out ecourts we're one of 38 counties in the state that have done that this year they have um been a great partner to us and we truly appreciate that and we could not do this work without them I will go ahead and turn it over to Kelly and quana hi Commissioners and thank you so much for um recognizing our staff today and I just wanted to share a few Kudos uh for quana Jackson Brown and her team um you've SE seen some really impressive statistics tonight um but I also want you to think about our staff who has done such a great job as Maggie mentioned adapting to the e-court system changes in Court calendars and providing amazing customer service to their clients these are both custodial parents non-custodial parents and partner agencies they're always committed to outreach and they actually have an event coming up at in the Human Services
building Lobby on August 22nd 10 to 2 if you'd like to come and learn more about the services they provide um so again thank you so much for your support good evening Commissioners I just wanted to say that I have an awesome team I'm extremely proud of them this year's theme with North Carolina Child Support council is be excited about reconnecting the thing about it is in child support and Durham County we try to stay connected so we are reconnecting with those that we had Partnerships before um we will actually be speaking with Vincent Johnson from day-to-day dads in Wake County we did have that program here in Durham at one time but we are staying connected we're staying connected with our partners throughout we are texting our Sheriff's Department we are staying connected within our agency and we are appreciative to be able to highlight our team and the contributions they make daily they are truly committed and I am so proud of
them thank you so much for your time thank you thank you thank you all so much for your service to Durham County and you know along with our veteran services our DSS services department is an area of that requires a lot of love and heart so we appreciate everything that you guys bring into this work and often times very difficult uh work and you guys bring forward your best interest for the children of dur we really appreciate that commissioner Jacobs Well I just want to say kudos to you quana Kelly and your whole team and everyone who's a part of this team is so dedicated and committed you can hear quana's enthusiasm I've seen you out in the community out at events talking to people letting them know similar to veteran services this is a benefit that is out there for families they often don't know what to do and how to do it
and I know that you and your team work with families work with parents um try to make it a win-win and um the results show and so this is really really important that the work that you're doing to support children and parents families and reconnecting parents with their children as well so thank you so much for everything that you do and for Durham being one of the top um in the in the state this program congratulations thank you and now as the board's resident dairy farm I will read our breastfeeding familyfriendly Community Health uh Community month Proclamation for 2024 whereas the American Academy of pediat Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend
exclusive breastfeeding for the first six month of life with continued breastfeeding while introducing complimentary foods for 2 years or as long as mutually desired by the parent and child and whereas families are a priority and Durham and a part of helping families to thrive is ensuring that they receive Community Support to develop and sustain Healthy Lifestyles and whereas there are long-standing policy gaps and underfunding of Public Health initiatives that address the needs of lactating parents and healthc care providers that serve them which unduly impact historically marginalized populations resulting in reduced breastfeeding rates and an Associated increase in risk for a variety of negative Health outcomes and whereas protecting and supporting human milk feeding is essential to ensuring infant nutrition security and immunological protection for Durham's youngest people and whereas a parent's decision to breastfeed their baby and lactate should
be unbiased and supported by their family community and healthc care providers and whereas promoting best practices in breastfeeding and human milk feeding for government agencies Healthcare Providers and Clinics educational institutions lactation support providers community- based organizations and businesses encourages families to start and continue to feed human milk and whereas by providing a supportive and welcoming environment a breastfeeding friendly Community encourages families of all Races ethnicities age sexual orientation gender identity primary language ability socioeconomic status and family structure structures to initiate and continue optimal infant feeding nursing and whereas our community is proud to have attained broad support and direct community actions Duke Regional Hospital has attained a baby-friendly Hospital initiative designation the Durham County
5 that means for every one white infant that died in Durham County 11 black infants died over the last six years we have decreased our infant mortality rate in Durham County by 8%
compared to 1% decrease for North Carolina and now we still have lots of work to do but now for every one white infant that dies in Durham County only seven black infants die so you'll see us again because we still have more work to do um but we've made tremendous progress and I just really want to thank you that when you think about the funds the that the County Commissioners have provided the support from the health department that that looks like 47 new breastfeeding friendly Child Care um providers and one of the thing questions I got Mo asked most often as a peer-to-peer lactation support provider was where can I take my baby for child care if I want to breastfeed we have worked just in the last year to create 116 new breastfeeding friendly um Employers in Durham and again Duke Regional deserves a big round of applause for becoming Baby Friendly after six years of advocacy and like I said six years ago there were two of us
there's now over a thousand people on our mailing list and we have just made tremendous progress and we really appreciate all of the support that you provided over the years [Applause] I want to also thank commissioner Carter for making sure that we had this item on our agenda and forwarding to all of us to remind us to celebrate this month uh for bre reading friendly I want to give her Kudos and also just thank you for all of your work you know as a mom of a three-month-old the support that you all provide to our Durham County residents you know I think it's important to also ackn like you know this may not be a choice or possible for everyone with my first child we weren't able to but with our second one it takes a huge village um to make it possible and I know we've had conversations within us our County how to make sure that the county is accessible to mothers as well when it comes to nursing um and thank you to my
colleagues on this board who have been very supportive over the past 3 months of when I need to take my every three-hour pumping break and I run away to my office um but everyone is there to support and I think that's really great that we're reflecting what we want to see in our community um through our own action so thank you to my colleagues Vice chair Burns really quick because um thank you so much for that stat and thank look even when I see you out in public this is The Advocates to everybody so thank you thank you thank you so much but I did notice the exacerbated gasp when she gave y'all the statistic that even right here in Durham for every one white mother um that loses a child there are seven black mothers who lose a child that is sobering um what I will say um is that it it's something that while I I I I could center myself and say I Champion like my voice has been heard on this board and this board has really gone out and really tried to Champion
black maternal Health here uh we have worked to invest in culturally competent duelers and culturally competent nonprofit and also put the pin to our health care providers to not just send folks to these nonprofits but actually pay these nurses these duas these public health workers what they do when black mothers do not feel like they are being serviced properly and these Healthcare institutions that are currently here in Durham we have done additional blood pressure cuffs we have added nurses additional Radiologists Joanne I'm looking at you I feel bad if there's anything else that I'm forgetting please let me know so that that drop off is because we have been trying to do work I need this community to know that you all have got to put your foot down and the pedal to the metal for the next board that is coming up so that we can see a drop off until we are at equilibrium cuz I don't think any child should die and I need to also highlight that this is adjusted this is not adjusted for Education if we want to sit
here really talk about black maternal health and we're at you know we just got done with the Olympics Alexis Felix Olympic Champion was Alex Felix thank you Omar keep me straight on camera Alex Felix was mistreated when she had her baby at the hospital Serena Williams was mistreated for hematoma when she had her baby Beyonce had to shut down an entire floor uh the list goes on and on and on and there are so many nameless faceless black women that are misdiagnosed when we have uh if we have look I ain't going to get get that deep y'all y'all know the stories like I've written our heads I've sat in rooms with some of you women where we actually have to Advocate off for ourselves so I really seriously am pushing uh not just for their work but for you all to continue to push on us this year next year so that we don't have I almost wish you had the stat I don't know if you do have it an African-American woman with a master's degree in Durham is four times
more likely to die in child birth than a woman who immigrated to this country yesterday that is the truth so we are treated very differently so the work that she's doing it just seems like it's breastfeeding it really is a Continuum in the work that we're trying to do on a holistic approach to save as many momas and babies is humanly possible thank you that's all I got thank you Vice chair Burns I want to add also one quick thing because I see Donna rewalt in the back and also sharing some programs that the county also has that I know one that I've Tak Tak advantage of both times I've had my babies is family connects um which is actually a service while you were still in the hospital I remember I had my baby and then the next day I received a call in the hospital room I was like who the heck is calling me in here it was family connects Durham calling to say congratulations on your baby We Are Family connects Durham we're here to provide you support um and I think everyone should know that this service is available that they will set
up nurse visits to your home and they will send a nurse this is free of charge to you to come to your home to have a conversation to figure out what support you need the most they'll inspect and look uh at the sleeping environment that you have your for your kid make sure that you know you're able to have access to a safe sleep um setup and they'll support you through that um they'll also if you I have the second time around my nurse came and she helped me with lactation Consulting and they can schedule you for follow-up appointments so please take advantage of that if you don't if you know folks who are pregnant right now share with them that this program is coming they're going to receive this call if they have their baby at Duke Regional I believe it's automatic um I don't know if if you give birth at outside of Durham County I don't know if they'll connect you but if you give birth at Duke Regional you'll get that call answer it it's not spam it's help and support and the second program is I know Cooperative Extension also has their own um lactation
Consulting classes that I wasn't even aware of I met them on the lact uh Cooperative Extension tour and they provide all sorts of care and there's also support groups for dads that the Cooperative Extension provides um that's also really great and I know that is something that's would be connected to breastfeeding because that's it takes a toll on the non- nursing parent as well um to be able to have a support system yes um breastfeed Durham our founding members were peer-to-peer lactation support providers and an IBC DLC from family connects and we are an independent nonprofit that lists all the lactation support resources and infant feeding resources in the community by date so if you needed support say this week if you went to our website you could see what's happening day by day from family connects to welcome baby all of those resources um yes commissioner Carter yeah I just quickly want to say thank you to love Anderson and also to
bernardet Green for the work that you do with feed durm and that you have done since the very beginning what progress has been made you should feel really proud of the work um I'm proud of our community for U making good progress uh in in achieving the 10 goals to being a breastfeeding friendly community and it matters because it really is indeed an important strategy for improving uh Community outcomes for maternal and child health in particular for decreasing and hopefully finally eliminating the disparities between black women and white women that we see that you highlighted for us um and another really uh very excellent resource that I am a subscriber of is the stay a breast newsletter which I just think that's the very best name ever um and I would recommend it to people anyway thank you so much for your important work and thank you thank you Commissioners all of you commissioner Howton thank you madam chair I just want to um lift up um commissioner rakow
with family connect she was adamant uh when she was on the board about that program I just want to give honor and credit to her um because it's it's been it's a program that has lasted all these years and continue to be so important to our community and um and adding to it the birth freeding these are things that are important to all of us and I just wanted to lift her up and give her kud for that one thank you thank you all so much that brings us to our last last Proclamation but not last ceremonial item last resolution I will pass it to Vice chair Burns for this one okay we just finished up with the Olympics and we all know who Noah is and Shakari and we all know that LeBron is officially a world champion but who you might not have heard of of is Addison
Blake Nia seni Nema and Nia but you're about to you're about to so I'm g go ahead and get started Duram Board of County Commissioners resolution honoring the Bull City express track club for their remarkable performance at the 2024 United States of America track and field National Junior Olympic CH track and field championships whereas the Bull City Express Track Club has has been a beacon of athletic excellence in Durham County since its Inception in 2012 fostering the development of young athletes and consistently achieving high levels of success including the qualification of over 375 student athletes for the usatf and aou National Junior Olympic track and field championships and whereas at the 2024 usatf National Junior Olympic track and field championships held in Brian College Station Texas on the campus of Texas A&M the bull City Express Track Club once again made
Durham County proud with outstanding performances particularly by their female athletes all of whom earned All American designations and whereas special res recognition is extended to the 1314 girls 4X 100 meter relay team who achieved allamerican status by securing a bronze medal with their third place Visions at the national championships The Talented athletes who represented durm County on this Victorious team are Blake Lawrence Johnson Anderson Nema Davis and ciji Allen and whereas additional individual accolades were earned by the following athletes Addison hall8y old girls eighth place in the 100 meter eighth place in the 400 meter Blake Lawrence Johnson 13 to 14 year old girls third third place in the 200 meter sixth place in the fourth 400 meter Nia Anderson 13 and 14 year old girls fourth place in the 200 meter hurdles SII Allan huh oh thank you correct Nia Allen 13 to 14 year old
girls 100 meter hurdles and whereas the success of the Bull City Track Club is a direct reflection of the dedication and Leadership of their founder director and Coach Omar Beasley who has devoted Over 31 years of his life to coaching and mentoring young athletes guiding them to reach their fullest potential both on and off the track field and whereas these accomplishments highlight not only the talent and hard work of the Bull City Express athletes but also the dedic a of their coaches and supporters who have nurtured their development both on and off the track and whereas the success of these young athletes is a source of Pride for durm County showcasing the potential promise of our youth and serving as an inspiration for their peers and the community at large whereas the achievements of these young athletes not only bring honor to the Bull City Express Track Club but also serve as an inspiration to the entire Derm Community exemplifying the power of hard work pers perseverance and community support and where as the durm County Board of com County Commissioners
is committed to recognizing and celebrating the achievements of organizations like the Bull City track club which play a pivotal role in the growth and development of our youth now therefore be it resolved that the Durham Board of County Commissioners does hereby commend and congratulate the Bull City express track club for their outstanding performance at the 2024 United States of America track and field National Junior Olympic track and field championships with special recognition of their their female athletes who earned All-American status and their continued impact on the Youth of durm County through the tiess efforts of Coach Omar Beasley and two-time Olympian James Carter be it further resolved that the Durham Board of County Commissioners invites the entire Community to join in celebrating and congratulating these extraordinary athletes who ex who represent the future of our community and potentially future Olympians be it finally resolved that a copy of this resolution will be presented to the Bull City Express class Track Club as a symbol of our deep appreciation and admiration for their
achievements and ongoing dedication to Excellence this the 12th day of August 2024 Madam so I I do think that we are going to get an official photo with them but I think the coaches want to say something before we have you ladies to come up and pose and we present you all with the resolution hello hello yeah um first of all uh commissioner chairwoman Netta Alam and vice chairwoman namash Burns thank you and for the rest of our Board of County Commissioners I thank you all um these young ladies right here have worked their tail off um throughout the year to
be to earn the Honors that they earned in Texas in the sweltering heat and rain in Texas on the campus of uh Texas A&M um we we registered over a 100 kids in our club this year over 60 qualified for the Junior Olympics but uh 40 42 took the trip out to Brian Texas um and we came back back with some all Americans here with some Hardware you he the Clinging On Their on their around their necks um it's a lot of hard work that goes into this and we we appreciate all the support you know from the parents that are here uh the community that help us raise the money to get these kids there um we're we're so very grateful um and we're not done we're not done we still got plenty of work to do I want to give the mic to my caller here um two-time Olympian James Carter you may have a couple words to
[Applause] say um evening everybody I wasn't expected to say anything it's just thrown on me real quick but um I just want to Echo what um Omar be said about these young ladies and the hard work that they've put in um they've been putting this work in for years some of them have been with the club for at least six years and um it's just a testament to their hard work and determination and I just want to say thank you for the recognition to them and continued um support from parents coaches and everyone else in the [Applause] community you um one quick question Omar um coach is so the spelling of saa's name is it spelled correctly in the it it is spelled correctly I just messed it up make needed to reprint it no we did some edits and also um I did we did present one to coach Beasley but I do not that some parents do want copies the
clerk has agreed in the event that you would like a copy of the Proclamation with our signatures on it please let us know and we will be able to make those so thank you I'm sorry one of our athletes wants to say something oh go ahead baby um the thing is I'm just honored to be on Bull City because I wouldn't have made it on the olymp ypics to the [Applause] Olympics and I'd like for uh these five young ladies to take take a historical picture with our five female County Commissioner board
e e [Applause] that's what I'm talking about I can't wait to see some of y'all representing Durham in 2028 in LA
are there any comments from the board well they're stepping out only thing I will say thank you to the parents who came thank you to Omar and everybody else and he didn't ask but I'm going to get the Shameless plugin uh there are a lot of after school programs that do a lot of really great work and I did notice what Mr Beasley said he said everybody couldn't go I've seen your parent the parents out here doing cookouts and everything else to make sure the kids go so I'm going get myself in trouble and say if y'all need support from us you need to ask cuz that's what can happen when we when we support our kids thank you commissioner Carter did you I was just going to express my admiration for these um amazing Runners with fast twitch muscles which I have none of I I I really um like to think of myself as a runner um and I admire them and it's something they can do their whole life it's really a wonderful sport to engage in and so anyways yeah I I don't know what a twitch muscle
is but I see Heidi joog all the time I don't know what she talking I won't tell which street cuz I ain't but I have I not honked my horn Heidi run every day I don't know what she talking about thank you and now our last but not least ceremonial item and actually our most Hefty ceremonial item I will pass to our manager [Music] super super super proud of the durm county staff um in earning 11 count them 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ni achievement awards as well as being awarded another digital counties award we were one of the top 10 counties for our population so all in all Durham County was recognized um for earning 12 awards at the National Association of counties
conference and that's the most Awards of any other county in the state so kudos to our [Applause] staff and I'm not sure if anyone is is Ry is that Ryan I do see Ryan yes I will ask Ryan to come up um because we actually won a best in category of award which means it was out of all of the counties and all of the awards submitted for the count uh the category of I think it was environmental one of the environmental categories we were selected to win the best award out of the 3,000 counties in the country so thanks so much to our engineering and storm waterer [Applause] team I got to say something that's say something right yes thank you um so Ryan EES
division manager for storm water and en control um we did win an award for our efforts to go online um this really kind of was something I had set a goal long before Co kind of kickstarted it into us being able to um accept plans accept payments do our reviews online um be able to provide feedback to engineers and Consultants um that way work with the planning department who also has similar um similar methods um and then take it a step further by integrating GIS into our program where now our field inspectors can go out with an iPad they can do everything they want to all their inspections on an iPad they can enter all the data everything about what what's going on on the site kind of click it at the end of an email goes to uh with the inspection reports whether it's good or bad or whatever but off it goes including pictures that they can
geolocate the pictures so they can kind of walk up take a picture of an item and then when it gets sent off the you know the contractor whoever knows okay that's where they took that picture so um that's a very small summary of the things we've done but we we've really taken our program online um and out into uh you know using GIS to uh you know make our program better faster more sustainable um our Drive our inspectors can also kind of Route their uh their inspections to so they're you know better more efficient uh both with their fuel and their time uh and so you know we're just trying to do a lot of things more sustainably within our our erosion control and storm water programs thank you so much Ryan [Applause] did you want to read any of the other do you want to take a moment to read all of them read them all yes yes yes yes yes
sure sure so as we just mentioned um the best in category was um for the category of County resiliency infrastructure engineer energy and sustainability Duram County storm water and erosion control go online with GIS and web-based systems another award was for the category of Crim criminal justice and Public Safety and ironically the sorry ironically the group that um administers this program hey Ty reborn Justice movement they are here this evening so thank you all so much um the category of Health addressing maternal Health disparities through the work of a women's health nurse Navigator so thanks to Dr Jenkins and his team for that award Information Technology we had several Awards in the information technology category we have
the Durham County government it procurement process the Durham County government move Works AI chatbot the Durham County government Department of Social Services quality control tool the Durham County government environmental health GIS dashboard the Durham County government Board of Elections Precinct official IAL application and portal for the libraries category the Durham County libraryies helping hand addressing homelessness and building community in the personnel management employment and training Durham County government HR Connect informational program and lastly the planning department in the planning category our Durham County government infotech project which is the Erp strategy and select so thanks so much you all already know but we just have outstanding employees and so we're so grateful for all of the
Innovative and creative thinking that they do to to bring Durham County to the Forefront to be recognized as an outstanding County with these 12 Awards thank you all so [Applause] much I want to take a moment and ask if you are a part of any of these projects and programs please stand up so that we can also see and recognize you [Applause] guys I feel like I know this is extra but I feel like that's also a group picture that we should take let's do it Heidi's looking at me like Mak me okay everyone who just stood up come back to the center for
BL I wanted to commemorate this moment because it's not every meeting that all like our staff members get to join us especially when it's the evening times and they might probably rather be having dinner with their families or enjoying some TV but so I wanted to capture this moment um but Echo the sentiments of County
Manager Dr soel of thank you all for making this County function um and not just making us function um you guys go above and beyond that by making us Thrive making sure that we're known and recognized not just at the ncac but at no at the national level that other counties across the country look at us and say we want to do that um and so that's really exciting to be able to be a commissioner um uh of a board of a County government that has such talented talented talented team members who make us look good and we get to take the credit for your work but we appreciate all of the hard work and hours and hours that go into it and the love for Durham County residents that you put in for these projects pass it to commissioner Jacobs I just also want to congratulate everyone who is being recognized ntion B for this award it is a really big deal
there are I think you said um Madam manager over there's over 3,000 counties in the United States um so it is really significant to be recognized and when I look at the list of all of these projects they are all about providing services to people in our community they are all around some making things better um improving the work that everyone is doing and just to highlight um just one you know Ryan's project which you know they I think they only gave out 10 best in category so basically we won one of the top 10 counties in in the country for for this project um I had recently just last week gotten an email from somebody um you know there's been a lot of concern about storm water and erosion control sedimentation things like that and they
commented this is somebody who works Statewide and they wrote in their email to me that Ryan and his Department are now doing active inspections about once a month on sites that are under construction and the state average is once every nine months I just just let that sink in so our staff your team is doing something once every month that in the state only once every nine months so and just what you explained the project that you implementing is an example of how you can in the field get that information right away to people who then can try to solve the problem that your staff is seeing so again thank you congratulations to every GRE one also just want to add and then Vice chair Burns is that if you're working on
a project and you're not sure if it should be recognized submit it because it should be recognized um it really really should because I know that these are the projects that people submitted and got recognized there's so many projects and initiatives that I know our teams are working on um that don't get this type of recognition that really should you know we were at the ncac conference and me and attorney nassie were laughing because I think it was Wake County or another County received an ncac award for their um trap neuter vaccinate program which we have already done um and I'm like we should have submitted ours um but that just goes to show that that County probably looked at Durham uh and was like hey we want to do that so submit your projects cuz you're you deserve the recognition Vice chair Burns she pretty much took it out of my mouth all I'm going to say is I am not Petty I am competitive they might be familiar to each other but I really do not think you all understand like years ago I I when we were in
Denver and I saw somebody get an award for something I know we did way better I'm still mad when I went to Austin Texas in LA county got best um arpa equ um Equitable framework when I know for a fact that claudus was 10 times better so when we came to y'all last year and we said apply for everything it is because we know that we are punching above our weight and that we are hitting excellent marks to hey Tyre born one year out the gate and you got recognized nationally so I and and you all and think about how often do you get an award to my colleagu point for helping people like that is legitimately what this air for the ones that she pointed out like if I I had to take a second and look down you're exactly right these are for helping people so we we we want to be able to do that next year where is no next year again apply for I said apply for everything and Wendy can attest to this she said somebody I won't say which county it was we were at dinner for the digital Awards and they said the only reason why Durham County W 13 is because you apply for
everything I said Wendy said it's a strategy I didn't say I was going before I could say something Petty my mouth open when he said it's a strategy and I was like yeah like you know when your partner say something good you ain't got to say nothing but fold your arms yeah that's so I want us to do that next year because you will have a board that backs you and so you know we fight for you but I'm like my colleague like I know our stuff is better and so we want to Champion you so congratulations to everybody thank you all so much again that concludes our ceremonial items and moves us on to our consent agenda that is very very very Hefty um I'll just make a few quick notes before we discuss them there are the last four items just as I'm sure my colleagues have noticed those are items that we did not discuss at the work session that's 24- 0488 0501 0514 0525
um if there are any questions for those ones or any of them um let me know and then I will ask to pull 24- 0475 CU I need to recuse myself and then there was attorney Massie there was which one okay so 0475 and 0473 need to be pulled are there any other items okay hearing none I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda excluding 0473 and 0475 so moved second a move by commissioner Carter seconded by commissioner Vice chair Burns all in favor say I I any opposed okay we pass the consent agenda uh 5 to Z and now we will return to I'm going to go ahead and bring us back to those items now instead of doing it after for 24- 0475 um I will entertain a
motion Madam chair I'd like to make a motion that we approve the fiscal year 2025 contract with the Museum of Derm history in the amount of $139,700 do I hear a second all in favor I I any opposed and I abstain so it 24- 0475 passes 4 to zero with one extension did I do that right yes attorney M okay perfect and now um attorney Massie your item uh 24- 0473 contract with Alliance Healthcare uh as I mentioned a question arose late this afternoon I want to investigate and get it resolved so if you could just table it for now we'll bring it back up hopefully at the next regular session commissioner Jacobs yeah actually at our work session we said that we would delay it until Alliance actually came back with a budget for us
to consider so um so I also that's another reason why it should not be on our agenda can they bring it back at our work session or it makes me I think that was September was the work session date that they were scheduled to come back okay okay that then that moves us to the public hearings for the unified development ordinance text Amendment tc2 24001 Omnibus 19 hello all right good evening uh my name is Robin Schultz uh with the planning department and I'm happy to be here with you tonight uh before I begin staff
would like to State for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and Avid avit of all notices are on file in the planning department I here to present on TC 24001 uh which is Omnibus 19 so Omnibus 19 is a staff initiated text Amendment to the Udo uh an Omnibus consists of minor technical revisions to the ordinance and not generally any larger policy initiatives uh for Omnibus 19 these changes can be roughly divided into three categories which are bringing the Udo into compliance with State legislation correcting minor in congruencies after the passage of scad and fixing any other minor inconsistencies within the text as far as scad Corrections uh some of those were that we removed all mentions of required parking we clarified that exceeding 20 adus requires a site plan ensured All Height calculations match the new ordinance
language corrected density requirements in the CN zoning districts and we clarified that scad did not remove the requirement for project boundary buffers when a site is mass graded as far as state legislation we are enacting three changes uh we are updating the public notification requirements for street renamings we are removing design requirements for anything included within the North Carolina uh Residential Building Code which now classifies triplexes and quad plexes under the residential building code and we've removed any ordinance which conflicted with the North Carolina department of environmental qualities perview uh so this is a non-exist non-exhaustive excuse me uh list of changes made throughout Omnibus 19 which makes changes to a total of 11 articles within the Udo uh some of the minor consistencies that we corrected were removing a duplicative definition for lot withth uh we corrected the annual comp plan reporting period to two years
as agreed upon during its adoption uh we also updated the flood plane administrator definition within the Udo uh to reflect it is administered by the planning director I additionally we added two clarifying additions within the definition of affordable housing uh this was at the request of The JCC PC and staff who work specifically around affordable housing uh we clarified that Ami averaging is permissible additionally we clarified that housing Choice vouchers are able to be utilized uh for those units uh lastly we made two changes to the grading setbacks after meeting with Habitat for Humanity uh namely we clarified that street front ages for sites that aren't Mass graded shall not be included within the grading setbacks and additionally we have created an allowance for grading within the setback for positive drainage away from building foundations uh that concludes staff's presentation we are available for any questions thank you Robin I'll bring it back to the board for any
questions see none I will open up the public hearing and clerk Wallace do you have any public comment okay going once going twice okay then I will close the public hearing ask our board one more time any questions okay then I will entertain a motion I move for approval second a moved by commissioner Jacobs seconded by Vice chair bur oh it's Vice chair Howard commissioner Howton two motions am I wrong I got you got to read them we can't I'll try there you go uh commissioner let's see Madam chair I'd like to make a motion to yes two motions to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance and incorporating revisions to article three applications of permits article four zoning districts Article 5 use regulations article 6 District intensity standards article 7 design and standards article 9 landscaping and buffering article 10 parking and loading article 11 sign standards article 12
infastructure and public Improvement and article 14 non-conformities and article 17 definitions second okay moved by Vice chair Burn seconded by commissioner Jacobs all in favor say I I any opposed okay motion one is approved entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carolina General statute 160 D- 605 we move by commissioner Jacob seconded by commissioner Carter all in favor say I I any opposed both motions passed unanimously okay that brings us to our board and commission appointments attorney Massie Madam chair the board has selected for the durm Workforce Development board Sebastian filik thank you so much congratulations
Sebastian and thank you to everyone who continues to serve on our citizen boards okay with that I will call us adjourn I entertain a motion to adjourn seconda yeah no we have to vote on Comm voted by commissioner Vice chair Burns second seconded by commissioner Jacobs all in favor I I hey we are adjourned oh that is