Good evening everybody.
I will call this meeting to order Board of Board of County Commissioners meeting August 14 2023 we have been in closed session the Commissioners have been in closed session and given direction to staff no action needs to be taken at this time. Okay so for us to get started I will read the public charge the Board of Commissioners ask its members and citizens to conduct themselves in a respectful courteous manner both with a board and fellow citizens at any time should any member of the board or any citizen fail to observe this public charge the chair will ask the offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control showed you the Quorum fail to be restored the chair will recess the meeting until until such time that a genuine commitment to the public charge observed you will stand with with me and commissioner Burns if you will lead us.
In the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag.
Commissioners are there any agenda adjustments hearing on we will move on to our announcements and we will ask our clerk Ms Wallace if she will read our announcements for us good evening Commissioners in public I will Begin by reading the announcements for tonight's meeting that are published in our agenda and on the website stop the violence and cease-fire community resource event the Durham County Sheriff's Office will host a stop the violence and ceasefire community resource event at the Durham County Memorial Stadium located at 750 Stadium Drive on Saturday August 19th from 1 30 to 5 30 pm this event is part of the Sheriff's Office project safe neighborhoods initiative join Durham Community organizations for an afternoon of fun while learning about Community Resources available to you there will be back to school giveaways complimentary food from local food trucks as well as entertainment for all ages the Durham County disparities study public hearing joined Durham County government for a public hearing on the Durham County disparity study this is a.
Great opportunity for your parent your appear opinions to be heard and your questions to be answered the event will be held from 6 to 7 30 p.m on Monday August 21st at the Durham County Administrative Building one in this very space right here the public hearing is free and open to the public participants will be encouraged to share any verbal or written testimony that they would like to share about their experiences working with Durham County there's also a link here for a website building a safer Community Conference Durham County Community intervention and support services is gearing up to host the building a safer Community Conference on Wednesday August 23rd from 9 30 a.m till 2 15 p.m at the Durham Convention Center located at 301 West Morgan Street the goal of the one day conference is to bring together leading leading experts Advocates and practitioners to share insights challenges and opportunities in a communal space devoted to advancing the field of community violence intervention the collaborative and informative event.
Is free and includes an overview of Health Equity training panel discussions and more there is a link to register for the event you can also contact the community intervention and support service director Miss Crystal Harris and there is her email address also apply for a Durham neighborhood College the city of Durham and Durham County governments announced the return of their long-time Citizen Academy program Durham neighborhood College after being on hold for three years due to the covid-19 pandemic the award-winning program co-sponsored by the city of Durham and Durham County provides an opportunity for residents to learn about the operations and services of both local governments classes will be held on seven Thursday nights beginning September 14th through October 26 from 6 to 8 30 PM residents looking to play a more active role in the neighborhoods and the Durham Community are encouraged to apply there is a website and applications are accepted through Thursday August the 17th for additional information you can contact the County's Public Information office at 919-560-0000.
Eligible residents can apply for the County's lihr program Durham homeowners can apply for property tax relief through the County's low-income homeowners relief program known as lihr this program is a joint effort between the Durham County Tax Administration office and the Durham County Department of Social Services the application process for lihr program is online accessible via the Durham County DSS website residents who wish to receive assistance can also call 919-560-8000 public engagement opportunities announced for the U.S 70 East Corridor study the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan planning organization dchc mpo isn't pleased to announce the start of the second round of public engagement opportunities as part of its U.S 70 East Corridor setting the feedback shared at these upcoming engagement opportunities will guide the study team and NPO as they develop a locally preferred designed for the future of the U.S 70 East Corridor four meetings will be offered to the public to learn about the study and to provide feedback for additional meeting details and to pre-register there is a link.
Durham County Public Health immunization clinic the new school year is just around the corner make sure your children are caught up on all of their vaccinations required for their age before the school year begins all required vaccinations are available in the Durham County Department of Public Health immunization clinic and for more information you can visit their website NC voter ID cards are now available the Durham County Board of Elections is now available to issue free North Carolina voter ID cards to individuals that need them for voting purposes NC voter ID cards will be issued from the Board of Elections during regular business hours except during the time period between the end of One-Stop voting and early and election day for each election these cards are valid for 10 years from the date of issuance voters requesting new cards will be required to complete the NC voter voter ID card request form there is a website for more information or you can contact 919-560-0700 and lastly International overdose awareness day you are invited to an.
Evening of Celebration spreading love joy and support please join Durham try on August 31st from 6 to 7 30 PM for this free event at the Durham Central Park pavilion located at 501 Foster Street there will be guest speakers medication take back and much more that concludes the announcements published in this evening's agenda thank you Miss Wallace we appreciate you reading that for us are there any other announcements from Commissioners commissioner Burns I have excuse me I have two that are really quick so one I see Dr Baggett in the back hey how you doing Tammy so for those of you all who don't know the friends of the Durham Library they do have a shop of more than twenty thousand affordable books located at 3825 South Roxboro street so in 60 different categories so I know that we always like to check books out if you're like me don't always turn them in so here's an option for you all to go perhaps pay for them have them keep them.
And not have to worry about it sending you a nasty note but for those of you who don't know we do have a used bookstore and it is at the shops at Shops at Hope Valley at 3825 South Roxboro Street I do apologize for not knowing the time I will throw that out later I also want to give a quick shout out to Tammy the other so this is the day of Tammy Tammy Hall on last week and this goes into my other announcement I actually had our first power event so we I think registered we didn't have that many about 192 people registered and filled up this chamber on last week to find out about all the wonderful contractual opportunities that we have between our office the city Duke University RDU and as we continue to not just say come here it I don't want people to think that it's a one-off like we said this is how you can apply for them another great example we recently awarded the Board of.
Elections contract and so tomorrow here at the county we will be having an mwbe open house let me make sure I'm saying it right a recruitment event for folks who want to work on our Board of Elections we purchased a new location and salmon Corporation has that contract and they will be doing their minority recruitment event and that's tomorrow I think from three to five or three to six I think three to five and it's here so we did an event last week to say hey here's how you can get contracts and this is just the next iteration and making sure that that we build in this community is built by people in this community so I hope you all can come out tomorrow.
Commissioner Jacobs thank you a lot of really important announcements of important things happening in our community thank you to our Clerk and to follow up on what commissioner Burns just said this this room was packed commissioner Howerton and I were here it was amazing and it was it really showed me personally how people are really hungry for this type of event and people are really interested they want the opportunity and that was very clear to me so I want to thank you Tammy and to all of our staff that made that possible and I look forward to us continuing this practice because it is clearly what people are looking for to be connected to the opportunities and it's our responsibility to make that happen thank you I just wanted to follow up on one thing that I'm sure will be on our calendar for our next meeting but just to get it on people's calendars is that we will have a joint public hearing on Thursday August 31st in city hall with the board.
Of Board of County Commissioners and the City Council on the comprehensive land use plan this is really really important the last time that we adopted a land use plan was in 2005. And now we're 2023. so we really want to hear from the community and so I just wanted to also get that on people's radar in advance thank you. Here hearing none thank you for those announcements and and also thank the staff for that incredible event that had so many business people Young business owners in the in the chamber that was really fun okay we will move on to our have a proclamation and the first one is child support Awareness Month the board is requested to Proclaim August as child support awareness month and I will read Proclamation Durham Board of Board of County Commissioners Proclamation child support Awareness Month 2023 whereas children are entitled to financial support from their parents in Durham County North Carolina continues to improve its efforts at child support collections whereas North Carolina Child.
Support Services is dedicated to serving families and children in Durham County and where as in state fiscal year 2022 to 2023 15 billion 420 583 85 dollars 592 thousand and I'm messing up on that was collected providing support for approximately 7907 children 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 where as concerned and dedicated judges County attorneys Clerks of Court Sheriff's personnel and child support professionals work to establish and enforce child support orders for Durham County's children one of our County's most vital resources now therefore be it resolved I Brenda Howerton chair and on behalf of the board of County Commissioners do hereby Proclaim August 2023 as child support Awareness Month in Durham County North Carolina this 14th day of August 2023.
Any comments from the board Madam chair I just wanted to recognize our DSS staff who's here in we have our director Maggie that teach nian we have also with us our director of chief of operations Kelly Inman and Quanah Jackson Browne our child support manager so if I would love to have you all come and share comments as well.
And it anyone else that's not at the podium that's from DSS if you'd like to stand as well go ahead thank you for recognizing this important month I appreciate it our staff work really hard and we received Kudos from the state we're one of the top teams in the state so want it anything you want to add yes we are extremely proud of our team we actually achieved four out of five of our incentives we achieved all of our self-assessment goals we are happy to be here elated we are glad to have our partnering agencies contribute all the things that they contribute we've had an extremely successful year and we are looking forward to another successful year I am so incredibly proud of all of our team members for the public would you say your name quana Jackson Browne thank you thank you Commissioners I'm Kelly Inman chief operations officer for DSS I would just like to commend Kawana and her team they're also celebrating as a unit this.
Month they're doing a lunch and learn for all of the county staff on the 31st and they're doing an Outreach event for anyone who comes to the Human Services building on the 16th so we really are excited about that and appreciate their efforts thank thank you thank you anything else I just had a question about me because she said I know you said that you have something on the 31st you said it's a 16th event on the out on Outreach what is it you just said Outreach yeah so the 16th is going to be an event where there are staff Quantum staff will be there to answer questions for anybody who comes in the Human Services building who wants to learn more about child support establishment or enforcement thank you 10 to 12. yes right 10 to 12.
Yes and they'll be at the the stop stop violence stop violence event on Saturday okay so commissioner Burns did you have anything else commission alarm did you have no commissioner Jacobs thank you and I I just also want to lift up Quanto U and all of the child support team you all are really unsung heroes people do not recognize the work that goes on behind the scenes putting 15 million dollars worth of funding of financial support back in the hands of families in our community is huge that's just over the past year 15 million dollars worth of funding that that mothers and children can use for basic needs and it would not happen without the work of you and your staff so thank you to you and all of all the folks that work on this every single day.
Thank you again. Okay Commissioners we have minutes let's go ahead and approve our minutes we have regular minutes from June for June 12 23 and then a regular session minutes for June 26 23. I've got a motion to approve the minutes so moved. Probably moved by commissioner Alum and second by commissioner Carter all in favor hi okay motion proves five to zero our next item Commissioners is something that we're all excited about or without County 4-H Youth delegate 2023 youth delicate Mr O'Brien is for the North Carolina Association of Board of County Commissioners youth voice program the board is requested to meet and recognize the 23 2023 Durham County Youth delegate you know the association started this program years ago and this was one of the former presidents of the North Carolina Association started this program and each year that we have it I'm always looking for youth from Durham so I'm excited that this year we will have a youth from Durham so I'm going like I think we have we're.
Going to have some photos I'd like if you will introduce yourselves and make comments that you'd like to make and then we'll take some pictures and all that thank you so much my name is Adrian money I am the Durham 4-H agent and I have the privilege of working with youth ages 5 to 18 throughout the school year and during the summer and as our commissioner just mentioned we at the end of the month are going to be attending youth voice and Addie here is going to be our Durham representative and delegate so I'll let her introduce herself to you hello my name is Addison Leo Bryant and I will be the I will be attending the North Carolina youth voice conference as the representative Delegate for Durham 4-H I only joined 4-H rather recently back in March of this year and since then I've been very much enjoying the program and I'm very excited for the upcoming conference for I've been homeschooled for most of my year for most of my school years.
Having enjoyed and excelled at the sciences and I'm currently in the process of applying to the Air Force Academy where I will probably major in biology the main reason that I decided to join 4-H and attend this conference is because I haven't had many opportunities to join any club such as 4-H until recently my my family and I only moved to North Carolina back in 2020. and before that my father was an active duty Air Force pilot which meant that me and my family lived overseas because of that I have been able to travel much more than most other people my age but I have not had the opportunity to be a part of any Community clubs such as 4-H because of that I am very grateful for this opportunity and thank you.
Part of our requirements before attending youth voice we are asked to take a picture with the Commissioners so if you wouldn't mind taking one with Abby thank you.
Foreign.
So 4-H is something that we all support and we are as you can tell we're really excited that this young lady is going to be part of The ux Voice next week so that's the 24th 25th and 26th Place we'll be I'll be in Raleigh for the conference all right so we have another recognition that we are very very proud of oh Durham County government being selected as top 10 digital County by the center of digital government and we've got several Awards here Durham County is requested to recognize the awards presented to Durham County government and isnt by the center for digital government and the National Association of counties and we've got a couple here and Greg is coming to the podium so that he can accept his Awards Durham County has again been selected as a top 10 digital County for his population category County as by the center for digital government and the National Association as I said and we've been trying to give you these.
Awards for a couple of times and you've been busy and we are just happy that you're here tonight thank you and my apology for missing first couple of times well we're just glad you're here tonight and we honor you and your team well thank you and good evening County Commissioners and County Manager it is certainly an honor to be recognized as one of the top 10 digital counties in the nation you know with over 3 000 counties in the nation what an achievement for Durham County to be recognized as a top five digital County in our population category so congratulations to all of Durham County government this is not just a an I.T award this is recognizing Durham County government okay and we certainly want to thank the center for digital government and the National Association with counties for recognizing Durham County's utilization of technology best practices among U.S counties and I am proud and humble to see the great work we do in utilizing technology by our IIT team and staff all.
Across the county recognized on the national stage it is indeed so awesome to work with such high performing teams and individuals some of whom are here this evening and to work alongside our departments who are also committed to applying Innovative and emerging Technologies to County priorities so thank you all for the work that you do and for your dedication to Durham County government and my thanks to the board of County Commissioners and our County Manager Dr Sowell and her executive leadership team for continuing to Foster an environment that enables our team and our departments to focus on Innovation creativity and using technology to make local government better I thank you all for your continuing continuing support and acknowledging the work that we do congratulations again Durham County government on being recognized as one of the top 10 digital counties in the nation let's continue to pursue bold cutting-edge approaches to serving our residents thank you.
So we have two awards for you and your team I've got both of them here so you've acknowledged one and then we have the one of government's technology top 25 doers dreamers and drivers for 2023. So again I will say I am certainly thrilled and humble to be named one of government's Technologies top 25 Duos dreamers and drivers for 2023 it certainly is an honor to be recognized alongside such an inspiring group of change makers in the world of government technology and it's a testimony to Durham County's Innovation culture and Technology leadership these sorts of awards are the results of being part of a great organization and working with an extraordinary team who I'm grateful to work alongside with day in and day out thank you all for your commitment and thank you all for supporting me special thanks to our County Manager again and the entire Board of Board of County Commissioners who have provided me and the county I.T team with the guidance autonomy and wherewithal to drive innovation in a culture of.
Excellence and we still have much work to do as Excellence is not a destination it's a continuous Journey that never ends so let us continue to innovate and get stuff done thank you again for recognizing me this evening.
So you got it he wants to take pictures so let me put this down so they can take pictures.
Thank you thank you so much oh you gotta have your boxes all right and then this one let me just put that one in here so it'll be easier to handle. You're welcome thanks.
Okay that's wonderful thanks commissioner Jacobs any other comments yeah we can't let you get away with us not making any comments correct I I just want to say congratulations on both of these incredible National recognitions Greg and if you haven't noticed he happens to be one of the most humble low-key people there is first of all it's really great to have an I.T director that's very calm all the time I don't think I've ever seen you rattled even when we had the malware attack and everything was shut down you were calm cool and collected so thank you Greg and can you remind us of what year you for you came to Durham County Government 2013. so you came in 2013 and then since 2017 so for the past six years every single year we've been in the top 20 counties nationally so I think that says a whole lot about you and the work that you've done also in this day and age you cannot have an Effective Government without.
Technology it is really again behind the scenes it is at the heart of everything that we do first of all we have to secure our data we know that in in our world today and and it can be life and death literally second of all you have and your staff have helped us improve our services because having the latest technology improves how we are getting delivering services to people in our community and third of all is just sharing information so again you and your staff are really the the heart that keeps us pumping so thank you.
I just wanted to add to that thanks for RIT Department's commitment to the digital equity and inclusion across the county I know Greg you and your team and and our staff have been working with the city and trying to find Partners to be sure that you know all Durham County residents have access and understand how to use technology and really appreciate that I think that's an important part of this award is the commitment to digital equity commissioner Burns mine is really quick I think I Echo the sentiments of our colleagues but I there's somebody you know in state government when I think about the work that we do with I.T it is very employee centered it is it's making sure we don't pick up jump drives that we're not supposed to don't have people shoulder surfing you can tell I've been catching up on my I.T stuff today because I'm behind in my regular job I do as I say not as I do to all the employees the difference between you.
Know what you have to do there and what Greg does here is to commissioner Carter's point the digital Equity piece and the access piece so during covet when when commissioner laminate came in for those of you who don't know you know they had just gotten over a malware attack the first meeting we had with Greg was like we're going to do this this this this this and this sort of never happened and it costs a pretty penny but it was to keep everybody safe and this board supported it off you know his great recommendations so that's one two I actually can tell you doing the arpa funding and the great grant funding him along with the interim manager at that time called hey went to every part of the county and held classes I can actually tell you like where Broadband stops like what how's it because they actually went out there because people couldn't see these meetings and I think the other part of it that we just really don't think about.
Some some of the work that he does it's not just for the employees like everything that Greg does is to create oh the other departments their departments that have to do software updates have to buy additional software that are not necessarily County government but they are counting the Sheriff's Office and the register these and also the tax office he has like walked through and guided all of those implementations so I just want y'all to know that like his tentacles go throughout this Enterprise go through our other elected offices and out into our communities so brother everything you get in tonight is everything that you deserve to get and I just want you to get all your flowers and I want folks to know that after this next round of grant grant funding when they cut on their light switches because they got electricity when they put on their computers and have access to Internet brother it's because of you so I just say salute and thank you so ditto ditto ditto thank you.
Next item Commissioners is 2305 95 and that one is a board of election receives National Clearinghouse award from the United States election assistance Commission the board is requested to recognize the Durham County Board of election for receiving a 2022 Clearinghouse award also referred to as Clary award from the United States election assistance commission for outstanding innovation in election Administration for its poll County and audit application and we have Derek Bowen is he here director at the board of election attending virtually is he on virtually he's not.
So he's not here so he's not here but we just want to acknowledge Him and thank him and when he is available we will appreciate him again okay any comments from commissioners I have one quick question and not to believe the point I know we're past this item one congrats to there but when Addison came up she just took a picture and kind of went back to her seat I did want to know so like I'm not familiar I know you're familiar do we get like a report back do other kids get to know like her great work I just I'm curious because I see your parents are here and she's kind of like went back to her seat so is that how that role works or I hate to put you back on the spot Addison she is not or if you could answer it I just would because I would love to see a report next I only bring it up because I was I I was poor growing up the only.
Camp I could afford was 4-H because it was four dollars a week and I just think it's something that a lot of kids don't get to use and we kind of glossed over it so that's why I'm throwing it back out Addison if you'd like to respond to that feel free you want to respond to that and then I can as well go ahead. Okay so you can come back so normally the the youth that attend they feel free to go back and share what they learned is that yeah they come back and learn share with us what they learn if they want to it's not required the youth voice is really a lot of young people that want to participate grow in their in their leadership from my experience of the over the last and I've been a part of it for the past I won't say how many years but quite a while but anything that you'd like to share with us would be great anything for you Donna that you.
Know about it.
Thank you okay yeah but you'll have lots of pictures okay all right thank you Commissioners we're down to our consent agenda.
We have 56 items on the consent agenda there's a lot of items y'all that we had we've gone through most of them as the Commissioners and we've been able to ask staff questions and at this point I'm going to turn it over to a manager for her to go through those and if you have any items that you would like to pull for discussion please let us know and we will pull those anything that you know of right now I would just I haven't heard from anyone of any items that they would like to pull but it would be great if you all had anything to offer on item 230543 the approval of decode thrives the counties for guaranteed income program in the amount of 1.6 million dollars to support families with children accepted into the CGI program with monthly stipends of 750 dollars for at least one year with an opportunity to extend I know that that is something that commissioner Alam and chair Howerton both co-founded so.
Wanted to give you all opportunity to speak on that so why don't we not like pulling them and making staff stay here forever tonight but why don't we just kind of pull those to the bottom go ahead and approve the others and then pull those to the bottom and then we'll have a little bit of Hail Mary's about that and excitement about that and then we'll is that does that work for everybody yeah of course okay well I had a question about one item to pull it's not a bad one I know that we have to suspend the rules to vote so before we do the consent agenda I just want to say don't we need to pull that one also we got suspended rules for the Naco vote and in the direction it actually says we have to suspend a rule so I'm just saying we need to put it's the last item we don't have to suspend the rules but I'm sorry voting commissioner Burns that.
Was an error on my part so it it is it it does stay suspend but we don't have to spend the rules the last time it was on it was during a work session people nodded at me like I'm slow thank you so much because yeah if it were yeah if it was on a work session we'd need to suspend right yeah but we don't need to do that tonight well just to clarify so we'll make that correction on the website because I don't want people to be confused also shout out to y'all for all the arpa stuff that is moving forward tonight that's the only thing hey so why don't we say hey okay so can I get a motion to approve all of the I consent items except what was the two items that we were going to pull 23 zero five four three and what was the other one she only asked for one the other one was about I think I wrote that one down.
It's the one about all the aqua funding oh. The contrast yeah youth okay. Zero six one seven okay can I get a motion to approve all of the consent agenda items except for those two can I just make a quick comment of something I don't want to pull I would just like to comment on okay I just wanted to comment on the aps item because I just wanted to highlight because I see so many I do not want to pull it but I see so many APS volunteer and staff here and recognizing them because I know this has been a long conversation discussion so thank you to all of them for sticking through this and our staff who are working behind the scenes to get this budget line item through thank you okay.
And so if you if you'd like to pull the numbers as well I would like to move for approval of the consent agenda excluding those two items okay can I get a motion to approve all of the items except the two that we just mentioned so moved second okay it's been moved and properly second all in favor okay Ocean passes five to zero so so these are a couple of items that we just want to lift up for the public and go back to was zero five four three five four two and five four three okay so the approval of dco Thrive counties for guaranteed income program in the amount of one million six hundred and ninety thousand dollars to support families with children accepted into the CGI program with monthly stipends of 750 750 dollars I got thousands on the brain y'all for one year so this is a program that the entire board is excited about that we will and we so we are so thankful for the staff our chief of.
Staff did the work to get this to us and we're excited to get this going this is a program that the city cities of Mayors have been doing for quite some time around a guaranteed income programs and counties Across the Nation are beginning to lift those up as well to have those programs in their counties and commissioner Alam and I went to DC to meet with the original folks that got it started and we were really excited about making this happen here in Durham for our citizens so to have you know to have a little bit of something some if you've never had to raise your children on a little bit of money it makes a huge difference for our children when the parents can get a little bit more into the budget to ensure that our children are taken care of so I'm excited about it and I wanted the rest of the board to be able to lift that up and have comments and I'll call on commissioner alums if you.
Have comments as well thank you madam chair I want to first bring out and think I know she no longer works for the county but Kate elander who was one of the first people who brought this forward to our board and was actually who introduced me that the county was going to be beginning this program so I really want to thank Kate we miss her greatly but I know she's continuing to serve our children here in Durham County and also really really big thanks to Shannon who has taken this program and run with it and worked through all the nitty-gritty details and getting us to this point to be able to work on it and I'm really grateful to this board for like all of the conversations we've had about this Thrive program the focus being centered around children and I think that's been a priority for all of us since we were sworn in is making sure that we have an impact on our youth and that is so important because we know for.
Every dollar we invest in a child's Early Education early resources result in like oops I'm sorry getting very passionate results in like seven dollars I believe in higher earning potential for them down the road and this is making sure that our youth are growing up to be able to have better jobs better education opportunities better everything that we can provide for them starting at this young age by supporting their families so I'm really looking forward to hearing the stories from the families and even though it says 750 dollars correct me if I'm wrong Shannon if there's also the surveys that the families will complete and that provides them an additional 100. so their families can receive up to eight hundred fifty dollars and that is really really significant for families that are One Financial like or one emergency situation away from Financial ruin like this is going to make a huge difference so I'm really looking forward to hearing the stories and the results from all the residents are able to help so thank you.
Shannon Kate manage soil Donna from The Cooperative Extension I know even part of it is all of you for bringing this Vision to light and cheer Howerton thank you okay anybody else well commissioner Burns one I remember when they I first got the email from commissioner Alam about her being selected and I remember she I don't know if she was worried because she looked at me she was like we're not going to do everything on the website I think this is a great opportunity while we were in Texas I had the opportunity to meet because this was came out of County Commission Chicago so chair Periwinkle but it actually came didn't come from the check came from one young girl that was I forget what district she was in but I got I got to talk to her they have legislative each commissioner has it I was like oh I wish we had that type of budget but they went through it it's been beta tested I know it might.
Seem odd but what I really want people to understand is everybody is not whole after the pandemic so we didn't get to talk about everything on this budget but on last week we reopened our low-income housing program because folks still need help with their taxes I know that Miss oxendine is not in here but we moved some additional money to help low-income families with the food shuttle and then well Don I see you you were still behind Janelle and then here we are so you see a theme in this tonight's agenda where low income is priority because it is not priority for the state it has not been priority for the country but it is a priority living in Durham County so I also want to just say thank you to all the leadership that took the time Shannon the first time she did a presentation she thought I was coming to her I just did want us to have to go through the labor pains that Chicago went through and I don't think.
That we will I think we're gonna I think they're going to be some moms and some families out there that are going to be able to buy like that extra amount of food and the one thing I like we're not going to do anything that's going to harm people the thing I like the most and I'll throw this out because people set these programs up if you all look at the PowerPoint there's a marketing manager there's a manager to put it out there's going to be material so we are trying to make sure that this is proliferated and promulgated all through this County so that folks know that we have it and we have somebody who can manage it so I'm thankful for Dr Sowell putting those ftes in place thanks for the Shannon for doing the research and thankful that somebody saw fit to look at this County Commission and see two leaders that cared enough about their people and that we had five folks that was open to voting for it foreign.
Carter I just have one small thing to add and that is that I believe not only is this you know pilot project part of the counties for guaranteed income right for through Naco but it's also part of our early childhood action plan yeah yeah and so it is a you know a key strategy in the early childhood action plan I think it was even part of five to thrive which was a one pager of the action plan and so it's a it is a key strategy to reduce economic insecurity and so I'm glad we're not only taking part in this National program but we are also indeed implementing our action plan that we spent a lot of time developing and funding commissioner Jacobs yeah so I just want to say ditto to to all the comments we've heard and also to to recognize as I look at our DSS directorants and Leadership here that this is also part of our approach within Department of Social Services to focus on prevention.
And intervention this is consistent with the child first family prevention act that is being implemented at the state and we know that stress that families experience when they don't have enough money when they don't have ability to put food on the table and take care of basic needs is very much tied to you know what we see down the road related to things like abuse and neglect so we want to this is again an upstream investment and so it's consistent with our our goals with Department of Social Services is and also as commissioner Carter noted are all of our investments in early childhood thank you so I just want one other thing you know when we take these trips and to conferences we go with the intention to bring something back and being at the conference and talking with in Chicago the president the chair of the Commissioners is called president and in having conversation with her and seeing what they're doing there and what's happening in other counties across the country.
This was something that we all embraced and saw that it could be beneficial right here in Durham so when we go to this conference I just want the public to understand and to know that we go with the intention to bring something back for us and and to have it be Durham's way because it's not always going to everything that we see does not always fit Durham but we have it fit the Durham way and this is the Durham way because our children cannot thrive If the parents are not thriving if they don't have a house to live in if they don't have food and shelter our children cannot thrive and they have to have Edge a place to live so that they can get an education so that they can be productive citizens in our community so this is just one of the things that we're doing to have make sure that our children are getting what they need so I'm excited this board is excited that we're doing this and thank.
All of our staff that made it happen for us because we couldn't do it without staff we bring back and talk about all the stuff we want if staff doesn't jump on board we can't make it happen so thank you all right we had one other item that we pulled and that was number what was that number 0617 so that when Commissioners I thought that you might want to lift up some of the programs and Claudia is here that she might want to say something about this and we are excited that we're going to be pushing the money out the doors so for for folks so Claudia I don't think it's okay now it's on good evening I feel like we like we'd ring the arpa bell.
We are moving down the line we're moving down the line with contract approval for the many proposals that the board supported in the RFP Community Grant process back in December just as a quick reminder we had 75 non-profit organizations to apply for over they they there was over 20 million dollars of worth of ask and we approved 10.4 million dollars awarding that to 45 non-profit organizations tonight we are bringing forward applications within the youth initiatives and enrichment category and all of these proposals are to address the community's response to the covet 19 pandemic and youth and their families are still recovering and we are grateful that these non-profit Partners will help the community to continue to move forward there are five that are in this group and just a quick update and reminder we have approved of the 45 partners that were identified back in December this will be the 33 contracts and so it's a very involved iterative process and cannot express that enough we are partnering and when your partner.
You got to keep cleaving until you get to the end end of the process so we are hopeful to have the rest of them finalized within the next few meetings real quickly there's there are contracts with the city of Durham Parks and Recreation Empower dance Foundation patient kids note Museum of Life and Science and World relief Durham these dollars will be used to support academic opportunities they will also address enrichment programs for summer programming as well as after school some contracts will also focus on social and emotional types of support for both Youth and their families so we are excited there's a lot more information about it in the agenda item and the contracts we will also have more on our website and so we're we're looking forward to sharing more so more to come thank you thank you Claudia comments from commissioners Mr Jacobs well thank you Claudia I definitely want to ring the arpa bell and you know even again you know these programs and when you read the.
Description you know you know World relief it's a summer camp for kids you know Empower dance it's to really bring dance classes even to kids in the in our Durham Housing Authority communities I mean all of the all of the programs that are being funded are just wonderful and they are being delivered by honestly some of the treasures that we have in our community different entities and organizations that have already they are proven and they need support and they need this will help bring really the amazing things that they do do with with Children and Youth to more to more Children and Youth who really need really could use the engagement and the inspiration the creativity the connection that we know is so desperately needed right now so I'm really excited about them I also wanted to highlight what commissioner Burns was trying to I think as well that we do have on our consent agenda that we approved 1.6 million dollars of arpa funding for food security through the Interfaith Food shuttle and three.
Million dollars in Workforce Development programs as well so a lot on here and the guaranteed income these are all being funded by arpa and I have been very remiss in not sharing this award that was given to our board before December I keep leaving it in my office and tonight I ran back to get it at the beginning of the meeting but this is the the Bulls Academy Award that was presented to Durham County as a founding supporter of made in Durham and commissioner Carter and I were both were both there when this was presented and so I really want to share this with with our whole board with Durham County staff with with everyone here tonight the whole Community this is really wonderful I love the pull but also because you know the Bulls initiative which is now it I know is a national model it it is really a shining star star of some of the work that we're doing in Durham County government and the example the the payback.
Is going to be when we see young people in our community who are getting the good paying jobs that we have in RTP and Trey burn in other places and so that we're going to start seeing that come back that's going to be the real gift to All To Us in the entire community so here's our Academy Award.
I'm gonna do the whole thing so I did want to go ahead no go ahead one I just I wanted to comment and go along with something everything my colleague said and I did reach out to a couple of folks who do have clarification first off and foremost I want to thank staff and finance Claudia and also to Dr so well for company and doing a yeoman's job on developing and executing a very Equitable framework I remember when we first got this funding I really only wanted to spend on a few things because I'm all about significant impact you know I think if you'd asked me a couple of years ago affordable housing I would have had no problem I would have stood up and let's say this is where it needs to go but I'm also I'ma mess up the Margaret me me quote whatever it's like you know where she kind of sort of elevates you know what if only a few good people do make this change in the world well usually.
That's what makes a change in the world so these incremental Investments of 350 200 000 I think are gonna make really significant impact I'm saddened so I'm saying this for the public one of the Investments is with the Museum of Life and Science and I sit on the board so for the public I will be abstaining from this item but please know that I do support everything so when is anybody with a more commissioner parents don't support arpa that is not what this is but I will be abstaining from this vote but just know I'm happy about every single dollar and I did talk to Deborah and she did say that we will be talking and sharing highlighting some of these stories so I can't wait for folks to see live and then live in color how these investments will impact impact the community thank you.
So the only thing other thing that I'd like to add if you have not if you have not been to empower dance studios or seeing the kids that dance for Empower you have really missed out on something extraordinary those kids are just extraordinary in their performances and their whole presentation and it's more than just dance it's about how they present themselves so that is one that I I just encourage all everyone to just show up and next time they're performing to see how they perform they're extraordinary so if it's nothing else Commissioners on these two items I will ask for a motion for the two items 230617 and the other one was 23 230543.
Madam chair move for approval can we do them one at a time please yeah thank you we need to do one at a time because because you can't vote on the last one okay so all right then I will ask for a motion on 230543 Madam chair I move for approval of 23-05343 second okay it's been moved by commissioner alarm second by commissioner Jacobs all in favor aye okay passes five to zero and then the other one two three zero six one seven and chair I moved that item number two three zero six one seven be approved second okay it's been moved by commissioner Jacobs second by commissioner Alum was it Carter alum at both the outpointed all right all in favor aye abstain this is four and one abstention thank you okay we do have one other item Commissioners 230590 is a public hearing to adopt the revised counties strong safely yeah this was something's wrong here yeah that's that's not right on my on my agenda there.
Okay so yeah I've got it on this one it's on the wrong thing there so zero two three zero five nine zero Project SAFE neighborhood and and I believe. Does that sheriff here to present where are you oh you're back here okay so the board is requested to receive an update on Project SAFE neighborhood from the Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Burkhead is here to conduct this presentation.
Good evening.
All right good evening chair Hamilton and Commissioners you previously received an update from us on Project safe neighborhoods so I won't belabor the point go through it again but what I will do is introduce the two newest members of the team at the Durham County Sheriff's Office that will be leading this effort and then we were happy to entertain any questions that you all may have first I'll introduce Miss Tamika Gilmer Tamika comes to us from cjrc pre-trial Services long-time Durham residents she will be the assistant coordinator for project safe neighborhoods leading the charge with her assistance is a stranger to No One Mr Phillip cousin Reverend Philip cousin Bishop Phillip cousin former member of this board long time member of the Durham Community who has graciously come back to us from the West Coast come home and has agreed to lead this effort with myself and my team and miss gimmer so welcome them to the team please thank you.
So if you all would like for me to go through the slides I certainly can I will go through the slides next slide so we all are very familiar with Project SAFE neighborhood it's been around for 20 20 plus years 25 years as you can see there on the slide it's led by Department of Justice doj and we've been having this conversation here in Durham in the Middle District with the U.S attorney's office and our new assistant U.S attorney Sandra Hairston about bringing this program back to Durham County Durham city the initiative was in Place several years ago in the mid 90s some of you may remember that it was very successful and then through a leadership change there was just some momentum that was lost and so facing what we are currently facing with the gun violence epidemic and the gun injuries that we see day in and day out from gun violence I thought it would be appropriate to bring this initiative back that has tried and proven data.
Driven to address gun violence currently there are I think 11 active project safe neighborhoods in North Carolina in the Middle District I'm sorry in the Middle District next slide please the goal is to reduce crime in all places that we call home and it really is a holistic approach to addressing violence and the four pillars of of project safe neighborhood really set the stage and it sets the stage with the first pillar which is community engagement this is not just a law enforcement initiative this is not about government stuff them or lock them up mass incarceration this is about strategic enforcement Partnerships in the community where we can lend services to those who are willing to accept our help and then for those who are not willing to accept our help there's the accountability piece which is either prosecution at the state level or at the federal level next slide please this graph just demonstrates National statistics we know that chronic offenders are having the most impact and committing most of the crime again.
This is a strategic strategy that we are going to be very targeted and Laser focused working with all of our partners including the DA's office the Durham Police Department Probation Parole and as I mentioned the U.S attorney's office next slide please there's some more National statistics next slide please. Next slide please so we are in like I said we've been in this conversation for quite a while very in tently for the last 18 months or so which is why I have reclassified three vacant positions in the Sheriff's Office to develop the team that I just presented to you we will work alongside those in the U.S attorney's Office to begin collecting the data we have already sent in a memorandum of understanding to our Durham Police Department as well as our District Attorney's office we're waiting for those to pass the legal review for those respective agencies and fully anticipate getting those back in the next few weeks so that we can launch this program the mou basically says.
We'll follow the model because it is very important that we follow the model that is established by the Department of Justice and not deviate from it and the second piece is that we share the data both city and county crime data so we're looking to get the data from the Durham Police Department and those conversations are ongoing and then finally we'll have a sort of a soft kickoff on August 19th actually at the Durham County Stadium we invite all of you to come out it really is a ceasefire that we are working with some of our Community Partners to establish but we also thought we'd take the opportunity to introduce project safe neighborhoods to the community in a more formal fashion so from 1 30 to 5 30 Durham County Stadium and right now just to show you the level of Interest we have north of 50 organizations that have signed on to participate in the event at the Durham County Stadium on August 19th so if we can maintain half of that enthusiasm as.
We move through this initiative there is no doubt in my mind that we will be successful and we will continue to host events as we move forward and as I mentioned a moment ago there's the accountability piece we will host several notifications throughout the year notifications is where we are calling in individuals that we have identified as offenders habitual affiliate offenders and through our Partnerships as I mentioned a moment ago and we will bring them in and offer them an opportunity to take a different path and we will be prepared through our Community Partnerships to offer them the services that they need job training battling an addiction mental health help them with housing continuing their education whatever the whatever it is they are in need of we want to be able to to offer those services to them and put them on the path to being contributing citizens and not wreaking havoc in our community on the flip side of that those who choose not to accept our gracious offer.
They will first be prosecuted at the state level through the District Attorney's office or through the federal Branch at the U.S attorney's office and the U.S attorney has pledged to me that she will aggressively Sue all the cases that she can adopt in her office so that's sort of the carrot and the stick approach next slide please that concludes my brief presentation that we are happy to entertain any questions that you all may have oh sure if I don't have any questions I really just want to thank you for taking this on you know the things that you're doing to save lives in Durham County I appreciate and you know each day when we hear of another gunshot it you know it rips us all apart it rips the entire Community apart this is it's just not one family that it impacts it impacts all of us and I just want to say thank you for all that you're doing to try and attempt to save lives in this community.
And I want to thank Reverend cousin and and and your teammate back there for jumping in and being a part of this because we are all a part of it and thank good to see you back here Reverend cousin you were on this board years ago and you can't seem to get away from us huh. So welcome back Commissioners comments questions thank you Sheriff Burkhead and to your team I just had one quick question when I'm assuming this is the case but once the data that you're going to collect like the parameters is decided you'll share that with us of like okay this is the type of data we're gonna be looking for and collecting from the different agencies or can that be shared now because you mentioned that it has to go through legal vetting so I'm assuming after okay okay I will be able to give a sanitized report on a regular basis and again we want to show these individuals that we are here to help them and so I will.
Guard the data is as appropriate but I certainly will be able to come back to this body and prepare offer you statistics and show you where we are yeah be great yeah because just looking at the statistics you provided I know they're National but wondering if like those are some of the points that might be collected at the local level and one thing I'm really interested about is these like the five percent street blocks and then the where robberies occur and gun violence occurs and then the five percent of where law enforcement calls are made I'm really curious about the overlap if it's the same or where is the differentiating here locally yeah yeah that is correct again the that's why the data is so critical to this initiative this is not us just sort of fishing in a big pond we want to be able to narrow down the scope of our targeted enforcement especially but also the programs in the areas where we need to infuse the community with programs and.
Share the information with them so you're absolutely right and there will be overlap yeah thank you. Commissioner Burns one as always thank you Sheriff I really appreciate it I think that there are some of us in this room that are really entrenched in the community and we see just how much this is not necessarily always game focused I think we have we're not we I think there are some people who have like this romanticized idea about what gang culture is and and and how much it exists here when a lot of what we have is kids looking for family kids selling drugs trying to make money and a drug problem a serious serious fentanyl opioid problem I see this Vice chair of the crime and Public Safety subcommittee and one of the things commissioner Jacobs and I were sitting in a presentation and I think too often in this community we have individuals that want to own and issue whereas at the end of the day it could be a gun.
Crime that was caused by fentanyl that didn't cause a child support issue and what I would say to the community is what the panelists said to me you want to own an issue that you can't solve by yourself if you want to own it you need to be able to solve it I can appreciate this collaborative approach I really seriously can it's what I want to see from this community is what I see folks doing Statewide and it also is showing just how much we want to help people get out of this Vicious Circle I do want to throw one or two things out one I also want to say I you know I Echo to thank you but the fact that you already have 50 folks signed up to come out there so that means that somebody somewhere has decided that you're a trusted advisor or a key stakeholder because everybody doesn't want to sit they non-profit up in each or at every organization so thank you for being this collaborator.
That's bringing these folks together I look forward to being out there with some of those 50 tables I hope there are also some economic development opportunities out there I hope I see Dr battle hope there's some educational opportunities out there I see an affirmative nod and my final thing back to commissioner alam's Point help me out is UNCG helping you with some of this data because I feel like that was what you told us last time so we do have colleges stepping could you speak to that because I know they do some of that work works you know the partnership with UNCG is is cemented as part of the mou and they will be using their data analyst team that they've been using John I think has been doing it for 18 years I think he told me when I met with them so they're also very familiar with the data the crime data here in Durham so and as a sidebar several of them live in Durham and I.
Didn't learn this until just a few months ago so they are very committed to seeing us attack this issue from a data-driven perspective and are willing to sign on and have signed on to help us do this and to the point of collaboration overwhelming response from the community we we simply put out the call to let folks know what we've been doing what we are planning to do also they recognize what we've been doing in this space for for about two years now on a consistent basis and folks are ready for Change and so we're excited to have the UNCG as a partner along with doj and others absolutely.
Thank you first of all I want to say it's great to see you Reverend cousin it's been a long time so it's really great to see you back in in our community after many many years and I remember when I first met you we were sitting in different places you were sitting up here I was sitting out there and so and I will never forget your support and partnership and frankly your mentorship of me personally so thank you so I I want to Echo some of the things that you said Sheriff about the the importance of the data related to this and I did look back I asked our clerk who was great to find the original very detailed information that we had before and you know it it you know one of the themes is that PSN is a is a data driven initiative it's it's not a program and so I think that's important for the community to understand that the importance that data will play in this and being able to identify.
Who are really a very small group of people but our most violent offenders in this community who are causing great harm to people so I think that's very important for people to understand and so it the the data sharing is going to be so important that we do that it's going to be really important that we do have the partnership and collaboration and so you mentioned the mous I really hope that everybody will be signing the mous and partnering and collaborating because we really need this to be a success this is something that we haven't done for a long time we we did this many years ago you know before my time and you know we do have a history of kind of starting things and and maybe you know not sticking with it or or maybe not stay staying true to the model and so I hope that we can all get behind this in terms of the model as you mentioned it is a model it's a data-driven model.
I'm glad that UNC Greensboro is going to be helping us and those at the state and federal level that that have the expertise to help us be successful so thank you and I I look forward to this being being a success in our community thank you Vice chair Jacobs I I truly truly stand here before you with an enormous amount of arrogance I think with your support we can make this happen and you just hit on every point that I was hoping you guys would pick up on this is about saving lives I've done a presentation to the Joint City County Board very well received I'm having backroom conversations with other City officials again because 85 percent of what the Sheriff's Office does occurs inside the city ninety percent of the crime that we're dealing with occurs inside the city but at the end of the day this is my County and it impacts every single resident of Durham County and I simply cannot sit on the sidelines and continue to watch the.
Black and brown communities most impacted by these incidents and so the city I do believe is on board we're looking forward to additional conversations but each one of you will play a critical role in helping us get this across the finish line and be successful in not just saving lives but changing lives and to me that's that's the key to success so thank you for this opportunity thank you for presenting and I'm looking forward to working with my team I tell you they're ready to go I have to hold them back because they are truly ready to go and the event on August 19th I hope you all can stop out stop by and see I simply said to them we need to do something in the community to have a soft introduction of PSN and a community event so what you'll see on Saturday the 19th is a result of their work and their efforts so I applaud them as well thank you yeah and and I'd just like to add one.
Other thing when commissioner Jacobs talked about that it was we had the a simul we had a program like this and this and it was and I'm not sure it was a program but at that point it was years ago and the young lady did not have the support that you have today to get this done so I'm excited about it reoccurring in a different format thank you so absolutely thank you and for the public sherp Burkhead has been before us several times this is not the first time we're hearing about this so if you don't hear us asking a whole lot of questions because we've we've heard this and we've grilled him more than once so thank you sir for kid if there are no other questions and this is for information only is there anything else you need from us sure okay all right thank you okay is there anything else we're down that was the last item on our agenda so anything else for this board.
Is there anything else for this board one more time is there anything else for the from this board if not I will ask.
For a motion to adjourn Adam chairman commotion we adjourn second okay it's been moved improperly second to adjourn all in favor aye we are adjourned.