Board of Commissioners · Regular Meeting · March 27, 2023

repeat the Pledge of Allegiance and if you will stand with us [Music] thank you okay 23-210 state of the county address the Board of Commissioners request the board is requested to receive the 2023 state of the county address and at this time I will ask the Commissioners County Manager Sorrell sorwell and attorney Andrews to take their seats in the

audience so that we can begin the state of the county address my eye was the wrong order wow good evening everybody so I'd like to welcome all of you who have joined us in the chamber this evening and forgive me sometimes I just want to run water and it's not crying

not yet anyway I want to also thank our audience for watching on us on Channel 8 or viewing a slimes live streaming on their computers no matter how you're joining us this evening we want you to know that we sincerely appreciate your interests in the Affairs of this wonderful Vibrant Community and that you don't mind taking the time to learn of our work over the past year as is custom I am indeed honored to bring you our state of the county address it is always a pleasure to stand before you and reflect on the successes of Durham County Government and to look forward I need to take a moment to speak about the tragedies

and deadly shootings involving our young people that have taken place in this community over the last few days weeks and months too many of our teens have been victimized by gun violence and we the members of the board of County Commissioners offer our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to these families as a community we can never stop trying to address the many reasons for those deaths and injuries let's do what we can to help our community reduce these incidents of gun violence across Durham my heart goes out to all the families who have had their lives forever changed

due to the loss of a child thoughts and prayers are offered up but we can never stop trying to address the many reasons for these deaths and injuries let me begin this message by recognizing my esteemed colleagues on the board of counting Commissioners I am sure you know that we are a group of dedicated hard-working Commissioners who take our roles as public servants very seriously I'll add that we don't mind working locally or beyond the Durham County boundaries to deduct to develop ways to support our citizens needs and interests

I will now introduce the fellow of my fellow board members and ask them to stand Vice chair Wendy Jacobs commissioner Heidi Carter commissioner namachina Burns and commissioner Allam [Applause] before I recognize our leadership and employees permit me to take a moment to address to showcase our work just a bit I'm honored to serve on the board of directors of the National Association of counties or Naco I chair the healthy counties committee and I'm a member of the large Urban caucus committee I also was recently appointed to the local government advisory committee of the United States Environmental

Protection Agency or EPA Vice chair Jacobs serves on several Naco committees she was named a member of the justice and Public Safety steering committee and is a member of The naco's Familiar Faces the initiative leadership Network she also serves on the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners environmental steering committee and the Health and Human Service steering committee commissioner Allam serves on Durham County's Public Health Board at Durham's partnership for children she's a member of the women's democracy lab future presidents program and the hunt Institute hunt State safety fellowship program and I must also add that commissioner

Allam and I were recently named founding members of the counties for a guaranteed income commissioner namachina Burns serves as naco's Vice chair of resilient counties Advisory Board and vice chair of the justice and Public Safety steering committee juvenile committee juvenile subcommittee she is also on the North Carolina Community College Foundation board and the board chair for triangle helping all people Excel commissioner Heidi Carter this committee includes the Alliance Health Board County Commissioners advisory committee and network development committee triangle J Council of government and Piedmont food processing center as you can see your elected officials are involved in many

Endeavors locally State and National in March of 2023 Dr Kimberly Sorrell joined Durham County as our first female County Manager I just heard a beep and we just had a fire alarm a few minutes ago so when I hear a beep it's like do I do we need to go outside again so her leadership in this first year has been outstanding as Dynamic organizations do Durham County welcome new senior staff members at the same time we witnessed a departing of several long-time key leaders since taking on her role as this organization's leader Dr Sorrell has introduced and updated organization

check chart led by the Fallen following executive team members Deputy County Manager for external Affairs Maurice Jones assistant County Manager for Community stewardship Julio Delgado assistant County Manager for Community Prosperity Tammy Hall and Chief of Staff Shannon Trapp rolling rounding out this team are three familiar faces Deputy County Manager for financial affairs Claudia Hager assistant County Manager for Community well-being Joanne Reese and Dwayne Benson assistant County Manager for Community safety and let me also add that our Board of Commissioners hired Al Andrews as our new Durham County attorney we need a lawyer in the group

he began his tenure in January at this time I'd like to ask all our Durham County department heads to please stand to be recognized thank you for all [Applause] of your wonderful leadership before I move forward I want to no two department heads who retired recently but their impact will be long lasting social service director Ben Rose retired last fall and our acting County attorney Willie Darby retired at the start of the new year we're sending best wishes to them both that they are enjoying their world earned retirement let's give them an

Applause as well [Applause] finally please allow me to to pause to honor the memory of one of Durham County's most loyal and dedicated employees how long time County Manager County attorney Laurel L Seiler who made his transition on September 9 2022. I know I speak for all of us who say Laurel was such a great man he was always he will always hold a special place in our hearts rest in peace my dear friend so now I want to focus on our amazing Durham County employees who have been resilient and steadfast over these past

years especially as we all work to get through the covet pandemic for all of you we say thank you so much for all you do for Durham County yes all our employees work hard every day and tonight I'd like to Showcase a few of them who have helped to shine a spotlight on Durham County Government keep playing a money guy please stand up keep is our budget and management service director he was honored with a John Jack vote Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding commitment of the advancement of local government budgeting and evaluation thank you Keith

Charlie Ed Fiddler Fiddler I hope I pronounced that right please stand there she is the waist she's a waist reduction supervisor in general Services she received the 2022 Mike stenwell award for being named the North Carolina Solid Waste enforcement officer of the year next we have Susan tesod it's your turn to rise please Suzanne Susan is our Chief Financial Officer and she has served as the president of the largest city County finance Officers Association known as the Big Ten group thank you Susan stand up please Ryan Eaves

is he here Ryan is our stormwater and erosion control division manager the North Carolina sediment patient Control Commission presented us an award of excellence in the large program category this honor highlighted the County's response to work conditions created by covid-19 as along as alongside along with our status as a leader in erosion control across the state congratulations to Deputy County Manager Claudia Hager on her 2023 women of the Year Awards triangle Business Journal Hager is among a class of 25 exemplary

women celebrated this year women select for this honor have positive reputations in the areas of expertise they exhibit outstanding leadership and noteworthy accomplishments these employees certainly represent all our employees and the great work going on every day in Durham County well all our County Employees please stand and let's give them all a big hand of applause you know we can we work County employees work so hard sometimes we don't acknowledge them enough tonight we

are just want to take the time to say thank you thank you and I just noticed my mayor's in the building thank you mayor Elaine is in the room thank you for being here certainly this past year has been filled with achievements and accomplishments across the Enterprise earlier this year it was my honor to be part of the delegation that traveled to Lake Placid police jeez for a for a final vote by International University sports Federation to bring the world University Summer Games to the region in 2029 Durham along with Raleigh Chapel Hill

Greensboro Kerry will be the locations of these games this will be one of our state's largest ever sports events and is expected to bring an economic impact of nearly 150 million dollars to this state this Regional planning effort involved the state colleges universities several corporations and individuals I want to especially acknowledge Gilbert Carroll the North Carolina bid committee chairman and CEO and thank him for his leadership this has been his vision for over 30 years now to the work begins in Earnest please watch the video

[Music] North Carolina's natural beauty unique attractions entertainment and culture will create lasting memories for the participants of the 2029 World University games foreign North Carolina is home to passionate fans [Applause] and Central North Carolina is America's leader in Collegiate Sports championships with a track record of success hosting major sporting events [Applause] North Carolina's University Hub region is said to have the most top tier sports facilities per capita than any other region in the world Central North Carolina has an extensive system of University Municipal and private sports facilities as well as existing campus housing which means there is no need for any new

S Collegiate championships as well as Olympic trials and international competition World University game is ready for you truest Stadium at North Carolina a T State University recently hosted the world's largest track meet for youth with over 14 500 participants WakeMed soccer park has been selected by the NCAA to host born National Championship Collegiate events between now and 2026 than any other venue in the country

the Dean Smith Center at UNC Chapel Hill is among the largest on-campus Arenas in the nation [Applause] the PNC Arena has the reputation and having the best fans and the loudest house among major arena venues in the United States our goal is to host one of the best world University games ever with a great participant experience that showcases all that North Carolina has to offer let's do this an opportunity to compete on the global stage 600 000 spectators 275 sporting events 150 countries 13 days many teams one dream and we're ready to be the best host that you have ever had

thank you many teens one dream this will be wonderful for our region and the purpose of showing this tonight is the work begins right now to get ready to have a young people participate and be involved in this the adults will be there for what we want is our young people to begin to get ready for this because it'll be extraordinary for them to be participating in it our Board of Commissioners along with the county manager's office receive the North Carolina Cooperative Extension partnership award this honor was presented to the annual North Carolina Association of County Commissioners conference the county partnership award recognizes local governments for their outstanding partnership with the North Carolina corporate extension this award noted the

County's value for collaborative leadership and Innovative approaches from the staff that benefit Durham County residents for the second year in a row we received multiple awards from the National Association of counties Durham County was named a Naco Achievement Award winner for several programs and the programs are listed Durham County Transit plan the administrative assistant chat box Durham County the board of election ballot tracking application their own kind of Social Services low-income homeowners relief program um Library Innovative League mobile Integrated Health Care Community Paramedic program our great Public Health Department

picked up several important Awards including a National Association of city and county health officials 2022 Innovative practice award on honorable mention for our Durham County covid-19 data initiative a 750 000 Grant was received from the Duke endowment to support anti-racism work with a partnership for healthy Durham and a certificate of recognition from North Carolina division of Public Health for the healthy County Health assessment Durham County Emergency Medical Services received the American Heart Association mission lifetime EMS Gold Plus Award for the fifth consecutive year this award is given to EMS services for implementing quality improvement

2 million dollars was critical it's the largest one I've seen here in 14 years indeed this was Durham County's largest Bond ever before our voters this Bond included

4-23 million dollars for Durham Public Schools 112 million dollars for Durham Technical Community College a 13 million dollars for our Museum of Life and Science thankfully all three Bond questions were overwhelmingly approved by our voters in November certainly we now look forward to the new buildings Renovations and Acquisitions and future expansions this money will produce for these three vital partners certainly safe affordable housing is a vital need that helps support our entire well-being and quality of life earlier this month we heard the results of our annual City County satisfaction survey

again not surprisingly affordable housing registered as a top priority Durham County has a commitment to affordable housing and we are developing two projects on East Main Street the 300 East Main Street project includes 110 units of mixed income affordable housing and a parking garage the project also will have a child care Pre-K space for children from birth to five years old it will accommodate 86 children this project includes three thousand square feet of commercial rental space focusing on non-profits and other organizations that will have a positive social impact the deck is almost done and some work and soon work will begin

on the affordable housing section our 500 East Main Street housing component has 195 units of mixed income affordable housing and a 246 unit market rate housing wrapper with commercial retail space it is meant to be very suitable for a possible grocery market and other tenants this project also includes a parking garage construction on the deck and marking the market rate housing is currently underway the affordable housing construction will soon follow and the City of Durham in the county have agreed to work together to use some of its combined Opera funds for several affordable housing projects

S treasury Department because if we don't do it right we have to send them back

3 10 million 386 139 got to get those numbers right to move forward for funding contracts are now being finalized and distributed to the successful groups with an end date of

December 31 24. we awarded fund fun funding and several Focus areas that align with the County's Opera framework and we know them on the screen if you I won't read all of those off but they're on the screen and more information is on our website for a full list of the non-profits let's talk a little bit about our community safety in an effort to holistically address Community safety our board supported the establishment of a new Department it is a community intervention and support service department this new Department brings together three program areas that were previously operating separately Bull City United My Brother's Keeper and project bill the Department's focus is to provide

coordinated and problematic programmatic support and system level strategies in partnership with the community to promote residents and Community safety and prosperity and September of 2022 the department hired its first director Crystal Harris here are a few highlights from each division Bull City United entered into an interlocal agreement with the city of Durham to expand its work to reduce gun violence in census tracts there were experiencing higher firearm related incidents we don't get anything done by ourselves the collaboration between the city and the county is amazing the staff was expanded from 7 to 25 Bull City United

received a Brian Justice assistant Grant on the Department of Justice in amount of 250 thousand dollars through this grant this division will utilize this critical Community project to examine cross-systems approach to address gun violence and offer recommendations for promising practices and Sustainable Solutions Now My Brother's Keeper secure the program manager after the position had been bacon for nearly two years Durham My Brother's Keeper is now utilizing the national MBK model to continue the work to improve life and career outside out career outcomes for young boys and men of color now project Bill received an additional twenty five thousand dollars from juvenile crime prevention Council

reallocated funds to expand skill building building opportunities for its participants beginning last month the program implemented curriculum based groups sex sessions for its participants now we've been involved with the boys and girls club the Boys and Girls Club the county is participating with the Boys and Girls Club in Durham and orange counties to expand tutoring services including an initiative that collaborates with Durham County Library operates to expand homework to help the through in-person and remote learning options the Boys and Girls Club of Durham and orange counties was recently recognized by the national headquarters Boys and Girls Club of America as one of the highest performing clubs in the

4 million youth Across the Nation for two consecutive years the Boys and Girls Club of German orange Counties have been identified by the national office as the best in North Carolina for two consecutive years in student performance Durham County's investments in this operation will expand evidence-based support services for Youth and their families let's talk a little bit about Hayti Reborn last fiscal year Durham County government and the City of Durham established an analocal agreement to expand community-based programming coordinated

by counties Community intervention and service accounting and support service department the Hayti reborn Justice movement serves as an umbrella organization that work is that works in concerts with existing Community Partners to help develop and coordinate strategies that that interrupt the cycle of violence while concurrently increasing the health and prosperity within marginalized communities the organization will coordinate with a network of non-profits that will provide services to job Seekers including former Justice involved and or gang-involved persons in January our board allocated two million dollars to leverage federal funds awarded by Congress in the amount of seven hundred

thousand to support the hay tie reborn Justice movement efforts we must thank our representative our former representative David price for ensuring that these funds were approved so that this important work shall now continue and other efforts to address Community safety needs Durham County Sheriff Clarence Burkhead collaborated with celebrated Hillside High School drama director Wendell Tabb super Tuesday play call state of emergency the goal of the play which was performed for an entire week was to address gun School gun violence and engage in honest dialogue about the reasons and remedies for the troubling escalation in school violence occurring locally and across

our nation I was hastened to add that Governor Roy Cooper named our Sheriff to the North Carolina Task Force for racial equity in criminal justice and to the governor's crime Commission with these appointments our sheriff is using his influence to address key issues legislation and policy changes to help improve our safety and quality of life we will continue our focus on working collaboratively to help reduce incidence of crime and violence across a community and you know we have to talk about our Master aging plan about our seniors I said well you know if we live long enough all of us get there if we're not at that already the work around Durham County's Master agent plan is positively moving forward much like communities everywhere Durham

is experiencing a growing number of older adults and those adults are living longer our board is committed to Bringing resources to Bear to ensure that our seniors age with dignity and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle in their golden years the master agent plan steering committee is in the process of convening the livability working groups to address community support and Health Services senior hunger and nutrition social participation respect and social inclusion elder abuse neglect and exploitation and housing as committees are being formalized action plans with strategies to address the key components will soon emerge that final plan will have responses addressing social isolation safety

an emergency preparedness communication and information sharing accessibility Memory Care racial equity social Equity status and more we thank the Syrian committee for taking on this important issue and look forward to the results they will bring forth one of the issues that is really not just Durham issue it's a national issue nationally black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes compared to white women and Durham is no exception this isn't this is black maternal health this board continues to prioritize black maternal health and our public health staff and

Community Partners have worked to improve systems to better address the needs of our black birthing community expectant mothers with pre-existing health conditions are being given blood pressure monitors continued steps are being made to ensure that Durham is a breastfeeding for friendly Community environment for All Families such as encouraging employees to provide lactation spaces to further increase maternal health support we're actively seeking a women's health nurse Navigator to better align this work and looking for funding to staff in-house Ultra summer graphics and doulas at our maternal Health Clinic Durham County government of Public Health continues is collaboration with

born in Durham that is focused on maternal and infant Health outcomes with a goal of eliminating prenatal inequities in Durham County Durham County Department of Public Health has partnered with Guilford County Health Department North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service and other key stakeholders to convene a regional black maternal health and infant mortality conference on April 14-15 certainly we will continue reaching out into the community to strengthen existing Partnerships as well as establishing new Partnerships to continue the pursuit of a healthy community by focusing on the women and children of Durham County Mental Health

our community mental health hubs Durham County is certainly exploring ways to ensure more entry points for uninsured and underinsured residents who typically may not have access to mental well-being Supportive Services with licensed Clinic Collision clinical professionals we are working on such plans through partnership with faith and community-based organizations which are Central in Durham County I'm excited to know that very positive conversations are taking place with potential funding Partners who are supportive of this concept and we hope to launch this program very soon and we'll talk a little bit about the national op art settlement Durham County hosted a public input and information session on the national

6 million dollars in funding over the next 18 years from the settlement it will also guide decisions on how we address the opioid academic support treatment recovery harm reduction and other life-saving programs and services

we've got a lot of money to spend and not as many it doesn't it's not as long as we may think now we'll talk a little bit about our tax assistance taxpayers assistance the long-term homeowner relief program was created to assist residents who are at or below 30 percent of the area medium income with their tax payments in his first year the program received 339 viable applications of that total 200 applications were approved and 142 000 952 dollars helped our Target homeowners I'm delighted to know that this year the program received a 28 increase in applications

the with the program closeout complete the total households assisted were 338 for a total of approximately 357 thousand dollars certainly this is a benefit through those homeowners that we want to continue to be being homeowners uh Economic Development success continues since the beginning of New Year the board has approved three new incentive-based Community Partnerships Cadillac Cadillac Eli Lilly and Kemp power continually these three partners total more than 350 million dollars in new investment and 902 new jobs to Durham County bringing in more than

two million dollars on average in tax revenue annually over the first five years and some all three companies have made aspirational commitments on more than 42 million dollars in new spending with minority and women-owned firms can Power and electric vehicle charging company will be bringing more than 360 jobs that are accessible to high school graduates an associate degree holders paying an average wage of fifty thousand dollars plus benefits they are also working with Durham Tech on Innovative new programming to help to develop a pipeline to train students and plug them into these new jobs within a growing industry thanks JB

Eli lilies expansion will support an increased demand for their products that treat diabetes and create a maximum of a hundred jobs the county the company estimates that approximately 90 percent of the jobs created by this project will be entry level roles that can be hired in Durham Tech's bio work certificate or a high school education all jobs pay an average wage of fifty six thousand dollars plus benefits and we also working with our small business Durham County and the City of Durham partnered with small Carolina Small Business Development Fund to provide low interest loans to Durham small businesses that were impacted by the pandemic The Loan Fund pairs

2 million 73 percent of those firms are minority owned 48 of those firms are women owned and earlier this month the board approved funding to purchase the StreetWise MBA program offered through Enterprise Incorporated with a small investment of fifty seven thousand dollars this program will continue another phase of the County's initiatives to support our community small business owners using resources education and support over a seven month period

this is intended to help sustain and grow their businesses small businesses located in some of our low to moderate income communities that are minority owned will be audience for these programs we will bring in resources to equip them for success and help them build capacity and master the tools needed to apply for local and state government contracts our board supports our ongoing Rich reach to underutilized businesses you have targeted quarterly training and networking events many of these events have been collaborative efforts with the city of Durham Durham Public Schools The Institute and other organizations

C for the annual legislative Conference of the National Association of counties or Naco great things took place at that conference but I'm most proud to announce that Durham County became a founding member of counties for guaranteed income this initiative includes 15 founding counties and eight teams founding board members including myself and commissioner alone

commissioner long spoke eloquently at the White House with President Biden's staff regarding funding for a national guaranteed income program and sharing important points about how much families need their assistance this is a program that we can start but we need the federal assistance to continue it counties were guaranteed in income follows in the tremendous success of Mayors for guaranteed income bounded by former mayor of Stockton California Michael tombs so now our goal as founding members of CGI is to implement cash-based policies at the local state and federal level

2 to 22 cents per 100

4 million the approved budget provided nine million seven hundred forty three thousand four hundred and thirty fourth dollars for Durham Technical Community College any Priests of 789 262 dollars Durham County is focused on providing educational support at all levels

in addition to providing salary increases for our employees our budget additionally supported efforts to recruit and retrain hard to fill positions such as nurses EMTs General Services Sheriff's Office employees and youth home employees staff is currently preparing for this year's budget process our board met in a budget Retreat a few weeks ago to hear important information about the current economic climate from our budget on finance staff a tax administration and well-known Thomas Michael Dr Michael Walden I recall Dr Waldron addressed three key issues the label Market inflation and recession

without getting too much into the weeds we all remain aware of the financial uncertainties that we are seeing as we work to recover from covet pandemic our current economic climate is facing challenges but I am confident in our tax finance and budget team you hear that you hear that I am confident in our team I will simply say that we continue to be financially well managed Durham County has a healthy fund balance to help us weather any significant economic downturn or unexpected needs most importantly we will remain good stewards of our dollars as we move forward again I ask you to please follow our budget process

in the coming months we are set to receive the manager's recommended Budget on May 8th and will conduct a budget public hearing on May 22nd as I wrap up my comments let me address one more issue Marilyn O'Neill along with the city staff this board and our County staff and DPS Durham Public Schools and uh and the chair of the Board of Education of DPS is working or working in concert to collaborate on better engaging our youth and productive work and Recreation efforts Durham city and Durham County are working to provide paid summer employment and many of our departments to help our young people gain valuable work

experience and develop skills the city in the county and Durham public schools are working together to host job fairs and upcoming job fair is being held on Saturday April 22nd Ed Walltown Recreation Center seasonal and year-round positions are available for youth age 16 and up this is one example the city county and Durham public schools are committed to enhancing or creating as many summer activities as possible through Parks and Recreation and other venues including non-profits to give our children places to play learn and be safe during the summer months if you have ideas jobs interest internships or would like to help please let us know

all youth need s to provide our youth needs us all of us to provide opportunities that will be positive and productive for them and as I close on behalf of the Board of Commissioners it has been my pleasure to work on projects and initiatives that improve the quality of life for all our res residents I eagerly anticipate continuing and expanding the Innovative work that must be done to ensure that Durham counter remains on top of the list of high performing local governments and that we shift the paradigm of our children

shift the Paradigm of what's happening in this community with our children thank you for your attention and have a great evening [Applause] foreign thank you

[Music] hey Commissioners thank you all again to your patients um are there any adjustment agenda adjustments from the board hearing none we will move on to announcements uh Miss Wallace are there any announcements yes ma'am chair Howerton I will read the announcements that are published in this evening's agenda apply for summer internships management internships and fellowships with the Durham County Durham County government is looking or Durham County teenagers college students and recent graduates of our local universities to apply for summer internships manager internships and management fellowships get your local

org backslash covet vaccines for additional information Master Gardener plant Festival on April 1st spend the morning with Durham County cooperative extensions Master Gardener volunteers and Community Partners learning about all things plants and the

m located at 721 Foster Street you can also get a preview of some of the plants that will be offered for purchase at the following week's plant sale there is a link there for additional information football frisbee festivals and more at the Durham County Memorial Stadium did you know that the Durham County Memorial Stadium hosts a variety of athletic and community events each month in April there are Ultimate Frisbee men's and women's soccer track and field North Carolina Central and Shaw University spring football games the Little River Community complex Fair Special Olympics and more there is a link that will take you to a calendar that displays all of the events as well public feedback needed for sewer system

gov and include system development fee analysis in the subject line there are two links where you can review the draft copy on our website and lastly third annual Library Fest is coming in April Durham County Library in the Durham County Library foundation will host the third annual Library Fest the storytelling Edition from Monday April 24th till Sunday April 29th the library is excited to feature Headliners including Terry McMillan jet jetco uh Chef Sean Sherman and Sheila Turnage

all programs are free but some require registration visit the Durham County Library events calendar for additional information and search Library Fest board that concludes the announcements that are in our agenda this evening thank you Miss Wallace we are down to Commissioners we have um before us a March 6 work session minutes and March 13th regular session minutes are there any comments or edits to those minutes hearing on I will ask for a motion to approve Adam Chad make a motion that we approve the meeting assistant as written and stated second is proved and properly second all in favor aye motion passes five to zero

um we have one ceremonial items 23 234 resolution in support of School meals for all North Carolina all in North Carolina so the board is requested to approve the resolution um and as I will ask commissioner Carter if she will please read the resolution so it would be my pleasure to read this resolution the Durham Board of County Commissioners resolution in support of School meals for all children in North Carolina whereas right now children in North Carolina are held back to home and whereas we can improve student outcomes and strengthen our communities by making breakfast and lunch available in North Carolina public schools at no cost to families and whereas one in six children in North Carolina experiences hunger on a daily basis and in our most rural counties as

many as one in three children experience hunger and whereas providing no cost School meals to all students in North Carolina Public Schools will ensure every child has access to healthy nutritious breakfast and lunch promote student academic achievement and eliminate meal debt and lunch shaming and whereas no child should go hungry yet every day in North Carolina almost four hundred thousand kids don't have enough to eat and whereas studies show that providing students with healthy meals at schools makes them more attentive and engaged in the classroom leading to better grade higher attendance rate and higher graduation rate and whereas nearly 20 percent of children in North Carolina who lack access to regular nutritious meals likely do not qualify for free or reduce price meals at school and whereas School meals are healthy and meet strict National nutrition guidelines and

whereas no costal meals would reduce the stigma associated with free and reduced priced meals and lunch aiming in North Carolina and whereas no-cost School meals would ensure every child has the opportunity to access nutritious meals at school and whereas School meals are an investment in our economy and whereas we all do better when all children have healthy meals now therefore be it resolved that we the Durham Board of County Commissioners advocates for the North Carolina General Assembly to include recurring funding for no-cost School meals in the state budget this the 27th day of March 2023 in places for all of our signatures and Madam chair I assume we will um prove this resolution and then we'll be sure and send it to our local delegation I know there has recently been a day of of activity around this led by the north caroliance for health and and other

partners um where they were advocating at the general assembly for no cost School meals for all Universal free lunch and free breakfast for all students and I think the timing is really good for us to adopt this now and I'm really pleased that we have it on our agenda tonight yeah so thank you any other comments from Commissioners Mr Jacobs yeah and I think we should also share this with the school board as well absolutely definitely and I'm sure that they will um support this as well be glad that we're passing the resolution thank you so uh Monica do we all need to sign it and then you send it to the school and I did get signatures um and at the board's request I will make sure that it is emailed out tomorrow morning okay all right thank you all right so but and it doesn't have to be it doesn't need a vote or anything no okay

all right thank you commissioner Carter now we're down to our consent agenda we have five items there is one citizen that wants to speak on on one item here um so what I will do is ask are there any others but Commissioners want to speak on or pull it if not I will ask for a motion to prove everything except 23 0195 and I get a motion Adam's here I'd like to make a motion that we approve the consent agenda items um in totality absent 23-0195 you

second okay it's been moved improperly second all in favor hi motion approves um five to zero so um we have a citizen that um Gwen silver you would go to the podium okay you're over here okay and state your name and address the evening I didn't ask people that that matter I just wanted to speak on it and commend the environmental forward of environmental Affairs board for the work that that they did last year but I'm speaking on it because um there they have a go to address environmental changes in the county and I'm not sure if they're aware of the changes that developers have asked to change the unified development codes and

those proposed changes are called the simplifying codes for affordable development called scad which is um being reviewed by the city council right now those changes are many and they are major on November 12 in 2015 I attended the Little League Creek Watershed meeting at East Regional Library and I received the volume one of the protecting our border ways protecting our border and that was a fact sheet about the little league Creek Watershed Improvement project it reads in part the majority of these Creeks are experiencing moderate to high stream bank erosion which is likely a result of increased stormwater runoff volumes caused by increased Urban Development and as we all know our county is developing rapidly this fact sheet states that 43 percent of stream quality was there 52 was rated poor only five percent was

good and none were rated excellent I urged the city council to have the environmental Affairs Board review and weigh in on the scad for its impact on Rural Durham County and the quality of the Little League Creek and other streams this is about environmental stewardship and Community Prosperity yes and development is inevitable we know that however Germany's responsible development strategic development and environmentally sound development we need not to have development just for development and I want to thank you for your time and I'll leave this packet that has copies of some of the documents on the Little League Creek and some of the streams in Durham County again thank you for all the things that you've done in the past year and all the good things that Durham County is doing you you any other comments on this item commissioner Jacobs um I I just wanted

to respond to the citizen comments commissioner Carter you're on the environmental Affairs board I think that's an excellent suggestion um if you could request that they do look into this issue and make their recommendations to us because that will be coming to our board thank you sure I think that that's a very good suggestion as well you have something you miss silver something else you wanted to say this item was on the May 20 um March 20th city council agenda and it's been uh delayed until May 3rd so it's a very short window but I'll leave the information thank you again thank you thank you so are we approving this tonight or are you asking us not to approve it what okay okay all right all right all right anything else on this one on this item

uh I move that we approve that item the EAB report and with the understanding that based on this comment I will relay the request to the EAB chair asking for input to us about this scad all right second moved and properly second all in favor aye all right passes five to zero all right we are down to boards and commissions foreign

[Music] chair so I understand that commissioner Burns has a motion uh regarding the um Madam chair I have a motion you got us mixed up yet again it is commissioner long uh Madam chair I'd like to make a motion regarding the uh commission appointments I would like to make a motion to extend the application period for the RDU Authority board to encourage more applicants seeking appointment uh barring that any candidate receiving majority support on the ballot uh there's a motion on the floor to extend the process of this particular Raleigh Durham Airport Authority following any candidates having majority right so if a candidate has majority today you're saying you do not want to extend it and is that is

you know if is there since there's two vacancies um if one candidate make as a majority then they would continue to be appointed if two candidates don't have a majority then we keep it open to end if two do have a majority then that um I'll second it I'll third it [Music] um so it's been moved in second I'd like to hear a response from the clerk before we vote on it is there a problem is there any concern with doing that or just no ma'am it's the board's pleasure if the board would like to extend the application period we can definitely do that okay all right I just wanted to know in terms of process we usually vote first and then make decisions about what to do afterwards so just want to note that in terms of process I I want to clarify in terms of process

who up here has not voted we voted so there's a motion and a second on the floor so we'll have to take action either Vote or rescind the motion sorry I just want to clarify I meant to say voting and hearing the results of the vote I'm sorry just to clarify so what's the pleasure of the board and chair on Readiness there has been a motion and a second made all in favor aye oh so we're God many eyes okay so so the motion passes forward four to four to one okay that this item will be moved will be re okay

so I attended on the outcome that it will be advertised again just the RDU board okay all others if there is a consensus on the vote the attorney will will call those names but if there is not a a majority or the RDU board if I'm correct then the RDU board will be advertising will continue for the article board only gotcha I mean I did vote for the RDU board I assume we all voted yes thank you board members um I will go over the balloting for the boards the appointed bodies

before the uh just bear with me one second I need to include final votes just one second so I'll take these in order and then I'll have a note regarding the last one for boxing

and wrestling commission uh one vacant large position the vote is for Harold Hubbard for the city county appearance commission one at large vacancy the voters for Sabrina Delaney for the Durham County women's Commission uh vacant at large position to vote us for Messina reddish for the um Memorial yes or the Memorial Stadium Authority one vacant at large to vote is for Jonathan

Leach and now for the airport Authority so we have a vote count and I think the motion was if I don't want to mess this up so just want to make sure I understood what I heard what I heard is that you want to vote red and then you want it to be delayed if there is not if they're not two candidates is that what I heard or did we vote to my repeat your motion I I she didn't say if it was too candidates you said you read it again the motion was to extend the application period to encourage more applicants barring any candidate that does receive majority support on the ballot so if a candidate since we're voting for two I guess my intention for the motion which I should have been more clear about was you know if one of those

two positions gets filled then we fill that tonight if both don't get killed then that second one we accept so in this case based on the vote we have um Raleigh Durham Airport Authority one vacant position has been voted for Yesenia Polanco galdamas and then we have based on the votes two other candidates one candidate got two votes and one candidate got one vote so that means that there is another candidate who has um two votes so

and that that's the one that the I guess the motion place you know so we have you know another candidate who has less than a majority of the the body selection so that is the one that we will delay yeah so to be clear for the record while it does sometimes it's just good to go over and you know they say measure twice cut once for Raleigh Durham Airport Authority you have nominated one candidate um not sure of the gender but I'll say last name Polanco galdamez and then we will hold open the second position until we get a majority for one of the other candidates okay so in other words we will re-advertise for one candidate got it all right so to all of the out other individuals that were selected preserved congratulations we appreciate your

11a6

11a3 I will entertain a motion to move into closed session

second is the second okay all in favor aye motion passes we're in closed session

uh the have emotion the motion is to approve a starting salary of of 170 000 for our new DSS director Maggie side testing the video is that right okay so um if I could get a motion don't move Madam chair it's been moved second and properly second all in favor hi has motion passes five to zero okay is there anything else any other business if not uh as for a motion to adjourn

all in favor aye we are adjourned