good afternoon everybody welcome to the city of Durham's city council work session for today Thursday April 6 20 23 at 1 pm here in City Hall Plaza we are on the first floor in council chambers and we are extremely happy to know that some of you have joined us in person and we are happy to have those of you who have joined us by via the internet as well we'll start with our roll call Madam Clerk thank you madam mayor mayor O'Neal I am president mayor Pro tem Middleton I'm here councilmember Caballero here councilmember Freeman president councilmember Halsey Hyman President councilmember Johnson here councilmember Williams I'm president thank you well we start this day um
this week has been a week of mourning for the city of Durham in the loss of one of our own who's been who have been with us for over 24 years and we now call on our city manager once again to take time to recognize a life well lived and a true public servant Mr John a little city manager page and thank you madam mayor as we as a city of Durham family continue to remember John John allor this this week we have a picture Cloud that is shown as a screensaver so for those who can see that we ask you to please look at John and all of the different ways that he was represented I saw him actually recognized in um
m just prior to the ride John will be honored and remembered among others who have also lost their lives while biking uh on on on on on on streets that that are shared with other modes of transportation the ride will start downtown right downtown at CCB Plaza so we we wanted to announce that uh today uh and and we also wanted to
send our sincere condolences to John's family including his work family which most of the budget department is here in the chamber today and we've been working together all morning all yesterday on this very important work that we do together to bring to this community a balanced budget but also we would like to when we believe that they're watching today particularly send our sincere condolences our thoughts and our prayers to John's daughters Amelia Grace and Ava and their mother Elizabeth Allure so thank you mayor thank you city manager Paige I just want to know if the um technical people could give a shot of all of our budget staff who are in here today if you could count a pan I asked them to stand as we salute and recognize
them too they lost a a friend a colleague a person and they're still working it's been a very hard week for them and I just want you to know that we're standing with you for whatever you all may need and there are really no words to say thank you you know that's not adequate enough but we're we're here for you for whatever you may need and thank you for being here today and thank you for all that you do for the city of Durham thank you we will now move we have two ceremonial items today and then we will proceed to our announcements the first will be made I'll read about mayor Pro tem which is the national public safety telecommunicators week and the second will be read by councilwoman Caballero
which is the national Community Development week Proclamation thank you your honor good afternoon to you Ma'am to my honorable colleagues on the Deus to the staff as president all who are in the chamber today and all who may be watching it's a great honor to be able to read this Proclamation recognizing National Public Safety telecommunicators week I'm going to present this proclamation to Dwayne McIntyre who's an emergency communications technician I'm going to ask that y'all come on up and anybody else who may be here thank y'all for what you do Proclamation whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police fire or Emergency Medical Services and when an emergency occurs The Prompt response of police officers paramedics and firefighters is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property and whereas the safety of our police officers paramedics and firefighters are
dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from residents and visitors who telephone the Durham emergency communications center and whereas Public Safety Communications officers and call takers are the first and most critical contact our residents and visitors have with Emergency Services and whereas Public Safety Communications officers and call takers are the single vital link for our police officers firefighters and paramedics by monitoring their activities By Radio providing them information and ensuring their safety and whereas public safeties Public Safety Communications officers and call takers of the Durham emergency communications center have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals suppression of fires and treatment of patients and whereas each dispatcher has exhibited compassion understanding and professionalism during their job performance in the past year now therefore I Elaine M O'Neill mayor
of the city of Durham North Carolina to hereby Proclaim April 9th through April 15 2023 as National Public Safety telecommunicators Week in Durham and hereby urge all residents to take special note of this observance in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city safe witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this the sixth day of April 2023 Elaine M O'Neill mayor of the city of Durham I'm gonna have some words good afternoon everyone mayor Neil thank you thank you all members of the council and city manager I did it write down a few words that I would like to say it is an honor to accept this Proclamation on behalf of all my co-workers at the city at the Durham emergency Communication Center each day I get to witness a group of hard-working dedicated individuals that
work tirelessly to not only keep the residents but the officers firefighters and paramedics safe the job we do is not easy ours alone people are not always Cooperative or their best selves in the moment of Crisis however having the opportunity to change or save someone's life is worth it all at the end of the day and that's exactly what we do as headset Heroes with that being said on behalf of everyone at the dec we thank you for recognizing us as the first First Responders and National Public Safety Nation telecommunications week thank you so much thank you [Applause] mayor mayor Pro tem and council members and executive staff it is such an honor and a pleasure to have Dwayne here today as well as my assistant director Tangela Walker during this coming week if I may please uh verbal invitation please join
us you don't have to reserve a space we're there 24 7. we look forward to seeing you uh this coming week or anytime but certainly we invite you we encourage you to come be with us for just a little while and as Dwayne mentioned about that the headset Heroes certainly we have extra headsets and we would give you that time to to listen to some of our residents in their time of need so please feel free to join us next week or anytime thank you so very much [Applause] thank you sir let's see thank you foreign
good afternoon everyone it's my pleasure to read the proclamation for National Community Development week whereas the week of April 10th through April 14th 2023 has been designated as National Community Development week by the national Community Development Association to celebrate the Community Development block grant cdbg program and the home Partnerships program and whereas since 1975 the cdbg program has provided annual funding and a flexibility to local communities to provide decent safe and affordable housing a suitable living environment and economic opportunities to low and moderate income people and whereas since 1992 the home program has provided funding to local communities to create decent safe and affordable housing opportunities for low-income persons with over 1 million units of affordable housing having been completed nationally using home funds and whereas this community recognizes that the Community Development block grant program and home Partnerships program is a partnership of federal state and local governments and
community and business efforts and that the projects and services funded by the cdbg and home programs rely heavily on the the dedication and Goodwill of our combined efforts and whereas the city of Durham has used cdbg and home funds directly or in Partnerships to address issues surrounding homelessness including veteran homelessness to promote home and open Home Ownership opportunities for low and moderate income households to develop hundreds of affordable rental units for low and very low income households to provide repairs to homes of very low-income seniors to help Revitalize neighborhoods and to leverage millions of dollars in additional public and private investment within Durham neighborhoods now therefore I Elaine M O'Neill mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby proclaim the week of April 10th through 14 2023 as a national Community Development week in Durham in support of these value two valuable programs that have made a tremendous contribution to the Vitality of the city's housing stock infrastructure public services and the economic Vitality of our community witness my hand and the corporate seal of the city of Durham this is the sixth
day of April 2023 Lane M O'Neill and now Mr Reginald Johnson would like to give some words thank you so much thank you thank you councilmember Caballero uh mayor mayor Pro tem members of the city council on behalf of the Community Development Department staff and the citizens advisory committee I accept this Proclamation and we want to thank you for taking the time to honor these uh programs which have been very important to Durham as you know we have served many residents in a myriad of programs but I also want to thank all of our non-profit Partners as well as the sub-recipients who help us do the hard work of serving the low to moderate income residents and communities facing housing barriers and economic challenges we also want to thank the citizens advisory committee that you will point along along with the ward of County Commissioners Brian langloss who's the chair Carl Newman Vice chair Lea effort
green secretary and finally we want to thank the Community Development Department staff for the work they do in supporting families and neighborhoods in Durham thank you so much [Applause] thank you so much for those items today we're always glad to celebrate we now turn to announcements by my colleagues and I'll look to my left first to see if there are any announcements on this end to my right any announcements on this end uh Mia protein thank you madam Mary again good afternoon to you and colleagues I want to thank you madam mayor for providing multiple opportunities for our city to collectively grieve and remember together it is healing and it is appreciated and I want to just uh say how beautiful this collage of John Allure is that's up on our screen and it's uh it's good to see him in his many
C uh so at that point I would ask our most senior um since both the mayor Pro Tim and I will be away on the 19th 20th you'll be
all the way on the 20th the work sessions on the 20th yes ma'am okay because I have it I have it wrong date on this so on the 20th I would ask our most senior council person to be uh to stand in and preside at that time for that work session I will be here I believe on the um for that city council meeting so and we are ready to entertain motions for both if you also desire the move by councilman Williams seconded by councilwoman caballera that both the mayor and I will be absent on the 20th and he will be absent on the 17th 17th all those in favor signed by saying aye aye all those opposed have the same right hearing none we will be taking care of City business thank you colleagues thank you we now turn to our prior to items in our term first to our city manager for unit priority items she
may have thank you madam mayor Mr Mayor Pro tem and members of the Durham city council I do have one priority item it is agenda item number 25 a contract amendment number three to the professional Engineering Services contract with Kim Horn and Associates Inc for the Lakewood Avenue sewer and NC 54 water line Replacements that is a supplemental item that has been added and that is all I have for you today thank you city manager Paige you'll now hear the managers priority items May I entertain a motion for its approval it's a move move by councilman Williams second in by councilman Caballero uh all those in favor if you assigned by saying aye aye all those supposed to have the same rights hearing none the motion passes we now turn to our City attorney for any priority items she may have good afternoon Madam mayor
mayor Pro Tem members of the council the city attorney's office has no items today thank you so much attorney Ray Berg and I now turn to our city clerk Schreiber and ask if she has any priority items for today thank you madam mayor the city clerk's office has no items today thank you so much all right we will move uh to the reading of our agenda which would include our consent items departmental items and I think we have any presentations today we will be revisiting the housing Deep dive we've had some scheduling kind of conflicts so that we'll come back before you again for those of you all who have been keeping up with that we will have that and we'll and I do believe we have public hearing items so here we go item number one Durham City County Environmental Affairs board appointment two the mere Hispanic Latino committee appointment number three the Durham workers Rights
Commission appointments number four the human relations commission appointment five the Durham Convention Center Authority appointment six Durham Planning Commission appointment seven the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority mayor appointment eight the mayor's Council for women appointment our departmental items number nine resolution to support designation of temporary protective status for Guatemala lands item 10 Durham city county appearance commission enter local agreement renewal eleven resolution authorized in the Virtual City auction number 12 the contract for cultural roadmap development with AMS planning and research Madam mayor I don't what I call it I didn't want to pull the item I just wanted to make sure that there was a correction on the breakdown for the
staff it looks like there's a one in the wrong place that's all thank you madam mayor also I I don't want to pull a d that I did just however want to want to highlight this uh milestone in uh this this really really important conversation for our community I'm very honored to be serving as the honorary co-chair of the cultural roadmap with um chair uh chair um Brenda Howerton of the Durham County Commission and thank the staff for their work on this I had raised this before with the city with our City attorney my possibility or my the appropriateness of me voting on this contract as uh the honorary co-chair and I I thank the City attorney for her guidance leadership on that but I do just want to celebrate this important Milestone and this important work and conversation we're having as a city and and County indeed thank you madamir thank you item 13 Second Amendment to the Professional Services contract with Timmons Group Inc for the East Club Boulevard sidewalk project number 14 Construction Services contract
A hauling and utilities LLC for the sidewalk gaps three project 15. Construction Services contract with Chatham civil Contracting LLC for the Beechwood Cemetery Expansion Project I didn't want to pull this item but I did want to highlight it is concerning that we're talking about a historic African-American cemetery and we couldn't find a contractor that was of color and there is actually no staff that is black involved with this contract and I just wanted to note that that was all thank you item 16 ordinance amending Durham city code section 70-687 and adding section 70-691 private drainage assistance hardship program 17. Municipal agreement with ncdot for bike lane vertical protection tip number bl-0030 [Music]
item 18 contract amendment 2 to the professional Engineering Services contract with Hazen and Sawyer PC for the East Durham Water and Sewer Rehabilitation and belt Street Regional stormwater improvements project phase 1B item 19 the award of bid term contract for bulk aluminum sulfate II CNS chemicals number 20 the award of a service contract to try area land Works limited liability Corp for the grounds maintenance services for sanitary sewer lift stations and various remote water sites project item 21 the consolidated annexation 4501 Glen Glen Road item 22 is the unified development on this text Amendment improving access and walkability item 23 unified development ordinance
text Amendment regarding pet waste receptacles item 24 revisions to the Durham city code section 70-736-70-744 stormwater performance standards for development our supplemental item item number 25 is the contract amendment number three to the professional Engineering Services contract with Kim Lee horn and Associates Inc for the Lakewood Avenue sewer and NC 54 order not line replacement we have no Port items item correct city manager okay we will now turn to our citizens matters and we have I think three persons here to speak with us and in person we'll start first with Mr James Chavis followed by Miss Glenda Ainge followed by Mr Dante Dunstan and then I believe online we have Miss Jackie Wagstaff each of you will have three minutes apiece thank you so much
for being here to speak to us today just state your name uh you don't need to State your address unless you are so compelled to do so my name is James Chavis my address is 2813 Ash Street Apartment B Durham North Carolina I come to this time to change my way of speaking and I know it's going to surprise some of you all but the mayor asked him when her diligence ways for the article about scare scad and I reached out and I like to bring you all an update of what we're planning on doing I talked to chat with who's the deputy manager that outside Sentinel ladder or email to our city manager and uh me and him had a meeting
yesterday to outline how this was going about because I told him I got a letter a email from someone saying it it seemed like that we was not going to be diversity in having both sides and I want to clear that matter up today if any of you all hear that it's going to be for both sides at this meeting those four and those against it this is what the mayor asks she want us to come together and be able to reason out the difference so I'm needing will be doing that okay our meeting will be taking place April the 15th at Holton for our patent meeting that's our patenting schedule and I got what's on the members and they definitely approved that we allow this to happen so it will be going at 10 o'clock AM
saying to the staff as well as into the city council members all please come as a citizen so that we can work together to unify this because if you don't come and then we come up here and it's not right you're not going to like the way we speak but if you come out to different places and hear the people you will understand so please you have opportunity on April the 15th at 10 o'clock at Holton to be a part of it and yes we have sent out some flyers it's a special meeting with the city County Planning Department about scad Scag so please come out and join us thank you thank you so much Mr Chavis Miss Ames if you will come forward ma'am you will have three minutes and I hope I pronounce your name correctly thank you I'm trying
that's okay I'm Glenda Ange and I'm here to figure out what to do with Durham Housing Authority I've had 23 years of tomorrow with these people and I'm at my wit's end there's no fair housing with these people there's I I'm at who do I need to deal with now I have went through every Avenue I could find to get fair housing with these people and it's not working the embezzlement of rent rent money the the place is molded so bad that it's pitiful Health going down because I mean I need some answers from somebody
I don't even understand why they are even in Durham because they're past the word slum Lord they're past it I'm looking for answers now from somebody how to handle it because I went to HUD I've made complaints I've went every Avenue I could find no resolution none so I'm now here because I reached out to somebody yesterday and they asked me to come here today to find some kind of resolution with these people to be non-profit as they claim to be this and this in fact no that is propaganda all day long and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with them now
but housing fair housing with them there ain't none at all they wouldn't care if he lived in a tent as long as you paid the rent I've got to call the city of Durham to get an air conditioner filter I just recently had an accident in my yard because they can't even get out there to rate the yard where's my rent money going but you say I pay it but then I don't pay it the next week then you got me up there in the courthouse for non-payment of rent really stop I've dealt with this for 23 years until I'm done now I need some answers and really who to go to because it ain't DHA it's not I've wrote Anthony's got a five-page letter that man can't even answer the first letter
I went to human relations I went to every eye opportunity I could I don't even know why they're here in Durham period at this point so is there any answers or resolutions I can get today to figure this out Miss Angel for better housing for myself and anyone else that needs it Miss saying this is um the public comment session what I would do is ask that our liaison to I believe we have a representative two Durham Housing Authority is Roman Johnson I'd ask I have your car with your number and your address yes ma'am mind if I share this I don't mind it at all because she can willing to do anything to better anybody's situation with these people well I'm kind heart to her now yes and um I would ask that you all try to have a conversation yes ma'am from there thank you yes thank you for coming today
thank you Mr Dunstan you would have three minutes and thank you for coming back again today oh you know I look forward to this all the time I would like to state by saying good afternoon Maryland hills city council members Durham Community Durham staff and the viewers who are watching I came here today excuse me I came here today to give a little bit of counsel and I want to first start off by saying an African Pride especially in LA in the in the lion Kingdom they say they can they say you can hear a male's lion's roar up to 10 miles for him to declare his territory but they say you can also hear a lionesses roar even further they say a lioness will Roar
when she needs to call for her Cubs they say a lioness will Roar when she needs to call for her sisters and the Lioness will also Roar when the male line in the pack has stepped out of boundaries councilman Freeman you did nothing wrong you're a politician you did what politicians do most politicians from what my experience is working with doing security at the Capitol Building legislative buildings that have done worse a politician who speaks when she's quiet she listens she's understandable I've never ever heard you get out of line out of all these years knowing you but when you Rose your Roar it understands that you saw something that needed to be addressed it
and no one's will never shame you on if you ever speak or if you ever raise your voice if you need to be heard you did what you're supposed to do sister Monique councilwoman Monique this is a time that when they say that whenever you step to a place of calling there will be challenges but at the end we have to wait until we find the facts we should not go based on hearsay we should not go based on things that have not been put in place you hold your head up strong sister like everyone does in Durham when we come to an issue we always have to be able to stand strong and not let discouragement get us we must understand that as a city council we must work together some things must be kept
oh yes some things must be kept away from the public because sometimes when this political season is upon us it can get real nasty we have friends who turn into enemies and enemies become new friends mayor O'Neill I may have some disagreements about you know how we move and work but I'm proud to say that I finally can say that if somebody says something about your name I can finally say if you don't have nothing good to say about our mayor don't say nothing at all and knowing that we have had losses in this community and to the staff I want you to go into your office every day for a week straight and I want you to tell I want you to tell your co-worker shout out loud I love you we you're not forgotten because he's there with y'all thank you has given you all the talents for y'all to do your jobs and therefore the confidence is still there in that office so we are with y'all and talk talk to
each other but we have to understand that The Season's coming upon us and I'm about to go and I want everybody to understand we're going to breathe we're going to get through this okay thank you Mr Dunston we appreciate you we now turn our attention to um a call on our internet and I believe Miss Jackie White staff has signed up to speak at this time and we will recognize you for three minutes Miss Wagstaff not America can you hear me yes yes we can okay good afternoon Madam mayor council members um first I'd just like to thank Mr Dunston and thank him for everything that he said I Echo his sentiments we stand with you councilman High councilwoman Hyman and councilwoman Freeman and mayor O'Neal so I'm not going to take that any further but what I want to address in my three minutes of comment is
the code of ethics I pulled it up from it's the Durham city council code of ethics and I think that it would be imperative if everybody everybody on this Council including your employees read this and understand what they are doing and how they are moving and how they are violating a lot of these codes um I specifically want to address section three of the Durham city council code of accident ethics and section three there is two sections of section three two and three that addresses everything that the community suspect is going on with this Council and we suspect that instead of investigating hymen all of these council members need to be investigated because there are some movements and some things that are being done that can be considered very questionable but in the section of section three that addresses this
there's one section that says make full And Timely disclosures of any Personnel or financial interests in which the public official has in any public business which may come before him or her and not advocate the interest of it for the public for their well-being then there's a number three that says and this is the one that really they should be looking at abstain from voting upon any matter in which the public official has a financial interest that is a that is key I have actually pulled some records and made some record requests and I have a timeline that I've laid out and I'll probably present that timeline at the next meeting but there are some questionable behaviors with these council members some of these council members there are some abstaining that has not been done when votes have been taken on ordinance changes that have allowed for people to financially profit there is a little
something called participatory budgeting that had a whole slew of people that sat on the committee including one that was the Mother-in-law of one of the council and lived in a house and she chaired the committee and I never saw that council member ever abstain for voting on that budget for participatory budget even though she had a member living in her house that was actually the chair of this committee so they are very questionable actions that have taken place with this board with this committee or this Council that should Miss Wagstaff that will be your three minutes okay thank you thank you so much all right thank you thank you madam mayor I want to take a point of personal privilege I rarely speak um after um there have been remarks from members of the community or residents or citizens but it is of course within the prerogative of the council to do so on this day I want to speak specifically to all of the thousands of young people
that I've had the opportunity to speak to in this capacity over the years your schools that I visited and read to you and answered questions about what we do on the council and when we talked about issues such as bullying and other things I told you to use your words and not your hands on today I want to absolutely renounce violence I want to say to every young person watching and listening and observing that that message still resonates we are better than the animal kingdom as human beings we are the crown and creation uh on this Earth for those of you that are believers and we are called to be better than lions and tigers and bears so on today I went to absolutely renounce violence I want to double down on the message that I've said to young people time and time again that it is better to talk it's better to work things out and then in those circumstances should any human being be struck at any time thank you madam mayor we will now turn to our pooled items and
we have none and so now we have no presentations as well and so now we will turn to our clerk for our boards and commissions and nominations at this time thank you madam mayor I do have a report there are quite a few nominations today the Durham City County Environmental Affairs board appointment for the Youth category is Ben Goldberg the mayor's Hispanic Latino committee appointment for the position expiring October 1st 2024 is Victor hiraldo Durham workers Rights Commission appointment for a diverse background is Bjorn Peterson and for the Durham's largest workplace is Antonio luster the next is human relations commission appointment
in the category representing one African-American person natashkia L Adams then the Durham Convention Center Authority appointment Matthew e colbridge Durham Planning Commission appointment we have vikas gurham as the nominee and then for the mayor's appointment for the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority Patrick Hannah and finally the mayor's Council for women appointment for Ward 3 Darcel Dillard and that's the end of my report thank you clerk Shriver at this time we will now turn to our city manager to settle our agenda thank you madam mayor for your consent agenda uh I have items one through twenty and item number 25 and for GBA public hearings items 21 through 24.
thank you oh now entertain them motion to settle the agenda all right it's been moved by councilman William seconded by councilwoman Johnson all those in favor if you want to say I I I all those opposed have the same right hearing none that motion passes in our agenda for next Monday is now settle I do believe that is also the night that I will make the state of the city address so we look forward to having you all at that event are there any other matters that will claim our attention before adjournment hearing none we will adjourn now at 143 that's about a record on April the 6th 2023 Lewis City strong congratulations