City Council · Regular Meeting · December 16, 2024

m. and um if we will please join me in a moment of silence thank you right I'll pass it over to council member Freeman for the pr of Allegiance thank you it's our practice to stand to salute the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance if you'll join us iedge Al to the flag of the United States of America to the

thank you uh Madam uh Madam clerk if you will please call the rooll thank you Mr Mayor mayor Williams I'm here may po Middleton I'm here counc member Baker here council member Caballero here council member cook here council member Freeman present council member rist here thank you all right we'll now uh have a proclamation read by mayor protim Derek could you approach the Das my thanks to his honor and to my honorable colleagues to all in chamber and those watching whatever platform you may be may be watching this evening good evening uh and thank you for being with us tonight uh mayor Williams I am profoundly grateful to you for allowing this proclamation to go forward uh

tonight very special Proclamation I want to open this way I was born by the river in a little tent oh and just like the river I've been running ever since it's been a long a a long time coming but I know a change G to come I had thought about singing it we did too but then I thought better of it those are beautiful words and you should know that those words were first written down in Durham Durham inspires great art now tonight I am so proud and honored to read a proclamation on behalf of my fellow colleagues in the city of Durham to honor the life of Sam Cook and to honor the iconic place of this song this iconic Timeless song A change is going to come in American musicology and

particularly in this Pantheon of the Civil Rights Movement I'm going to call some special folk up to stand with me as I read this Proclamation and I want to honor them because they each uh have a place in this story uh in the evolution of of us getting here uh tonight uh and they each play an important role in our Community here in Durham firstly I want to call up my friend Andrea Le Lee who's the executive director of The heti Heritage Center to come stand with me I'm also going to invite the associate dean of clinical education at North Carolina Central University law school Nikia Davis I'd like to invite up two special Scholars and students firstly the president two class president of nccu law school Levi Wiggins and the 2L class vice president at nccu Law School Ruth montia and someone who's got to have one of the coolest jobs in the world the

owner of Carolina Soul records Jason pearlmutter is with us and you could say kind of the animating Spirit of all of this attorney Ian man senior Council for emancipating North Carolina come on up let's give them all a hand as they stand you'll understand the importance of each of the organizations and interest they represent as I read the proclamation and I'll get right to it Proclamation whereas December 11th 2024 marks 60 years since the death of the legendary soul singer Sam Cook and and December 22nd 2024 60 years since the release of his Single A change is going to come and whereas Rolling Stone magazine and other

music Publications have recognized A Change is Going to Come As among the greatest and most significant songs ever written and the Library of Congress in March 2007 inducted the song into the national recording registry pursuant to the national recording preservation Act of 2000 and whereas Sam Cook wrote the first iteration of the lyrics to A change is going to come while in Durham North Carolina in May 1963 after speaking to s in protesters who were students at North Carolina Central University and the lineer notes to Cook's portrait of a legend 1951 through 19 64 likewise acknowledged the song's connection to durm and whereas the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X among others encouraged Sam Cook to explore

social issues in his music and to deepen his involvement with the movement and whereas cook encountered Dr King in Atlanta months after a visit to Durham and committed the use of the composition and recording of the song that became a is going to come to an album to benefit the southern Coalition leadership conference and whereas in the 60 years since its release the song has developed into a symbol of tribute performed by the likes of artha Franklin and Patty Lael to honor civil rights luminaries Noble laurates and other figures of historic sign significance like Nelson Mandela upon their passing and whereas the city of Durham is grateful to the North Carolina college at Durham North Carolina Central University students and their supporters who in the face of

significant risk courageously staged demonstrations in 1963 which ultimately led to the emergence of a more just and Equitable City now therefore be it resolved that the city of durm expresses appreciation for the significant contribution Sam Cook made in his lifetime to popular music the Arts and the American Civil Rights Movement be it further resolved that on this the 60th anniversary of the month of his death and the release release of his Single A change is going to come the city of Durham remembers and honors Sam Cook as well as the durm students whose bravery inspired him witness my hand and the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this the 22nd day of November 2024 Leonardo Williams [Applause]

mayor I didn't know I was going to be speaking um I just want to extend my thanks to the council and the mayor Williams uh for recog recognizing this anniversary I've received um a number of messages and phone calls and emails from people across Durham and people with ties to Durham this week who've reached out just to say uh how much this means to them and this is a source of civic pride and to express their appreciation for this recognition hello everyone um thank you all so much on behalf of Dean uh Patricia timens Goodson it is truly a honor um we are so thankful that we reside in a a city that does not forget um so we appreciate this um we appreciate you not only re recognizing the song but the anthem of justice and it is our hope um that we will continue to be a beacon of light for justice not only for the county not only for the

city but for the state and the nation so once again thank you very much uh just re reiterating what was previously stated um we're just appreciative of this Proclamation and the ability to be here and be representatives from uh North Carolina Central School of Law thank you uh on behalf of Carolina Soul records and durm I'm thankful for this opportunity to be a part of this lineage and this history and we are are proud to connect people with soul music thank you your homework is to go home tonight Durham and crank this thing up past 10 you should be able to find it on YouTube thank you so [Applause]

much at this time I would like to call up uh our director of communications Miss Beverly Thompson good evening mayor mayor protim council members and staff usually coming before you is a treat but tonight I must admit uh it's a Bittersweet I've known Wanda personally since our College days and I was overjoyed when I found out that this brilliant and compassionate leader would be our city manager tonight though we are saying goodbye well almost we in the community Communications Department know that a picture is worth a thousand words we put some pictures in a short video that shows just a few scenes of Wanda's time serving the

residents of the city of of Durham Wanda we want you to know that we wish you well as you turn the page into a new chapter in your life [Music]

there's more to come but we hope you enjoyed that look back we love you and we'll miss you I'd actually like the councelor to join me down here please as well

as Madam manager on the page dere you might have to give me some tissue this is going to be happiest and hardest Proclamation I've ever read before I read this um yeah let's bring that up some so um this job is not easy I say that often let it go down

some yeah this this job is not easy at all and and um I I me personally I don't come from a politically a political Dynasty or a family that's been in this forever you know it was like I was a dude that had a situation and I was like what is going on I need to do something and ran for office um but I I had no idea what to expect and I came in uh with some of these folks here and uh there were some others that were up here and and I started to learn a lot but while they were great colleagues peers mentors on the council it was one person that I could go to and be extremely vulnerable with and she would always say well you know Mary you the boss but when we close that door she's the real boss because she is such a wealth of information this is a walking encyclopedia here she it's just so wise

and I can not remember a single time that I asked a question and could not get an answer to and so I've been trying to put this off as long as possible I've been trying to put it off as long as possible um I first got word I think I was one of the first people to know when she was going to retire and I had to very uncomfortably keep that to myself and uh during my state of the city there was so much more in that recognition than the crowd actually knew because there was a there was something just between us where I I knew that she was going to be calling it you know to an end um at some point in the very near future and I just wanted to make sure I gave her her flowers uh at that moment and then we're going to do it again tonight um but there is no one more fitting that can receive the words that I'm about to read about to read off of

this document which symbolizes the highest honor possible that could be received from the city of Durham so this Proclamation is for Mrs Wanda Sims page whereas Mrs Wanda Sims page has served as city manager of the city of Durham for the past four years and devot Ved 37 years serving the residence of Durham and whereas Mrs Paige has shared her vast experience and knowledge of Business Administration serving as the chief executive officer of the city of Durham and held a number of positions with the city of Durham including staff senior accountant accounting services manager Deputy Finance director controller audit Services director and deputy city

manager and whereas as Javiera Caballero graduate Mrs paig earned her MBA with the with an emphasis on finance from North Carolina Central University and Bs in Business Administration and management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Keenan Flagler business school and is a certified public accountant a certified internal auditor a chartered Global Management accountant and an MMA credential manager that's decorated and whereas she served in numerous volunteer roles including over 10 years of service on the masters of public administration Advisory board for nccu the board of visitors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lincoln Community Health Center Foundation in various capacities chair of the nor of the nccu real estate Foundation board the Durham homeless services at Ry committee and holds

various positions at her Church White Rock Baptist Church whereas she has held memberships in the international city and county management association North Carol North Carolina city and county management association government Finance Officers Association the American Institute of CPAs North Carolina Association of CPAs The Institute of internal Auditors the North Carolina city and county management association dorm rotary a and Durham Incorporated Community Health and Advisory Board and whereas as city manager Mrs paig has maintained a strong commitment to and passion for Durham's people and neighborhoods emphasizing racial and economic equity in a city of more than 275 res thousand residents she has served Durham during a period in the city's City governments where she has served Duram she served during a period of in Durham city government when there have been more

black women in leadership positions than ever before and was herself the second female city manager in Durham's history and whereas Mrs paage has provided invaluable leadership in guidance on many significant projects and challenges the city has faced during her tenure including guiding our city government through a malware security incident the covid-19 pandemic a recovery and a recovery by helping the city Main maintain stability with long-term revenue and expenditure planning and leading the development of projects for $200 million infrastructure bond which was approved by the residents of Durham in November 2024 and whereas Mrs paig defining Focus has been building Cooperative relationships with Durham County the greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and other local Regional institutions promoting customer service and a business-friendly environment and whereas Mrs Paige a recipient of the order of the long leaf pine one of the state's highest honors for her

contributions to our city and state has chosen to retire on December 31st 2024 from her role as city manager to spend more time with her beloved husband Craig her children William and Kelly and her dad and sister now therefore be it resolved that I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham do hereby express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for Mrs page dedication to our community and congratulate her on her retirement from the city of Durham and wish her the best in her future endeavors witness my hand in the corporate sill of the city of Durham North Carolina this the 16th day of December 2024 William Kell come

on can I get a bre I don't know what to say except thank you thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mayor protim members of the city council all you residents that have helped us as an organization continue to build this community into a community that we all love and that we take care of and we want to continue to go on that trajectory uh I am I am lost for words uh this this evening I I wanted to during the priority uh item say a few say a few words as this is my last city council meeting but I can't remember any of them right now but I am just so happy to have a portion of my family here my uh son and

my daughter and my sister Kim as has been mention in this Proclamation and this key to the city I have a key to the city uh uh it started out as a real key and now it's a magnet uh but I would happily happily exchange those keys for this very special key uh that has been presented to me uh this evening uh I think I need to sit down [Applause]

thank you all so much let's right for

all right some of y'all know there are certain things to make me a crybaby and um good people is just one of them I've never had to fight back to you so hard because this woman is she's amazing and I don't think folks will ever fully appreciate how well she's run this city we uh have survived a lot because of you manager paage so thank you I'm going to stop talking about you so I can make it through this agenda and uh since I have the prerogative as mayor I'm going to go out of order and make you the last priority item uh because I'm gonna hold on to you as long as I can so Madame clerk do we

have any priority items tonight I'm sorry I skipped announce so let me go back to that announcements by Council council member cook all right well that's a hard act to follow um and uh yes I just want to Echo what everyone has said about how excellent of a manager um as a new council member I don't think we could have asked for anything better we had as the mayor said every question we ever needed to answer um super responsive and and just a joy to work with so thank you and thank you to the staff who prepared that lovely presentation and I'm G to forgive y'all for not giving me the Green Jacket memo because that presentation was so good um okay so I want to say thank you and good evening to everyone that's here we've got a pretty good crowd in the audience everyone watching at home folks that

will watch later um I have one special person no she left okay well my very dearest friend from Juno Alaska was here for that whole presentation and she has just walked out the door I think they had dinner reservations um so I wanted to shout out Sierra gter for coming to my council meeting just as a little point of personal privilege um and oh there she is thank you for coming she heard me on the speaker outside okay um yes somehow my partner convinced her that that would be a good way for her to spend her limited nights in Durham was to come to a Durham city CC meeting and so here she is um so I'd also be remissed if I didn't at least mention um the state level going on as many of you I'm sure already know uh the North Carolina legislator o legislators overrode the governor's veto uh to enact Senate Bill 382 uh just days before many of their terms were set to end um having been not

elected to their seats uh they use the guise of hurricane relief to strip power both from local governments and from Individual voters I'm sure we're going to see a lot more uh communication and narrative around this moving forward um but I just wanted to mention it um because it it is so serious and it has made national news and of course we don't have power to influence the state as your local government but those things impact us and also they impact our residents and so they are very important and I just wanted to acknowledge that um and my final announcement is just another token of thanks I had the opportunity last week to ride along with a heart team and so I wanted to shout out and I think they might be watching um Delan and Emma were my folks that took me along in the van and then our shift supervisor Alexis who we were able to check in with afterwards and I also get to talk and meet with lots of folks

in the office at heart and it was um everyone I interacted with was just such a joy and um yeah it's uh it's just very humbling because I work with people who are in trauma and who are unstably housed quite often and I sometimes am sort of forced to to Dawn a pretend social worker hat even though I have no training in that area and it was so great to see the folks who actually are experts uh doing that service for the community and um everyone I think at this point in time and knows how incredible this P this pilot program has been in Durham and um and it was just so amazing getting to watch and so informative getting to watch them interact with real communic community members with a lot of care and compassion we did end up transporting um one of our unhoused neighbors to a white flag shelter and I did want to just put out a plug for that um so as the temperature drop below 32°

or if they drop below 37 and there's pre precipitation we do have extra shelters that open up for the evenings in Durham and that location has actually moved to Yates Baptist Church um and it is open intake I believe from 7: to 8:30 um if you or know a neighbor that is in need um You can call entry point to get in and I'm just going to read that number out for everyone it is 984 287 8313 and again that shelter um in addition to the shelters that um are are already in existence but for extra cold nights for folks who might not otherwise have that shelter um so I have had a lot of clients who have visited White Flag shelters and it was really great to be able to see them in action so I want to also shout out to Open Table Ministries uh who's been running our White Flag shelters uh for showing us around and and sort of helping me understand how the check-in actually works and and the

the real sort of process of getting folks in and and seeing where they are able to spend those cold evenings so again thank you to heartt and that are all those are all my announcements thank you Mr Mayor thank you council member Baker uh thank you council member for speaking um to those issues and for speaking to S SP 382 the Sham uh hurricane bill at the state level that uh uh overrode Governor v um Governor Cooper's veto um and um disempowered many incoming Democrats that were that were elected by the people of of the state of North Carolina it also um tampered with other aspects of state and local government um including zoning Planning and Development Powers at the local level in every single municipality in across the across the entire State um which complicates some of the work that we're doing here um in small area

planning as well as the comprehensive rewrite of our unified development ordinance um and I think that one thing that we need to consider uh following some of these um Provisions that were placed in there hopefully some of them can can change back um I wouldn't necessarily count on it we can hope for that and do the work to to get that done we need to be very careful um because uh some of these Provisions uh limit what local government can do around what's called down zoning we need to be very careful about through our Udo rewrite upzoning uh and make sure that we are not upzoning large swalls of our city for free without ensuring that there are adequate Provisions for uh Public public goods so that's something that that needs to be a lesson for for us uh as we consider the ramifications of of 382 uh the last thing I want to say is just with the close out of of 2024 I

just want to say thank you to all of Durham's workers uh we have three direct hires the city council has three direct hires uh and I want to thank all all three of all three of you um for for the hard work that you do and that your staffs do um and uh city manager page uh I'll have more for you on Thursday um and I want to thank all of the workers in our city who who make our city run and who keep our community running um Solid Waste workers uh you know uh Transportation public works every single Department every single worker across our city that is doing all of the the work to keep our our city running all of the workers across our city who who create and add uh value um thank you for for all that you do uh at least in this economy right now you have a choice of where you work and and for those who are working for the city of Durham uh there are some great benefits but you're also making a choice to work for a great

organization so so thank you for that and uh that's it that's it for me thank you council member Coto thank you first off um manager Paige I'll say more on Thursday I'm just glad we got to celebrate you today as well um uh first off I want to shout out Durham and everyone at Durham parks and wre and other departments for the amazing parade on Saturday we couldn't have gotten better weather I think it was the longest parade to date with a lot of different floats uh everybody seemed really really happy it's one of my favorite days in Durham it reflects our community broadly um and I just I also want to shout out discover Durham because I know that they were also uh supporting parks and wreck and I think it's also a moment for us to kind of show off our toys we got to see water management Solid Waste fire engines we got to see uh our support our animal support or emotional support dog uh marching with the police so um it's

just an opportunity to really celebrate a really special community and I think as we turn into 2025 when there are going to be lots of changes both at the state and federal level and there's a lot of anxiety I think we can all say that Durham uh is the best city in the US and uh a Beacon of Hope uh for many across the southeast uh we consistently stand up for our values and I'm proud of all of my colleagues and all the city workers who make and move that Vision forward so I hope everyone has a restful holiday season as we turn to Winter Solstice and Christmas and Hanukkah uh Quanza and I hope you all have a wonderful uh 2025 which does sound a little bit like a sci-fi movie thank you council member Freeman thank you I'll my colleagues and appreciate the uh activist push around some of those issues and I also just want to make sure that I uplift our city

manager in this last city council meeting I'm looking forward to um continuing uh along um not I'm not even going to touch it because then it's going to jinx it but anyway I um I did want to say a special thank you to the water of management staff for a thorough half tour of a few locations um I was I tried to write them all down but uh I'm not going to try and say them all but I know I got to Little River Williams Brown and north and still have a number of others and a couple I got to two of the 63 lift stations so um it's been a long time and because of council member cook you know getting it started I went over and got my new water bottle and a great tour I'm just kidding but um I I do want to say it was a great holiday parade and I want to congratulate our 38 year seasoned

veteran City employee and our own very own Grand Marshall city manager Wanda page for leading us off and I want to thank all of those in attendance for keeping us safe and um appreciate everyone that participated as well uh I did want to also know I did catch a couple of names I want to thank uh don greenley's team for guiding me through uh with William I'm sorry with Tom Lucas Ken Kenny Lillard George kic Dirk Brian and I missed a number of you please charge it to my head and not my heart um I also want to share a season's greetings a warm season's greetings to everyone and say uh Merry Christmas uh happy Hanukkah happy Quanza happy at end of the year and if you don't celebrate then you know just happy break do whatever you want to do for my colleagues I did want to just note I shared another sweet treat from the

singing rooster like I did for the last few years um just acknowledging that each bar of candy actually plants a tree in Haiti and I think it's critically important for us not to lose sight of those who are um critically suffering in these times and uh make sure that we do what we can to support um ourselves here locally shopping locally and um trying to recycle as much as we can back into our community uh I want to thank all of our small businesses that are serving and continue to encourage folks to to get out there in the Bull City and uh do what we do best support one another um that's all I have thank you thank you Council M thanks Mr Mayor Madam city manager so much to say we'll say more on Thursday but it's a wonderful celebration of course we sh you know we share we're the closest an age on the council so we share a special bond you know that so we'll say more on Thursday um colleagues be foram staff

residents those online good evening um it's been a it's been a wonderful holiday season so far in the Bull City and I said my best holiday greetings to all um it's been a blast this year being so being part of so many holiday events um I want to give a special shout out to DPR staff anybody from DPR here tonight they've been working so so hard um for organizing the annual senior holiday lunch or party I had no idea what that was all about they filled the like shared and Imperial folks who were so dressed up so ready to go was such a fun party so thanks DPR for organizing that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the winter Pops concert at the Armory so thanks to the durm symphony um and of course thanks to DPR again for organizing last weekend's annual Christmas parade or holiday parade um and a in addition to all the Kudos shout out to the Grand Marshall of the parade the holiday parade so that was awesome to see you there in that in that fancy car um and thanks to all the residents that came out on a Chile Saturday it was such a fun event um a couple of Transportation items I want to mention first is that as you all know building more Transit options in the Triangle remains a key strategy in improving

mobility and in making our region more environmentally sustainable um a lot of the conversation here on the council lately has been about sidewalks bike paths bus Rapid Transit um but I want you to know that our no that's our regional Metropolitan planning organization has not forgotten about rail we obviously had a very public failure with rail several years ago with light rail but the conversations with rail are not dead and in fact brt can do a lot of things but brt is not designed to get you from here to Raleigh right so we need rail we need a rail spine in this region to connect these like Durham Raleigh carrye and to be then a spine that all the other other other Mobility or other other modes can link into like best Rapid Transit so conversations are continuing at the at the mo we had a key meeting just last week with our partners at Campa which is the capital area no about a regional vision for rail so stay tuned for more on that but rail is not is not dead we're still in the conversation so it's an important part of our mobility and and transportation in the Triangle um second it was great to be part of the groundbreaking our

folks from Transportation here from Transportation here tonight um listening good listening yeah um great ground bakon last Monday for the improvements to durm station which is a key part of our Transit Network um thanks to city transportation staff to durm County good triangle for that um and finally I was like a kid in a candy store today I got to join the Chief Fire Chief um and his team along with Fleet Management and general services to have a um to check out the next generation of EV fire engines that are now coming online really cool stuff and they were in town today for demo we're stared miss you there uh deput city manager Ferguson great demo um our experts are checking this out because you know having an EV fire engine is one way to meet our City's goals for our climate action plan which involves not only buildings but our Fleet right it's also way to create a cleaner environment for those who are fighting um fires on our city so exciting stuff stay tuned for more on that um the last thing is for those of you that don't know I'm a big fan of credit unions um and full disclosure I'm on the board of the self-help Federal Credit Union credit unions are member-owned financial institutions that

provide benefits for their members in terms of affordable lending products and terms of affordable checking and savings deposits um uh today the mayor and I were on hand at the new Civic Federal Credit Union which is the former um the former local government's Federal Credit Union it's been been rebranded as Civic Credit Union they were in hand to open their 11th branch in the state Civic Credit Union has over 400 um check the four billion in assets over 400,000 members across the state I'm sure many city employees are members of of now Civic Credit Union they just open a branch on Rigsby Avenue so those affordable financial services that are reliable are now even more accessible to our city staff so stay tuned for more from Civic Credit Union um a great new part of our network of of of credit unions in Durham that's a model for providing again affordable reliable Financial products so that's it Mr Mayor I you yield back thank you mayor proen thank you Mr Mayor and let me thank you for that wonderful presentation to our city manager I want to associate myself with all the comments and and observations my colleagues have made uh

but I want to say to you Madame manager um I I plan on being at the meeting Thursday and I feel pretty strong about my chances but as of now Thursday's conceptual so I want to in the president of your family tonight which is a certainty right now is what we have uh say to you um thank you seem so inadequate you have one of those kind of jobs that everybody thinks they can do it until they have it and I want to I want to thank you for the dignity and Grace that you've brought to it um Dr King said that the ultimate measure he said man but the ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in times of comfort and convenience but rather in times of Challenge and controversy and I have watched you in Challenge and controversy bring a dignity and a Grace and a character and a truthfulness even when folk didn't want to hear it uh to those situations and I thank you and I just want to say finally beloved to you and to your family may God bless and keep you may God Prosper you and increase you

and may God extend your days and fill them with a peace that passes all understanding and a joy that confounds the darkness thank you happy holidays God bless you thank you Mr Mayor your back thank you and thank you for those beautiful words may protim um colleagues have shared much of what I was going to talk about I'm really excited about the groundbreaking we did for the expansion of our durm station we had a wonderful parade um I was representing Us in California and I got back th Saturday morning came to the parade um left the parade went back to the airport and was able to represent our city at the White House um the last Terra uh and uh it was beautiful uh President Biden gives his regards to Durham uh we're able to speak briefly Governor walls as well said select words but dang it I wanted

to come back to Durham and I said well you're always welcome Governor you're always welcome um it it was a great time and and being amongst uh a few other dermit that were there um yeah this is a beautiful Nation it is what we make it and uh that beautiful is defined by all of our messiness and all of our imperfections and um but beautiful is the outcome and I don't want us to lose sight of that uh despite what the results of an election is we are who we are and we are what we make it to be and we just need to put our effort in the space that we can impact the most and uh that's what I plan to do um I really appreciate seeing the smiles on the kids faces um at the parade you you just see the best in Durham you really do you see folks that are uh you

know thousands of people and everyone is like you know just of all the things we talk about protest about fight about celebrate whatever that is the moment where we all come together all smiling and waving at one another in the greatest Spirit of hospitality um so I I that's that's one of my favorite times of the year in the city and um I hope that we can have more celebratory moments uh that we are coming together I saw as same energy at the Christmas tree lighting um well we had again thousands of people uh downtown um just out shopping and enjoying music and food and um I know we we get caught up in the politics of of Durham sometimes but those moments remind us that we really do have it good we really do and and and I I hope that we could just have more of those moments together um so um you know Madam manager I'm never

ever going going to have the words to fully describe how I feel about you um just as a human and and what you've done for this community um you know for the folks out there we we all meet one-on-one with the manager um but we come and go we come and go we are elected we run we win sometimes we run and we lose uh sometimes we just step away but you may see us as the face of this organization but there's an there's a foundation there's a core and infrastructure that you don't necessarily always see and I I brag about this all the time that there are over 30,000 cities and towns in America we are the number sixth single digit sixth best run city in America it is hard to get any better than that

and and y'all have seen sometimes as counselors we can act a fool up here and no matter who's up here and how crazy we're behaving this person does not break she does not she is calm cool and collected through it all you do not know whether it is storming outside or whether it's sun and shiny outside that is the strength this city is strong this is the muscle right here so I I appreciate you more than you ever would know and um I still will be calling on you and finding excuses to bring you back into City Hall uh and I'll see y'all at brunch on some sat some Saturdays and Sundays and uh I hope you going in the golf course somewhere and just relax uh I'll give you six months off before you come back here but I'll give you about six days before I call you um but I really appreciate you uh and um

yeah I I wish thank you was sufficient with that being said um now I will go to Madam clerk for any priority items thank you Mr Mayor I did want to express my appreciation for the city manager as well um she's been a guide and very steadfast and um she's always been there when I've needed a a confidant and um I I think that the city has been successful because we've had steadfast leaders and um she's been here for 37 years that's that's a a long time period and she's been here through the the development of the city and so it's been just wonderful to work with someone with so much knowledge and um you'll be missed and good luck luck in your next chapter and no priority items thank you I'll now pass it over to

um Madame attorney thank you Mr Mayor um Mr Mayor perm and members of the council uh the city attorney's office likewise has no priority items tonight but I would also like to take a point of personal privilege um to salute my colleague and dear friend when I came to the city of Durham in April 2005 as a younger attorney with much Fuller hair um Madam manager was then I think an assistant city manager and and oversaw many of the internally facing departments in the city including human resources and I was the legal adviser for human resources when I first came and she was an incredible resource then we had a lot of fun working on some thorny issues back in the day and over the years but um you have always been a fair um measured consumate professional

Wanda you are a model and a beacon to all of the employees in this organization but particularly the women who are aspiring to attain your level of leadership I thank you for that I thank you for your grace and your composure and your counsel and your encouragement to me personally and I'm excited to report that Madame manager has joined a women's golf group that I'm in uh and she will finally have the time to be joining her daughter Kelly uh out on the fairways and I wish you blue skies and sunny days for a lot of great rounds thank you and now Madam manager I'll put you back in your comfort zone she just loves to work she I just want to get the work done um I'll pass it over to you for any um commentary or priority items good evening Mr Mayor Mr Mayor

proam esteemed members of the Durham city council Our Community Partners my colleagues friends new friends lifelong friends and my family thank you mayor and counsel for this incredible honor of receiving a key to the city of durm this evening uh that was really a uh quite a surprise to me it kind of threw me a little bit off my square but I get I get back on it really really uh really quickly so as I prepare to make a few brief remarks this evening I am filled with humble humbleness and a deep sense of gratitude as I have moved closer to retirement bringing finality to my assignment as Durham city manager it hasn't gotten any easier to find ways

that feel adequate to thank you all for your support during my career and to say goodbye as you can imagine this moment like so many similar over the past six months has been filled with joy and excitement but always with just a little twist of sadness each person here uh in in the chamber tonight as well as others who may hear U hear this um these few remarks on uh YouTube or some of the other channels you all have really uh played an important role in my journey and I am thankful that we have had these experiences together to my past and present bosses and my mentors your leadership has inspired me

to strive for excellence every day to my dedicated city of Durham employees all 2500 plus of you it has been a privilege to work alongside you whether we've shared many years together or just a few days you all mean the world to me I see you and remember each day that the city of Durham government and this great Community is even greater because of you your commitment and passion for our community has made every challenge we Face worthwhile and every Victory a little sweeter to my church family my sorority sisters my friends long-term friends

your unwavering support has been a constant source source of strength throughout my life thank you for being there every step of the way and finally to my beloved family I first acknowledge and remember my late mother Rosa the first love of my life who would be so proud of her first born my father Joe my husband Craig my son William my daughter Kelly my sister Kimberly my in-laws and my extended family members I am speaking to you all right now and you have been my anchor and my motivation your unending love has fueled my passion for service and Excellence

above reproach and I am forever grateful as I embark on this new chapter in my life I carry with me many Lessons Learned friendships gained and most importantly the memories made I will cherish them always thank you for being a part of my journey and for making my career in local government for the past 37 years so meaningful I could not have ever imagined a better work address than 101 City Hall Plaza as I embark on my new beginning I leave with great pride of the lasting impact we've made together thank you all and Happy Holidays [Applause]

Mr Mayor I have no additional priority items thank you so much are you rethinking it are you gonna no no okay I gotta go all right at this time uh thank you colleagues and thank you staff at this time I'll read the consent agenda I will highlight the items that have been pulled item number one mayor's Hispanic Latino committee appointments item number two Durham Planning Commission appointment item three amendment to master Services agreement with paymentus Corporation for electronic bill payments services item number 20 item four 2024 General obligation Bond referendum has been pulled uh item number five NC State term contract hybrid police patrol SUVs has been pulled item number six NC State

term contract police vehicle upfitting has been pull item number seven Cooperative group purchase contract shuttle buses item number eight mer Moore Park amenity upgrades design contract with wns of North Carolina PC number nine First Amendment Amendment to the contract with Oracle elevator holdco Incorporated for elevator maintenance and repair services number 10 agreement to fund Durham Symphony Incorporated for the 2024 2025 Symphony season Incorporated want to pull that item Mr Mayor I just wanted to point out that this is um a budget item that passed a few years prior and I did want to thank you for bringing that forward that was all my pleasure um as a a musician myself which I have a fraternity brother here who's a musician who's just visiting by tonight um this was an item that I uh knew back in the day I think under mayor Bale or um the symphony was

supported by the city and it brought people together so that was the motivation behind it I appreciate you all for uh still supporting it number 11 contract for cultural planning Services between the city of Durham and MGA Partners MJR Partners LLC number 12 First Amendment to the 2022 dorm cultural road map Redevelopment development inter local cooperate let me read that again because I don't want to that development Redevelopment two different things number 12 First Amendment to the 2022 durm cultural road map development interlocal Cooper cooperation agreement number 14 contract between he promise Community Development Corporation city of Durham and Rebuilding Together of the triangle for fville Street Court Bor neighborhood stabilization partnership implementation has been pulled number 15 contract with pinned link limited for Tangles open- Source intelligence software as a service platform for Durham Police

Department number 16 Second Amendment to the scope of services between Duke University and the City of Durham number 17 miss pet said we don't do that just give me a second to finish this and then I'll acknowledge you in the report but do speak with her she got you number 17 Federal Transit Administration compliance updates number 20 fiscal year 2024 2025 Transit Capital Improvement plan CIP budget ordinance amendment number 19 GBA uh First Amendment to supplemental agreement number three with wsp USA Incorporated for call Professional Services for dur freeway study it's been pulled well general b GBA and our public hearing on 21 Street renaming of Vivian Street excited about that um those are our items I'll uh entertain a motion to um ex6 and 14 can you turn your mic on I'm

sorry just wanted to confirm with the exceptions of 456 and 14 and 10 yes you oh not so moved second it's been moved and properly second it Madam clerk will you please open a vote I we go would you please close the vote please motion passes 70 thank you um did we get okay okay good um all right so the first item we have here is number four second yeah we can knock it out well yeah let me let me actually uh address the GBA one um which was pulled from work session number 19 I actually had a question about this is uh do we have air in covery

here or are they online this is AV Through The Zo May hey uh Sean you sound really mod muffled Could you um could you say something please is this any clearer now oh that's much better thank you just speak closer into the mic uh thank you for being here Sean I was hoping it was you I I was not able to to be at the last meeting um and I appreciate you and I being able to really are you there yes yes I'm still here okay froze um I appreciate us being able to have a really in-depth conversation on this uh well on the other matter unfortunately was pulled back to staff um however this one this

was a an extension of the 7,000 for language services and what I wanted to do was just ask I I I appreciate us being able to make sure we are um having the languages available what was that not something that we saw needed in the beginning so uh we discussed this at the work session uh when we were scoping the project we were very focused on Spanish translation for the engagement portion of the study but uh what we realized as we moved through was that we the it and we'd be sharing the findings and recommendations from the study that we had we had failed to account for the cost of translating all of our summary documents into Spanish and uh we have been working a great deal with the Spanish speaking Community throughout this and we noted that that was an oversight on staff's part that we didn't

include the translation of all our summary doc offered this to make sure that Sean all of the recommendations yes director Egan I'm sorry um you're breaking up some it's quite intermittent um so when we when we scoped this originally is that any clear say that again when we scoped this originally okay we did not include the translation of the executive summary and recommendations all of for all of the reporting coming out of this project so this is correcting that we made as staff okay and I if you want to turn your camera off maybe that'll that'll help you uh come through a bit clear um how many forms of Engagement do

we have going on for this study so we are concluding the uh Community engagement around the vision and values uh currently and we're moving right now into the development of alternatives for consideration by city council so that will be the uh as we wrap up uh over the next month we'll be wrapping up the engagement on the vision and values uh portion of it and then we'll be using the information that we've learned from that vision and values engagement to provide some context for different Alternatives and how they would address the needs that we heard throughout the engagement activities but our Focus going into 2025 is on developing alternatives for consideration by city council gotcha and how long will this contract again uh through June of 2025 all right so we're at a year June

2025 will be a year it' be about 18 months total since we started all right so I I again I appreciate us having that conversation previously I wanted to ask a few more questions about this um I'm also asking these questions because it's going to start being a point of focus at how long we spend on engagement how much we're spending on engagement and how effective it is I want to make sure that we are engaging with our community members but I know also our community members want to see things get done and um and and what I've been hearing a lot is we have a PhD in engagement and time for engagement in a GED and actually getting the project completed so I want to make sure that we are tightening up on that and I'm going to start focusing on that area of how we're um how we're actually exhausting these resources so thank you for the work that has been done on it and um I I look forward to talking more about

it thank you you sir all right okay go ahead yeah think I just wanted to ask director Egan if he felt like it made sense to move the translation for it without having I guess the Eng the engagement piece in place or the Outreach piece in place acknowledging those those two um contracts were in Tandem and we're doing one without the other I'm a little worried that they're going to get disjointed and I don't know when the contracted in um for the contract that was supposed to be extended and so I just just want some feedback certainly so uh we believe that uh We've have some really critical Lessons Learned and input that we've received through the engagement process uh that needs to be summarized uh and will be used to inform the Alternatives

that we're bringing forward for consideration by the council we want to make sure that we have the uh capacity to provide those findings and recommendations and the products of all that engagement we want to make sure that those are available to share back with the community that's been so generous with their time U and so that's what the Spanish translation enables it enables us uh to provide uh summaries of all of the work work that's been done to date on engagement to use those uh engagement uh inputs uh and then to summarize those um so as we conclude the engagement phase over the next month uh this contract Amendment will allow us to be able to share back everything that we've learned uh and the key findings and recommendations that we've learned so uh we we think that it's a um it's a it's a great opportunity to uh make sure that that information is shared by with the community both in English and

Spanish um and we'll be uh taking a different approach to uh engagement going forward and and really focusing on uh that recommendations and Alternatives piece so that we can seek input from the Council on next steps thank you I I just want to make sure that we're not taking credit for the folks with be connected and idealisms um work and so just acknowledging if you're moving forward without them in that re-engagement or Outreach process being sure to make sure that that credit is applied where where it should be for the folks that did um put that work together and that's my main concern thank you understood we are greatly appreciative of uh all the work and all the support that we've received uh to dat for those engagement efforts thank you so just just a clarification I know that item was pulled back um in its own de same area is that what you it's the same area so are we doing that twice are

we doing two engagement contracts and one is doing it with language interpretation and the other not the um Amendment that's on the general business agenda right now is to take the technical materials that wsp is preparing uh and to make sure that all of those reports are summarized and that Spanish translations of those summaries are available to the public so that's a need that we were going to have regardless of how we uh approach engagement over the next phase uh we're taking um a a different approach to engagement we're going to rely more heavily on our staff resources uh to uh complete the remaining engagement activities but we're uh committed to the uh making sure that we're sharing caring out the information that we've learned uh over the last year and making those results of of all the input that we've

received making sure that those results are shared out so we'll be working as staff and then with the consultant on those summaries uh and then making sure that those are available in English and Spanish thank you I I'm glad you explained it that way because that makes my point if you're relying on staff to deliver um the Outreach efforts or in the Outreach efforts of the practitioner that you hired it is essentially stealing their work and so that's a concern um as a practitioner myself um if I provide those types of consulting services and then it just it's offputting I don't think it's the appropriate way for us to move forward especially acknowledging that this is talking about the Hai community and 147 and ESS the I'm not going to use that word but it doesn't feel appropriate to use the same methods that created the problem um

to actually do the work again and so I'm I'm concerned on on staff feeling comfortable moving forward it feels almost like how um some of that driver's license restoration work folks were concerned about their work being stolen it it just doesn't feel right and so I I I I just want to make sure that our staff is clear that they're not or make it clear that they're not using our practition our community based practitioners to create the relationships and inroads and then letting them go um because we feel like there's we've spent too much when we're talking about what $3 $40,000 like it's it's kind of disgusting but um yeah I have some concerns I I definitely want to have a conversation about about what this looks like moving forward especially in this neighborhood um because I don't want staff to just think they can hire a consultant figure out how to get in in good with folks in

the community and then leave the consultant and then move forward without them that doesn't feel right that's all yeah thank you for that that's not that's not directed at this particular item because this is just the translation but I do think that we need to have a further conversation about what that other contract does and how we work with that if we're not going to do that there needs to be some offset that's all I I totally totally get you um yeah I um there's a lot there and and I I agree with you um so I'm going to support this tonight because the contract the big chunk of it is already executed this is an extension to to um have the translated Services uh I think what I'm hearing is there are it it appears that there are two of the same types of Engagement or there's something around

engagement and then there's you know we have one that's getting into the community and we have confidence in another coming to do all of this work and that does cause for pause so I I'll support moving this on with a a Keen Eye on ensuring that it's practice um is a bit more uh clear moving moving forward uh and I don't want to project that there's something nefarious going on I just want to make sure that in government we do have to be you know Nimble you know as as best as possible so go ahead um I just I want to I feel like now I have more questions than I had before so I just want to make sure um Sean if you're still on I know we did talk about this in the work session and I was just reviewing my notes from that but now hearing that there is maybe going to be more um staff Reliance for the presentation I just want to make sure I'm correct in understanding that

this was the original plan and how we were going to present it was a mistake to forget the translation services not that this has become necessary because of a change in how the data is going to be presented or the results are going to be presented is am I correct you're correct yeah it was our intention all along to uh make the results and recommendations available to the community um in English and Spanish and that's what this uh $7,000 contract Amendment supports us making that those recommendations available we would have needed that regardless of um the approach and the balance that we struck um in in the Alternatives phase of the project and so that would be um so this really is correcting a staff error that we made in failing to uh appropriately scope and budget for the summaries and Spanish

translation that work would have been necessary in any case okay thank you for that yeah and then I wan to I'm gonna want to be clear that I obviously the the results need to be available to um language speakers in both Spanish and English um that is not my concern it it was kind of the the way that that was delivered felt it just felt a little weird I I would agree with my colleague it it um I want to make sure that it's not a change in how the results are being released that is causing the need for this um but it sounds like it's not so I will also be supporting that tonight thank you for answering that question a pro thank you Mr may I thank my colleagues uh for their engagement on this um on this item uh every every single check that the city of durm has written to any contractor is cleared um we we don't take anything from anybody uh we don't we don't steal work uh so every every check that we've written has cleared I want to make it clear that

that if if I thought that this city were in any way acting unts or illegally um you know that that would be a matter of that would be an issue before this Council I think I'm supporting this this this contract tonight because if and I don't know what's going to become the the staff asked for the uh other contract to be sent back to them as they often do uh to do further due diligence so I don't know what's going to be com of that and I'm not going to speculate but if we did not renew that contract One Day More we've already got a ton of data from the engagement we we have stuff um and data points that still need to be interpreted for our for consumption um by our by our by our our citizens our residents us so the I I just want to be certain that the pulling back of that other matter does no violence to this contract whatsoever um because there's still there's already

enough plenty of stuff that needs to be interpreted that we've paid for uh that we've already uh had a check issued and cleared so I I I don't want the impression to get out that we're somehow hobbling ourselves because that contract's been pulled back we have not I we don't know what the final disposition that's going to be yet what we do know is that we've got plenty of data that's sitting uh that needs to be interpreted and gotten out now um so there's plenty of work to be interpreted and getting out so I'm I'm supporting of this I take it as at face value make mistakes if the staff forgot to to include it at the beginning um okay um but I'm I'm supporting I'll take it at face value but if I thought there was something untour going on I'd be the first person calling the staff on the carpet for this and I want to make sure that that we we convey uh that their integrity is intact thank you Mr Mayor thank you thank you colleagues um there are no other comments uh thank you director oh did you I'm sorry go ahead yeah just briefly this is I'm fine with

this contract I understand what's happening I think that this is also just an indicator of how uh language access can be complicated right this engagement was technical it's Transit oriented uh this is not uh if you're going to do it right sometimes this these types of things happen and I'm glad that we are spending uh City dollars uh and fulfilling our duty around a language access plan this is what that calls for uh this type of Engagement this type of money spent on on language um translation interpretation thank you thank you all all right um oh go ahead one more comment yeah i' love perhaps Madam City attorney may want to correct me on this one but I many of us on the council have worked as consultants typically when that happens you you do work for hire right so the the product you produce the data you're talking about mayor pram um is is is for the city right so that's it's not that in any way we're would be taking this from the consultant they're essentially doing work for hire those works as they often refer to them in the contract are

are works for the city of Durham it's it's for us and so that the notion that somehow that we're we're taking something is doesn't make a lot of sense am I correct on that Madam City attorney I'm sorry council member Can you issue like when a consultant works for the city these are often works for hire often termed in a contract right and so those that is work done for the city so that the notion that somehow the city is taking something for a consultant that is work done for the city right that's that's correct I mean if the city has contracted for it it's paid for the services thank you thank you um I think a council member risk makes my point and if that's how we're going to engage with our Outreach Consultants it's going to be impossible to find Consultants um just noting that you know when you're trying to engage with people in the Hispanic Community or you're trying to engage with people in the black community um taking relationships as work for hire is not how that operates and so I think we need to have a conversation about what that engagement and Outreach looks like

um as a city amongst us because there's some Mis there's some misunderstanding about actual um engagement and how that should operate in community that we love and we trust and we use with commun like it's just not that's just not appropriate so I just want to be clear this is not the same thing as hiring an engineer to do engineering studies this is actual people in the community doing work with relationships they have and that's not for sale that's all thank you all right thank you uh at this time I will entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute amendment number one to the supplemental agreement number three with WP USA Incorporated for the Duram freeway study in the amount of $7,250 for revised total contract amount of $438,500

please close the vote motion passes unanimously thank you so much all right um going back up to number four this was yeah General obligation Bond all right uh this item has been pulled by a few folks and I am going to start with our online speakers first I have one person online uh signed up shenise are you there shenise Hamilton Mr Mayor Miss chenice is not in the cube okay thank you that's the only person I had online the next person I have I'll move to in person uh first person Virginia Workman Mr Mayor Miss workman's in the

queue how did that happen she probably was here and left hi um I signed up to speak and I specifically said I would like to speak virtually um I think there was just a little confusion I apologize for any resulting confusion I think you know how to do magic because I have you signed up physically right here with someone I guess someone signed you up uh welcome I'll will take you V virtually and actually have you signed up on several things uh welcome you have three minutes um thank you I was initially excited to see uh the city putting funds towards the much needed sidewalk repairs and the park upgrades in Street repaving in East dur and then I caught up with my friend Keith whose home was destroyed by TBD officers instructed to Clear Long Meadow Park for construction repairs he isn't here to speak tonight because he's waiting in the line at the shelter he and all the other individuals staying in that area are now displaced without spare clothes without a tent a sleeping bag toiletries or even a couple

treasured belongings like books notes from loved ones or pictures of family Keith loves books that's why we we're friends we actually trade books back and forth make no mistake they all had carefully saved and gathered these items but the police threw them away when they raided their camp and this is the third time this year he is that everything he owns thrown away the first two times or when the forest where he was Sheltering was clearcut to make way for two different expensive high-rise apartments or condos I don't know which this time it was because he was hospitalized for his unmet medical needs while his home was being dismantled in the name of City Improvement I understand these repairs are needed but I want to ask why we need to punish some to benefit others how is it ethical to displace and endanger living people as a casualty of infrastructural progress we need infrastructure to serve the people not act as a vehicle for gentrification in the durm 2023 community Health assessment affordable housing was listed as number one Health priority our people are clearly able to name this deficit so why is this concern not being addressed

5% could pay for Supportive Housing for over 375 unhoused people in a single year our infrastructure gets $200 million but what about the people who utilize these city services who are struggling to stay housed and sheltered please do not displace and harm people in the name of so-called progress I urge you to address Durham's housing crisis and escalating gentrification before more of our own residents are forced to sleep without shelter thank you thank you I um

okay I will now move to in person uh Ripley Thorton and after R Ripley will be Samuel Scaro and Thomas Crow Albert in that order welcome you have three minutes hey guys I'm Ripley I've never spoken up here before um but I've wanted to for a long time I work down town um at a restaurant so I see a lot of homeless people um and I I'm really concerned about what these measures are doing to them already when they haven't even really fully started yet um um it kind of just like like the the shelters that um cook mentioned were sick uh that's really cool that they're opening new shelters um but the one that they

mentioned specifically was is like an hour walk away from down toown um and I think if the shelters were working we wouldn't have seen such a big increase in like the chronically unhoused population in durm that we saw from last year which was 34% um I'm sorry I'm pretty nervous but um I think that it's really well documented what some of the like effects of the beautification of Durham could do to the population that I'm concerned about um I don't need to like list off all the all the statistics for you I think what I'm asking for is like some more consideration of that population um and I think I want durm to stay um kind of like a big banner of progress I think we are in a lot of ways and I'm not on that I think it's really cool a lot of the things we've done uh um but um those residents are important and they're part of Durham um

I care about them I'm a big sucker I always give money and food um and they definitely don't deserve to have their stuff taken um and like valuable uh memories taken I'm a very sentimental guy that would suck um if you lost like the last belongings you had from people you loved forever um and I also wanted to point out that there are programs all over the world that are trying to address this issue of chronic homelessness and some of them have been successful and maybe they fail in some ways and they succeed in others and I'm like begging you to look at those and um incorporate them into your um programs that usually would displace those people so thank you thank you next hello uh my name is Samuel Scarboro I am a resident of Southside of Durham

uh I come to you all today as a descendant of the hatah community yeah just real quick so we hear you but the folks listening online are like what's happening with the mic so don't don't touch it you're good means cool means uh today I come to you all as a descendant of the historic hati Community which I'm still a part of um and I want to bring up some striking similarities uh particularly between that development of 147 and then the current Bond referendum I think one of the first things is that the 147 project that was built through my ancestors Community was under the opes of improving infrastructure built on the foundation of broken promises to the community that overwhelmingly supported the initiative and I think as many have already referenced today we are still grappling with the legacy of 147 both in terms of the physical destruction of the space and the ways in which city approaches planning and development and so I find this current

situation very similar to the one that my ancestors face I like most of us here support investing in improvements to infrastructure in East Durham but I ask this body will we learn from and confront the system's practice of displacing the most marginalized or will the city continue to fail them according to a city report this year the number of chronically unhoused people in Durham increased by 34% the number of homeless children increased by 58% and the number of unhoused families has risen by 31% these numbers are shameful these numbers are damnable and if we do not invest more into Supportive Housing if we pass this bond without creating any additional Community leg and driven support structure more people will have no housing more people will be displaced the low-wage essential workers who make the city run will not be able to afford to live in East dur and this city of medicine will not heal but instead continue making deeper wounds like the ones that we have witnessed before and so tonight I join many of us here in

urging this body to tap into the millions in our rainy day fund to address this crisis to address this emergency using the words of a brother that actually councilman Middleton mentioned before elhaj Malik El shabaz also known as Malcolm X we are calling for a collaborative plan to support east's most vulnerable by any means necessary thank you thank you thank you next good afternoon everybody evening afternoon it's a bit late um my name is Thomas craw Britton I am currently an unhoused resident here in Durham uh grew up right down the road in oox North Carolina but you know came to Durham all my life I've seen a lot of changes in this city both good and bad um I'm very excited for this Bond referendum like and all for the bond um we need new parks and the parks the plans look beautiful uh we need new streets and sidewalks I want to see Durham grow but

I'm very concerned every Sunday um me and a few other folks give out around 100 125 meals at Long Meadow Park uh once Sunday uh in November we came and noticed that the medium-sized relatively large uh encampment of unhoused people and all the tents were gone at the park uh after talking with folks we learned that on the 12th of November there was a sweeping by police the only thing that folks were told was that the park was under investigation I am worried I'm very excited to see East End and Long Meadow and Mer Moore um in the new skate drink and everything get the much needed Renovations but as temperatures are now getting below freezing just this weekend we're looking at temperatures around 22 Dees for 3 Days consecutively I have to ask as we're actively displacing Durham residents what are we doing to take care of people we have the money it's freezing I'm lucky enough to sleep in my

car what are we doing for the people who don't have that fortune thank you [Applause] thank you those are all of the speakers I have on this item number five okay right uh the next item I have is number five that's pulled oh I'm sorry that's right I knew it was something that's why I was looking around y'all didn't look at me to say to just call all right so uh this is item number four I'll now entertain a motion to adopt the resolution certifying and declaring the results of the special bond referendum on the bond orders authorizing the insuance of General obligation bonds held for the city of Durham North Carolina on November 5th 2024 so moved second and a

clct yes um thank you Mr Mayor um I just want to acknowledge everybody that's come in this evening um as many of you know I work with folks who are um are in crisis and potentially going to be unsheltered that is my job when I'm not sitting on this dis and um and unfortunately a lot of my folks uh do end up in the community in our Continuum of Care they end up being unhoused um in some form or another um sometimes for a short amount of time and sometimes for a long period of time and um I want to acknowledge just that a lot of y'all have come out to speak and you've spoken really eloquently on things that are really really complicated I think um and we're all coming at this sort of from different spaces um and I just want to I just want to give an acknowledgement to the fact

that we are looking at infrastructure investment in certain communities where this body has not invested previously and there are a lot of reasons for that but a big one is is race and we have to really think about and acknowledge that history because it is real it is the reason why we have seen a lot of these communities go without the nice parks and beautification that we see in other areas of town um something else that also comes into play that a lot of us talk about is the ability to hold and pass down wealth and we know through systems that have been racist and and have other issues that particularly black land owners in this city have had their properties devalued and they have not been able to amass and hold wealth in the same way that other communities have and um and we just

heard from Samuel who was speaking really well on this but some of that has been intentional things done by the city that have actually created that barrier to amassing and passing down wealth in the black community um it does not mean that we get a pass then on doing that infrastructure investment now right like the answer is not to not do it um it is not to say Well it hasn't been done and so therefore we are unable to do it without displacing people and we and we can't do it um that's not of course the answer and I think nobody's asking for that right everyone knows that we need those Investments and everybody wants the valuation of things to match the work and care that people have put in to holding that wealth and and the want that they have to have their family be secure for generations to come um and I think a lot of us up here want that too the question is how do we ensure that the infrastructure development that we do serves the people

who live there and that those people get to remain and use those Services um that's a hard question I think that it's made Harder by state laws in North Carolina and that's something that we have to be really Frank about is is what we are able to do um with our state legislature and those preemptions um but it's not impossible and um we do have the ability to have Creative Solutions around this and so I I want to welcome this conversation I said this at the work session and I just want to reemphasize again if we start this process and we see the effects of gentrification we are already too late like this is the time that we need to really be putting in the safety mechanisms to ensure that those folks get to stay where they are um and I think that there's another piece that y'all brought up really well too which is this issue of the folks who are unsheltered um and what development means for their safety um and and frankly where our priorities lie in

terms of how we spend our budgetary money um that is also an extremely complicated question that involves communication with the county and state and federal money um and it is something that I'm diving into deeper so I would I would really welcome folks who want to have this conversation um either about capturing of wealth and ensuring that those that should get that investment are able to get that investment and also um as a as a related but a kind of also complicated issue how we ensure that our um unsheltered neighbors are cared for in this community and have a safe place to go because I knew it as I was saying it but um the White Flag shelters obviously that's not good enough right like and and I think it was Ripley that said it at the beginning but it's not enough um and I think that we all know that we are falling short of caring for our community um in a way that's adequate and and really reflect refs the priorities of the city so thank you all for speaking I'm of course going to be

supporting the bond because again I do think that it went out to the to the population it was voted on it was supported by a majority of people um and also we we're going to be really careful and I want y'all to keep coming out and holding our feet to the fire on this issue so thank you so much for coming and thank you for your hard work so far and I look forward to working with youall on Creative Solutions moving forward thank you [Applause] coun member Baker I'll be brief because um council member cook put into words many of my many of my thoughts but I do think that um some of the words we heard tonight and and these are not new things that we've heard are a call to action to to follow up on this historic bond which will do so much uh great for uh many neighborhoods that have have experienced underinvestment for for many decades and yet are seeing in these neighborhoods

and across our city uh displacement as a result of of Investments um both public and private it's really uh in the context of a of a very uh exploitative uh National and state levels of government uh we have limitations on the kinds of tools that are available to us I like to to say we're trying to build a house with a hairbrush but we do have zoning taxes infrastructure services and all of these things influence uh in one way or another um the way that people can live their lives the quality of neighborhoods and um whether people are are um pushed out of their neighborhoods or or not um and so I think that we need to be very careful with those tools uh as as we move ahead and make sure that we are thinking comprehens intensively um from a geographic standpoint and from a topic standpoint every single time we observe a location

within our city that is undergoing or is anticipated to undergo a significant amount of investment public investment or private investment because that can be a very good thing it can drive up L land rents and it can make quality of life much better in those places it can also kick people out and so uh we need to uh anticipate that I think some of the tools we have available to us small area planning the unified development ordinance rewrite um our ability to invest in social housing and permanent uh housing um and and other tools that I think we need to think about uh collectively um and and so that's that's going to be that's going to be important and I appreciate the call to action that we heard um from community members this evening thank you Mr Mo than properly seconded um Madam CL we please open the vote please close the

5 million

to police cars yet there are still people in this city as we've just talked about without adequate housing over 3. 5 million to fund local Mutual Aid efforts as we know our social safety nets will be severely damaged or destroyed by the incoming presidential Administration so all I want to do is to leave us tonight

and think about how this money could be used differently in community safety efforts that are more evidence-driven that are more backed by research than policing and thinking about ways that we can Empower ourselves especially as we weather the storm that is this incoming Trump Administration thank you [Applause] thank you uh those are the speakers that I have for that item so therefore uh I'll entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute a contract with Clinton Automotive LLC DBA Deacon Jones Ford of Clinton North Carolina for the purchase of 77 hybrid police patrol SUVs for a total of amount of 3,3 3,662 32559 move is Right second it's been mov in properly second Madam clerk please open to

vote please close the vote motion passes unanimously thank you and I have item number six pulled um Virginia Workman is she in the queue nope Miss workman's not in the queue all right um do I have a Elizabeth irat erant just in person okay welcome you have three minutes good evening council

members um my name is Elizabeth aant I'm here to voice my opposition to consent agenda items five and six um which together would devote almost $5 million to purchasing and upfitting 77 new police vehicles Community safety Community safety is a pressing concern for the citizens of Durham but if we continue to spend our money on law enforcement without addressing the root causes of violent crime these costs will only continue to spiral out of control without making us any safer is unclear to me why we are spending Millions for new police vehicles when there are hundreds of Durham citizens who have nowhere to sleep at night um I know that uh many previous speakers have given some information on this uh I know that there was an encampment that was cleared out recently there are a lot of people who have no place to go and I know that there are some existing resources but as we've already discussed it's just not enough and as uh council member cook pointed out it's a very complicated issue and a

lot of people fall through the cracks um so we need more Supportive Housing we need warming and cooling centers especially with the increase in extreme climates um during the winter and especially the coming Summers uh this is a matter of life and death for any of our unhoused citizens and so I hope that we can put this kind of funding into infrastructure that supports them we need we need support for parents um who many of whom are afraid to reach out for help for fear of having their children taken away um this is a very real fear I've met young mothers in the last few weeks who have had exactly this happen to them who have reached out for help and had their children taken away as a result and so that is a real barrier for people in one of the complications that arise um I know this is a complicated issue but I hope that we can put funding toward this kind of infrastructure and this kind of care instead of toward more policing um some other speakers have uplifted the uh Community Health assessment survey which uh noted that Community safety is a top concern I also

want to uplift the East Durham Community design project which found that when it comes to community safety housing is actually the number one concern for the East Durham citizens who were surveyed um and finally I want want to refer back to um Sam Cook and remind us that the legendary song that we were honoring today begins I was born by the river in a little tent um and the reality is that in Durham people are living in tents and children are being born into those conditions and that's something that we have the power to stop so I would urge you to um invest in care for our community and not in further policing thank you [Applause] all right um colleagues we're good okay um I normally I would just go straight to the motion but I um I want to appreciate everyone who came out and spoke uh I know there are a lot of

people that are watching and usually when we speak that's normally what is the last thing that we um that we remember so I wanted to just um I as I was kind of doing my research and just looking out I I knew that this was going to be a topic of discussion tonight and I just wanted to make sure that I uh provided some context uh this Council while considering the issues that we have in this community it'll never be enough this Council in fact has invested and we continue to there was a $95 million housing Bond 10 million of that was for homeless Services we recently contracted with uh families moving forward to do some Outreach uh to uh go out into the encampments and do as much engagement as we

can this city is funding a Continuum of Care and while it can still be improved which is what we're constantly working towards I do not want it to come off as if we're not doing anything um is it enough I know it's not enough because what wasn't mentioned tonight is there's an organization that actually recruits homeless people and then put them out in the streets of Durham and it's beyond our control because it's considered a religious institution and the North Carolina General Assembly does not allow us to address that so I want to be real honest about what we're doing here often what happens at the state level there is some type of preemption and then they watch us fight here locally and they watch us make it come and make an either or statement so I want to make sure I'm very clear there is no either or whether we support Public Safety or homelessness it

has to be both and I want to State this personally I never going to be okay with someone living in a tent that's not the housing condition that I want to sustain from someone I don't want you sir to be sustained living in your car I want to make sure you have resources available so that you don't have to live in your car that's what we should be talking about that's what I'm working toward that's what I know many people on this council is working toward but I won't tolerate that being the image that we are considered that we're not doing anything for homelessness and I know folks are not saying that and I want to thank you all for coming out who did speak tonight because what it says is we have people who have their eye on this and that you are passionate about it but I also want to say we are too and you know there's almost $4 million in Grants that's coming through that we have that we're pass through as um the rapid rehousing we're putting 200,000 a

city City's half of the unsheltered coordinating agency contract 215,000 uh coordinated entry diversion 477,000 uh landlord engagement 150,000 White Flag shelter 190,000 the Hut gives the city 2 million to help support with the Continuum of Care we have 300,000 directly to the city for permanent supporting housing it is not enough we did just actually help purchase property for more perform um um permanent housing permanent permanent Supportive Housing we just took over 240 million I mean 240,000 and and supported DHA we have almost million dollars that legal aid we're literally funding we're literally funding a law firm in the court to support this measure and we're also supporting an agency to try to help with our public housing and we're doing that with the federal government who has no idea what the hell is going to happen coming up in

January so our image and our identity will not be that we're not doing anything we're actually doing a lot beyond what we can actually do and let me end with this it's not even our portfolio there's 18 million in accting right now for Housing Services expansion so I appreciate everyone's passion I appreciate my colleagues uh comments I do want to I do want to State for the record this is a council that is investing in housing um we're doing the best we can it's not enough and and I think the first step to being able to do this better is we continue to try and we have to acknowledge that we're we're doing the best we can is not enough but we also have to be realistic with the conditions that are that are the forces out there against what we're trying to do but if we're going to talk about the homeless Services we're not going to talk we cannot take down something else the public voted on a referendum for the

parks and it doesn't mean oh you have better Parks so you do you have a a bigger homeless issue it's bigger than that this is a real size City so yes we're going to get Parks because guess what in those communities those Parks have been underinvested unvested for a long time and we should never be okay with encampments we want to make sure that those folks have access to the Continuum of Care so they don't have to sleep in a camp and that's where we start so we're going to continue to do this we're going to continue to put more funding toward it we have an entire Housing Initiative that's being worked on Council cavier is leading that up we I mean we're doing we're doing what we can so I just wanted to put that out there for context um so that those who are listening are not thinking that oh the city the city's not doing it or they're refusing to support homelessness you know like no we it's not even our portfolio uh there there are improvements systematically

that we do need to work on that's for sure you know and we're going to get there trust me what we're hearing out here we're saying up here as well but uh Le let's let's I I'd rather work with everyone to find Solutions um rather than you know just pretending we're not doing anything with that being said I entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute a contract with Dana Safety Supply Incorporated of Greensboro North Carolina for the police upfitting of 77 new police vehicles with police lighting siren wiring Etc um for a total amount of 1,274 306 mve is Right second thank you madam CLK please open un Readiness Mr Mayor I just want to make sure that we um don't leave the conversation as a as a battle I think I I do want to appreciate folks being here this evening and I do want to offer that if there is any solutions that you do have a heard a number of

7 million um I think that that would be a healthy way to move forward and and making sure that that we don't just leave it at what's going on right now and that's all so for this is not a battle I actually agree with what's being said it's just that we have to work we there has to be conversation you know and there's Eliza in the back over there working with housing uh aack and they have recommendations coming there's a Housing Initiative the council member ciero is doing there are many Avenues is what I'm saying that folks can engage with this is not a battle I don't want you all to think that this is not a US versus you or it's just not that this is me appreciating your passion but also providing context to the overall conversation so I want to be clear with

that that I agree with a lot of what you're saying but there's a lot that's already happening and I want you to join those efforts that's what I'm saying M cler please open the vote please close the vote report out motion passes unanimously thank you at this time um Miss Bell we're coming to you good to see you we are going to take a break uh for uh 10 minutes so we'll resume back at 9:12 thank you

the department has a couple of new initiatives that you're using to try to recruit specific applicant types um so let's start with the 3030 initiative 30530 initiative what is a goal of that program and why is it needed so traditionally law enforcement has been a a male dominated field and we want to change that so we're looking to increase those numbers uh we're pushing get 30% more females into the department by the year 2030 um by doing this kind of initiative we're trying to highlight law enforcement for women and try to make it an appealing career move for someone that may not have thought that law enforcement was for them how do you attract a a say a high school basketball player to who who's interested I mean what what would you say to him about joining the fire department so uh p on the spot no High

School guyses uh High School people are in general they're easy to Target cuz they're young so uh for me it's always about the money hey when you're 18 you can make 45,000 straight out of high school I don't know many 18y olds that can make 45,000 on top of that look you're in a you're you're in a team sport you want to be part of the team continue on that that team Essence the fire department is perfect for you you know we have that Bond we have that family that chemistry we we like to play pranks and jokes just like you do when you're on the team this will be the perfect job for you so you know I just like hey you may not you may not be able to go to college and play D1 Ball but this is you can serve your community and still be part of a team and make your impact here's some tips to ensure that your garbage and recycling gets picked up one your cart should be put out for collection before 6. M on your collection day two your cart should be

at least 3 ft from all other objects such as mailboxes telephone poles fire hydrants trees and other carts three your cart should be no more than 3 ft from the curb four no vehicles should be blocking your carts the mechanical arms on our trucks need direct access to your carts and cannot reach around vehicles to find more information about garbage and recycling pickups go to this web [Music] address owning a home provides a sense of financial stability family community and pride with housing prices are now higher than ever making it hard for many Durham residents to afford their first home that's why the city of Durham is offering the down payment assistance program to support eligible individuals with up to $80,000 in 0% interest interest forgivable loans to purchase a house within the city limits visit this

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that's time bring it back to order please I don't like it he all right we have one more item that was item number uh we're going to we're back in session item number 14 uh has been pulled by a resident uh Victoria Peterson miss Peterson

and be nice to me while you at the mic I hope everyone is doing well I hope everyone is doing well thank you um three minutes welcome I'm Mrs Peterson Victoria Peterson um I have not fallen off the bridge or anything like that I uh some of you may know some may not know that I have a u my husband and I we have a new addition uh to our family and Mr James is uh 3 years old today so I've been pretty busy over the last three years um he's been with us since he was seven days old so um I've been really really busy and have to really focus on him so I haven't really been able to get to a lot of the meetings but I want you to know I have still been involved I've also have had two eye surgery so that has also hindered me some ways but Mr Mayor in City council members I have a concern uh about this uh about this agenda here um

my I take my son a lot to the WD Hill which is in this area that you folks are talking about developing and uh WD Hill and I want every everyone in here to know this if you live close to WD Hill Recreation Center please come down and support that Center that's it's a beautiful fac facility inside they are one of the facilities here in the city where a toddler can come and play and it's gated around it's gated and they stay open until 9:00 at night so I want to share that to let all the city officials know that the WD Hill is an awesome it's a good Center we need to support it and the and the facility that is outside but here is one of my concerns dollars were allotted to that facility several years ago it's not finished on the outside the tennis courts and there are some other

things so I would like to know these dollars that you're speaking about doing on fville street or or fville Road are you folks going to finish the work that needs to be finished at the WD hill hill facility and also that area in front of um the health center um Lincoln Health Center I I have actually been down to the city Mr Mayor several times trying to help get that area cleaned up and one of the and I'm not going to beat up on the city employees because I think a lot of them are doing an awesome job but Mr Mayor I have something I want to tell you you ain't got enough employees we got to hire some more people who can work these communities I literally have to to stop from working at home to go down to the city numerous times about the potholes about companies coming in

building new houses tearing up the roads and not going back repaving if you go on lywood to Austin thank you you will see I'm sorry is at the belt well anyway please I'd like to find out how these dollars are going to be used thank you for that street for the faille street area corer and thank you you're welcome thank you Mr Chadwell could you just kind of give her a briefing uh just over to the side council member Freeman thank you Mr Mayor I also wanted to pull this item it was pulled already but I wanted to just share I had I had heard some questions and some concerns and I expressed those with city manager Paige and asked her if she would be willing to share how the process will work for these dollars to actually be used uh for the properties in that area and so I did want to give her a chance to just spell that out um

specifically where uh and I want to make sure I note that the current oversight is is through the he Tha prom CDC and there is a they are actually on the city's website and there's a page dedicated to this project or these projects and all the funds that are being being directed towards the project and so I do want to just make sure I share that and that the board members are listed along with I don't think I don't think photos but just their names are listed and uh that information is out already and so I do want to just make sure that manager page shares exactly how those ARA City funds will be used to okay thank you uh and so this will answer your question Miss Peterson Mr chat well I iend that request there were a number there were a number of folks who Okay reached out uh thank you Mr Mayor so we um have entered into a three-party agreement and staff please come forward fill in the details um with

uh PT promise the city of Durham uh as well as rebuilding triangle correct so we um are requesting to enter into uh this contract with the partnership through Rebuilding Together of the triangle um the city of Durham and neighborhood Improvement Services as well as the heti promise CDC Community um promise um Corporation and what was your specific question was that in relation to how the funds will specifically be used okay correct so I can speak to in reference to oh I'm sorry I'm Alexis John I'm the interim director of neighborhood Improvement Services good evening um mayor mayor protim and Council as well as Miss Peterson and um

75 million that are going towards this project it is through a partnership between those that I mentioned previously uh we do have active code Enforcement cases on multiple properties in that area which you have probably seen um and so these dollars would be used to uh do repairs to the properties uh bring them into compliance as much as possible uh we will be focusing on vacant properties um because we believe that those are the ones that need the most work and it will take the longest to bring those into compliant uh we are looking to partner with the owners of each property as well as the Community cuz it's going to take us all um and definitely as we are doing those repairs we'll need people like you that are in the community to help us uh keep an eye on the properties and make sure that they're safe as

well and so specifically I wanted to make sure that we explain how the funds I guess essentially the funds are reimbursed and so the outright start for these Pro for these properties would come from rebuild together so the funds are coming from the CDC okay and so through this partnership uh we as NIS are doing the um we are doing the project management portion Rebuilding Together of the triangle is actually going to do the repairs um as well as the city C Is providing funding for us to do this so the CDC has separate funds that will allow them to pay the for the contractors upfront is what you're saying correct okay correct and that's the main thing yes thank

you yes Mr chatwell could you uh step he's going to be able to answer all those questions Mr chatwell is going to speak with you answer all those questions that way we won't have the shout from from the floor thank you it's good to see you and that is all I had Mr Mayor that was all right sounds good that being said I'll now entertain a motion to con to authorize the city manager to execute a contract with ha High promise Community Development Corporation and Rebuilding Together of the triangle in the amount of 1,750,000 to deliver repairs and services that elig properties under the partnership moved is R second been moved and properly seconded Madam clerk please open to vote please close the vote motion passes 70 thank you and the last item we have for the evening number 19 I'm sorry number uh 21 Street renaming of Vivian Street which

is where I parked my car good morning good morning good evening mayor mayor proem council members and staff my name is Jessica daer I'm the senior planning manager or one of the senior planning managers in the planning department staff requests that all planning depart Department testimony and materials presented be set met part of the permanent record I'm sorry just would you pull the mic towards your mouth surely normally that my speaking loudly is not a problem so this street renaming request SN 24001 is to change the official name of Vivien Street the street is shown on the associated Street renaming plat that you all had in your packet the applicant Kristen deir wishes to rename this street to William V bill bellway in order to honor former mayor Bill Bell who greatly in who was greatly involved in the adjacent Durham Performing Art Center and the Revival of Durham Vivien

25 Street naming and renaming names are established for public and private streets or for driveways that provide access within townhouse developments and for pedestrian malls Theo also specifies that street names Shall Not Duplicate nor closely approximate existing street names within the city or county in spelling or pronunciation and that

extensions of existing named streets shall bear the same name additional criteria criteria for street names have been established based on Street length width and other characteristics this request was submitted to service agencies for review and comment all substantive comments were addressed during the review of the case per city transportation the estimated cost of sign replacement will be $365 which is to be paid by the city in an informational meeting about the street renaming request was also held prior to the public hearing for all owners of property fronting along the street only one owner attended and no concerns were raised the street renaming will require that the adjacent properties have new addresses assigned staff finds that renaming the street will not adversely affect the general public and will have little to no Impact Staff is available if there are any questions as is the applicant thank you uh you've heard

staff report are there any questions to the uh to staff council member Cavo thank you Mr Mayor um you said that the city is paying for the street change or the applicant because in our memo it says the applicant but you said the city so I just wanted a clarification on that I don't actually care when way or the I mean I believe that the city is a partial applicant for this okay official person who signed the application is Miss Adair Okay so could be either one based on the memo I believe that the city is paying for it okay that is my understanding I appreciate that yes council member m cook very very very very very specific question but in the actual document um the all the everything is capitalized except for the IL in Bill I'm just Cur I mean it's not like

that on any of our other documents I'm just curious about why it looks like that that's a very good question because I don't remember it being that way when I typed it up well it does have an edit line and there's like a period after Bill there should be no punctuation and it will be all capital be all capital including the there is a 20 character limit so that's a rather long name the way will be smaller at the Top If you want the specific design of that sign the rest will all be the same size but it'll say way a smaller font that's due to the character limitation just the size of the street sign literally okay thanks this is a bit of a silly question um because I'm very excited of to do this um do we know who Vivien was or if it was named after a Vivien are we going to get any emails from descendants I believe it was one of the street names in the The Mill Village

that was there that were the smaller M Village type houses and most of those names in that neighborhood a lot of them were just women's names so I don't know that it's a Vivian family it may have just been somebody's wife okay I don't know for sure thanks Mr Mayor um I think this is a great way to honor former mayor Bill Bell um and I I actually recall when there was the groundbreaking on the the Land There to build deepack there was a there was like a there was like a light sort of was there a light like a light thing that like a column that shown up in the you know shown up to the heavens or whatever so I was there at the groundbreaking with with mayor Bell and it was like that was seems like forever ago but not that long ago so I think it's a great way to honor mayor Bell and I was so glad to have been there when we've launched dpack it's been such a success so great project all right at this time I'll declare the public hearing open seems like it's it's been well um discussed

um I don't have any speakers for this other than any applicant thank you to the mic you got to come up you got to come up whom I started my career with shepher Middle School welcome how much time do you think you need um I only need about 5 Seconds thank you so very much for doing this for my father um welld deserved and I just appreciate you all doing this for him so thank you all thank you any questions for the applicant all right well I will say that uh as a mayor this is uh this is a great honor um I you know Bill Bill Mayor Bill is one of the folks that just simply have not changed since I met him uh I remember I was really really really intimidated by him uh when I when I met him for the first time and I was teaching and uh I remember uh when you were in your classroom he like yeah my dad's the mayor I was like what wow like

I can't believe that the mayor's daughter is working with me I was just really fascinated I had no intentions of being a mayor myself um but uh I live in this area I parked my car on that street so I'm looking forward to seeing Bell Street or bailway long name but yeah yeah it it will be I'm I'm interested in hearing Siri on the GPS so I think I'm I'll put it in um but I I'm grateful to be mayor at this time to uh have this honor before him and I know if he was here he' be like oh just hurry up get it done um thank you thank you for making this happen thank you all all right those are all the speakers I have for this public hearing so that this time I declare the public hearing closed and back before councel and if there are no other additional comments I yeah I just I want to say um because I grew up and Durham and I was in the seventh grade when Bill Bill became mayor and so um he's what I

imagine a mayor always would be he's what I always saw as the mayor and that was back when we had newspapers and so you'd open up the newspaper it would land on your front porch you remember that uh and he was on the cover so often and um so this is just a very it's a very special moment to to think about that this this sort of icon that I had and someone who um led me into the interest in Civic engagement and Civic life um being able to to vote to to approve uh Street renaming in his honor um it's it's something that I'm very excited about thank you so this time I'll entertain a motion to change the name of Vivian Street to William V Bill Bell way so moved second second and moved and probably seconded by the entire Council uh Madam clerk please open the vote please close the vote and the motion's unanimous thank

you so much um please send us invites to the uh celebration I will just add that it's not just he was the mayor he's also a county commissioner and has been very active in almost every nonprofit in the city in the county and I would say he served on numerous boards this is not just a mayor so way more a father a husband yeah well he enjoyed being married the most he enjoyed being married the most we're going to be we're going to this is favoritism because you're in the people's house of the city of Durham tonight so um with that being said uh colleagues that is the end of our uh consent items but we do have one other very important matter publish agenda I'm sorry um we have one other matter uh that is actually quite significant we uh this is regarding our close session um and now we are here to make a

motion to appoint William Bowman Bo Ferguson as city manager of the city of Durham I'll entertain that motion so moved second it's been moved and properly seconded Madam clerk please open the vote um Mr Mayor I just want to make are we doing item 19 we're not doing item 19 we did that one okay yep please close the vote the motion passes unanimously thank you [Applause] and that will take effect January 1 2025 all right uh and we will have more information on this I believe um but we

needed to make sure we uh reported out on that vote so and we'll have all the other stuff to come with that at the appropriate time the swearing in all of those things you do have big shoes to fill um this has been a process but I appreciate my colleagues for everything that went with that um yeah all right uh at this time we will just sorry I had my hand up during that and I didn't vote because I was I thought we were in the middle of talking but I just wanted to understand um and I know that it wasn't on the published agenda so just for the public and for my my own understanding how that motion came to be raised and and what the what necessitated it getting on this agenda so if you could just clarify that yeah we well we had to uh we definitely had to go ahead and take this action um this is this is us reporting out from our Clos

session it wasn't published on the agenda so I thought that it didn't have to be published uh but Madam attorney go ahead thank you um so the council can initiate a motion when it's an open session at any time and many councils do operate without a public agenda so it doesn't have to be in print um the council has had a number of closed sessions to discuss Mr Ferguson's candidacy for the city manager and at some point the council has a legal obligation to report out its decision um and so the mayor instructed me to prepare that motion that he just read for the purposes of this meeting yeah thanks I know I was meant to get it beforehand and just for my own technological issues did not get it beforehand so I just wanted to make sure that it was clear um the process because I just feel like it happened very quickly so thank youhe thank you m actually uh Council

fre had am at first that was your comment okay um midon thank you thank you Mr May and I thank my colleagues for congratulations uh manager designate uh F Ferguson congratulations to mayor and Council as well for this perhaps one of the most important decisions we can make as a council probably second to passing of the budget um and congratulations to the citizens of Durham I do to council me uh council member Cook's uh Point per the mayor's directive I did reach out to each council member while the mayor his honor was traveling um to inform uh each member uh that this would be coming up and that we would be reporting out of our um Clos session via text and I left messages council member cook did indicate to me that her she's she's got issues um um formatting her her voicemail when she gets it that voicemail will be on there so apy that that wasn't uh but I don't I don't want council member to think that she was not uphold or or or an attempt was not made

to contact her as I did for each and every council member and and so apologies on that but um thank you congratulations I I I also want to just State the reason why I also just kind of made the motion and we took action because it is a Personnel matter so we're really not positioned to have a lot of discussion around that so This Is Us pretty much making good publicly what we discussed in close session all right thank you I I do want to appreciate um mayor protim making that note I do I I do rece I think I did rece I didn't receive a call I but I what have whatever I think the the mayor mentioned it earlier this afternoon but I do think that this process has been kind of uh a little scary along and so I do want to just say that as I said previously um I think that this this has been what it is and I would have appreciated a more open process where we could have moved a

number of candidates forward for consideration there was a closed session vote of a 4-3 split or five two split whatever it was and I do want to make sure that I'm clear like that is not in any any way shape or form um a slight to uh intrum or whatever the uh the next city manager um B Ferguson and his ability to do the job I think it's just a matter of the way the process has gone and so we've got to work on that and I do want to reiterate that I think we've we've brought it up a number of time about process and procedures and also figuring out what it would look like to actually evaluate in a very objective way a city manager uh City attorney and uh City Clerk and so I know that those things have been discussed they haven't been brought forward and I want to make sure that I say it that's allk I and and just for reference um uh for I I I have to address that to the public

um when discussing Personnel matters we do have to discuss that in close session um so you won't hear the council discuss Personnel matters publicly um there were several options provided to the council and the Council made a choice uh it just happened to be the same choice that the county just recently made as well to make an appointment of talent that is at the top of the totem pole and just about every search firm you can find uh so that there was a choice made um and we chose that choice that does not mean that there was something lacking Integrity or any of those things things that just simply mean that means that the council took advantage of its prerogative to move forward with one of the options that was provided to us by our professional HR staff uh and uh there were other options that we could have gone with if most folks said that's the way they wanted to go U so to not go

to option of your preference does it mean that there was something uh lacking Integrity um I understand what you're saying council member freem and you wanted another option that wasn't the option that we went with and so it it wasn't like a smoke field room type of decision it was we just took an option uh that majority went with so with that being said uh we um and I wanted to explain that because you know yes I even when I'm looking at it it's like it's not good practice to discuss the the parameters of the person so you just need to make that motion and then we will actually uh which is a reflection of the decision that's already been made uh in Clos session um so now we have to make good on that publicly by making a formal vote in Open Session and we will also the contract is public we'll also um talk about all the things to come with that and around that person and uh Mr Ferguson Deputy city manager Ferguson you've been here for

some good time you have big shoes to fill the council has spoken and we will um put attention to that in very in the very near future but tonight's W night um but uh yeah go ahead yeah I just wanted to Second the comments made by council member cook and council member Freeman um also a little bit surprised I I think we've got a little Tech issue because I I did end up getting uh mayor prm's uh message uh for some reason and there was a delay so I had actually texted you back and then um I received the message yesterday for some reason so I need to take a look at at my voicemail um and um appreciate the the comments that are made Mr may your comments um and uh while I was also one of those folks who was interested from the beginning for for with a different uh process um I look forward to to working

with um with our new our new city manager thank you um as one of the folks on this Council who's actually done this work professionally the creation of Competency rubrics um worked for a national search firm who's had to hire superintendence uh created uh the objective quote objective processes that you do for top level Talent often you create a process where there is an individual you you you try and put them through their Paces you try and create a process where the person is going to to the best of their ability match the job description uh for principles you might have quote an interview with an angry parent or an angry teacher and you try and simulate the best that you can but it's a simulation it's never going to match what that person's going to be able to actually do on the job and I

just want to say very clearly uh for the public for the benefit of the public one of the scariest days that I have ever been on this council is and we had a massive gas explosion at the time city manager at that time Bonfield was out he was on vacation and we had acting uh City the dcms would rotate and by what it was it was at the time DCM Bo Ferguson he was there on that day um mayor SCH actually had blood on his Coller uh because he had gotten on site so immediately after the gas explosion and I don't need a simulation because I saw somebody who knows exactly what to do on a very scary day when the community is reeling when you have chaos when you have fire engines when you are in a deep deep emergency and so I just want to share that uh my experience and I am very eager and excited uh to work

with uh our next city manager um who has done an incredible job as a DCM and I know that uh we are so lucky in the city that we had such deep talent that we were able to have city manager page and such deep deep talent that we have um an incredible group of dcms and one of them uh wanted a really really hard job so I'm very thankful it means that we are a very well well-run organization when you have internal talent that means you've treated your people right that means they haven't left for other jobs elsewhere so I just wanted to share that for the benefit of the public thank you thank you council member cook I just wanted to clarify my point earlier which was that though I have expressed frustration with how this process has gone forward I literally thought we were having a conversation when we took that vote and my vote would have been different and so I'm I'm also frustrated that that felt really rushed because we were literally speaking and I had my hand up um so anyway that uh I'm just frustrated with

how that went because I would have liked to have had a yes vote and I want to also say congratulations I feel like I like came off as very flustered because I was very flustered and that is not to say that I am not excited about the prospect I wanted to say my heartfelt congratulations both to the manager who is uh retiring at the end of the year after an incredible tenure of the city and to our incoming new manager um but yeah I just that that was all I just felt very rushed and I wish that I had had a had had more time to be recognized so that I could have had a vote that I understood I and I want to be very clear what what we just voted on is exactly what I messaged all of you all about um the preferences that I sent you all the the are you okay with these things this is what's going in the contract um that's what we just voted on it it it wasn't anything different and um I again I I think there was a question from us

and the followup was missed us all so there wasn't anything to say what was actually agreed on and so I have no idea at this point what was agreed on other than we're moving forward if there were any changes and so it would be great to have that in writing um shared with the entire Council yeah it was sent to you okay to everyone uh Madame attorney sent everyone the contract which was reflective of what you all agreed on in the messages um there was again there was nothing different than what you've already agreed on we just needed to take a public vote uh and tonight we just took that official action and now we will build up the uh all of the context around it for the public useth and uh Mr Mayor yes yeah I just want to say um as one of the council members I got the email thank you for saying that along with the city attorney um and the chance to go through those documents I appreciate that due diligence um and I am 100% excited about our new city manager Bo Ferguson and I can't wait to get started working with you thank you so much

thank you thank you Mr Mayor I um you I want to thank my colleagues for for their engagement around this I um I in my years of Public Service I've never found myself in a position to to talk about what was discussed I'll suspend are we good we ready uh where I'd have to have a substance of conversation about something that occurred in a closed session um ever um in my public service but uh in so far as that it was broached I will say that the it's important that the members um the public our residents our neighbors know that the conversation by my recollection did not turn on Bo Ferguson it turned on the process which which I understand but I I want to say um I chose the same process that yielded us Wanda page um and my my belief is that each council member brought to this process

um their best selves as I always say integrity and sobriety and as a person who has lost votes before who has had things not go the way they wanted it to go I get it it sucks but there's a way to lose and there's a way to win this process that we undertook um was one of the choices that was available to us as a council it was not uh uh uh um um sneaky wasn't underhanded it's the same thing we did when we hired Wanda page we chose to appoint which is within our purview I respect folk who wanted to go a different way in terms of process I've lost votes before but I think on tonight it's important that that when we leave this chamber that the folk in the city understand that of the choices we had four of us or the majority of us crossed the threshold to go this way but the the the and I think

it's important for for manager designate Ferguson to understand that this wasn't about him this was about some of us wanted to see other things see other folk uh and I get that but at the end of the day the council has spoken um we've spoken within the legal parameters in which we're allowed to speak um and I think this is a great night for our city thank you Mr Mayor all right thank you all uh just just putting all of this in a nice little wrapping um yes we had discussions as a council we chose the process to a point um we I negotiated on behalf of the council by communicating with council members the terms of the contract which is now public um the terms of the contract has been agreed upon that has been placed in the the contract the contract has been signed by um Mr Ferguson uh myself our

city clerk and I can't remember there were any other signatures but um Finance Finance director uh and what the contract reflects is what this Council agreed upon uh the process we chose by majority was to appoint we did such we negotiated the contract the contract is now finished signed and we are now reporting out uh the preference of the council um of what we decided in close session of who and our process we chose was public and everyone knows that we just needed to codify that decision um I did reach out to each of you I did with those preferences to shape the contract and uh just to uh just go around one more round just to give you a final look at the contract it was sent to your emails and uh I did instruct um mayor protim to reach out to each of you all I'm sorry that technical issues um but we do know that tonight was Council um Madam manager's last meeting and time is of the essence so we do need to get this

done which is why we're here now and uh it's been codified and we have no more business business on the agenda and I want to thank you all uh because we have hired a really really really great individual um before we wrap up other under other matters I did want to bring uh request to get an update on the wheels Park is a Wheels spun Park skate rink or what have you have been hearing there's some more delays and I don't know what's going on so I just want to make sure that we do get that update I know the work session is on Thursday and if it's possible to at least here from staff on it that would be phenomenal because we're going into the holiday and if it's not open uh kids need to know thank you all right so there's no B business on the agenda thank you all so much uh Mr Ferguson will be in church in in church will be in touch uh and um as we uh transition to your new role I want to thank all of our staff especially our

other dcms we could have chosen any of them uh and would have been perfectly fine um but we now know what the next few weeks will look like and I would implore you to spend intimate time with manager paig as we carry out this transition that being said we are adjourned at 9:53 thank you pi

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