City Council · Regular Meeting · June 20, 2023

good evening everybody happy Tuesday we would like to call the Durham city council meeting to order for this the 20th day of June 2023 here in city council chambers I'd like to welcome all of you all who are here with us this evening standing in the hallways seated all about welcome welcome welcome and we also welcome those of you who are joining us on the internet as well please join me in a moment of silent meditation thank you all thank you all I'll now recognize councilwoman Freeman who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance at this time thank you if you are able to stand with us and salute the

flag United States of America stand na indivisible Li jce Madam clerk if you will call the road for us please mayor O'Neal I am present mayor protm Middleton I'm here council member cabero here council member Freeman pres council member Holly Hyman pres council member Johnson here and council member Williams I'm present thank you all right we have a we have three ceremonial items tonight before we get started on the people's business the first is going to be a proclamation I will read that which is the mayor's Monarch pledge day Proclamation and Miss Siana fan is going to be here I think to receive that and she is with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation also we will have a proclamation by I'm going to say that

one is by councilwoman ciero who will um read the Clift and cranial facial aware this month Proclamation I believe she will be reading that one and as the one that I know will bring u m protim joyous praise tonight is a proclamation for the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop so we will get started all right all right everybody smile now okay we all breathing and moving around and here we go I do this one also

in order in memory of my nine-year-old niece Javiera uh Ry Williams who we lost um several years ago just celebrated her life um the butterfly we recognize as a family um whenever we see a butterfly it was one of her favorite it was her favorite creature I guess or insect and so Jill Aunt Lane is doing this for you where is the monarch butterfly is an iconic North American species whose multigenerational migration and metamorph es from caterpillar to butterfly has captured the imagination of millions of Americans and whereas dur recognizes that human health ultimately depends on well functioning ecosystems and that biodiverse regions can better support food production healthy soil and air quality and can foster healthy connections between humans and Wildlife

and where cities towns and Counties have a critical role to play to help save the monarch butterfly and Durham is striving to become a leader and whereas on March 31st 2023 Iain and O'Neal signed the National Wildlife federation's mayor's Monarch pledge and have officially committed to taking meaningful action to protect the monarch butterfly and whereas every resident of durm can make a difference for the Monarch by planting n native milkweed and nectar plants to provide habitat for the Monarch and pollinators and locations where people live live work learn play and worship and whereas Durham has committed to continually recognizing the efforts and importance of the D Durham area Autobon Society I hope I pronounce it right engaging in conversation with Community Gardens on best practices for cultivating a space for pollinators participation in milk wheed seed exchange keeping green WS green ways and community art an integral part of the

city of durm culture now therefore I El O'Neal mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina to hereby PL June 20th 23 as mayor's Monarch pledge day in Durham and hereby urge all residents to participate in community activities that support and celebrate Monarch conservation witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this the 20th day of June 2023 for the butterfly all right um thank you mayor O'Neal and uh good evening to the members of the Durham city council and everyone here uh my name is NAD Salam and I serve on the board of directors for the nonprofit keep Duram beautiful and I'm also a litter leader um leading cleanups uh in the local community uh would like to thank uh Shauna Finn who couldn't uh be here and the North Carolina Wildlife

m. to noon got to get in that Shameless plug um and participants can see um demonstration beehives taste honey take-home free pollinator seeds

and um join the parade so those are just ways that you can be active and help us in our work as we keep durm beautiful thank [Applause] you good evening everyone it's my honor to read the following Proclamation whereas orofacial cfts are the most frequently occurring birth defects in the United States affecting about 1 in 700 infants per year and whereas infants born with cfts and other crano facial conditions

usually require surgery as well as specialized feeding support dental and Orthodontic Care speech therapy hearing intervention and social emotional support as they grow and develop and whereas this complexity of services need to be provided in a synchronized manner over a period of years and are best provided by interdisciplinary cleft and cranofacial teams and whereas organizations such as the American cleft pallet and cranofacial Association serve populations affected by cranofacial differences and the professionals who care for them in order to help infants have a healthy start to Life by providing their families with Comprehensive information support and connection to these interdisciplinary teams and whereas it is fitting and proper to recognize the efforts of organizations and programs such as the cleft and crano facial program at Duke University and its families working to ensure a better life for those affected by cleff lip and pallet and other crano facial conditions now therefore I Elaine M O'Neal mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby proclaim the month of July 2023 as cleft and cranial

facial Awareness Month inter Durham and hereby urg all residents to contribute however they are able to support families and organizations working to Aid those affected by crano facial birth differences witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Drome this 20th day of June [Applause] 2023 thank you mayor O'Neal and everybody else hello everyone my name is Stella Pasion I'm 15 years old and I was born with a unilateral cleft lip I'm honored to receive the proclamation to promote cleft and cranial facial Awareness on behalf of my incredible team of providers at the Duke kleft and cranial facial Center every 2 hours a child in the United States with a cleft lip or pallette is born making it one of the most common of all birth defects I may be biased in saying that babies with the cffs are cutest however a cleft pit lip and Palette can make it difficult to to grow up healthy and can prohibit kids from receiving the same opportunities as

others I may be B oh a cliff condition can be isolated like mine or can occur as part of an inherited disease or syndrome these diseases and syndromes can affect facial development neurological and cognitive development Vision hearing breathing speech and other parts of the body I started going to Duke when I was 5 months old when my parents found Duke they were relieved they felt important and cared for something every parent should feel when their child requires extra medical attention or any medical attention at all as I got older I began to understand that I was born different from other kids and had to go to different doctors and go through different tests than they had to but it didn't feel like a big deal it actually felt awesome I looked forward to my yearly checkups at Duke Children's Hospital the doctors didn't feel like normal doctors that would give you your flu shot or test you for struck throat they felt like friends Duke made it fun to be a cleft kid and they made it as easy as it could be be and they made it feel okay to be different kids with cleft and cranial facial

differences still face hardships as they grow up even if they have the awesomest clf team on Earth like mine they must undergo multiple operations through their childhood and Adolescence and undergo extensive therapeutic treatment they miss school and may struggle with educational social or physical challenges these differences may lead CLE kids to feel isolated I know I have felt isolated before because of my CFT and the more difficult and taxing aspects of my treatment but still I consider myself lucky that I've only had to have two surgeries so far and that I have supportive parents and friends who understand what I've been through I know that others born with cfts haven't been as lucky as I have and despite how common clle and cranial facial conditions are the care and challenges we Face are not general knowledge by those unaffected let me put it this way if I had a nickel for every time I I had to explain what a clip and pallet was I'd be able to afford my favorite Starbucks drink every time I had a test to study for my team the Duke kleft and cranial facial team strives to provide each

child with a confidence and ability to realize his or her full potential without the Duke team I wouldn't be the strong independent person I am today I wouldn't know how much impact individual people and teams can have on our lives and I wouldn't be inspired to help and Empower others like they have helped and empowered me thank you for the opportunity to raise awareness about cleft and cranial facial conditions despite the challenges every child with the cleft or cranial facial difference can grow up to realize their dreams they just need the right team behind them thank [Applause] you ready what an awesome

Proclamation well good evening but the appropriate um greeting tonight is a yeah Yes Yes Y'all I am so honored that we have the coolest mayor in the United States who has see fit to issue a proc uh to celebrate this International transformative art form called hip hop uh council member Heyman that was born up in the Bronx where the people are fresh and we have some special we have some special uh guest tonight uh with us I want you to help me welcome uh to the chamber and to the podium to stand with me the internationally known and locally respected rap group little brother

would you also help me welcome one of the most renowned and respected DJs in America and on the planet our own Brian Dawson it is my Supreme honor to read this Proclamation for hip hop and if y'all want to say Yes Yes Y'all are all yet anytime during it or throw your hands in the air it would be appropriate Proclamation whereas hip hop is a form of black music born in New York City in the 1970s up in the Bronx and whereas the genre originated as a cultural exchange among black Latino and Caribbean Youth and has grown into one of the most consumed genres of music in the United States and whereas hip hop is now an international cultural

force that has influenced the speech clothing dance politics economics and worldview of millions and millions of people of every race culture and religion around the globe and whereas the influence of Hip Hop has been used to Foster messages of unity self-esteem respect for others uplift peace self-knowledge Justice and general positivity by artists such as Queen Latifah Public Enemy and krs1 who was just with us and yeah and whereas the city of Duram is extremely proud of durit that have contributed to the growth and success of hip hop such as Dewey pig meat Markham Little Brother little

brother ninth Wonder DJ nabs and DJ Brian Dawson and DJ Brian Dawson name a few and whereas 2023 marks the 50th year of hip hop the city of Durham celebrates the enduring Genius of black youth and the ability of Hip Hop to Aid in the struggle against violence negativity and self-destruction now therefore I Elaine M O'Neal mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina to hereby proclaim the month of June as hip hop appreciation month in Durham and hereby urge all residents to encourage all residents to celebrate the joy and power of the pulsating beats of the the art form as well as the Force for good many hip-hop artists have been over the last 50 years and to recognize Durham's continued leadership and promoting art that

transforms challenges enriches and uplifts us all witness my hand and the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this the 20th day of June 2023 alane M O'Neal mayor get your hands up so I'm I'm going to present uh the proclamation to uh little brother we had an opportunity if you were at Ben Bay Brian already got a copy uh of the Proclamation so this one is with no double dipping this one is going uh to little brother tonight and we're going to ask them to come up and give some words and if they want to drop some bars I I won't be mad okay thank you so much am man hello is this good okay all right look first off I want to say Brian Dawson your episode of Love It Al listed is one of my

favorites it was great it it was amazing uh man so I came to this city in 1997 uh from greensbor North Carolina uh I was a senior at paage high school and my English teacher my senior year English teacher Mr Bryant Tony Bryant he's uh gone he's passed uh God Rest his soul but he told me and my brother my man big milk who was my roommate he was coming uh we were coming to Central and he said man y'all going to love Durham I didn't't know what he meant but I understood so my first year at Durham my first year in Durham I was a freshman at North Carolina Central University and our homecoming concert was Lil Kim Jay-Z and Luke some of y'all showing your age some of y'all some of y'all telling on yourself you know what I'm saying but and afterwards we went to pan pan and eight for those of y'all that remember yeah

pan pan ah Highly Questionable but so fulfilling um and um you know I had no idea just coming to this city I had no idea that I was going to meet the people that would change my destiny forever you know what I'm saying and uh this is truly the city that made me and uh you know helped me find who I am helped me find my tribe uh creatively um it really it really made a man out of us you know what I'm saying and so uh when we signed our record deal um we did several dumb rappid things when we signed our first deal one of them was get tattoos which we got several of them that some of them we probably regret now you know I mean but one that we never regret uh you know we got our little money whatever and we went over to I went over to 9th Street it was 9th Street it was it was 9th Street and uh it was the tattoos I can't remember the name of it dog star 100% dog star there it is we in Durham damn

it I know all right so listen we're at dog star and uh the tats that I got I was like yo man I'm from Greensboro so I got to get 336 right here on my wrist I said but on the inside I got to get 919 so that I knew no matter where I go throughout the world home was always with me you know what I mean and so uh 20 years is a long time we celebrate 92th year of lb along with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and uh it's just been amazing to still be standing for people to still care after all these years uh my family is here my wife Alia my son Andrew is here and um I just thank you so much we have these lovely t-shirts we got one for you uh you know what I'm saying you know what I'm saying we got one I got your size right you know what I'm saying I know I know you know I got I got you and and Miss mayor we got one for you over here I'll bring it to you you can sit down I bring it to you oh she getting it up all right

okay um yeah so yeah this is like the first official like government meeting I've been in since I was in student council so it's been a long time but but um but uh Duram man I I I love y'all I cannot thank you enough and I just thank you for um for recognizing our work and thank you for in trusting us to be ambassadors of this city and um we just going to keep doing what we doing so thank you uh I came from Virginia came down to school had no idea where I was going never been a Durham a day in my life but as fonte mentioned earlier Durham has helped raised us mold us into the men we are so thank our families for sharing us with the world for the past 20 years thank the city of Durham for helping mold us into the men we are today and thank you my brother I love you couldn't think of nobody else I'd rather be on this journey with so thank y'all okay so um so the good news is I

didn't know I was going to talk at all so I will keep this really short even though I talk for a living um but I'll hit two or three quick points little brother actually almost got me fired from the radio and because speaking of hip-hop to me they were one of the first groups that took all from the underground that didn't really need radio so I'm on the radio and I'm not aware of who little brother is and everybody's coming up to me daily trying to ask the radio station and which they think is me why are we not playing little brother so y' almost got me fired I'm glad to tell y'all that in front of everybody um I'll be real short I'm known for two things in this city okay and our time together um the first is going to schools to speak I go to 15 20 schools every May for free and we pump up the kids for the EOG test and I use music and Hip Hop to um hide how old I am but to relate to the kids and they love it so I'm all I'm known for that and number two I'm known as my daddy's son and my dad his name was Mercy D and he was a Serial entrepreneur in the city

and I am too from Virginia but it was when my dad moved me to Durham is when my soul became at rest when I came to Durham I knew I was at home and and I just I cannot it's a feeling I cannot describe and Durham made me it gave me a lot of inspiration to do the things I'm doing Durham is me so um I just want to give a shout out to the city council for having us up here this is an exciting moment for me to stand in front of you guys to stand by little brother give a big shout out to West for the community stuff that we're doing man and and I saw my first hip-hop show here it was Curtis blow right on the corner uh so my dad had a hair karate karate shop I know those two things don't mix but if you know my dad you know exactly what I'm talking about but it was on the corner and uh it was right across from where the hotel it was the omnid den so it's the Marriott and I snuck through the back and I walked up and at the Armory it was a Curtis blow show and he was getting off a soundcheck and I saw him and I had a

chance to talk to him and years later I I kind of became friends with him and I told him it was how nice he was to me and he was a mega star at the time so this was clap your hands everybody the braks and everything and the way he treated me is how I try to treat kids when I meet them and I get an opportunity when they feel like I'm special so again this a special moment I'm excited to be here thank you guys hip hop another 50 let's get it all right that's a way to kick it off let us turn to the announcement by my colleagues I'm going to look first to my right tonight see if we have any

announcements on this end coun m cier thank you Madame mayor good evening everyone uh have a few announcements I just hope everyone had a I'm going to wait just a second thank you um I hope everyone had a a good I know there was lots of juneth celebrations this weekend this past

weekend so I hope everyone had a good time out in Durham uh today in the uh this morning I had the pleasure of attending the first uh citizenship ceremony in North Carolina history that was done at the governor's mansion where 15 uh newly uh new new Americans received their um citizenship and it was an Inc an incredible ceremony um and I thought it was extremely um relevant on world Refugee day so that was a an extreme honor additionally the city of Durham hosted uh Ava milona uh from USCIS and the Homeland Security Department she's the assistant secretary for partnership and engagement for the admin uh the Biden Administration and um this was in coordination with uh Governor Cooper Governor Cooper's office of Dei with Christina espa and Tracy lit and so I just want to shout out all those folks who made that happen uh a lot of folks were here today talking about economic entrepreneurship and other ways that we

can Ure to integrate our immigrant and Refugee communities and I really want to thank uh Deputy city manager Keith Chadwell and also Vicki Gonzalez in O and other City staff who made that happen uh it was a big day here and it was just uh really great to to shout out everything we've been doing in Durham thank you anyone else on my right turn it to my left councilwoman J say hman good evening everyone to my colleagues um and to um mayor mayor proen Middleton who shouted me out about growing up in the Bronx I will say to you that that brought back memories because um I'm give a shout out to ps125 where I went to Junior High School and got skipped I went from sixth to e8th grade and in the talent show my group was salt and pepper we did win and I remember a lot of times my mother didn't allow us to go to the parks you know I grew up in a sound view area in the projects and the parks is where hip-hop really started the the

Disco Fever A lot of times I would try to sneak out you didn't hear that but uh that was what what brought us up so anyway thank you again for that Proclamation I also want to say happy uh refugees day um this year is a hope away this year's theme is Hope away from home and I know a lot of our refugees a lot of them are here in durm so I hopefully that they have made durm their home um also I want to do a shout out to all of the juneth celebrations that happened throughout the weekend um you know again June team celebration is not about a celebration of Victory but it is a celebration of Acceptance in the way that we want to celebrate progress and so what I want to do is I want to also say that while we are celebrating juneth I want us to start to again think about what we're doing in terms of how we are showing up and how we are working with one another and to continue to work on progress but to treat with each other with respect with kindness and to help not only move African-American people but also other people from one level of

function to the next so I wanted to say that and I also wanted to say that a shout out to the firefighters I see you in full force again tonight but I was uh able to do some visiting yesterday with a couple of the firefighters at different um companies and um was able to really actually sit down and break bread uh with some of the firefighters and they were celebrating one of the firefighters who I see here tonight who will be leaving who was leaving us from Durham and will be relocating to Ohio and it was not a dry out I in the station when they talked about just the level of commitment that this particular firefighter had to his job the fact that he wanted to stay here in durm but it's very um expensive to live in durm and to live off the salaries that they have and in addition to actually touring some of the fire stations this to see some of the living arrangements and just some of the way some of the things in the fire we we we

got to do better it needs to be upgraded I don't care if they have to lay their head in on a mattress for 2 minutes um where they get a a bell and then they you know a fire alarm and they got to go out they should be able to lay their head on that mattress and feel comfortable for 2 minutes or for 20 seconds and so some of the [Applause] things so some of the things that I saw were really just need Improvement um and it was was just disheartening to me and so again I will continue to fight as I know my colleagues will to try to fight for just more in you know just better conditions in the fire stations um the fact that I learned a lot that you actually have to pay for your own food I was amazed at that um the fact that you don't have the amount that you get for like if you wanted to go and further your education you know I'm a professor so I asked those questions $400 you can't even get a credit for that so we've got to do better not only for the fire Fighters but our for our city employees our police for all city employees but it was just a a good

Awakening for me to be there and actually sit and eat we had a wonderful barbecue um and just hear the stories um and so again uh we are going to continue I I I know that my my colleagues want to do the right thing um and so we I know I'm going to continue to fight for the rights not only for increases but for just think like basic things that you guys need there you know I really felt like I wanted to go home and get some bed and bags cuz I'm a bed and bag person from Walmart and bring them to them stations cuz it's just really just really ridiculous so again thank you for allowing me to come and spend time with you yesterday and I will continue to fight for you [Applause] thanks any other announcements on my left councilman Williams thank you Madame mayor and colleagues good to see you all again um I uh wanted to just shout out some of the things that happened on Saturday uh

I was the guest speaker for the North Carolina fatherhood conference and I wanted to thank them and I hope that we can bring more of that presence to Durham um few hundred folks showed up and uh it was hosted in Raleigh and but it was hosted in the middle of nowhere uh and and I would love to see something like that here in Durham and I've had a few folks reach out uh to uh suggest that we host a fatherhood conference here in Durham so I'll be working on that but I really appreciate it serving as their guest speaker that was pretty cool um left there and went to the uh Jubilee Christian church and actually uh served the guest as the guest speaker there and it was um really inspiring to sit amongst it was a a Men's Conference and it's really inspiring to uh just hear so many folks that want to help grow our community economically and uh not only you know with their hands out saying you know like what can you do for me but more so

how can we utilize our individual resources and how can we utilize our our companies to help uh better our community and uh that was really exciting so thank you all for inviting me and lastly uh shout out to El Centro espano uh share remarks on behalf of the city uh and at their annual Gaya which was their 31st first anniversary and uh it was a fun time really fun time uh so I just want to shout them out and I thank them for the work the uh the work that they do in our community for our immigrant Community um thank you thank you well we had a I had a busy couple of weeks y all it was like um a very kind of cultural Awakening over the last couple of weeks for me I started um uh I think about a week ago with remarks at the American Dance Festival uh they were in the newly renovated MC Reynolds I think it's no

Reynolds Auditorium over at Duke um they had a packed house lots of great dancing Then followed that up on that Saturday I think we had it was the first artist Day parade and that was over in the West End sponsored primarily by The Scrap Exchange and we had a great time on Saturday morning giving a shout out to all those participants including Jesse Hudson who I believe is here stand up Jesse Jesse was the Grand Marshal of that parade I thought I saw him walk in somewhere he just walked out well he was the Grand Marshal of that parade and we had a wonderful time uh there then we followed up on um on Saturday well over the I think through Thursday through yesterday all kinds of June T there Jesse that was our Grand Marshal right there the artist Day Parade hey Jesse he lives on the West now doing great things over there with Duke um also you know I I participated I had the opportunity to introduce the band that I used to sing with uh Johnny White and

the elite um and algra over there over on um in Golden Bel on Saturday uh Carol Street again the West End they had a uh an event on yesterday on Monday too and you know that was my son's 30th birthday so I was when he was born 30 years ago he was they nicknamed him Bimi he was called Bimi for a while because the Bimi used to be back then at that time and then also it wasn't a juneth we didn't really recognize it so it's like now son you're a national holiday you you getting up in the world so we had a I had a great time um all last weekend but I do want to give a shout out um in ending this to two things one is reality Ministries I had a opportunity to go over there this morning there's a little bitty gemm of a community right down town durm and they have their um headquarters sort of on L man Street I'm just going to put it like that it's something you need to see for

yourselves it's something you need to see for yourselves so shout out to Sloan Erica Quinn all those neighbors over there who are living together with disabilities and without they have a community going on over there and it is a beautiful thing so I'm giving a shout out to them today as well and um I also want to take a moment of personal privilege to to thank and appreciate Miss Amber way Amber is not here with us tonight but she served in the in the mayor's Chambers uh for for two two Mayors now so for over five years she's going to be going she's going to be a Tar Hill everybody so we can't hate on that um but we I thank you for everything that you've done and I I could not let this moment pass without saying thank you uh to Miss Amber Wade so with those that will conclude my announcements for now and I will now turn and see if we have any priority items from our city manager good evening Madame mayor Mr Mayor protm and members of the Durham city council I do have a

few uh Council agenda priority items but if I may have one moment of uh Personal Privilege I did want to announce that I think it was last week the city received um notification to congratulate and I passed that along tonight uh two of our employees James Fel and Dwayne Hillary who are both uh employees of the city's public works department uh both James and Dwayne successfully completed seven roads scholar training classes therefore fulfilling the requirements of becoming a North Carolina local technical assistance program roads scholar uh James and Dwayne will be invited to attend the 2023 AP wa North Carolina combined streets and Equipment Services conference awards banquet scheduled this year in Greenville North Carolina the city of Durham is certainly proud of Mr James Fel and Mr Dwayne Hillary on this

great accomplishment and this this program was was coordinated by the North Carolina local technical assistance program so thank you for allowing me to congratulate those employees I I have three um items for your consideration this evening uh agenda item number 15 fiscal year 2023 24 budget and 2024 through 29 Capital Improvement program CIP ordinance other related ordinances and fiscal year 2024 to 26 strategic plan all pertinent attachments to include the fiscal year 2023 24 internal service fund resolution and relevant ordinances have been added along with responses to the questions raised during the June 8th 2023 work session agenda item number 24 the housing authority of the city of Durham

relocation grant for the Durham Housing Authority downtown neighborhood plan this item is being referred back to the Community Development Department and finally agenda item number 44 the consolida zoning map change streets at South Point mall is a supplemental item that has been added and finally finally a memo has been added to Priority items by the city manager City attorney and city clerk to provide an overview of the permitting process oversight and Authority for blasting that is all I have for you this evening and thank you thank you city manager Paige I now turn to our City Attorney K Ray BS for any priority items she may have good evening mayor O'Neal mayor ptin Middleton and members of the council it's good to see you the city attorney's office has no priority items tonight thank you and we now turn to our city clerk to see if she has any priority items thank you Madame mayor and welcome Council uh I do have

one priority item it is agenda item number 45 city council minutes it's been added to the agenda as a supplemental item thank you city clerk shriper the mayor has one priority [Applause] item one last Wednesday I had the opportunity to spend um a half day with Corporal Nick ly District one in the police department and on last Thursday I spent uh from 10:00 in the morning till about 5:30 on that day started out at fire station number one and made my way

across the city driving in a really fire red engine Challenger with our fire chief I also got a chance to ride in um in a couple of fire trucks including going up in the bucket uh like Council woman hosie Hyman I gained a new respect I hope you've never always known that I have always had a great respect for you all for all of you all and for all of our city workers but once you get a a time to get an inside Peak you can't unsee what you see and it just so happened wasn't planned we had planned these tools several months ago but it just so happened that all of my facilities have been our First Responders so I cut to the

chase with a lot of what has been said what has been done I think it's very important that it becomes a priority item for me and for everybody else um about what you all do and how you do it and I do think that we have the ability to meet you at some of your asks I was um fortunate enough in being able to see up close how you all live where you work and all of the things that you do uh with the firefighters they basically never stopped by 12 I went over at 10: and by 12:00 I was tired I couldn't believe it they just do so much and with the police department How They Roll deep and when I went over there there was one young police officer that we're about to lose and he told me why I captured him on film and it

basically came down to a lack of support money and the fact that they felt like that he could get a better uh feeling about his job somewhere else there is more than one way to defund people you don't just have to do it by money and I saw it firsthand what has happened over the last years and I apologize for that so to that vein I am interested in entertaining emotion for consideration of a raise for them before we even get out the gate [Applause] tonight Madam mayor Madam mayor if I might point of order Madame mayor I appreciate um

everything you said and I resonate with it having done rodal alongs a visit with the fire department for years uh since day one of being in office um this matter is already uh part of the um budgetary consideration so it's already due I I'm I'm hard pressed um I mean obviously it's your prerogative to entertain whatever you want I'm we had no advanced notice of this I'm hard pressed to see this as anything other than posturing on behalf of our colleagu since this matter is already on the agenda um so my point of order is it's already on the agenda um I don't know if uh an appropriation of that nature and City count the City attorney can weigh in but we're going to talk about this and we're going to have a full-throated uh discussion about it but to do it now out of sequence when the agenda is the budget's on the agenda um I I don't understand why we would do it now when we're going to do it as part of the budget discussion uh later on with that

said I yeah that that's my point of order and as you indicated it is it is My Prerogative and it is My Prerogative to raise that up and I don't I don't I don't have to posture I I've given my time in this city for 61 years I live what I talk and I walk my walk and I talk it so I don't have to posture and I will never do that but this is a priority for me it doesn't have to be a priority for you but I am asking to entertain emotion at this point in time because they have waited long enough and and I believe that they have the right to know who will or will not support them on a race flat point of [Applause]

clarification point of clarification point of clar clarification I think she had already raised her hand next and then we'll come to um councilwoman Caballero councilwoman Freeman Council woman Caballero and then we'll come back to you and then we will not go around at some point we will get to a vote and you vote it up or down and then we move on from there Council fre thank you Madame mayor I did want to uh off of the motion uh for that increase to cover the FY 2021 Miss step um in the 2022 2023 24 budget and I'd like to second that motion thank you there's a motion on the floor with a second I will re to councilor Caballero thank you this is actually a quick question for for staff uh historically if we don't like what's in the budget

when we get to the budget we just vote yay or nay I just want to make sure I'm understanding the process correctly that's a question for the City attorney city manager I mean that's correct council member ciero sure yeah if you if you don't like the budget in its entirety if there are things that you don't agree with in the budget then you could V you you just the budget thank you because that's on GBA thank you like mayor pro thank you madam mayor uh my point of clarification was that um if the motion is to vote on a raise as a fiduciary of the city um with a $600 million budget before us which is a balanced budget which was statutorily mandated to pass a a balanced budget exactly how much is the raise and how much of a tax increase will we be passing with it to make sure the B the budget is

balanced I uh had the opportunity to speak briefly with the city manager and I think that we would need to have an additional meeting to make sure that we have a agreed balanced Bud budget but I think a special meeting can be called to make sure that we include the race councilman Freeman as as a I I don't even know if that's permitted as a fuer of the city and I know that the state is watching to vote for an increase without stating what the increase is just vote for a raise is that a blank check vote and secondly we are statutorily mandated to pass a balanced budget so my question is if we vote to increase we are also voting to raise taxes in addition to the three cents that the County's already passed um I think you may have missed the previous meeting we did have the discussion that would be a 2cent increase 3 Cent from the county two cent from us which would be the largest tax increase well what we're not going to do is go back and forth the numbers that were given to us for the 2cent increase

9 million for 2021 and about eight almost 9 for 2022 the cry that I've heard from our uh firefighters and our police officers and those who were here is that one step was what they were seeking in order for us us to um

1 Cent on our tax bill uh equates to about $4 million what I one cent one cent one cent it's two cents and two cents gets you right at that 8 million uh dollar Mark that is what I am seeking um that we do we meet um that one step that was missed now according to the city manager it's not it's not a smooth process proc when you begin to give increases when

you're dealing with a step system and it gets fairly complex for Simplicity sake uh What uh I am seeking to put a dollar amount on it is about $8 million for that one time Miss during 2021 is that clarified enough all right I I have some differences with the math um ma'am um respectfully a tax increase would not be one time it would be in perpetuity right and moreover the when I when I said the largest increase the county has already raise taxes by 3 cents so in effect it would be a 5cent tax increase on the people of the city one time in one year which would be I in re did that we haven't raised taxes that much in one year in the history of the city um for one uh

Department I do to your point however there is um a a 6 to 8% increase in this upcoming budget with no tax increase my concern is giving you a raise and then clawing it back in taxes we have before us now the opportunity to give a raise with no tax increase predicated upon the growth of our city and why after we do that July 1 begin a study to see how we can do this responsibly one of the things I've learned from riding with the fire department is you just don't throw water on a fire I was sitting in the backseat of a fire engine saying drive faster but I noticed when they got to intersections they slow down even with lights and sirens on and they go through slowly they just don't run in buildings and throw water on the fire they check for structural soundness they if it's a chemical fire it's a different way of fighting it uh if it's an electrical fire you just don't want to put water on it the distance they park the truck from the building matters so firefighting is a science so is governing the city and

what the study will allow us to do that's our way of touching a knob and making sure it's not hot it's our way of making that the structure is sound so that when we do increase it we won't put the rest of the city in Jeopardy financially thank you mayor Pro but it's a matter of just you voting your conscience vote it up or down and I'm calling for the question at this time we had a motion second first yes hand up thank you so much um I have made my uh self clear on this before but I just want to um do it again for clarity I think absolutely our firefighters and everyone in the city deserves a raise um we you know everyone went without raises during covid that wasn't something um that we would have done if we didn't think that it was necessary to preserve um to preserve our our ability to continue to provide services during a really difficult time um um we're now in a better position and I think it's absolutely reasonable that those raises be um that people get raises again and get higher raises than they would have otherwise uh I'm not willing to move

forward on this without having a plan I am willing to back dat increases to the start of this fiscal year after we do a pay study in order to make sure that people's raises become effective um in July rather than whenever the study is completed and I believe that we could do that with onetime money um in addition to whatever tax increase would be required for the raises going forward um and I'm not willing to do it just for one Department of folks I know that y'all um are in a particularly difficult situation with the compression issues but we have that issue in other departments and we have folks all over the city who Mis raises in fact everybody in the city Mis raises I don't want to move forward with a plan that only supports one Department I want to do that for everyone in the city and in order to do that we need to actually have a plan and know um and know where we're headed so for those two reasons um I won't support raises for just the firefighters um in this budget tonight I will support after the city does a pay study backdating those um those raises so that folks get their full um the full

raises that they would have gotten but with a plan that I can actually go out and sell to the community I can't sell a 4-cent tax increase to the people of Durham whose taxes are based on their housing right in the middle of a housing crisis I cannot increase the cost of housing for everyone in this community without a very specific plan of how we're going to spend that money I'm 100% willing to go sell a 4 Cent tax increase to the people of this community because it's what we need to do to provide services and pay the pay the people who provide those Services well I'm not willing to do that without a plan um and that's what I'll be doing tonight thank you thank you and just to clarify that would include all not just the firefighters it's not just the firefighters of the police department it will be all city employees who will here Madame mayor I believe that it was for everyone who's on a step plan but there are a number of city workers who aren't on a step plan who also miss raises dur Co you want to explain what that 8 million includes so the uh information

that was provided to city council um the numbers that have been quoted here uh it would it did include all employees who were who were here in TW in the fiscal year 2021 regardless of the pay plan that they were in that estimate did okay thank you all right thank you there has been a motion put forth it has been seconded Madam clerk if you open a vote if you will close the vote and if you will report out the motion fails 4 to3 with council member I'm sorry mayor proen Middleton and council members cabayo Johnson and Williams voting no all right thank you so much we now move to our second order of business the next order of business is the consent agenda

the consent agenda consists of items that the council has previously considered in a work session all items on the consent agenda may be approved by a single vote of the council items may be removed from the count consent agenda by a council member or a member of the public public and those items will be considered separately at the end of the meeting tonight item number one the Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment number two Durham bicycle and pedestrian AER advisory commission appointment item three is the recreation advisory commission appointment item four the housing appeals board mayor appointment number five is the Durham planning Comm commission appointment number six is the Durham cultur Advisory Board appointments item seven excuse me the approval of city council minutes item eight is the Duram convention C Authority

appointment item nine is the Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment number 10 is the human relations commission appointments 11 is the housing Appo appeals board appointments item 12 is the Durham City County Environmental Affairs board appointments item 13 the external auditor contract modification 14 is the gold Durham bus safety performance audit May 2023 number 16 is a presentation in ordinance to establish standards for trespass and from city property that presentation was made at the J June 8 2023 City city council work session item 17 is a discussion of council procedure issues of censure and recusal item 18 is American Rescue plan act Opa project for youth by youth FY

by item 19 is the Carver Street supportive housing acquisition inter local cooperation agreement number 20 it's a American Rescue plan act oper agreement with durm County to support joint affordable housing projects item 21 is a contract with C studio for the comprehensive rewrite of the unified development ordinance item 23 has been pull we have a couple of speakers 20 I'm sorry item 22 I believe we have a couple of speakers yeah which is the American Rescue plan act Opera funds ldg multif family Development LLC loan commitment letter for St kofo Landing item 23 is a contract with the central Pont Community Action for the provision of tenant-based rental assistance Services item 24 has been referred back

to staff which is the housing authority of the city of Durham relocation grant for the Durham Housing Authority DHA Downtown Development downtown neighborhood plan ddnp item 25 is the American Rescue plan act oper funds Mosaic Development Group Inc loan commitment 902 Briggs Avenue project item 26 contract with corporate fcts fax Inc for technical assistance on an affordable housing project item 27 is the amendment to extend term of agreement with durm County EMS for EMTs on heart teams item 28 is agreement with strategic energy Innovations for climate climate corpse Fellowship item 29 former wheel skating center upfi design contract Amendment with DTW Architects and planners l l

limited LTD item 30 is the interlocal agreement with Durham Convention and visitors bureau doing business as discover Durham to add the durh convention sit study to the destination master plan item 31 is the Second Amendment to lease with Duke University and Duke University Health System Inc for the emergency communications 911 backup center item 32 contract for develop durm Workforce Development board W dwdb Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act wioa youth program Youth Alternatives Inc number 33 fiscal year 2023 to 24 agreement to fund Economic Development programs and services operated by downtown durm Inc using city of durm funds Madame mayor I need to pull that for statutorily mandated recusal all right thank

you I my P and 34 as well ma'am okay that was 32 33 and 34 33 Okay Madame mayor I think I need to do the same for number 30 I Ser on that board as well okay so okay let me read item 34 and then we'll return back to you local agreement um contract amendment number two for FY 2023 to 24 city services and programs for the downtown dur Municipal Service District with downtown Duram Inc recusal for mayor protim and then we will return to item number what number was that did you sayings I think I'm good actually you good I'm good okay all right continue on with uh item number 35 is contract with axon Enterprise Inc uh for rep

replacement tasers item 36 is supplemental agreement for on Professional Services for Durham freeway study item 37 is the beard of a award of beard term purchase contract for bulk sodium hypochlorite to all Trend Solutions LLC number 38 is a resolution to accept the offer of American Rescue plan funding for the Western intank partnership projects number 41 is a resolution to honor the lake Conan Morgan lifelong stem advocate item 42 is partners for reentry opportunities in Workforce Development proud PD Grant contract agreement eer Youth Alternatives Inc item 43 it's a contract amendment number three for FY 2023 to 24 training to work re-entry with e Youth

Alternatives Inc and then we turn to our business a general business agenda item 15 is the fiscal year 2023 24 budget and 2024 through 29 Capital Improvement plan CIP ordinance other related ordinances in FY 2024 through 26 strategic plan and we will pull that item we have speakers for that under our general business agenda public hearings we have a zoning map change RP residential studio apartments uh and we have speakers for that item item and supplemental items we have speakers also for item number 44 which is the Consolidated zoning map chain streets at southp Mall number two and we also need to approve of item 45 is approval of city council minutes from May 15th and May 18th um to council meeting work session all right we will entertain a

motion at this time to approve the consent agenda with the exception of we had items and 22 say that again for me items 22 22 33 33 34 and 34 okay all right so move Madame mayor second all right then mooved by Council woman Freeman seconded by Council woman ciero Madame clerk if you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes 70 thank you so much we now turn to our next order of business 33 and 34 to 33 and 34 all right the pulled items about2 speak on so we'll deal with mayor Pro's recusal items yes ma'am I'm a

member of the uh board of directors of downtown Durham Inc recent legislation from the uh legislature uh requires that members of sitting members of an elected body who Ser on those boards that get money from us need to recuse so that's it all right thank you and that will be for item 33 um the fiscal year 2023 24 agreement to fund Economic Development programs and services operated by downtown Durham Inc using city of Durham funds and also item 34 the contract amendment number two for FY 2023 24 city services and programs for for the downtown durm Municipal Service District with downtown durm Inc is there a motion still move second do we need to take them one at a time I was trying to skip that I turn it won't let me okay we have to take them one at a time everybody so let's deal with number 33 first fiscal year 2023 24 agreement to fund economic development of programs and services operated by downtown durm Inc using city of durm

funds is there a motion second all right it's been moved uh by Council frean second and by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes 6 to zero with one recusal right we turn we return now to item 34 contract amendment number two for fy20 232 24 city services and programs for the downtown D Municipal Service District with downtown durm e is there a motion no move second it's been moved by Council woman Freeman second by Council woman Williams Madam clerk if you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes six to zero with one recusal thank you thank you attorney rird for not letting me do a shortcut okay now we turn to our our the

GBA items our GBA items which will be item 15 we will start with there I believe that's the first item that we have go back which is going to be our budget but I want to read formally the title all right and we have several speakers this evening for that our general business agenda is FY 2023 24 budget and 2024 is 29 Capital Improvement plan CIP ordinance other related ordinances in FY 2024 through 26 um strategic plan and we at this time will receive our staff report if there is a report to be given good evening mayor mayor protm members of council Christina Reen interm director of budget

and Management Services um I do not have a report at this time all materials have been presented to council and I'm here for any um anything you might need tonight thank you so much M re you've led us through uh a a couple of rough months um but we're here so thank you to you and your staff I believe at this time we will entertain our speakers y all right and we have several lined up I'm going to call uh five Folks up at a time I do see somebody has missed a name the first person will be uh Kyle huntings followed by uh someone who lives at 13 Edgemont Lane I'm going to need you to put you with the last four digits of phone number of 0256 so I just need for you to fill out your card um put your name on it we actually have to keep these I have a first name um on this one Robert you have to put your

last name on it um on concour street so that will be the next person stepen Neil I will be following Robert and Miss Bonita green and those will be our first five uh I would ask that you keep your comments to three minutes tonight I'm going to hold you to three minutes to maybe 3 seconds over long enough for me to say your time is up but we going to hold you I'm going give you four 3 minutes but be conscious and if you would please state your name as you I'll speak yes ma'am my name is Kyle huntings I hold the rank of fire driver at the dur fire department have been working for the Department for 10 years at first I want to say thank you all for taking the time to listen to our concerns I've wanted to come and speak at previous meetings but have a newborn and Toler at home so it's hard to try to slide away to speak uh you have all compared us to other step plan employees who ALS o failed to receive their raises during the two years of Co but I wanted to point out an issue that makes us

different than these other employees in 2016 before many of you were on Council the last time we had a pay study we were all placed steps behind where we should have been because the city council and City management at the time said it was too expensive to implement the pay study as it was recommended many of us replaced the steps behind our years of service at the time I was placed two steps behind where I should have been so now instead of the two steps I was already behind and the two steps of cod behind I'm four steps behind in the step plan where I should be um there are other members just as far if not even farther behind than I am um combine this with our compar compar comparatively low salaries there is no incentive to stay here it's imperative that you put us all in the right steps now and then use the pay study to make our Department's pay competitive with other local departments this is how we can stop the hemorrhaging of firefighters to other departments who are willing to pay their members

adequately doing doing so will also allow us to recruit firefighters for the positions we desperately need already if you do if you do or if you decide not to fix us fix this by putting us in the right steps now and just stall on the promise promise of a pay study I beg that you at least follow through with whatever the steps the pay study recommends and don't Place us behind like we did last time we had a pay study place all of our firefighters in the steps we should be in the new pay plan according to how long we' have Faithfully served this great city so we can support our families I was born and raised in durm and can't imagine working anywhere else but if I continue to like if we continue to lag behind and pay and refuse to put our firefighters in the right steps for our years of service I like many others have and will continue to do will have to consider moving to other departments so we can take care of our families thank you [Applause]

hey there um I'm not going to touch on numbers or anything like that but uh more so please just stay tun yep my name is LC Carpenter and I have uh two years with the Duram fire department um and I do live at uh 13 edmont Lane I'm a member of the community um but I'm the first openly transgender person to work for the DFD um and I'm really proud of that uh I chose to apply and work for Durham uh because it is hands down the safest place in North Carolina to exist as a trans person uh before I came to Durham uh I worked as a full-time firefighter in Western North Carolina um where I had a brick thrown at my house for having a pride flag in my front yard uh since coming to the DFD the amazing members of this department have welcomed me with open arms and I couldn't be more grateful um however I am not confident that neighboring departments will be as accepting as Durham is um uh I'm worried that I cannot continue to stay and work in Durham uh with a current state of

compression should I even have to consider the choice between my own safety and paying my bills uh all of that aside I have some questions for the city council um about what y'all think Fair compensation really means uh and I want to give everyone a warning that these questions are going to be graphic in nature I'm I'm really going to get into it so please if if you need to step out please do so um and I I ask you to put yourself in my shoes and and uh ask yourself honestly if you think I'm being fairly compensated right now do you think $14 an hour is enough compensation to show up to a a gory double shooting apply tourniquet plug bullet holes and administer fluids so a member of our community has a chance at surviv do you think that $14 an hour is enough compensation to show up on scene provide medical care to a member of our community uh experiencing a drug overdose continue to help carry the

individual to the stretcher as they smear their feces on your bare skin without batting an eye do you think $14 an hour is fair compensation to force down a door of a home heavily consumed by fire and perform a search uh for trapped victims do you think that $14 an hour is fair compensation to wedge yourself under uh a barely stable vehicle while calmly performing patient care uh on an individual that's being crushed by the front wheel while his family is frantically screaming 20 feet away do you think that $14 an hour is enough compensation to show up first to an emergency scene run across I 85 on foot with a jump bag and to start CPR on a six-month-old infant who's been ejected over the side of an interstate overpass do you think that's enough compensation personally I don't think $14 an hour is fair compensation for any of these events we go to calls like this daily the fire department has always

shown up to every type of Crisis that our community members face on a daily basis and yet all of the council can spare is 2% it's no secret that we are behind compressed out of market and pay jumping each other thank you so much for your comments the facts data are compressed are abundant um but I'm asking you right now instead of continuing to Kick the Can down the road uh to fix this problem right now and I'm tired of having to choose between paying my bills and my safety as a trans person thank you so much if you would come by and pick this up your [Applause] name stapy W what your name for me my name is Robert Wilkerson I work with the public works department um first I want to just say thank you guys for y'all service and ladies um I really appreciate you guys

and women um the cost of living in durm is extremely high right now um to get to rent a house in durm it's about $1,900 a month went um to buy a house you going to have to spend about $300,000 I just tried I got approve it 250 uh at my salary they based off what you make um and you really can't find it to rent it's $1,500 just about minimum anywhere you go two-bedroom apartment if you find a three bedroom you going to pay more than that um then you got the real estate companies they got a monopoly on all the rental properties when you go fill out an application to rent they going to tell you you got to make three times the rent every month I don't make that so I can't afford to rent and DM and I can't

afford to buying DM and my salary but I get up every day and go out here and work in public works some of us pick up dead animals some of us walk miles every day making sure that these streets is clean some of us are out here Paving water main breaks I mean we we really putting our our life on the line a lot of some of these days I mean I done been almost attacked by mad man and I'm not a little guy I'm not afraid I mean I'm from Durham I was born and raised here but um I can't afford to live here I can't afford to buy a house here I can't afford to rent here and if you're not a supervisor at public works you can't do it no maintenance assistants no maintenance technicians we need raises these guys are heroes literally I mean going to get a child up from over overpass trying to save a

life it's not right it's not right at all to not pay them to not pay us um Fair wages the cost of living and went up so high you know I mean it's just not it's not right the companies that came in I love the city the city is beautiful I like the way it is I hope the crime rate goes down but uh a lot of the guys that work where I work here they can't afford to live here you got people coming from Greensboro Butner Oxford we can't buy we can't rent I mean I don't know what y'all can do about it y'all might can give us a raise hopefully y'all can it might be other issues y'all can deal with as far as like the companies that's coming in the stipulations that they putting on us as a city employees I don't know that's up to you guys but uh I would appreciate it if y'all could come together and take care of the employees to make this city go thank you

L Mr Wilson Mr Wilkinson step nil Durham resident thank you for allowing me to speak it's great to see all the firefighters here it's too bad the police are so under staff they have no ability to be here in force um you've heard the concerns that our police and fire are underpaid and are leaving in droves for other nearby communities that provide better compensation other cities must value safety higher than we do uh today I took a look at actually at the budget and I hope my math is right um but it looked like the budget for the upcoming year is $77 million for the police I have to assume that was for the full complement of 540 positions if that was the case and we've only had 420 people working in that department we've probably saved $15 million so far this year in the first six months and if that's the case maybe the city manager and the City attorney

can figure out how to repurpose that money for the increase that the mayor has asked for but sadly this whole issue has seemingly had little effect on the majority of you so let's frame more personally council person Williams what about the safety of your family and your staff and your patrons mayor proem what about the safety of your parishioners council person cavero what about the safety of our schoolage children and the teachers that support you and the fact that 25% of Durham shootings this year have involved people under 18 expect more of that with without enough police and lastly to council person Johnson at the last budg meeting your Protege AJ Williams who I hear is running again for councel added defund the police to his supportive har good luck finding neighborhood support of that given Durham's crime rate if you're not paying the police market rate and hoping they can be defunded expect blowback to be immense please a lot the

money to show our fire and police we value them and want them to stay keeping all of Durham safe [Applause] good evening mayor O'Neal mayor Port Tim Middleton and all sitting members of the Das I am Bonita green I am a longtime resident of Durham I lost my mother Hattie Green in 2019 to heart failure the summer leading up to her passing was filled with medical emergencies in which I was calling 911 on a bi-weekly basis Durham city fire station number n was always the first to arrive and they attended to my mother with the utmost level of professionalism and care and stabilizing her vitals while transporting supporting her to Duke Hospital on each

occasion the public does not understand how much firefighters give to the job or how much we as a public real rely on them the public does not understand how responding to structure fires medical emergencies vehicle accidents creates a strain on the mental Wellness of a firefighter and their family the public does not understand how without firefighters their communities will burn to the ground they also don't understand how much pre-planning and training and fire inspections go into to terms of prevention to make sure that fires never happen in the first place our First Responders work in a beautiful tandem they sacrifice their sleep their mental Wellness their family time and their money to protect people that hate

them there's never been a car accident where police were not needed to redirect traffic so that Medics can assist the injured there has never been an arson in any town where police did not work to catch a culprit while firefighters protected life and property and the public has never heard of a domestic terrorist with bombs and weapons bank robbers and those with suicidal ideations School shooters or bomb threats to government buildings to which firefighters and police do not respond how does defunding police defund fire because police are called to assist with many Fire cases like actual car fires suicides missing people combative medical calls car accidents and large Street fires there would be a loss of time and security for firefighters to manage civilians because the police either wouldn't be there or they would be late to show up on the scene Durham's fire department is underfunded straining from the weight of doing a 100 task and

responsibilities e each day the actions of this Council suggest if police are disposable so are firefighters Medics and other First Responders resources and commit equipment can be built back up but that's a lot it's a lot harder to replace good seasoned men and women particularly right now when it's difficult to imagine why anyone firefighter or police officer in Durham I implore you give them their raises and the money that they [Applause] deserve the next five speakers uh Jacqueline Wagstaff Gerald Wallis Herman Sperling Vanessa Mason Evans darl Bronson three minutes of Peace please good afternoon Madame mayor

council members um first of all I just want to say that for the four people that voted against the interest of this group I don't want a response from you especially you Pastor do not want to response to my my thoughts um at the last work session I remember councilman Williams making a statement after some comments were made about people come up here and say anything and most of it is their opinion well I'm going give you my opinion tonight my opinion not the city not my neighborhood not anybody my opinion solely mine and what I believe um I believe that you along with councilman William are improperly being incentivized that's my

belief that's my belief that's not anybody else in here now when I look at a year and six months ago you were able to get your shot spotters now unfortunately she didn't like it cuz she don't like cops you got your shot spotters with the help of several people on this dasis the same way with Javiera and her pet pee her pork belly I call it her pork belly project participatory budgeting millions of they just pulled out their tail and said give it to this and all of her friends get a little bit of that money all her groups like the one she was standing out there with earlier they get that money and then you sit here and say that you need a study to get these guys and these ladies they just doe it's it's shameful especially

when I look at all of the money that's being wasted up here on your pork belly projects you're giving money to everything that you want except for the things that save your life I have a serious problem with this dasis and I'm just one voter but trust and believe my vote counts and it's going to count real hard when I'm out there pushing for some of these people not to get reelected because what y'all are doing tonight and what you did tonight you showed what you thought about the people that do the hard lifting this is not hard lifting up here you got four meetings that you really obligated to the rest is just on you but you gave yourself a $10,000 raise and you didn't blink a eye and it took you less than 30 days to get your money $110,000 and we can't give them a two cent raise I'll pay my taxes you can

raise my tax thankk you miss W sta I don't mind [Applause] sir if you would state your name and then your three minutes will start thank you honorable mayor O'Neal my name is Gerald Wallace I'm in support of fair pay for our First Responders honorable mayor O'Neal honorable Council honorable city manager Paige thank you for allowing me to speak briefly tonight born into a public service Safety family I've always held a spe is they have always held a special place in my heart for those who put their lives on the line for their community so you can imagine my ultimate goal was to One Day become a city of Durham firefighter around the state the seity of Durham is known as the best of the best we have some of the most well-trained and dedicated men and women on this side of the East Coast who are

well respected and appreciated by the community for which they serve over the past year I've had the opportunity to ride at least twice a month with the men and women of engine one Squad One ladder two rescue one engine six and most recently I enjoyed a meal with the crew of engine and Ladder 12 I've witnessed the hard work of the group of individuals daily on yesterday within 30 minutes while preparing dinner the crew responded to a stabbing several fire alarms elevator issues and medical costs on Saturday I witnessed how First Responders went out to save a family save a someone who was in Cardiac Arrest while holding a child in their arms at the same exact time the issue is the lack of support and appreciation from those who somewhat determined your success and Longevity to serve the city of Durham Monday I had the opportunity to

sit down and listen to a father fighter with tears in his eyes talk about H having to leave the job which he loved so much because his because his income was not sufficient enough to Pro provide for his family he had made the difficult choice to relocate some of you believe these dedicated men and women are blowing smoke by saying they are leaving do you honestly think that's a good thing it's embarrassing it's not rocket science and it's not about politics is about right and wrong someone with four years of experience shouldn't be making the same as a rookie someone with four years of of four years of experience has gained so much knowledge training some have become drivers some have become officers within their Department are some of you not fairly and equ compensated for your knowledge and experience is a true slap in the

face face for those who wake up at 1:00 in the morning when louder 12 responds to a call of a structure fire and someone is standing on the roof providing ventilation while Flames are shooting up in your face that is Dedication that deserves a race because not one person in this building is going to get up in the middle of the night while Flames are shooting in your face you sleep well you are sleeping comfortably while these people are putting their lives on the line for us I appreciate if you all would do the right thing and make it make sense and do what's right thank [Applause] you I'm Herman Sperling of bloomsberry Manor Drive and Durham thank you for this time uh mayor O'Neal

uh mayor protm Middleton and all my friends on the city council and of course uh our city manager I was talking to a police officer today and he told me he went to Discount Tire to get his tires changed he recognized the guy that was changing his tires it was a former officer he they asked why are you here and he said well because I'm earning more money and it's safer I'm very confused I'm from the business world and in the business world if we didn't perform we got fired very simple when we went into the budgeting process we did our salary analysis ahead of time we looked at a situation in Alice ahead of time it doesn't take too many people to figure out that our fire department and our Police Department are losing staff we P we tout ourselves of having 26 people a day moving into Durham and we're losing fire people and police it would seem to me that that should have been the opening to the budgeting process and say we've got a problem how do we solve it but that

doesn't doesn't seem to HP have happened in according to a November a news and observer report of April 27th Durham has the sixth highest murder rate in the United States our city sixth highest murder rate in the country that's pretty sad I was told that we normally recruit 40 candidates for each of two classes in the Durham Police Department 80 80 recruits this year based on the number of recruits that have come in and based on the quality of those recruits they're anticipating a total of six new police officers six that won't cover attrition that won't cover retirements we all want police that are better trained more respectful of the citizenry but how can we expect that when we pay them the least in the area I'll give you some salary research Raleigh pays 534 uh I'm sorry 62 229

Salisbury 58 370 Carrie 57 Charlotte 53424 Greensboro 5103 Durham 4779 doesn't take too long to figure out that there's a problem I'm going to read something else about salaries which may be helpful this comes uh I'm reading from a report by ABC news from June 7th starting pay for Durham uh firefighters is 4,682 if a firefighter from another city comes to work there lateral pay would be 42966 in Raleigh starting pay is 46540 lateral pay is the same with a $4,000 bonus after graduating from the academy and a two-year guarantee of employment in night Dale entry level and lateral pay is 57 Apex offers a salary of 51 this job is amazing training is amazing thank you Mrs spling thank you for the time [Applause]

thank good evening bar O'Neal city council um I support y'all in a lot of things y'all do um I have family members who are firan and police officers and also work within the forestry I feel that these people that sit before you tonight these are the people who will take care of us because not now one of y'all are going to run into a fire we'll be the first ones out and then working with data works not just for brag Town CU I'm always in here talking about brag town but this is about all of Durham and people who really need to make quality money and for cenal workers to make money in Durham that's your police offic your firemen your Public Works people who work for the city they need to be making between $ 35 to $45 they said that's what essential workers need to be making just to be to pay rent or have a a mortgage that can keep them Ur my hopes is that y'all will really

really be serious and thinking about going forward and making sure that they get the raises that they need cuz we need these people these are the people who keep us safe I would hate for my house to burn down because we just didn't have enough people on staff and for the four of you who voted against it I think you should think twice too how would you feel if your house was to burn down and you called the police department fire department but they didn't get there in time to save your house or a family member this is just something I'm thinking about not just for y'all but for everybody in this room people all over Durham all throughout the county and Durham is growing and as we grow guess what we're going to need more police officers we're going to need more firemen so this is something that weighs heavy on me because we're human and it's bad enough we got so many people being displaced because of all the things that are happening around because people not being able to stay here the homeless rate is going up so we really need to

think about this seriously not being disrespectful but when you can give yourself a raise think about these people here who need raises as well thank [Applause] you Mr Brunson good afternoon my name is Daryl Brunson 1515 Kel Drive I'd just like to say that for one every department is essential we have what 21 22 23 different departments and they all come together to make this city what it is today what it came from so everyone is important and everyone deserve a equal and fair livable wage they can afford to live and play and enjoy dur so we need to come together work out

our differences remember what you Campa campaigned on write that down and reflect have a meeting amongst yourselves and say hey where can we find common ground because these employees are serving us and we should be serving them in every Department yes we have some bad apples as far as in management and we as employees have to deal with that on a daily basis and I would encourage you to get out and visit each department spend time with the actual employees not the actual managers and directors and supervisors because they're going to only look out for their best interest and I'm just saying that in a nice professional way because it is a lot that we have to deal with and we deserve better wages we shouldn't have to be wasting

our time away from family and friends and enjoying the quality of life that Durham has to offer to be down here fighting for a decent race and a good life yes everyone has an important job and a dangerous job to make this city what it is today in any City if you can just Google the 15 or just the top 10 most dangerous jobs and you'll see that we have those departments and the quality of life that you get to enjoy is because the people and the community that live here and want to come here thank you our next five names have Donald quick Kesha Bernett KY o Conor Donna

Frederick and Sher Zan Rosenthal I believe Mr wierson of 1506 Concord I did find a completed callard for you right same one okay thank you those will be I think our last five speakers that we have here in Chambers with us Mr que good evening uh Madam city manager Madame mayor but I want to send a shout out to the mayor thank you for coming out out the public works and visiting and spending time with the unsung heroes now I've heard everybody talk about uh their departments and whatnot and it's cool nothing against the firefighters but I'm from public works I'm with ue150 local uh I'm the secretary but I want to speak about Public Works what we do Public

Works be out there at night too now when when this weather get bad and the city get bad they call on public works a lot of people be at home sleep but we out we be out here getting it and like Daryl was saying nobody's going to speak for us we got to speak for ourself we got to stand up for oursel we got to do this thing for oursel now for the members up there that you know uh voted for us and wanted to do the right thing you know peace to all of you though you know I have no uh I have no disrespect for nobody but the bottom line is we keep doing these studies we keep doing these studies about the money that we should be getting and what we should get man we get out here and we grind we get it done some of the council members they didn't seen us in action but the fact of the matter is this when is it going to get to the point where we get what we deserve we missed two whole years not

getting paid a lot of people didn't get paid but you know we didn't make a big ripe about it but what needs to happen is like Daryl said you need to write it down the council members that voted for this step plan look back on it go back and look and see what you said that's what you said that's rolled that rolled off your lips came out of your mouth you breathed it up but now all of a sudden we can't get it but you know what we not mad about it we going to keep on doing what we do because we Ser we serve the public that's our job Public Works we going to serve the public and for the firefighters and the police and all other departments you know my hat goes off to them because we all work together we going to band together and we going to get this thing done thank [Applause] you good afternoon mayor O'Neal city

manager Paige the city Council and all the city employees represented here today and who are watching at home my name is Kesha El Barnett I reside in Northeast Central Duram I'm a member of u local 150 City Workers Union City workers union and also a city of Durham employee of over 20 years I stand before you humbly as I know I stand before you as humbly as I as I can to ask that you vote in support of amending the budget to honor the commitment that that was made to the city workers in 2019 in 2019 the city invested a large amount of resources to hire a consultant to assess the city durm salaries in comparison to the comparable jobs in the other markets Gallagher and Company recommended that the city adopt the pay step plan the step pay plan that recognizes the years of service the city council voted to approve this plan then Co happened during those two years of service those raises were not funded as approved I am

baffled as to why the previous vote didn't result in a favorable outcome for the dedicated city employees who take the great pride and honor and caring for the needs of the dur residents in this city allowing them to thrive and grow in this great City on the surface all appears well the trash is getting picked up not always on time but it does potholes are being field the vacant buildings are being boarded and the city's infrastructure is sound below the surface off is a true reality city employees are struggling to make ends meet they're having to take on two and three jobs to meet the F financial needs of their family they're working with in departments some with 50% vacancy rate 50% vacancy rate the work is still getting done so it must not be that bad right wrong the reality is every day we are coming to work with the expectation of doing more with

less resources we are sacrificing our bodies and our valuable time away from our families to keep up with the demands of this city expecting to be cared for like we care for our citizens is not too much to ask one thing I've learned from working in this city for as long as I have is that the city would make happen What It Wants and desires to happen period your vote we voted for you election coming up anyway today we ask that you vote to extend us the lifeline there's a lot at stake if you do not the city will continue to lose valuable employees resulting in that trash not getting picked up residents will have to replace blown out tires after hitting potholes the city's infrastructure will be negatively impacted care for us like we care for you don't tell us we matter show us we matter in that pure in that pocket vote Yes to change to update this plan thank you for your time and your understanding for the urgency of this

[Applause] matter good evening my name is Kyle oconor uh you guys already uh did the vote so I'm going to I think Go a different route than what I was planning on I want to actually uh say thank you to each and every one of you I want to say thank you to councilwoman Freeman I want to say thank you for understanding that our hours are diluted that although we make $40,000 uh we work a 56- hour work week so thank you for understanding that and for pushing I want to say thank you council member Caballero I appreciate you because I understand that you are a huge proponent of the livable wage you've pushed for it and I think that's awesome and I want to

say thank you for that uh I think all the city employees the HVAC technicians the electricians the lawn maintenance workers the plumbers we have those they all make a liable wage we often times have to put those hats on when we're on calls just as you said count uh May Pro 10 Middleton just as you said we go to a call sometimes we have to put our HVAC hat on and figure out what's going on with this HVAC system and mitigate the hazard electrical fires things like that so I just wanted to make sure to say that even though these people make uh that money we do not on an hourly basis mayor proam I wanted to thank you um you particularly pay attention to the speakers that are up here we watch everybody and you always seem to pay very close attention to the speakers and I appreciate that I think uh you did a ride along with us on station one years ago um and uh I was I was very hopeful I

m. when he got off shift he's actually here tonight uh because he supports us so much manager Paige I wanted to thank you you um I really I I actually wanted in all seriousness wanted to thank you for the 2% and for funding our raises a lot of people think that it's 7% it's not necessarily A 7% raise it's a 2% raise with the bonus and you're continuing to fund our raises that's not what Raleigh passed today but that's a different story but I wanted to say thank you for that at least I appreciate that mayor O'Neal I wanted to say thank you you saw engine 12 driving the other day while you were around town I was the one driving that engine um we were at a event and uh we were messing uh we were there and uh all

the kids were playing in the water and stuff we we got to show them the truck I was actually driving with the wet Buck cuz they were sitting on the seat um and got the seats all wet cuz they were playing in water I didn't get to everybody but um I'm probably going to be here at the next meeting to to speak more but thank you to the rest of you as well and I will speak at Future meetings thank you [Applause] sir good evening my name is Donna Frederick I live in bragtown um I just come in support of all the city workers and it is a group team okay excuse me um I'm suppor of all the city workers especially our essential EMS firefighters police because it's an everyday occurrence that we hear the whistles I live on Club Boulevard down the street from the station it is every day several times a day the engine goes flying by they're

not flying by to have lunch they're flying by for a job that we all recognize I know we have a budget to approve and I've worked in many times and looking at budgets but we also have to remember the humanity that STS before us people are not being paid what they can here in Durham the great city that is toted every day in the news people who live here cannot afford to stay and that is the bottom line doesn't matter how many people come the people who are here who are working every day cannot afford to stay I don't know how many times they can say it the numbers are there we have to do a better job we do not need more studies we had a million dooll parking study we keep spending money on studies we know what we need people need to live they shouldn't be working three jobs to work in the city and that's all I have to say [Applause]

tonight council members Sher xan Rosenthal uh resident of durm since 1975 and uh over 20 year 25 five year very proud employee of the city of Durham retired three years ago it's so much broader than just the disservice being done to our firefighters and our police we have positions that the city's gone out for over the last year and and you all may know this we've advertised for example for engineering positions three different rounds in which we've gotten zero qualified applicants in those three rounds we have planners leaving we hire them hire new planners and we have several planners who've been hired in the last year who leave after several months why do they do that I have a theory but it's a problem we should know why they do that we should have systemic exit interviews that should have

statistics on them so that there are public reports to our citizens as well as for your use as to why we have City Employees leaving and so when we have people who are already city employees dedicated having done their job having given their time and service to us and they leave it's a double problem because we are leaving expertise into which we've made a huge investment and then we have to first try and hire to replace them and with our pay scale and also sometimes the disrespect that they have felt replacing them is right now A really major task ask you know we've had other speakers say we're not the ones I'm not the one you're not the ones who are going to run into a build burning building and talk about when someone picks up the phone to call fire police but who they're really calling is the 911 Center that's the very first step of emergency response and what happens when they call the 911

Center for over four years since preco pre pandemic we have had a big problem of not meeting national standards not even coming close in 911 and so it's not just that what we're paying our firefighters and our police is a form of lying because they are not getting paid for the actual years of service in according with their pay plan that is a form in my mind of lying but it's worse than that because in fact they are in their off hours being pressured to staff that is functional non 111 system they're not even getting the hours off that they are supposed to get off and so it is very important for all of us you me everybody to go out and say how cool it is to work for and see your work in the city that you love as an employee I am a huge evangelist for working for the city but we've got to

make that promise real and passing the pay plan not another study we thank you we already have have a plan we don't have to pay more thank you attorney [Applause] Rosen all right everybody um I think we've reached the end of all of the speakers who are in Chambers with us tonight we do have a uh several on uh the internet but it has we are almost at the 9:00 hour when we have to give our close captioning folks a break for about 10 minutes so if you are on the internet if you will please raise your virtual hand so that we can um call on you when we get back from our 10minute break so we'll see you all back at 910 that 98 908

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m. m. org and by following DPR on social media so Jim let's get started with you I know we have a lot of job openings right now how does that compare to the

number that we usually have in the city we typically have somewhere around 40 or 50 positions this is prior to the pandemic uh but that is what we averaged um we are now at about averaging 120 or so um two and a half times what our normal number is MH so what is a culture like working for the city what would you how would you describe it there are a couple of things that I would absolutely see as something that goes across all departments the first thing is and to me this is one of the other incredibly important things is realizing that your job impacts the community whatever it might be whatever Department it's in the better you do your job the better the people are endurance so tell me with a such a diverse job what do you enjoy most about your job and working for the city it's pretty simple making a difference huh okay

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all right right it's time for us to come back together everybody come on let us come back together all of my Council colleagues if you all can make your way to the Das and we will begin with our speakers on the internet I think as I indicated before our break uh that we um nobody okay so we have nobody for 15 item 15 these people for 44 I think we have addressed all of our speakers both here in Chambers and on the internet as well at this time we will entertain comments from Council I'll just ask everybody to um be cognizant that we gave all the other speakers three minutes a piece so if you could try to contain your comments to 3 minutes a piece and we'll just do one one round so

that we can get through uh the rest of our agenda tonight we still have quite a ways to go point of order M um the the um elected members of the body um as elected members um have the responsibility for full due diligence and full investigation of matters before we before we cast votes on hundreds of millions of dollars um by you know statutorily and tradition um three minutes is is there's no I just asked you to excuse me if you heard what I said I said if you would just monitor that I can by no means control how long you talk I just ask that you be cognizant that we ask all of the other speakers of course it is your prerogative now we'll stop you after about 10 minutes but I'm just asking that you be cognizant of that there's no way that I can dictate to you how long you may or may not speak however as the Pres residing officer I am asking that

you be cognizant that we gave each everybody else 3 minutes a piece and you do with that what you will with that being said you have the floor thank you ma'am am I recognized thank you um I want to um did we have some speak we did not have any speakers online you all missed that part um no so we're at Council comments and as I mentioned earlier I just asked that you be cognizant that we gave individual speakers 3 minutes a piece you may do with that what you will but I will stop you after about 10 minutes now yes ma'am I thank you for that and and my my comments were just just predicated upon that the the burden is higher on us since we will be casting votes um that's what we were elected to do um so I want to thank all of the speakers that that c I want to thank all of the speakers that that came out tonight took time out of their busy schedules and lives um first off I just want to say at the outset tonight a resident um in Open

Session accused two council members of taking bribes uh I will not use City time to respond to it here but we will be responding through appropriate channels to that Resident um I want to thank those who have come out um tonight I'm supporting this budget because it is an historic Budget on tonight we will pass a budget that for the first time in our City's history will put significant money on the table to address historic inequities through our Marshall plan on tonight without a budget without a tax increase we will hire a vision zero coordinator without a tax increase this CIP will put significant Monies to fixing sidewalks in bragtown in mer Moore without a tax increase we will be increasing the the purview of our heart program without a tax increase we will be continuing our support of guaranteed income without a tax increase we will be

doing all of these things a $600 million budget without a tax increase we will raise the salaries of firefighters the 2% will increase the amount of the step another 5 to 7% will be added to that because of the step there will be a six to 8% increase and I want the citizens of the city the 300,000 who can't fit in this room to hear that there will be a 6 to 8% increase in this budget with no tax increase because I want to give you a raise and not take it back with taxes that is our goal to tell us to just do it without studying would be me telling you to just throw water on the fire and I don't think that is appropriate imagine in January if you took money out of your savings account and bought all of the food you were going to eat for that entire year in

January how much of it would go bad because you don't have space to refrigerate the milk how much meat would you lose for us to try and fix this problem at one time in one fell sou someone said tonight that I think when as far back as 2016 this has been going on for years for us to try and fix it in one Fell Swoop could potentially put our city in a position and I I listen I got elected twice and I'm not talking any different than the both times I ran so let me just give it to you straight if we do it in one Fell Swoop it may not be sustainable it may not be sustainable and I'm not interested in being a folk hero I'm not interested in positioning or posturing or getting Applause the truth of the matter is it will not be sustainable if we do it in one Fell Swoop in January 2022 when we did the 14% increase did you know that Durham catapulted to

number one fville Winston Salem check it Greensboro for about a couple of months and it turned into an arms we have the numbers and it turned into an arms race it turned into an arms race for the time we were number one and then Rocky Mount and fville past increases that surpass us and this will keep going on when we pass our increases other cities will pass their increases and it goes because it's an arms race that will continue to happen um and I I I invite folk to to look at those numbers when we passed that increase we did it thinking that we were doing a good thing and we did it in good faith and for the time that we were number one everybody on this Council applauded it when this when this budget was first proposed and we started this budget process in January it's been going on for six months when the the manager first

proposed her budget as balanced everybody applauded it none of us when we proposed our budget our Council items none of us put this on our on our list when we proposed our items so I am I am glad to to to do this budget to pass this budget with the increase in it and see how we can responsibly make sure that if we walk all on the roof it doesn't fall out from under us to touch the door knob to make sure it's not hot to properly position ourselves because this is a city of 300,000 people it's America's largest it's America's 75th largest city I am not interested for a one-time move to give you a raise and then claw it back back with the largest tax increase in the history of our city and if there's a candidate out there that will tell you that all it takes is just throwing money at the problem you tell me who that person is

I'll pass Flyers out for him the truth of the matter is is that just putting money on a table from a government and as a government we don't make anything we don't sell anything all we can do is raise taxes and spend it we don't sell widgets we don't sell pies we don't sell cakes so the money we're giving is actually your money and I cannot in good conscience take $18 million or $16 million or $8 million at one time and for the other 300,000 people those are the civilians who who were not trying to hurt when we're going through intersections to get to the actual emergency those are the folk we're looking out for and I will not burden people of this city who could not fill this room this is a much larger discussion with a 5cent or 7-cent tax increase at one time in one

year if there's a person out there who thinks that that's the way to do it please come forward but this is a good budget it's a historic budget it's a transformative budget $600 million please be seated sir please be seated please be seated please be seated it's it's an increase of 39 almost $40 million from our last year budget with no tax increase we were able to do that and able to do this with no tax increase because Durham is growing because Durham is developing because we have a robust economy and I don't want to claw your money back after giving to you with the right hand by taking it back and tax with taxes in the left hand this is a transformative budget finally uh Madame mayor and colleagues uh tonight this city this American municipality will be passing a budget with an historic amount of money to address historic inequities it will turn ha TI not only into a place

of visitation for people around the country but it will also add to tourism in our city so we can continue to give raises and do things without raising taxes I urge my colleagues to pass this budget thank you Ben May all right turning into councilwoman Jose hman yes thank you I I just wanted to say that um in pre-budget meetings I did ask for us to look at the firefighters step increase and it was overlooked shut down so I did bring it up in PE uh pre-budget um but I'm also going to say that this is kind of Bittersweet for me because I honestly do like a lot of the things that in this book budget I have been very instrumental in fighting for the increase and expansion of the heart program which I'm very much supportive of I'm also supportive of the money for the ha Thai Community but I'm also I also want to see and all other things that are in this budget but I also want

to see the increase for the city employees it's it's very disheartening to me to sit up here and hear city employees come up and say they can't live in durm they can't purchase in durm they can't rent in durm really can't have a well life end and then we want them to continue to have the same level of retention the same level of of spirit to be able to come to work every day I also have been on this Council since May appointed and a lot of things people said to me is Dr hman when you get up there please do not change who you are and I have not tried to do that okay I have been for the people my whole entire life and I think a lot of people forget where they come from the struggles that they've been through and then they get into position and they're like oh okay I'm here here and forget about everybody else the issue that I have also is that we continue to keep building and building and building and people I'm not I'm not against building but I am against a fact that the fact that we have people here that can't live here but we're worried about people coming into D those things

really upset me and so this is Bittersweet for me because again I do like a lot of things in this budget but I also would like to see the increase for these cities employees and I don't understand how we can sit up here and see how these people are suffering dayt day putting their life on the line and we're just like okay with it and we have to wait for a market study with sometimes a and I teach Community organization a lot of times you know needs assessments and all those things that I teach um we do those things and it still may come back and say we can't actually give the money at that time right which I was told I wasn't on a counsil at that point but I was told happened before so they're they're tired of the of the broken promises they're tired of having to go home and tell their families you you know I've got to take money from our own money that I'm raising for my salary to buy food in the fire station and just all that money coming back like this just make it makes no sense to me and it just really is disheartening to hear you get up here and you hear our residents speak and they just pour out their hearts and

we're like we're going to pass a budget and we're going to pass a budget without raising taxes because we don't really I mean I don't know it it it doesn't it doesn't seem just human the humanity in it doesn't seem where it needs to be and I just don't understand how we continue to to do all these other things about bringing this stuff into durm and we're not worried about the people that are here in durm and that just really upsets me any other comments Council woman Johnson thank you madam mayor um I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate all the work that our staff did to bring us this budget this was a really hard budget year um for us and for staff with the loss of our budget director um in the middle of our budget season and I just want to appreciate our city manager and um our interim budget director Christina Ruden and her staff um for all the work that they did to bring to put this budget together under really um difficult and and stressful circumstances and I think the budget has turned out really well uh there are always things in the budget that I don't

like um every single year that I voted on a budget there have been things in it that I don't like um but I think that this budget has a lot of really incredible investments in our community um and especially the increase in the investment in the heart program um that is going to continue that's going to allow that program to expand and to continue to be a national model for crisis response um and I'm really glad that we that that's been a priority for um for our city for our community and for our staff to put that um expansion in the budget uh nobody likes to hear about constraints right and I think um at budget time we often we talk a lot about Vision we talk a lot about how our budgets are moral documents how we are um how we are making the path for moving our city forward that the you know the budget is the most important thing that we do all year we get to talk a lot about our vision for the city and and how we want how we want our community to grow and how we want our community to look and then we also have to talk about

the actual like real constraints that exist on on local governments um one of those constraints is our ability to raise tax money and I Am pro taxes I love taxes I don't Oppo I'm not opposed to raising taxes um I think that taxes actually in this community are really low people move here because our taxes are really low I think our taxes can go up um I will absolutely vote for a tax increase to improve city services um and I think I've made it clear why I'm not willing to do that right now but it's not because I don't want to raise taxes raising taxes is just fine um the issue that we have though is that because the state of nor North Carolina so strictly constrains what we can tax in our community is that the primary source of our tax dollars is property taxes and property tax is a flat tax it hits lower income residents harder than higher income residents and we do not have the ability to have a higher tax on people who have who own more property so that people who can afford to pay more pay

more people who can afford to pay it it doesn't matter like how the value of your property right you pay the same amount of property taxes and as everyone understands as everyone knows and as we talked about over and over tonight we are in the middle of a housing crisis and so raising the property tax rate in a housing crisis is also a really difficult decision that we're going to have to make and we're going to have to make it it's not avoidable we are going to have to raise taxes um but that is a really hard thing to sell to a community that's already struggling we have a property tax grant program which is the only way that we can lessen the burden of property taxes on our low-income people it took us a really long time to even get that in place and in cooperation with the county to cover the entire city um the money that we get to run the city comes from our residents and all of our residents are struggling right now we are going to have to raise taxes to raise wages for our staff but we have to do that in a way that's responsible to everyone else in this community and in a way that we can clearly communicate

what we're doing and why a pay study is not a new thing we do these all the time um we do them before we do every major structural adust adjust doing it with doing a major adjustment without a pay study would be very unusual for us so we're not this isn't stonewalling this isn't some like crazy process that somebody just threw out of nowhere this is our like normal process that we usually do um and I think that our city manager and our staff have our HR staff have very much heard both the community and the council say that this is a priority and it needs to move forward as quickly as possible um so I'm comfortable voting for this budget without attack ta increase for raises knowing that we'll have we'll have our pay study we'll very likely have a midyear adjustment and then we'll be able to implement those raises fully in our next um in our next budget year um you know there there are a lot of things also that aren't in this budget that I wish were in it in addition to the things that are in it that I wish weren't in it but I think you know but on balance I'm really happy with this budget I'm especially happy

with the um again with the investments in community safety and with seeing that program continue to grow and I look forward to supporting its growth um from the current Citywide 12-h hour schedules that we have now to a city-wide 247 um schedule that we hope to see in the future I just want to appreciate everyone um who's been a part of this process who's come here to Advocate we can't make good decisions without uh without hearing from our residents and there have been a large number of residents who have do an incredible amount of work to get this budget um to where to where it is today advocating for a number of the Investments that we're making um over the last year or several years and I want to appreciate all the work that the community puts in to making U making sure that the city is investing in in our people and in meeting our needs thank you thank you Council woman Johnson anyone else would comments at this time councilman Williams thank you Madame mayor um I've been quiet tonight

just wanted to listen um and I wanted to make a few comments taking the emotion out of it um although uh I'm emotionally driven by a lot of this uh I think what if I'm speaking emotionally what frustrates me is we have done a really good job at making our local politics a binary who supports and who doesn't support and I think that's irresponsible um we make decisions all the time before I take the emotions out of it the other thing is I am perplexed when we look at this budget and we look at all the things that are in it including the raises without raising

taxes and yet the very support for what would require us to raise taxes is the same lack of support for the reason why we didn't raise taxes and what I mean by that is there are folks moving to Durham and we are not a council where we can just swipe the credit card and just do anything we want anytime we want um you know we we can't do it that way we we are an Enterprise we we this the city is it's a government it's not agile that way you have to move responsibly and there are there are some folks that come in the city hall and bark at us about allowing someone to build it's your neighbor it's the person who owns that land that wants to sell

it or do something with it and there is someone who wants to buy it and when that happens people move there and those people who are moving there pay taxes the only way that we could pay anybody but we can't stop those folks from moving there and swipe the card for just folks who are in Durham already that would be nice but we're in North Carolina we're in North Carolina we are restricted from being able to do that and the way I look at it is you know Durham was a place let's say 50 people live here and there were a 100 Homes Supply is not an issue we have plenty cost of living is low those 50 folks were really cool and so other people wanted to move there and now you have a 100 people in

100 homes so now you have to build more homes because it got expensive so now we have 150 homes and 100 people but those 100 people are really cool so now we have a about 200 people living here and only 150 homes and the 100 home the 150 homes that are available they're nice or whatever but there are 200 people that are like hey we don't want anybody else excuse me excuse me I did say I was going to keep the emotions out of it my point is if we have more demand than Supply things are going to be expensive and the only way we can address that in this state it's more people paying taxes

people have to move here and if we restrict that we're only going to make it tougher so let me simplify this a little more you can't be against development you can't be against raising you can't be against allowing the tax base to expand and also at the same time want to just blow it through the roof that's without emotion now I I don't need the expertise right now I've met enough people who think they're smarter than others the fact of the matter is you can't be again you can't be for restricting the tax base but for increasing taxes and expect the folks who are already here to be okay we're not opening and Clos cling the levers or the levies of people

moving and coming we're just mitigating that we can't control it now I say all of this to say I wanted to break it down of how the economics of it work and this is why I won't Panda to anybody but it's also why I can say you folks that are in the room firefighters and everyone else across the entire city that works in this city you have my word I will be supportive of getting you where you need to be but I will do it responsibly I will not tell you what you want to hear and just do it right now and then have to pay for it later where all of us are hurting I was where you were I I was where you are year just few years ago in the teachers union and the compression happened the same way so I know what it feels like and I give you my word I will support that but it will

happen responsibly we have to make sure that we move responsibly just from a business sense there is no Corporation or no Enterprise that just randomly do things or just do things irresponsibly this way we got to have a plan in place so I give you my word I will support it I support it now but I will not do it irresponsibly and it's not a binary of who supports you and who does not because if I'm not mistaken I think everybody on this Council supports making sure that our staff our employees are paid where they need to be but we we can't just swipe a credit card and say all right oh well so I I I that that's just the economic of it uh colleagues I uh wish there are some other things in the

budget it's not but Madam manager I look forward to uh this this uh Pace study happening ASAP I look forward to addressing this conversation as soon as possible I appreciate all of the staff for getting us to this point and being able to do your job under the radar of the attack and all the things that come with it I know it's really hard I appreciate you no matter how much it may not be said thank you for the hard work that you've done city employees I appreciate you we will get you where you need to get in addition to the raise that you're getting in this budget we will get you there but it has to be done responsibly any uh Council woman Caballero thank you madam mayor um I just

want to I'll be brief um I want to thank staff this has been probably the hardest budget and this will be my sixth budget um there are two things we have to follow we have to pass a balance budget we have to pass it by June 30th those are rules that we do not make for ourselves those are the rules given to us and when we lost uh John in the middle of it after we' gone through our budget Retreats when we had kind of gotten a framework um at Council memb Johnson and I were actually at an event that evening and we had to be real honest with residents we're like we this is the this is the schedule hopefully it'll hold uh when you have somebody who's worked for the city the decades that that man worked and then you Lo we lost him um I just I have a lot of deep gratitude for our staff in this moment I know it's been very very challenging for our uh budget staff who worked alongside him for a long time so thank you uh to everyone who worked diligently through their grief

um this is a great budget is it everything we wanted no there's a lot more I could have done with this budget I don't have a problem raising taxes what I'm not going to do is tell the public we're not raising your taxes at the beginning of May and then two weeks later tell them oh we're actually going to raise your taxes and along with the county it's going to be a really large one not going to do it it's irresponsible I was very straightforward with the fire fires Union I think that most folks can appreciate that at this point as an elected official I'm a pretty straight shooter I'm not going to BS you I'm not going to be not transparent I'm going to tell you what I think and you can take it or leave it a few years ago the city of Durham was a a model across the state on how we are doing our living wage of ordinance what we passed when we passed it for part-time workers I'm very proud of that work I understand that we have lagged and that is going to become for the next Council we're going to have to make some seriously hard choices which I also said probably two work sessions

ago again been honest transparent and not provide a lot of BS I am perfectly fine telling folks that we're going to have to do a big tax increase to bring our every every worker not just the firefighters because I can name and I said this before there are lots of folks who got us through Co our 911 call operators are also on a step plan they did not get the raise that firefighters and police got they did not if you look at them and you look at what yall got it's not the same that does not make you what you're asking for waning bad or greedy or whatever word people are using that's negative I don't have any ill will to towards your asks at all I think that they're right it just was unfortunately not at the moment that I felt comfortable dealing with in this budget we have a pay study that's coming we have a lot of work to do I think it will be upon those who are sitting at this diet to be really clear and to show clear uh direction to staff it's going to take Council not asking for $25 million worth the asks all of us submit our stuff in January we could have said

put pay pay our workers Top Notch that's our number one request that's not what this Das did all of us asked for things all of us asked for good things and most of it's in this budget all of us asked for things that benefit the community departments also asked for lots and lot lots of good things for residents and we're going to have to make a hard Choice next year and it's probably going to have to be over two years and we're going to have to take a really deep Gulp and basically freeze most new initiatives most new expansion of work and focus on pay and we're going to have to do it for two years and until we actually have the political will to do it and that is staff and Council working together and walking in January 1 2024 whoever is sitting in these seats and making that commitment this is just going to keep recycling over and over again and that's the truth and I said that to the folks on the second Zoom I had with the firefighters Union I didn't say anything

different so I'm saying it here again if I'm in this place I'm happy to have that hard conversation I'm happy to make one of my Council asks this is the thing I want to focus on but I'm not going to do it in May after we've told everyone there's no tax increase so I'm very proud of this budget again there's always more work we can do that is the nature of sitting in the seat that is the nature of doing this job again deep gratitude for our staff and for all the advocacy out in the community that godess a vision zero coordinator it took four years to get one position that request was in transportation departments three I think three years and then we finally got it this year there's been many things that folks have asked for and it takes several Cycles so I I know you will not be daunted I know you all will be back here and I look forward working with you closely thank you Council M Freeman thank you Madame mayor I just

want to appreciate very clearly that uh to hearken back to the comments at the beginning of our meeting this is the city that made me and this is my home and I appreciate all of the s sentiments that come from this dis but it's hard to not say the things and be clear and transparent about how frustrating things have been I know I am like utterly like so utterly grateful to our mayor and how she has handled this last year I it is so disrespectful to sit here on this Di and call the mayor irresponsible it is so disrespectful to sit on this Di and call Dr Hosley Heyman

irresponsible and it is completely disgusting like it is just so frustrating that folks can just oh my God I want to be very clear that this budget was Guided by two council members and their puppets if I'm to be honest the city manager has her hands tied I want to be very clear about that up front this budget was done in January when it came to us in May it was clearly stated there would be no changes we went through the organic motions to try and pretend that we were listening to the public and that is what has frustrated me tonight that is what is so like disheartening because there is no public dialogue everything is happening behind the scenes and it's nonsense I mean I've had a whole like outbreak in this in this chamber behind the scenes but out front it's I mean I'm trying my

best I'm trying my best and this is just ridiculous it's just utterly ridiculous because you should have a race you should it was a home run everyone wins two cents really we raised it two cents last year I am I was trying not to say anything because I know that my emotions are going to take over and I'm gonna cut somebody out it is really like just a matter of four votes and I'm going to keep saying that and I I do want to thank this mayor this mayor for standing up for what she believes in which I [Applause]

know our city staff took the Frontline hardship and foregoing those those raises in 2021 and we could have with one additional vote recaptured 2021 for $8 million with two cents I don't want to hear this crap about raising taxes is going to displace people we have a grant in place we can expand the grant that is not a problem I am not concerned at all these are choices that were made by these these members on this Council and that is it thank you I I do want to say that this budget includes a lot of great things but at this point in time I'm just going to have to vote no because it's just it's just it's the sentiment it's wrong it's just wrong and it's not it should not be on the backs of our staff it should not it just shouldn't

thank you [Applause] I want to just make sure that I give everybody else an opportunity before I have final remarks before we take this vote if they have any anything else to say I don't want to be accused of not letting folk have their say all right so here we hear there they go there they go and hear you all you know um this is my second budget I thank you all for allowing me to be your M it's not an easy job it's not for the faint of heart but then I've never had those kind of jobs when I look at this days I've had 30 years of Public Service working for governments this is not my

first time at the rodeo of being a CEO and running a budget it's not new for me I've done it and done it successfully with people to help and it always takes a team so I give my cados to city manager page also to our budget staff who have worked really really hard just getting the numbers right on what they do for 29 different departments is amazing 2500 workers and they do it all under the guise of politics it does not get any harder than that I don't think yeah when you have seven bosses you know that's that's a different kind of environment to be in so I thank you all for trying to figure out how you navigate the space and for navigating it I'm not a stranger to politics either so when people say things uh Council woman Freeman I've been called worse by by better and

better by worse it's just my life you know I haven't been a judge for 24 years I've had to send this people to life in prison without a without a crack of a smile and knowing that they were going to go to prison for life but I love Durham and I've never lived anywhere else and I've had the unique perspective of seeing a lot of what other folks don't see with firefighters and EMS and 911 and on and on and on and I thank God for that journey I don't always agree with these people up here we shouldn't we are in politics but I do think that sometimes a level of decorum has been lost we don't have to get down we don't have to be posturing we don't have to be irresponsible our economics doesn't have to be wrong just because we dis disagree

that is the nature of politics that's the nature of coming to the space and why you have seven different opinions up here but it doesn't have to get to the level where it feels like it's being a personal attack because people disagree with how you view life and what your experience brings doesn't have to be that way and it shouldn't be that way and I've tried to uh operate in a manner that reflects that because I want you all to see that in us I also so conscious that this is an all people of color Council and when you look look at this Das you see that and it's a first and I don't want it to be the last I want us all have be all inclusive up here and so I think it's important that we model what we say and we act like it so I support this budget but for that one thing but for one thing I will stand on as a principal that's for for Elaine this derite this

person who has lived 61 total years in this community this person who has done 30 years a public service who has a math degree and a law degree and all that stuff that goes in to figuring out a budget and where it makes it run and I'm telling you we could have gotten this done one vote but it's not going to be tonight I think you already know that that's why I'm not for a whole lot of posturing because people come in KN where they going to go hadn't changed it is what it is and I'm sorry that we couldn't do it tonight I don't think it's going to get done tonight but I'm going to keep pushing and I congratulate and I thank our city manager and her staff for a job well done on putting this very difficult budget together so at this time we will look to see and I will not be voting for this budget because of that but only because of that that one point but that's enough

to do it for me it's in criminal law and in of law one element is missing it's not a crime it's not a crime and that's where I stand all right so here we go on these motions if I can find Madam mayor may I make a comment to you please don't but I I don't have any other choice thank you uh I we're notorious on this Council for flipping and misinterpreting things I just want to make sure that I'm on the record stating that I'm not calling you or any of my colleagues irresponsible more so the action that I would take if I was to support this uh race we're talking about in the form that it is that would be a responsible in my opinion so for any of the misinterpretations intentionalities or whatever um I'm not not talking to any of my colleagues in that way no matter how I feel thank

you thank you so much for that we will now go to I'm ready to entertain a motion and our attorney has told me that I only need to read the top one um and that is to adopt the fiscal year 2023 24 budget and 2024 through 29 Capital Improvement plan CIP ordinance and other related ordinances so move second it's been moved by uh cman William seconded by mayor protim Madam clerk if you would open the vote if you close the vote and Report out the motion passes 4 to three congratulations with mayor O'Neal council member Freeman and council member Hy Heyman voting no all right we now turn to our next order of business which is item 40 we have two public hearings

9 acres and located at 2504 East Highway uh 54 the current zoning is office and institutional with a development plan and the applicant proposes to change this designation to residential Suburban

multif family with a development plan this is to allow for up to 72 multif family apartment units with at least 36 of these units being designated as affordable units per the Udo this is the Redevelopment and existing uh Extended Stay lot this request the case z225 received a recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission on May 9th 2023 by a vote of 8 to Z there are two motions required for this application this evening the first is to approve the zoning ordinance and the second is to approve the consistency statement thank you and staff and the applicant are available to answer any questions thank you so much Mr Cahill you've heard the report from staff and I'm now going to declare this public hearing open first are there any questions for staff from members of the council Council woman Johnson Council follow about Council woman Freeman I won't interrupt thank you Madame mayor um just a quick question were there only eight uh planning Commissioners present at that meeting or did some folks abstain from the vote uh thank you for

the question so there were only uh eight planning Commissioners present okay thank you and I I was just going to ask the 72 units how how much of a percent is that 36 uh 50% of the units oh or what Ami no just the percent 50% so this is a Development coming forward with 50% affordable housing correct changing from Office institution thank you and then just one additional question how close is this to South Point not that close to South Point I can pull up a context map if that's helpful I was trying to get to it that's all thank you any further questions of Staff all right now we will turn to our public and we have I think um our

applicant if you will come first we do have uh one two two proponents and two opponents so how much time do you need is it you Mr go do we have the applicant for you is it Miss Mr Frank bordon that's an opponent Mr Larry Booth is listed as an opponent Mella Adams is listen as a proponent and Mr Peter skill skill skillin Mr skillin you're up sir thank you very much my name is Peter Skiller and I'm the executive director of reinvestment Partners a nonprofit Community Development corporation based in Durham uh we provide housing counseling as a Hut approved counseling agency free tax services uh healthy food assistance program and affordable

housing in the past year we served about 2500 uh low-income Durham residents with those Services um this project we were able to buy an extended stay America on Highway 54 off Market we utilize the city's durm affordable housing Loan Fund through self-help for the acquisition um our intent is to invest about $750,000 to improve the quality of the property uh updating the fixtures kitchens floors um what's and then this process is allow to allow it to be zoned as multif family uh which then makes it eligible for um housing Capital subsidies and housing Choice vouchers um Hotel especially Extended Stays that have a kitchen often are used as long-term housing for our Durham residents but they don't come with leases uh they don't come with the same type of improvements or the type of services that we imagine offering so this is an opportunity to take an

existing building uh and with a pretty affordable strategy uh create 36 affordable housing units uh that will then be overall managed uh towards our nonprofit Mission goals of help the communities on affordable housing so I'd be glad to answer any questions that you might have about the resoning did you all have any questions for our applicant all right all right Miss Stella Adams we have no questions for you Mr G Miss Stella Adams I believe is here to speak as a proponent and then we will have Mr bordon and Mr boo who will speak at as opponents and we'll check on the internet and see if we're we've missed anyone while we're doing that if you're on the internet please raise your hand at this time so we can recognize you after our speakers in Chambers Miss Adams you have the floor Madame mayor Mr Pro mayor Pro tempor members of the city council I

stand before you this evening to support 36 affordable units 50% affordable units but I also stand up here as a DM resident in Shane that our that these affordable units will be all of our fire the majority of our city employees will qualify for these affordable units to me that is a sin and a shame but I count on you to keep your pledge that when the study is over you will address this inequity I cannot believe that there is opposition to making units accessible and available to our firefighters our police officers our our Public Works

employees because this is who qualifies for these units it's a sin and a shame that I stand up here asking for housing that's accessible and affordable for our city employees these are 36 units you're going to hear from me again about why we should deny a resoning that has zero units affordable I beg you approve this resoning and shame on you for opposing housing for our police and our firefighters Mr bordon Mr Frank bordon if you will come forth and followed by Mr Larry booth and I believe each of those used about three almost three minutes a piece

but we will owe Mr skirum I think about a minute and a half uh rebuttal if you so desire sir yes sir good evening my name's my name is Frank bordon I live at 310 Sur Road I'm certainly in favor of affordable housing and Durham uh I just had a concern that the the size of the units are very small 350 square feet I think up to six people could live in those units and and uh I just was concerned that that density might be uh could cause crowding even could cause some hazards in ter terms of fire and safety within the unit so I just was wondering if I'm in favor of of affordable housing but you know it's a very dense project and I just wanted the the question addressed of of how many people are going to live in each unit six per unit 350 is a is a pretty um it's just a lot of folks in one one space so uh I just that that was my comment and concern and I appreciate your

time thank you sir Mr Booth Mr Larry booth name my name is Larry Booth I'm an electrical engineer I've been a licensed professional engineer for over 30 years in the state of North Carolina um I own commercial property in Durham and and I and I lease it to tenants I'm here to advocate for safe safe conditions for the possible tenants of this property I met with Alexander Cahill about a month ago with the planning department I I asked him the maximum each apartment could could

handle and he said six people so the uh developer will allow and the and the uh town adorm will allow six tenants per apartment the uh 350 square ft that is if you double that that would be the size of an average average one bedroom apartment one person for one tenant each hotel room the exit there's only one exit door it opens into a hallway once you enter the hallway you have to travel to the exits exits there are too few fire exits for the evacuation of the tenants the way it stands there's no 2hour firewall to reduce the fire

spread there are no exterior fire escapes the electrical supply to each room is too small it is not adequate you can imagine every tenant has the capacity to bring something electrical it could be a heater it could be a dishw portable dishwasher a portable um washing machine everything causes additional current to flow through the wire to overheat wires and cause a fire tenant discomfort creates tenant unrest the water supply is too small to serve the apartment bathrooms with that many people each each room of 350 ft or apartment has insufficient Cooling and

insufficient ventilation each room ceiling height is too low and creates poor ventilation and smoke accumulation if you have a fire there is insufficient insufficient ventilation in the hallways and the common areas there is twoo little common area inside and outside of the building Mr booth that will be your time but if you have written comments that go further if you'd like to leave them with our clerk you may do so at this time yes ma'am uh one F comment possible solutions would be to combine two of the 350 squ ft rooms and make one apartment 700 Square ft that would be an average one-bedroom apartment in today's another solution is reduce the maximum room occupancy from six tenants to two

tenants for the safety of the tenants who will be living there thank you thank you sir Mr Skiller I think you have about a minute and and a half in rebuttal time if I did a quick ma um thank you mayor um just as a point of fact most of the rooms are about 450 square feet um the occupancy is determined by the number of bedrooms this is a studio apartment which considers it not even one bedroom so occupy is to two people um the issues that he raised as far as the architectural requirements as part of the permitting process of moving this from essentially zoned as hotel to multif family the building inspections department will review the plans to assert that it meets the code moving from an R1 to an R2 we have already paid for those plans as built to be evaluated by a certified architect and are prepared to submit them the architect says that we do meet those standards so

I think there's a point of misinformation or dis about the size of the rooms the occupancy rate and the process of Permitting tonight we're simply asking for the resoning the regulations will take care of the code meeting multif family standards which again we have determined will meet it so I hope that answers the concerns and questions and are glad to continue working with our neighbors to address their concerns as we move forward thank you sir all right I believe I'll check with the clerk to see if there's anyone on the internet that would like to speak on this matter I believe we've concluded do we have anybody who's raised a hand no all right all right colleagues I I will now declare let me see if you all have any other questions or comments so far uh mayor protin thank you Madame mayor Mr SK would would you is it skel I'm sorry sking I'm sorry okay thank you would you yes sir good

evening thank you so much uh for being with us would you give us a sense of just operationalized affordable what what type of Ami mix are we talking about at the development so the 36 units are restricted to 60% Ami 6 so um depending upon family size these are typically going to be single or a couple who are in those households so you're looking for around $45 to $50,000 at that affordability rate the rents are going to be renting from about 8 00 those that are not restricted by the zoning requirements or market rate probably would go about $1,000 those will include utilities and also cable as as inclusive a part of that what makes this a different is our willingness to take um H housing vouchers as rental assistance uh and our ability to work with a limited number of special needs people but we Our intention is to have you know a mix and range of incomes uh so this is uh a healthy Community a diverse and healthy

Community thank you so much thank you madam mayor thank you mayor protim any other questions uh Council woman Jose H I don't have a question I just want to say thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you um you know I'm very impressed with the hard work emotional work Community work that you all do tonight thank you and this work that we all do to try to improve the community is heart including including the affordable housing component appreciate your support thank you anyone else all right colleagues we have now reached the point where I declare the public hearing to be closed and this matter is now back before the council we have two motions for our consideration of this item this evening ready to entertain motion number one which is to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of office and institutional with the develop plan oid and establishing the same as residential Suburban multif

family with a development plan rs- MD so moved second it's been moved by councilman Williams seconded by Council M Freeman Madame clerk if you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes unanimously the second motion for our consideration is to adopt the consistency statement as required by ncgs 160 D- 605 remov second been moved by councilman Williams seconded by Council woman Jos hman Madam clerk if you open the vote if you will close the VOE and Report out and the second motion passes 70 thank you all we now turn our attention to uh supplemental item which is item number 44 is the Consolidated zoning map change streets at South Point Mall number

two you know that we have several speakers online if you could please raise your hand I believe Mr Jim saara was here in in place and just to line up our speakers so they kind of know and Mr Lee Cochran is he here and in the space they were online I see them okay so they're still there so you all hold on folks who are online we will be recognizing you as soon as we finish with people in Chambers I have um as our applicant is coming uh who I believe let's see Mr Andre Banks as a proponent Mr Neil go you're our applicant um we also have Mr Patrick Anderson as a proponent to speak we also have Tony Hall as a proponent to speak in opposition we have Miss Lissa CYO we also have Miss Stella Adams and I

have one person Pastor Ricardo Payne who did not indicate either way Miss Reverend Payne Pastor Payne are you speaking in opposition or uh as a proponent proponent okay you're speaking in favor yes all right okay so we have a lineup everybody Mr go how many minutes will you need to start off sir I think we have at Le at least you have two you have at least two people in opposition and then we have four she doesn't indicate three definitely three online how much time you want to start with turny go um I think like 15 minutes for our entire team okay now would your team include those persons that I have it include several of them not necessarily all of them okay Mr Pay Reverend Payne Pastor Payne Mr Andre Banks Mr Patrick Anderson and Mr Tony Hall are all a part of your team sir uh

so Mr Andre Banks is M uh Pat Anderson we also have Jason uh Jason Bonnet I don't know if he's um registered or signed a card but he's here as well um and I think we have two folks online on our team Lee Cochran and Tiffany Elder both online okay okay and I'm just kind of being particular tonight because we missed a couple of people and I just want to make sure that we get everybody so you're saying we're going to start you with 15 minutes for your team and then yeah I think we should be able to get done 15 minutes yeah okay all right you're ready all right and good evening mayor O'Neal mayor protim middl and members of the city council uh you all know me I'm nil go an attorney at the Morning Star Law Group 700 West Main Street I'm here tonight representing Brookfield properties which is the owner uh owners of sou Point Mall we've got uh several members of our team here you've mentioned a few of them uh we also have

m who has been helping South Point function since the day it opened I believe um usually I do a lot of the talking but we have an Allstar cast to give a presentation about the project for you this evening and our first speaker will be the GM Pat Anderson and then you'll hear from De director of social inclusion Mr Andre banks with some brief comment from senior vice president of development um Jason Bonnet and then unfortunately you'll hear from me again uh about public benefits but as I said I brought some friends um we've got Tiffany Elder of Paradigm properties and Lee cochr of Laurel Street on uh to speak about affordable housing so I'll turn the podium over to Mr Pat Anderson good evening good evening mayor I'm mayor proam city council uh I know it's late so I'll try to move along quickly um I'm the senior general

manager at the streets at South Point I have been at the property for 18 years the past 18 years um we've been at this resoning for over three years and I want to take a moment to thank city manager Wanda page Deputy city manager Keith Chadwell uh Sarah Young with the planning and Sean Eagan with Transportation uh we're comple we're a complex property uh takes on our side takes a lot of time to get things done so we appreciate their help to get before you tonight um I'm not going to uh tell you my life story but I want to tell you a quick story that tonight's story is about keeping dollars in Durham prior to streets uh prior to the 18 years at streets I came to the market in 1997 I came down to run carry town center and I just want to tell you share you a couple parts of my personal experience KY Town Center was a very successful Center Lake streets ktwn Center served the community well like South Point did and when the competition

open in the market and when I mean competition when the streets South Point opened Carrie needed an investment and that did not occur and what you see on the screen is the condition that Car Town Center is in today March 8th 2002 uh was a GM M Cary town Center and I woke up with a knot my stomach wasn't feeling really well cuz that's the day that the streets at South Point opened and I knew what type of Center it was had a real passion for Carrie as a matter of fact the news and observer did a article about this competition and I'm quoted as the general manager at carry Town Center that these our customers will go check out streets at South Point and they will come back and Shop us that never happened they never came back so I'm appealing to you I've lived that story I'm just appealing to you not let not to let this happen over time to the streets at South Point so fortunately the streets at South Point we're very proud of our success the 20 years of success we're excited and proud to be standing before you tonight uh

we're here tonight to ask for the city's support the streets of South Point as you as you're aware is a very special place we're a destination for Durham we're a destination for the greater triangle we're a destination for North Carolina we have an employment base of over 2,000 people that's Nordstrom Belk Macy's it's National restaurants it's Crate and Barrel it's 140 stores large and small that employment base includes career management positions it includes full-time positions it includes part-time positions and includes entry-level opportunities you will notice also that our business is strong the 97% least remaining fully occupied takes a good deal of investment to bring the right retailers to Market and I think we've shown we've done that for over 20 years I want to comment about our re about retail and that's our Core Business tonight we're talking about developing the property primarily in parking lots but the core retail will

stay the same what you know of the center from the cinema area and the restaurants up to the new Apple Store everything inside Nordstrom over to belon Macy's will remain essentially the same with the exception we'll bring in new tenants um we've had really good success over the 20 years we remain remain in capacity we've done really well coming out of Co you know there's a new Apple Store a new Lululemon ever Eve Warby Parker pelaton there's a beautiful new altered state store we just opened up fabletics psycho bunny we just signed a deal with Co restaurant that's going to replace the zimberg they are open at North Hills and they're going to come up and take the former zinberg um I want to stress that we we talking about Redevelopment but we have an entire Leasing Group you'll see it's a very competitive market when it comes to retail we have a competitive Leasing Group already working on new deals for 24 25 26 we look at the market as it continues to improve better retailers will come here it's usually been a

two-story Market but if you think about the higher-end retails retailers when they come here they will only pick one location this resoning approval will allow us to continue to invest in the property improve and be ready for when that retail hits the market as it mentioned we over have 11 million annual visitors that come to the streets at South Point every year we are the largest draw to Durham but of the 11 million annual visitors 71% 71% come from outside of the county and city of Durham this is Recent research we're using Hunden Associates the same folks that discover Durham is are using currently and this is an important number to remember that 7 1% uh the streets I've been asked in several our discussions how can the streets at South Point help the many challenges that face our Duram community and to me this is important and this this slide summarizes it the seat the streets at South Point is Durham's

largest tax generator $14 million in annual revenue it's comprised as you can see of 2 million in annual Transit tax 3 million in annual property tax and 9 million in annual sales tax and I want to remind you that 71% of our customers come from outside the city and county of Durham so tonight we're here uh we're before you in a position of strength we're here we're healthy uh we're an important part of dur Durham we're trying to proactively ask to partner with the city of Durham for long-term success if you look at this map locally and nationally the retail Landscaping is changing increased competition and investment primarily are occurring in Wake County and that is specifically Fenton North Hills and exchange or Midtown Exchange all all this competition is in Wake County and I'll remind you the third time that 71% of our customers come outside from outside

the city of Durham this is simply a story of keeping dollars in Durham the streets of South Point is prepared to invest private funds funds to meet this competition we have not we are not making a request for public funds we plan to invest private funds to ensure the streets remains vibrant in retail and a strong competitor to all the new mixed use use uh developments that are in the region in Wake County so we're asking the city to support and improve this resoning which will allow us to move forward with phase development the last thing I want to do is I want to clarify this is phase development we are not prepared to move dirt tomorrow this will allow us to move forward with a multi-year plan a three a five and 8-year plan to improve the center and as you can see uh it'll allow us to add up to 1,382 residential units uh 300,000 ft of office a two 200

200 room hotel room and what's most important to me is 100,000 square feet of retail square footage and that'll allow us we need to we need to bring in new tenants new restaurants and uh to carry on for the future and I will now turn it over it's my privilege to introduce Andre Banks who is Brookfield property director of social inclusion thank you good evening um mayor O'Neal and members of the council my name is Andre Banks and I have been with Brookfield properties for over 16 years um I was asked to come on because at the time I was a DC resident U my father and his brothers were the first AF African-Americans to build their own Shopping Center in DC and I'm a product of that um I learned about community at a very early age and have been doing this all of my life and love what I do and wouldn't be doing anything different we have a project in DC called The Yards

it's uh initially was almost going to be a 20 year long 25 year long project we're about half the way through I've been there from the first shevel in the ground I've been very excited reached out to community reached out to City Council Members reached out to the mayor negotiated deals um we have a requirement at the yards that says that a minimum of 35% need to go to um sorry need to go to local businesses and also we have a requirement that says that 51% of all new hires on construction must go to DC residence so for the past 16 years we've been exceeding these goals and when I say exceeding when it's 35% we hit 50 to 60 when we're talking about uh hiring DC residents we've knocked it out the park where we haven't missed a mark on any construction project um but we thought we could do more we we're that type of developer and we said that we were going to go back and look at it and look at some of our anchor tenants that were coming down the pike how could we

work with the Harris Teeter that was coming down to be the anchor or tenant in our apartment building which by the way they're from North Carolina I had to fly down and meet with Harris terer to talk to them and their big question to me was well Andre please explain to us when you already got us as your anchor tenant why why are you going to do a project like this and why are you going to do a program I said because we're building a city and we're asking you to hire our people we want to make sure they're trained we want to make sure we understand what you need from from our people to get hired by you so believe it or not we were able B to do that uh we partnered with 30 organizations across DC that provided the training even community colleges we got 309 people hired we also focused on a retention rate which was at 82% we were only seeking 70 but we managed to knock that out of the park and then the community came back to us they said oh if you did this with Harris terer at The Yards you got a hotel coming in before we approve that we want to know that you're going to implement a similar program we were

able to do that as well we got a hotel the Thompson Hotel a boutique hotel at The Yards uh we had 270 people hired between the restaurant and the hotel oh my goodness we had 121 people from our neighborhoods that got trained properly and were able to work at the Thompson Hotel but it doesn't stop there we moved on to New York where my boss is and she said Andre can you do something up in the Bronx and I heard you mentioned the Bronx I just smiled so we did a con or in the process of doing a construction project called bankside on Third Avenue 101 Lincoln that's us on both sides of the river both sides of the bridge and four years ago we went up there and I look for an organization a nonprofit that had the same model that we had in DC I was able to connect with building skills New York and we partnered with 20 organizations across the Bronx uh to date we have hired over 80 plus people in construction on the job and I can tell you this by the criteria in New York and with the pressure from the

unions those 80 people would not have jobs have we not had the programs in place to help our communities up there so um I've done that and then also in Jersey City New Jersey um we were able to go there we have a project called Hudson exchange up there in Jersey City New Jersey I partnered with the former Governor James McGreevy and James had a program while he was working under the mayor to help returning citizens so we work with James it's called Second Chances we work with James to make sure that we were getting all the returning citizens proper L trained and then we work with the subs to get them hired and I think there's a video that we' passed along for people to look at called Second Chances but it just speaks to the fact of how our programs have really touched the community to make it a reality and make them be a part of what we're bringing we're bringing something great but at the same time we can't bring something great if we don't make the community a part of it so I've been blessed uh you know and they say some people in the community you're blessed and highly favored well the second half of that comment has to do with my

mission you know I've had it in my DNA and it's a part of me that I'm going to make sure wherever I go whether it's the Bronx whether it's DC whether it's Durham I come and I earn your trust I treat you with respect and I learn what the people want and where the pain is and where the challenges are and I in turn work with uh um consultants and experts and work with your organizations here in Durham to make sure that we're delivering prosperity for those folks too and I've heard I've done some Outreach recently and I've had comments about well you know you have the Hales and the Have Nots well we're going to make sure that's not the case we're going to make sure that we address those who have and we're going to address seriously those who don't so with that um I think I probably should have been pushing this button but I'm a little it challenge but there was a a thing there a letter of appreciation from mayor um Bowers in in DC that I can share with you folks but I'm going to turn this over to Jason Bonet who's our senior vice president of

Development I've been working for Jason with Jason a long time and the reason I really came down here tonight is I I do everything for Brookfield wherever they want me to go but Jason has supported every Mission every project that I've had he's made sure that it's been funded through Brookfield I'd do anything for Jason Bonet so with that I can pass these around you hear that buzzer so clearly I missed the mark we've got a few more speakers I would kindly ask for some more time so you can hear from the rest of our presenters today I was just over here Consulting with our attorney because I think we have only two speakers in opposition who will be given the same amount of time as you have so all right you we'll start you with another what you we're at 15 eight minutes there we go uh thank you Andre uh I'll be quick my name is Jason bonam with the

4 million we've done that

4 million in contracts to local minority and women-owned businesses uh in Atlanta Georgia uh with that I'll hand it back over to nil thank you Jason um so I I would like to just introduce our public benefit with this resoning starting with a $1 million contribution to the city's dedicated housing fund uh this contribution will be part of phase one and phase two of the Redevelopment um it's it's going to be broken into those two phases so two separate payments but basically half will be contributed with the construction of the first residential building and the second half with the construction of the second residential building which again that's phase one and phase two um Brookfield does not take this issue lightly and our team has spent a lot of time on this topic specifically we've brought in two of the several affordable housing

builders that we have had discussions with on this project to discuss affordable housing in more depth tonight and we very much appreciate Tiffany Elder of Paradigm properties and Lee Cochran of Laurel stre being with us uh this evening I believe they both are with us by Zoom so I would ask if you could please unmute uh Mr Lee Cochran to to talk to you all about foral housing and then we can hear from Tiffany hi this is leak make sure you can hear me yes we can you may proceed sir ex thank you uh my name is Lee cochr and I'm senior vice president for development for Laurel Street an affordable mixed income housing development company that develops uh mixed income housing throughout the southeast I was asked tonight to speak not on the specific details of this particular resoning but just generally on public uh financing required for affordable housing um you may know Laurel Street we're a Charlotte based firm that's a portfolio of about 5,000

7 million to assist in the development of 82 units of affordable housing using the 4% low-income housing tax credit under a development agreement with the city of Durham related to a resoning near Highway 54 and Interstate 40 um again I've been asked tonight to speak tonight not on this the particular details of this resoning but just generally on what's required in public financing to develop affordable housing with the 4% low-income housing tax credit the effects of uh what's called qualified census track and structured parking on the public financing needed for affordable housing um we do a ton of development of new construction using

the 4% tax credit um and new construction using the 4% tax credit requires significant public Capital subsidies in addition to just the 4% tax credit in North Carolina the only significant source for that additional public subsidy is local Capital subsidy uh and I was asked to give an example of of what kind of subsidies that that includes um for what we would call an ideal development uh for the developments we have in our current planning stage the subsidy required the local subsidy required per unit is an excess of $50,000 a unit that's what we would call an ideal situation um developments that are in what are called qualified census tracks as defined by Hud they qualify for 30% more tax credits than those that are not in qualified census tracks um this means if you develop in something that's not in a qualified ssus track that subsidy that I mentioned earlier could be increased by about $30,000 per unit uh which is getting above $80,000

per unit Laurel Street also primarily develops our affordable housing us using surface parking uh we do that because purely for cost reasons um if we were to add structured parking to the cost of a 4% tax credit that would add about $2,000 of additional public subsidy for every structured parking space that was built um again I was s simply asked to come and and give some some details on on the effect of those two uh qualified census tracks and structured parking on the cost of affordable housing I'd be happy to answer any questions anybody would have but I appreciate your time and then if we could unmute Tiffany Elder hello everyone can you hear me all right yes we can you may proceed okay thank you um my name is Tiffany Elder um among other things I'm a real estate broker and licensed general contractor currently working on an affordable housing development on East Gear street and also

served as co-chair of Durham's affordable housing Bond implementation committee for the past three years ending just this may um real estate's a passion of mine I I truly believe that we need to put effort into ensuring that individuals at all strata all economic strata have a place to live in our city and often this means putting additional effort and additional thought into ensuring sufficient affordable housing opportunities given the challenges with developing these types of projects and when it comes to South Point first consider that land in Durham has become really expensive and in the South Point area similar to downtown it's even more expensive and this makes it very difficult to implement affordable housing second the Redevelopment of South Point requires structured parking and this was something that I had to wrap my head around to to really understand what what could happen there versus what couldn't um the rezoning is meant to facilitate the conversion of existing surface parking lots into buildings but you can't just get rid of surface parking

lot without replacing at least some of it especially in a destination like a regional destination like South Point mall and the only way that I know of to replace surface parking is to build structured parking and unfortunately that's a a really expensive proposition and third this site is not within a qualified sens track which negates a lot of the benefits that were were just mentioned and some of the tools that can help to make affordable housing more attainable now for example in a qualified census tract with surface parking the same $100,000 or more financing Gap could equate to 2 and a half to three doors new doors of affordable housing instead of just one door that could be potentially developed at South Point and it wasn't until looking at those numbers that it made sense that funding dollars for affordable units could more responsibly be spent in another location now from my work here in Durham and given the lack of available housing units it it really makes more sense to take the million dollars from South

Point and use it for things important projects that need gap financing to create more units we do not currently have meaningful funds left for the city to partner with private low-income housing tax credit developers and given all the other benefits that this this project can potentially can provide with jobs and tax revenues Etc it doesn't make sense not to allow ownership to continue to invest in the retail Center and create a possible loss in that area just because of a lack of affordable housing on a project it's located in an area where it really might not make sense to build affordable units at a high cost that could create so many more units else and we really need 25 minutes now thank you for your time thank you and I'm sorry I didn't quite hear what you said I said you're at 20 you're over 25 minutes yeah no I noticed that and um try to keep the time equal it's about possible now I said we are supposed to keep the time equal proponents and we have at least two other folks who are speaking

as proponents to come before you understood um if if I could just go quickly through uh the rest of these public benefits um that the project is providing I'll be quick if that's all right I'm asking your permission yes ma'am yes sir I'm sorry um so I'll thank Tiffany and Lee for their time um so another key benefit uh with this project is that uh the project provides an increase in the number of bus op serving sell point from the single bus stop which serves it today to a total of three and these new bus stops will be paid for by South Point which allows go triangle to use its public dollars in the underserved areas of Durham that desperately need more bus shelters also at the mall go triangle Riders currently are using about 50 to 60 parking ride spaces daily with this resoning South Point will provide more than double the current demand of Park and Ride spaces um that are that are at

the site in uh in addition new sidewalks built by South Point will make it easier for Transit Riders to walk to and around the center uh they will be adding high visibil visibility crosswalks uh and extending sidewalk along fville Road they also will be adding additional points of access to the American Tobacco Trail and dedicating land to the city for a connection to the new triangle uh Bikeway now that has a long way to go but when it's complete the bike way is going to be a 23m long path linking Raleigh Cary Morrisville RTP Durham and Chapel Hill primarily along the I40 Corridor along which South Point will be a key destination uh because not only does it provide connection to retail and services but also also to go triangle Transit and the parking ride as was mentioned the overall thrust of this zoning map change is to transform 20e old surface parking lots into multif family housing hotels additional retail and restaurant structured Park parking and employment spaces you all just went

through the budget headaches so it's probably fresh on your mind that South Point mall is Durham Durham County's largest property taxpayer paying 44% in taxes more than Durham County's number two taxpayer and South Point is responsible itself for about 10% of the sales tax revenue uh today South Point mall is a serious economic driver in Durham we want to make South Point even better and stronger for the next 20 years to support all that we are doing in Durham and for these reasons we respectfully ask for your approval tonight in order to move forward with future investment in South Point I thank you for your time and consideration tonight and our team is available to answer any questions you may have thank you thank you we also have speaking to us this evening as proponents would be uh Pastor Ricardo Payne and Mr Tony Hall if you would both come at this time you would have two minutes of piece at this point Madam

mayor mayor pro team councel I am from Little Washington North Carolina and ended up in Washington DC as pastor of a church I want to talk about the side of character as it relates to people that I have been affiliated with Brookfield properties I'm no I am not a consultant to them I'm the enduser of what they've done in Washington DC as such I can speak to Mr Banks if he says he's going to do something he has done it and continues to do that he has been involved with me in serving over 50,000 meals to those that do not have 10,000 toys at Christmas time just a lot of things to indicate the heart of the person and if that's

the heart of the person and he holds them accountable for the many things that they've done and they continue to do around the country then the change for catalyst for change is now I hold them accountable I hold him accountable he has stood the test he has done what he say he's going to do even though they are very large conglomerate but more importantly people do not care what you say and what you do as long as they know you care I know that he does care he has done that time and time again and I'm very proud to say that I'm affiliated with him on any level but even as a friend thank you madam mayor thank you so much Pastor Mr Hall good evening mayor council members and staff my name is Tony Hall Chief

Financial Officer for discover Durham and I'm here to speak for the streets of South Point on Discover Duran's behalf representatives for the project already spent about how important the streets of South Point are to discover to Durham's economy South Point also happens to be the number one visitor destination in Durham 28% of travelers to our County include a trip to this Super Regional Mall it is truly a shopping destination visitors to the campus travel from as far away as Atlanta and Washington DC and a huge number come from across North Carolina some of the top origin markets include Greensboro Greenville Charlotte and w momentum there are three hotels in the immediate vicinity of the mall and I'm I'm sure you know a number of very popular restaurants making South Point area an important hub for travel and tourism and South Durham and given its location these Hospitality businesses Also Serve the People of Chapel Hill maintaining and growing South points vitality and

impacting the area is critical to supporting hundreds of hospitality jobs and the plans expansions will continue you will support continued success and growth for these Durham businesses we know that many malls around the country even some of the triangle that were once very successful have failed to make the necessary ongoing Investments to remain vital and attractive destinations we're excited that Brookfield properties is committed to ensuring the South Point doesn't uh suffer that fate and is willing to make such a strong investment in Durham's future we wholeheartedly support their plans for growth thank you for your time thank you so much Mr Hall I turn now to uh our proponents but before Miss Diana Ramirez Miss Ramirez we do know that you have been online um for most of the evening just wanted to check and see if you were speaking on item number 44 if you raise

your hand okay all right I do have two persons here to yes ma'am sorry I was here I just couldn't unmute myself sorry mayor all right ma'am are you speaking for this item as a proponent I am yes I am ma'am as a proponent all right you may proceed I just wanted to share uh uh as a member of the Hispanic and Latino Community here in Duram that I live uh close to South Point and since I known about the project I feel it would be a great beneficial for the entire Community it would attract more families as myself more diversity to the community uh because uh here in the area we're looking for places more like South Point in which we can get together with our families and see these kind of projects grow uh we can also see

ourselves engaging more with the community in this type of of of locations and also so um spend more time and build and and grow our [Music] networks thank you very much for your time thank you so much Miss Mar Ramirez I believe we have have the opportunity for all of the proponents of this matter to speak both in Chambers and on the internet as well so we now turn to our proponents and our OPP opponents we'll have first Miss Lissa CBO followed by Miss Stella Adams and then we will turn to the internet from Mr Jim savaro and I believe those are all our speakers uh in

opposition uh I think you all about a 20 minutes a piece this point I'm not going to take all that time I know you have a long night my name is Lisa cyel I'm a resident of Durham North Carolina and um I spent Saturday at the mall South Point Mall beautiful Mall beautiful people it's a whole whole Community there and I uh do want to um speak about some of the people that I met I went to every store there's a lot of stores and a lot of people who work there and every person who worked there that I spoke with and it was more than 100 about 120 people that I spoke with they all were concerned about housing they are some are struggling one young lady had lost a job and she just got this job and she's

still behind on rent and um she came this evening but she couldn't stay um there was a teacher who um and the lady I just mentioned she's you know born and raised here in North in Durham and would love to be able to live near South Point um I spoke with a teacher full-time teacher who's also working at the mall and uh she would love to be able to get her in place she said she has to live with her mother because she cannot afford a place in Durham so these are folks who are working at South Point who would every single one said that would be a great idea to have housing that's affordable to people who work here at South Point and be able to live at South Point you why should it just be Luxury Condominiums as we were told at the last meeting it was just going to be Luxury Condominiums it doesn't make sense for

Durham Durham is a community that needs housing for all people all walks of life just as the people who come to South Point come from all over Durham all over the region clearly and you know they want to be able to live well in um a place that they work and I would hope that the city council and the developer would come to an agreement to actually build affordable housing at South Point not put it somewhere else I think it's discrimination that was the word that kept popping up when I looked at the Planning Commission vote when they said no because um it seemed like it was making this into an exclusive community that was the impression that I got from this developer's proposal and I don't

think that's Durham I think everyone in Durham should be able to um come to South Point and people who work there people who come to the malls people from all over Durham should be able to live there as well we shouldn't be creating exclusive communities that exclude people so I just wanted to let you know a little bit about what I learned from my day at South Point and I hope that you will do more um conversation with the developer I don't have any ill well to will I I think it's great that you are upgrading them all and I hope that you will um create that affordable housing not just the Luxury Condominiums that we were told two weeks ago would be all that would be available for people to live at South Point so that's all I have to say unless

you have any questions for me thank you Miss cyel so much for being with us uh good to see you madam clerk her honor stepped out for a moment I'll be assuming the gavl just uh for a little bit and we'll welcome Stella Adams uh to the podium thank you so much for being with us if you'll state your name my name is Stella Adams I live at 4128 Cobblestone place in dorham North Carolina which is just a skipping holler from sou Point mall I'm going to take my 15 minutes or so um first of all M Miss ad would you just suspend for just one moment Madam clerk did you reset it to 15 we had gotten down to I'm looking at 17 I'll be with you in a moment ma'am I it was at 9: I'm looking at 1738 now

why am I getting 10 the the prior speaker ex okay so what what should it be Madam CL okay all right go go ahead go ahead Miss Adam go ahead I'm sorry so I heard a lot of fluff but no there was no meat on that bone I heard about projects but not a profer I didn't hear a proper about um minority hiring percentages for this project I didn't hear a proper about Supplier Diversity for this project I did not hear a proper for a single unit and I will tell you and I don't have to tell you that $500,000 broken up over two

projects is nothing in the climate that we have we spent $95 million on a housing Bond and we couldn't come up with units at Best it's 10 units of affordable un for the house that would be built at worst five uh nothing short of 20% and that's me being generous of the unit should be affordable if you're not going to pay the employees they at least should have a place to stay and that would be generating 20 200 plus 230 units for firefighters and a policeman and I I the tax credit model is not the only model for building affordable housing and what apartment complexes don't want policemen firemen

teachers there are 2,000 employees working at South Point mall and not a single one of them would be eligible to rent a unit at South Point mall if they're selling them as Condominiums those would be for sale not for rental and then how many affordable units would be made available for homes we already heard that you can't afford to h f to buy inurl this project needs to be denied unless there are units made available or significantly more money made available you all are a retailer you all are the first are you going to if we don't allow this are you going to tear South Point down and walk away you make money at South Point Mall just like we

do so just saying to the taxpayer we're the biggest taxpayer in the city and county and if you don't like us what you're going to shut it down you're going to walk away where are your employees going to live where are our firefighters our police officers our school teachers going going to live we're not asking you to shoulder the whole thing but your fair share we need affordable units you don't think teachers deserve a decent place to live you don't we spend money at your Mall firefighters don't they buy their clothes at Macy's the people of Duram so 71% of your folks come from out of town does that mean that we have to move our folks out of town to be able to live we need units not dollars and if

we're going to get dollars we need more than a million of them especially when you're going to do them in $500,000 increments where is the profer on the percentage of um construction workers I didn't hear one where is your profer on the Supplier Diversity numbers like you talked about what you did in DC you talked about what you did in the Bronx but you didn't say what you were committed to do here in darl you got two developers to say that affordable housing couldn't be done without public subsidy suppose and I tell you and I tell you and I put this on the record I know affordable housing developer who can do it with Bond money ask me afterwards and pay my fee oh I got to live

too this is not the right deal for Durham and if they ask for it tonight I ask you to vote no vote no we have less than a 100 units in the city for people under 30% the income you have destined your employees to being 60% and under and yet you're not going to you're not going to demand that there be affordable units made available for them I fight every day for for fast food workers to get $15 an hour and firefighters in my city I'm making $14 an hour and no place to live and you want to approve this do not approve this the the vote of the Planning Commission was no and your vote needs to be no as well don't let me see

you at a fight for 15 rally when you have supported this thing I didn't even need 20 minutes because because this is so outrageous that proper put a proper on the on the table about your commitment to minority hires put a proper on the table about what commit what percentage of construction is going to be done by minority contractors put a proper on the table that will help me asage my soul you put promis in you didn't even promise you just talked about what you did with the councils held you accountable they didn't do it out of love they did it because the city C I was in DC they did it because that Council demanded it and that's what you need to do as well thank [Applause] you thank you Miss Adam your honor would

you like to reassume thank you mayor protim I believe we have one additional speaker um Mr Jim Saar U Mr savara I believe we have on your on the signup sheet that you are a proponent are you a proponent oent or an opponent sir opponent Mr Sara I think you have yourself on mute sir now you're off mute so we should be able to hear you if you speak thank you now my name is Jim savara 12 Susan Drive 27705 I am representing the Coalition for affordable housing and Transit our Coordinating Committee has endorsed the recommendations made on our behalf by Mara MCN and whb Gully in a June 5th letter to all the members of the council

they are both traveling and not able to attend your meeting this evening we encourage you to search out their letter uh from June 5th uh and examine their positive Arguments for affordable housing the city should continue to work with the developers of South Point to encourage and persuade them to create a model neighborhood for Durham with abundant opportunity for income diversity it is already an area with extensive bus service and bicycle access to Central Durham we support the recommendation that 20% of the new housing be affordable permanently which would equate to at least 276 of the thir thir 1882 uh proposed units there are ways that these changes will benefit the owners of South Point as well as the city of Durham housing and Jobs go together labor shortages for lower paid jobs can be eased if affordable housing

is available close to places of work South Point would stand out as an example of a shopping mall where many staff are committed to their place of work and their neighborh Hood volunteers from several housing ad advis groups as Lisa mentioned when she talked uh volunteers have been passing out cards to staff at South Point for the past week asking one one to walk to work the response was strongly positive the cost of construction and the reduction in the market value of the development can be offset by lowcost F financing and tax credits as the Coalition stated in our June 5th letter to you we urge Council to help South Point Mall understand that providing 20% or more affordable units in any residential housing project is both commercially reasonable and doable

today a large prosperous corporate citizen like South Point should want to serve as a leading example of what can be done for affordable housing and Durham one that the council can then point to when asking other housing developers to do their part in providing safe decent and affordable housing in our community we strongly encourage the city council to take the time needed to work with and have South Point Mall be that leading example of corporate citizenship and responsibility let's not lose this opportunity to create an economically diverse neighborhood including at least 20% affordable housing units and as Andre Bank said in his remarks uh we can we can't make something great unless we make the community a part of it that applies to housing as well as employment

thank you very much thank you all um you have any rebuttal maybe about two minutes believe someone left a mask up here yeah um just just wanted to uh address the uh the notion that there would be um luxury condos here these are for rent multif family units that's what has been proposed so I'm not sure where the statement came from um and you know we understand the importance of um and the need for affordable housing as I said our team has looked at this from several different angles and you know there are several ways to build affordable housing um and Brookfield has its own um requirements for development at at base and I think U GM Anderson

said this earlier they are a retailer the mall is um they're they're not a builder of affordable housing so I'm not going to they're not going to claim that they have expertise in that we we did talk to several affordable housing builders this is a site where is very difficult to make it work and um you heard from Tiffany Elder uh we've heard from several of our other um partners that we' that we've talked to about affordable housing here ultimately have come to the same conclusion that we have that the most effective and significant way to to contribute positively to affordable housing Durham with this project is to make a significant contribution to the city's dedicated affordable housing fund which is exactly what we've done here and again I thank you for your time tonight thank you so much I think we have heard from all of our speakers tonight so if there are there any questions from Council colleagues councilman councilwoman Jose

hman yes real quickly I just have a question about the community involvement in terms of what is the community saying in terms of the project I'm sorry what was that what was the question I'm sorry your mic is up and I cannot hear you sorry Community involvement just have you been able to meet with the community and what they're thinking about the project well we've had actually several uh neighborhood meetings that um that we have mailed notices out to um I don't know how many we've had three or four and to beon honest with you um they were not well attended uh and I don't know why that is it's not for lack of trying we we I I can't tell you how many notices we mailed um we just did not have wide engagement from the community on this through our you know through the uh neighborhood meetings that we had earlier now aside from that we did go talk to key stakeholders and in area so City go triangle Duke that has some like

a Duke Medical I should say you know we we've had some coners pointed conversations with those stakeholders but um the general involvement from I guess I would say the durm citizenship um has has not been robust uh and again not for lack of trying we've had several neighborhood meetings um just one last I know you you said that there's going to be a phase you know in terms of correct and so um I think I had mentioned before about um just my conern not concern but just kind of the mall we only have like the movie theater for youth at the mall and I know that you know you're going to be I guess there's going to be some retail and stuff like that but just kinding of throwing out like some of an entertainment area for um some youth because a lot of times when I'm in the mall they're even being thrown out of the mall because you know they they can't only stay there for a certain amount of time now I think they can't only they can't be there without parents and the mall is a place where a lot of our youth you know they go to because they don't really have a lot of other places to go so um right now they just

have the movie theaters so I mean I'm in favor of the increase of the retail and things like that but just also um looking at some other ways to kind of bring some entertainment for youth there yeah absolutely and okay I see that uh Pat Anderson is standing up um we're uh at a near capacity I think we've talked about this before there are a lot of experienced retails emerging uh virtual reality other things that are more engagement uh social rooms you know things like that so it's on our right now we're limited on capacity but it'll clearly be more I I can't announce tonight we're going to do XY but it's obviously something we want to work towards thank you just wanted to put it on the radar because again they only have the movie theater there and if we increase and have all these apartments coming I just want to see a place cuz that's a place where I you've go and I have been there way they kind of like thrown out because I don't know I think they can't even stay there after a certain amount of time if they're not there with parents so we just like to just see some things where

they can get engaged with to thanks there any other questions or comments of council mayor pro thank you madam mayor and thank you all for being here the residents and and the uh um applicants I um I want to uh firstly say two things happened tonight which really ought to make Durham brush their shoulders off what what makes us the city that we are and the Envy really of many cities around this this State one of our firefighters who self-identified as trans earlier this evening said this is the safest place for them to work on the one hand on the other hand we passed a $600 million budget with no tax increase we are a superpower we are a progressive Beacon where folk feel safe and we're also the Envy we are the engine that drives this Region's economy I want to keep both of those things I I I enjoy saying I'm in leadership of a city that is envied by

others because of our economic prowess and also safe for folk to be who they are fully uh and without apology and and I hold those two things uh in ttention I um I've been I've been to the yards May mayor Bowser um uh brags on The Yards all the time I was there for a resiliency um conference not too long ago we held it at the Ballpark uh we use some of the conference rooms at at the Ballpark it is it is an impressive area and her honor of the mayor there in DC does brag on it uh all the time I I do want to be before I do have a question uh for the developer if if you don't mind from Brookfield um uh if if you don't mind taking you sir yeah Mr Banks I'm sorry forgive me I'm just pointing and saying to Dev forgive me Mr Ms yes sir one of our residents raised raised a a question about specificity and I know you you touted what you did in DC is it fair to to interpret that that you plan on doing that in durm as well why' you share that with with us because it's a standard by

which we operate and often times we do have requirements and sometimes we don't we find ourselves doing it because it's the right thing to do and we do it religiously if you will so it would it be fair to characterize that as a commitment uh to from my standpoint and from what I've done if I'm given the okay from our our superiors at Brookfield I'll do whatever we are told to do but from my standpoint I care about the communities that I go into and I can assure you that if I'm on the ground helping out that you'll be very pleased with the attention and the outcomes that we provide I could just yes please so if I if I could just step in I'll just say uh from brookfield's point of view I think that is a business commitment from DM's point of view I'm not sure there is a way to uh put this as a zoning commitment um these types of commitments have been uh more regularly specified in some sort of incentive agreement to the extent you know a project we're using public funds uh and I'm just not aware of any language that

the city has for this this type of thing to be a zoning commitment i' I'd be curious as to this is about as close as we can get to the main art Jackson Model in in a Dyan rural State and and I'm very interested in that and I appreciate the resident earlier so if there is some way of of codifying those type of uh targets if you will uh for for employment and for businesses I i' I'd be interested in seeing I don't know if there are um but I appreciate the commitment uh did you want to say something Mr kale or uh yes thank you mayor protm uh just wanted to clarify as you just kind of mentioned we don't have Charter authority to accept commitments and in relation to zoning entitlements uh but planning staff is definitely open to working with the city attorney's office to explore other mechanisms for that outside the zoning process okay well it's been said publicly and and I I I I it's been said publicly and we all heard it so I I I would be um i' I'd be uh pleased and I know the the city and Council would be pleased if if

we could we can't do it from this end but but those what you share to us sounds good uh to me I I do want to say that um you know and the the the carry Town Center um example was brought up earlier whenever I go anywhere uh with the national league of cities to Country the cities around the country I make sure I take the tours of their Economic Development Centers and their sites take those micro tours and what I've seen is is this is the next phase for malls South Point has served us for 20 years but the new developments that I've seen around the country and cities that are thriving it if South Point stays The Way South Point is it will become carry Town Center at some point there's no doubt um and as you travel around the country and look at what other cities are doing and and as I said I want Durham to remain this Region's economic engine so there's no doubt in my mind this isn't anecdotal what what what I've seen uh around the city um around the country I think it's important that that economic engine stay

a tier one mall rather than falling um to tier two with that said I I think that and we've heard from I'm very glad that the the affordable housing experts um experts are here tonight including Coalition for affordable housing and Transit who who are many friends and allies on on matters of this but I think that all in all um this is what has to happen if Durham's going to remain in a position to do what we did earlier tonight with no tax increases this is what 71% of our of the customers being from outside of this area is is a phenomenal number it is a phenomenal number um and moreover I I think that from a from a from an ability of the city to do listen the city we we're a city that has used our own land for afford housing projects Willard Street County's done Main Street we're a city that's agreed to tax ourselves we we have taxed ourselves as a city that's how seriously

we take affordable housing and I think you know as a fiduciary of the city when I look at the the the whole landscape the different pieces of making the city go keeping it safe for that firefighter keeping it the economic Envy of the region and being able to do the type of things we've done um require us to do uh be able to to walk and Sho gum at the same time so I'll end with this I'm it's a good thing that you brought the those affordable housing experts uh here tonight uh to hear them say what the challenges would be in that particular census track uh I think we can do good with the million the $1 million and I think we can continue to do good with all the other things that we're doing for affordable housing uh in Durham so thank you much thank you Madame mayor thank you is there any Council woman Caballero followed by anybody else on this end councilman Williams and Council woman Johnson thank you I actually also have um questions from Mr Banks sorry you're going to be popular

tonight um good evening sir evening um does the yards Washington DC include has inclusionary zoning that's just the way the city operates so just out of curiosity does the yards include affordable housing component here as well yes the yards does but it also includes a massive over $100 million uh pilot a payment in Li of taxes that was agreed upon by the federal government as well as uh DC and just as a reminder we're 100% privately funding this and the commitment tonight would allow us to recommit private dollars and we don't have our hands out as it relates to any public financing thank you that was I I understood that one was previously stated thank you um in the community that you uh talked about in New York City New York City also has inclusionary zoning does that community that you were discussing have affordable housing on site yes they do okay and then in Jersey City does that uh yes they do okay so I would say that

you maybe you specifically the group you don't you work for uh Brookfield doesn't have that but you clearly know how to do a afforable housing on site you know I am not the developer on that one so I'd like the development side to come up and speak to affordable housing as it relates to the examples that we were providing it was opportunities in terms of the economic driver creating jobs job fairs training and Mentor prot programs as it relates to the developments that we work on as it's specific to affordable housing uh our our commitment is is the the million dollars and then the challenges that we heard from our local affordable housing developers as it relates to this site specifically could I assume that some of the issues that you raised in your previous comments around structured parking and um census tracks and things like that could I maybe assume that that's those same issues maybe would have Arisen in other projects as well no cuz those were you've not had to provide structured parking anywhere in any of your

projects the required parking limitations or mandates are different here versus in these other sites okay thank you um I had a couple other questions um for the uh the question for whichever whoever could you have entered into a development agreement with the city of Durham as a tool as to around the um the propers around because development agreements have all kinds of community benefits so I'm curious about the propers that you said around the um the local businesses the new hires uh the the 51% of new hires were DC residents uh could you have potentially done a uh a development agreement where a portion of the land was actually given to the city and then the city would figure out the affordable housing like was that discussed with the city of Derm all uh I so two questions there could a development agreement accomplish those things I think the answer to that question is probably yes um and I'm

going to look at the City attorney and she's nodding her head yes so that that is a tool okay thank you and then uh was donating land to the city as part of this project discussed with the city the answer to that is no Brookfield is was looking to do this as a um uh you know private investment private dollars um looking to reinvest in the mall uh and so that it could be an economic driver for 20 more years for J thank you I'm going to be real clear right now because that we haven't closed the public hearing but every developer in this town knows these are four3 votes and I was very clear on on the zoom with this Development Group about what I expected it's not just around affordable housing I don't see any anything for DPS I understand my um the the parameters of my office as a city council member in North Carolina I will say that there's a long list of commit or asks from bpac I don't know if that's in the back in the packet and along with the um the bike

the triangle bike way I think an easement has been provided but there has not been any commitment to building anything out there I I said this to the firefighters y'all you're used to me at this point I'm a straight shooter I don't BS folks I'm really tired I'd hope that with this continuance there had been a project that was substantively different than what was introduced a few weeks ago and what I'm seeing is not that and so I am going to ask my colleagues if the developer would be open to another continuance so that these conversations with the city of Durham including potentially discussions around development agreement which we've had some big successes around in clap in fact there was the community on Fairington road I understand smaller but would have faced the same census tract issue that you're naming now because that was not in a census tract that was um uh you know ATT track identified all the it was the one the very first project we did with the revamped development agreement with the city

would have come what two years ago right that was not in a qualified sense of exactly so what I'm saying is that there's examples of things that I understand are tricky I understand that our development Community maybe doesn't want to do it but you have to convince me to want to say yes and right now I'm not convinced thank you those are all my comments this evening thank you um colleagues so I I got to get our firefighters a rate firefighter is a race as well as the rest of our staff so I like the economics of uh the tax Bas that you're producing here um I there's a balancing act for me I I don't know what the demographics or the Dynamics are the conversations in Carrie and Raleigh Wake County um but I also don't care as much uh in Durham as I've stated before I know that affordable housing can't go on every site but there has to be a you know an attribution to a contribution to affordable housing in

some sense in some fashion or form uh so I appreciate the million dollars um I sit on the board for discover Durham and I I appreciate uh Finance guy being here tonight um what I learned at the board meeting uh a few board meetings ago was you know 22 or maybe I'm my numbers are wrong but most folks that come to Durham they uh come to Durham uh usually from Charlotte or New York they're spending about $23 while they here and they're staying overnight in the hotels they're going to Duke and they going to South Point and uh and we we also have a lot of folks that are coming into town that are going to deack um I think number three or four was folks were coming downtown I think number three um we have to do better in that we got to get some things going downtown like festivals or whatever to get folks wed to come here uh even more

however what I'm getting at is we have to uh I look at deac as a model we have to really enhance and empower the assets that are working and you know we we we can't talk out of the same we can't talk two directions out of one mouth so if we want to increase salaries which we should NE we we that's a must we have to do it we got to find a way and one of those ways we're going to be able to do that is really empowering and enhancing the success stories like DPAC like uh South Point and I just left fening and it is nice and if 71 perc of folks that are coming that are coming to South porn are coming from out of town that means there's a growing challenge of the subject matter of convenience which means it's like well I'll just go to carrye I'll just go to Raleigh instead of going all the way over to Durham and I'm also a very

competitive person so I I I'm going to be in support of this with making it known that I I do want more because I I personally feel like you guys could uh in regards of the affordable housing uh uh Loan Fund um I'm saying what I want I'm not telling you what you should do just for a legal record Madam attorney um so I am in supportive of what you guys have done I was in my freshman year in college 1999 I was playing the tuba an nccu's marching band and we marched through the doors of Southport Mall when doing the grand opening and uh that was pretty cool and it feels good to still be in this area you're in my ward um I I hope that you will get as Innovative as possible you know uh I know office space is a little less demanded right now but event space is high in demand you know um I don't I don't know where you are in

your uh I don't know we could really you know how much you can adjust to your zoning requests now but just think about how you can contribute even more whether it's by way of you know uh more to the affordable housing Loan Fund or uh even you know beyond just housing on property to increase the sales tax that could potentially be produced from out there you have an opportunity uh to to really produce something uh tenfold of what you've already done so um go hard go hard you got the opportunity to do it thanks uh thank you Madame mayor I think I'm going to not make the comments I was planning to make um and just ask y'all if you're willing to take another continuance I need to check with with okay thanks um could I ask a continuance to when well this is our last meeting until our break so I mean y'all would have to yeah check with the planning staff about when you could get on but it

wouldn't it would be the fall so that's a consideration um but I don't think I need to make comments unless we're actually going to vote on this tonight so could we figure that out first um and just to clarify um what what would the expectation be coming back yeah um I mean I think that it would be great to have a way to make the commitments that were being made around some other community benefits local hiring um you know living wages that kind of thing um um be able to actually make those commitments through some kind of City process whether that's a development agreement or some other agreement that y'all would make um directly with the city that isn't that as you said isn't able to be made during a um during a zoning hearing so I think that would that would help so if you'll just give me a minute I'll absolutely

thanks M question oh and can I do we need to take a break for the uh Cod caption people I just throw that out there um I know the ask is for a continuance and I'll uh use a term in our industry to time kills deals um a restate that we've been at this project for 3 years I understand what the request is for us to continues so longer uh we're trying to take advantage of capital markets and where we are right now we think we put forth a uh favorable offer and painted a picture of what our industry is and what we need to do survive to the point of what the competition is in the market so and just to reiterate that the propers that we've identified already uh

it's the 20 years of success that we've already had we want to be here 10 years from now 20 years from now uh as Pat said earlier we're not pushing dirt tomorrow uh this is a commitment uh from from Durham for allowing us to reinvest into this property and continue to be the driver and the economic driver and and magnet that it is today not just on the retail side but the zoning allow us to do that in phases over multiple years it's the million dollar commitment to the fund it's the additional um access in terms of public transp transportation we see this as an opportunity uh for for Equity as it relates to Bringing access continue to bring access to people Notch us on bus buses on bikes but our commitment to the fund and continuing to grow on those 2,000 jobs that are already there yes we're coming to you uh at a moment of strength uh but with the competition in Wake County uh things will are only getting more and more competitive this will allow us to be

strong this will allow us to continue to invest 100% private dollars uh and not have our hands out our profit out in a moment of weakness and we request uh that you you all um come to a vote today please M mayor question mayor protim followed by in the last round councilman Williams thank thank you Madame mayor um ma'am and and maybe the City attorney might want away in this I I I I know what a development agreement is and the the scope of development but I'm I'm how do we how do we capture um goals of percentage of business usage and hiring in a development plan and and if they don't hit those goals what what's the what's the consequences I mean that's a an agreement a contract so do we de Annex the property if they don't hit those is that the proper tool for these type of things um I don't know exactly how that would look mayor PRM honestly but I

would think that the remedies would be contractual right so it would be contractual damages as defined within the development agreement itself um so that would have be have to be negotiated right so if they say they're going to hire 50% and they don't hit those goals then maybe there's a financial penalty I don't I don't know exactly what the parameters of that can look like I mean we do have pretty broad authority to negotiate for all kinds of things within a statutory development agreement but what shape that will take will be left to the expertise of the Developers the planning staff and Don o tool frankly yeah yeah and as as I've looked at them development agreements you know templates from Pure cities and stuff it's always been about the dirt or units I I've never seen it go outside the scope of of things that are actually tangible right now so I I sure as an fiduciary of the city I just want to make sure we're not navigating into Waters that's going to expose us or get us in some type of trouble quite honestly so I just respectfully put that

out there I mean I do think that that could be negotiated if the parties were willing to negotiate on those issues thank you thank you madam mayor thank you uh what was that program that you all did for um minority owned businesses some years ago it was to the applicant I'm sorry good evening five or 50 million or something five million good evening I'm Carl Webb and I have had the privilege of of working with streets of South Point since 2002 and the thing to keep in mind when the mall was constructed we achieved 41% minority participation on that project I believe that Brookfield is prepared to make a similar commitment understanding that we would have to work out the arrangements around that and I think what we want to do as a Derm native and a black business owner that has created a space for more minority business owners is to balance

the affordable housing piece with the jobs and economic development piece as well and one of the things that we don't see even from new developments that we have that are private developments in Durham where our city council is insisting at the same degree as you do on the affordable housing how can you have shared economic Prosperity by creating opportunities for minority Le businesses so they're coming to the table with a huge project that will be millions of dollar we should be making sure that blackowned and brown owned Durham based business gets those opportunities and right now they have a track record of 41% Zero no other private developer even the work that's being done in the Research Triangle Park with the Hub that's being greatly funded by the county they don't have a goal at all so these guys are prepared to make a commitment and that's got to mean something to us Beyond affordable housing

thank you and I'm I'm glad you brought that up I actually forgot about that I was more so talking about the actual tenants there was a few years ago where Brookfield made an a made a uh announcement about supporting um it was an equity project there's a it's called the partner to empower program partner to empower program I think we have one or two candidates and we're we're able to work with them and then get them establish and we beond partner to empower we uh we have entry level like uh there's ways to get into business so we can work with them to try to grow into a full-fledged retail so great I um I'm I'm I'm ready to make a move on it um I think that I do think you guys can do more I think you um but I also don't want to reduce what you already have done um and I look at what we've you know what we've benefited from having you endure them uh just over the last few years um I but I wanted to also put some things out there that you know if you're interested in you know uh you

know privately supporting uh the city upod a uh a nonprofit that now stands alone built to last it's an Equity Fund we have the the national minority Institute uh National minority of economic development in the noralina minority uh Institute of minority Economic Development it's right here in Durham that's establishing an Equity Fund and I think that these are opportunities in which you know we I plan to ask our private um Industries uh to invest in because these are the Avenues in which we can help people stand up I I listen I I'm looking at this from a business business p u perspective but also U from a social perspective and I I understand both sides of that uh so um I hear what what all has been said tonight and I support that as well um but I do know you know part of getting folks to be able to live in affordable housing is making sure that it's not only building the unit but also getting them access access to the jobs that can pay it and part of that is

having your own business as well and those Equity Funds stand for that so I hope that that has some value for uh for the community to see as well as my colleagues thanks are there any other comments so questions from Council Council woman Johnson thank you Madame mayor um question about propers for the public schools have you all considered that and would you let us know what you might be willing to do yeah um thank you for bringing that back up honestly I thought it was on the development plan already the um the staff for indicates 46 additional students and uh we would profer that onetime contribution of 23,000 uh to DPS great thank you um also would y'all consider any additional propers to the affordable housing fund we cannot um we looked at this the way that their financing would work for the first two buildings um the million dollars which I I believe is uh the

5 so I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I you know didn't you a little bit also um okay thank you any anything else y'all can do for us anything throw throw me throw me something well I mean I I I I would I would respond to that by saying the project is doing a lot um I mean I think one thing that can't be overstated here is the commitments here to public transit and I just want to I don't know if if everyone is familiar with how uh the public transit is used at South Point the reality of South Point is a parking lot um for commuters that use the bus system to get out to Chap Hill um for to to the hospital so that is the number one user of um of the park and

ride spaces at South Point um and we look I don't it's been public South Point has bumped heads I think with go triangle they're in a much better space at this point uh with this project they're going to be creating a much better transit system they're adding a stop on fville which actually will be that Regional route um and which allows the bus way more efficiency because they don't actually have to get Circle through Renaissance and come uh through the mall to get to their uh Riders they can actually just come right off 40 stop on uh fville and then get right back on 40 um so it's a lot more efficient uh they're very excited about that we're increasing the number of Park and Ride spaces um which are again primarily to serve that route that's just who uses them um and and providing the local Transit um uh stops as well for go Durham um and in addition to all that I mean multiple connections to the American Tobacco Trail a significant contribution of land for the for the triangle bike way um I mean there there

is a lot that this project is providing to the city of Durham um as far as like tangible public benefits and all of this is in um in the name of continuing to be an economic driver in Durham uh they have a successful mall they didn't Brookfield didn't build the mall initially I think they've owned it for like seven years um and this is their real like their first real reinvestment in the mall to build new things at the mall and they want to do it um you know in a way that's going to be beneficial to Durham for years and years to come yeah thank you um that's very helpful you know I I think that this project is obviously a very it's a very obvious Improvement on what currently exists which is underutilized parking lots um it it's also I think it's hard to want to approve a project in an area where there are lots of jobs that don't pay very much where none of those people could afford to live um I I think that

what we have what you're offering is much better than what's on the ground um and that's you know and that's compelling um and I appreciate the affordable housing developers giving us information about um why it would be difficult to build affordable housing there and public subsidy like we're out of money we don't have any more money to provide to these kinds of projects right now um until we pass another Bond so I think that there yeah there there are a lot of constraints I know you all have constraints we have constraints um it's yeah and and it's you know it's a lot better than what we have it's just disappointing that we're not going to be able to um to have any affordable units there however I don't think voting this down will get us any affordable units there I don't think you're going to come back to me with a project that includes affordable units given what um given what the folks who build affordable units have told me about was possible so thank you mayor pro thank you madam mayor very quickly I just want to thank my colleagues for some wonderful questions and wonderful uh pressing as well uh I you know I just want to say I I don't

think we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good um and I'll just say finally I believe that DM's trajectory as the regional superpower economic superpower is tied up in this vote our very trajectory of remaining the number one economic engine in this region is tied up in this vote I'll just say that thank you Madame mayor oh yes we are now ready um to move to our three motions that we have for consideration on this item the first motion for our consideration is to authorize the city manager to execute a utility extension agreement with the soft point mark LLC removed second been moved by um councilman Williams seconded by mayor protim uh Madam clerk if you open the

vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes 4 to three with council member well mayor O'Neal voting no as well as as um council member cabayo those two are voting now so it's four to two I'm sorry five to two it's getting L moving to our next vote is motion number two to adopt an ordinance amending and unified development ordinance by taking property out of the commercial center with a development plan CCD residential rule RR major transportation cor Coral overlay MTC fall/ Jordan District DB overlay f- J-B and establishing the same as commercial center with a development plan CCD major transportation Corridor overlay MTC fall/ Jordan District B

overlay FJ DB is red second been moved by councilman Williams seconded by Council woman Johnson or was that on the say Council woman a copy error M clerk if you will open the vote and if you'll close the vote and Report out and the motion passes 5-2 with mayor O'Neal and council member cabayo voting no right our last motion for consideration is to adopt the consistency statement as required by ncgs 160 D- 605 move to adopt consistency mov by mayor protim seconded by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you open to vote and if you will close the vote and

Report out the motion passes 70 all right thank you so much we will now move to actually we're going to move to a item that was on our consent agenda but we have two speakers who have signed up uh for that and that is item number 22 and then we're uh return back to item 45 so item 22 that was pulled from the consent agenda we have two proponents who are here to speak on that matter and then we will take a vote on that and we'll move to the approval of our minutes

all right I have item number 22 is the American Rescue plan act Opera funds A RPA LD G ldg man multif family Development LLC loan commitment letter for S Kofa landing and we have two speakers here to speak on this matter Miss Donna Frederick and Miss Vanessa Mason Evans if you want to come in there order ladies give us your name good evening Donna Frederick and I live in bragtown um this project has been really welled by the community we've had a lot of input um with meetings and um having the tour of the neighborhood where this building will be um we've been talking a lot all night about affordable affordable affordable well here is a project that does have affordable and we're hoping that you you will take a

look at it and see that the support that's needed from uh Community involvement which is really what you get when you go out and talk to people about what they need so again we're bringing this project we're in support of this project and hope that everyone takes a look at it deeply because housing is key housing is peace and without that you you can have a lot of bus stops and you know travel but you need to go home home sometimes at night and having a place to be is peace so thank you thank you so much Miss frerick Miss Evans Miss Mason Evans good evening again um May O'Neal City Council Members um we are in favor of this particular project they have done a lot of meetings as Donna was saying with us they also did the National Night Out which we had never had last year um with the Brad toown Community Association um and an Our taking them on

a tour not only of bragtown we took them on a tour of stagville so they could learn the history of uh stagville and how people left stagville to move into bragtown um for the first uh space of freedom for black slaves and in that um that's where the name sofa Landing came about um because there's a mirror which we hope to have y'all come out at some point in time once David Wilson finishes it we want to have have y'all to come out and see the mural but on that mural it has a sofa bird and the sofa bird is a bird that's in from Africa and the Egg when it's in his mouth and his head is turned backwards it's telling us to go back and get our history and not to forget who we are so we thought it was an honor that they would want to use that name for their apartment complex and since it sits right there in a community that has been so underserved and we are appreciative of everything that city council has given us in the last year I've seen um the visions of

what the community have been asking for sidewalks being put in crosswalks the stop signs where you can cross the street when you want to cross safely um getting an affordable housing in that we are trying to get in so I'm hoping with this particular development we were hoping that we're going to be here tonight but I guess they I don't know what happened but from our end from the BCA and the residents they are excited to see this project go through so we're hoping y'all vote Yes on it thank y'all and y'all have a good night thank you so much are there any other comments from colleagues all right we have three motions for our consideration for this item the first is to authorize the city manager to issue a conditional binding commitment of permanent financing in an amount up to 9,799 m714 37 from the American resis plan act funding under the state and local fiscal recovery funds to ldg multif family

Development LLC as the managing member and lead developer or is designated affiliate approved by the city for the development of 15 156 affordable rental units at s Kofa Landing mov is R second um it's been moved by mayor protim seconded by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you will open the vote if you'll close the vote and Report out the motion passes 7 Z the next motion for our consideration is to authorize the city manager to execute all necessary documents and instruments required to fulfill the purpose and intent of this conditional binding commitment of permanent financing Mo just read okay move by mayor protim and seconded by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you will open the vote if you will close vote and Report

out motion passes 70 the last motion for our consideration on this item is to authorize the city manager with the authority to make necessary and appropriate changes to the conditional binding commitment of permanent financing provided that such changes do not increase the financial obligations of the city and taken as a whole remain favorable to the city's interest mve is red second then moveed by mayor protim second and by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you open to vote if you will close the vote and Report out motion passes 70 all right we have one additional item on our agenda as as a supplemental item and that's item 45 uh which is the approval of City Council meetings um there is one motion for our consideration and that is to approve the city council minutes for the following meetings May 15 2023 regular council meeting and May 18 2023 work

session so move second it's been moved by mayor protim seconded by councilwoman Caballero Madame clerk if you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes 70 thank you under other matters I do have one um additional matter that Mr Omar Beasley is here for he has requested of the city um $50,000 to to help to fund sending the a the Bull City track and field I want to say Bull City Express which is a track and field um nonprofit organization back to the Junior Olympics this year they're making a $50,000 request of the County as well as of the city um and I told him that I would bring it forth to get um a thumbs up Vote or not so that is what I

am doing he is here if you have any questions for him he indicated to me that he talked to several of you all but don't know that you all have questions for Mr Beasley Madame I have a comment at our last meeting uh council member Freeman uh bought up a few items and uh we we kind of did the same format and I basically my comment was if the M if Madam manager can find this uh I'm okay as long as it doesn't affect you know uh the budget uh I think that we need to find a way where we can support these types of programs um I'm going to take the same approach uh if the manager can find a way to make this happen I'll be supportive but there needs to be a solid process in which how we can can support some of these youth programs in the community um I I think that the community members are doing the right thing by bringing it to us uh I I think and this is me speaking on my behalf I think it it would be irresponsible for

me to just of course like just swipe the card so um I Madame manager if we can make this work I'm I'm in favor of it but I I don't want to just and this is mainly like the way we went about it the last time just kind of throw it out there uh I've been talking to Mr beasy and I support it I think it's a great thing but I the same thing I don't want to not support this and then support that or support one or the other and then there are you know groups across the city that are asking for funds and we're we're not being Equitable about it so uh Madam manager we can make this work I'm okay but there needs to be a process in which how we legitimately um fund us uh fund fund programs like this and I agree totally with you um councilwoman councilman Williams I did explain that to Mr beasler I do think that we have to have a process we got to have a process by which because once we open kind of the gates to that kind of unprecedented

request from New Hope then I started getting them now Mr Beasley indicated that he had talked with council members about this I explained to him that you know there's a budget process but that had already passed um unfortunately you know but they people see that we gave $100,000 to the symphony we gave this and that and other so they come as a as a person I'm sitting in the seat um it's it's kind of awkward as the mayor to tell people they can't say it but I also understand that this is not the way that it should happen so I was kind of stuck between a hard place to not say no you can't bring it cuz you know it's just we make the we vote it up or down either way but this is definitely one of those spaces that I feel conflicted because we do not have a clear process but people are still coming we just got another one today from another nonprofit saying we need 250,000 and so it goes on and on um

but because of me having talked with Mr Beasley who indicated you know that he had maybe had some support um I told him I would bring it and we will see but I'm glad you're bringing it up because it we cannot do it this way yeah so I I think from from my perspective I want to resend um my vote the other day and maybe reducing it and be able to do both or or some way that's within the manager's um profits or whatever see I don't think that's had to put it on her though that's why we brought it because she has and I'm sorry I'm going to let you speak but she has has the responsibilities of trying to do all of that and she does have an amount by which she you know she she's authorized but it does put her in an awkward position because the same requests that are going to be coming to us they're going to come to her so we've got to have a clear process on how we do it and I wanted to bring this one so that we can talk about what does that look like

you know what do we do when when we start having those kind of requests so let me uh turn to the city manager and then we'll turn to council woman Johnson who has some comments as well so I I welcome this discussion so thank you for allowing me to speak uh this evening so one of the things that you know I always like to you know make it clear um some of the things that we do sort of overlap at times the city manager does have Contracting Authority without bringing an item to council for specific uh approval and that is for services and in this case I'll leave it at Services uh of $50,000 that's different than budgetary Authority so basically when you B when you pass a budget like we just did tonight every dollar that's coming in is pointed to an expenditure an offsetting expenditure so that Authority uh that I have is based upon you know allocations that have been made

previously by the council so I want to make that part really really clear as it relates to how we navigate the Water as you have described here that are often very you know very complicated and there are a lot of needs in the community there are a lot of priorities uh to to to try to help fund uh very worthy organizations and worthy projects uh in our community we we mostly um engage those priorities through request for proposals that is one of the primary ways that we do it we have funding in the budget set aside for you know for events and you know uh those kinds of things that you know are cultural uh related we have a process a vetting process and then prioritize and we fund that way we have um you know a a youth leadership uh fund that we do every year that's a set pot of money and the same kinds of things happen there are emergencies that come up or things that

come um sometimes you know projects are not funded in the normal RFP processes and they come into our space in different ways you know we we like to serve the community I just want to make sure that if we create a process of you know that we are engaging you know at this time that I'm going to always speak about where is that funding going to come from because as we execute the contract it has to have a funding source so I wanted to to say that as well as as as you're speaking about the other um I guess the other uh project that you all gave thumbs up to you said you might want to reduce the amount but we've already started working you know with the with the folks that you told us and gave us the authority to work with so they have expectations just based upon what was said here so I really want to be really clear there is contrac and Authority that is not authority to find

the funding the funding has to be already allocated or it has to come out to savings account out and that is basically what I said at the last meeting so W Johnson if you could offer some insight please thank you Madame mayor um and thank you Mr Beasley for all your work with the youth um want to appreciate what you do as I as I said before with council member Freeman's proposal I'm going to continue to oppose these sort of ad hoc requests on principal not because I have any objection to the proposals themselves or the work that folks are doing everything that's come before us is is good work and I appreciate that it's happening um but I don't think that this is the right process for us to get that money it's um it it's I think we need a real process and there are numerous ways for nonprofits to get money um already from the city through our existing processes doing it like this um is it privileges people who have relationships with city council it um opens us up to accusations of political favoritism I don't think it's wise and so I'll also be giving

this a thumbs down thank you Council councilman U I'm sorry mayor protin thank thank you ma'am midnight yes [Laughter] ma'am yes ma'am I understand um so I I need to disclose um Omar Beasley is a friend of mine he's my boy so um folk in the city know that um to to the I I didn't know that there was a well I saw some of the meeting last week and votes taking kind of our money asked at the end I think it's just a really really really dangerous precedent for us um you know we're we're fiduciaries of America's 75th largest city this is not how we spend money um I I and and my thinking 50 Grand is the manager's um ceiling or floor however you want to look at it and I don't know that we want to or should insert ourselves at dollar amounts um threshold now I know this the the manager has

great Authority greater power great power in the city um I I just don't know the the the process of bringing it to the council I mean I can't tell you how many people in a month ask me for money as a member of the council they they you know they're watching us on television right now um I've disclosed you know uh my friendship uh and he's friends with many of us here on the council um what what what do we do when someone comes and says it's $50,000 I need this for a great cause and I need that for a great cause I just don't think that's the way we want to do it now I'll give thumbs up if if the manager within the manager's purview and manager Authority can find it or perhaps colleagues we need to set up an emergency fund of a couple hundred grand in the budget each year when not for-profits come before us and and on a case-by Case basis we deem if we want to send some kids to the Special Olympics or to whatever um perhaps we we should do that but things like the you know the symphony and other things we're vetted

that was part of the actual process so we do have a process for spending We Do It Best one of the best cities in the country we're award-winning for it um but this way it it just I you know I I don't think this is the appropriate way um particularly when you're at a threshold that the manager has Authority so I'll give thumbs up for um the manager to to you know within her purview um if we can you know and she didn't say find the funds but but I know that we can we can you know she has power under 50,000 but if we're asking for an appropriation tonight you know at the at 12:02 I need to I need to um you know know where where that would come from is that general fund is it is it uh uh balance fund balance is it is it you know and are we prepared colleagues moving forward for the folk who are watching us on television tonight who will come here at the end of the meeting and say whatever thank you Madame mayor thank you and you know and that's one of reasons why I brought it because I don't

have people asking me for money every time uh or every meeting um I have had a couple and he's been one and they have been coming more and more since uh I I think I said that you know once we open that door because a lot of people do not understand the budget process um and that there is a window by which you make these um requests and then if you pass that window what happens and so all they saw a lot of people saw was this one like $3 million ask and people got it and so there were other people who are watching and like okay well I'm a nonprofit too and my need is an emergency meet and so uh and then they say there are Equity issues so when those kind of issues come to me then I'm going to bring it here for us to do we're doing now and that is to have a discussion about how

we close the communication gap so that people will see that there is a process and they know what that process is and when you have a circumstance that comes outside that process that we're really clear why we why we did that and then um you know you don't have this expectation of people being able to come in and ask for something to be different what is that process the timing and all of that so um that's why I brought itless they have discussion Council woman copy error thank you madam mayor I'll be brief I will be saying yes just for consistency sake since the fiscal year ends tonight I will be saying no moving forward until we have a process so that for all my colleagues I'm just doing it because I said yes and I don't want to be unfair new fiscal year new policy it ends for me until there's a clear process um so folks can do what they want um I can name the few times that we've come there's been I think there was a 2018 2019 we had to do emergency funding for an affordable housing project a

Vermillion project that was emergency I saw housing for New Hope as an emergency I think we funded the eviction diversion kind of as an emergency too in one of our end processes other than that most of the time it's through the budget process folks need to get their asks in basically by the beginning of March that's the way I see it um other than that it just becomes challenging and becomes you know uh to what many of my other col colleagues said so I will be saying yes for consistency and then from now on until we have a clear way of doing it no thank you thank you all Council we back over with councilwoman Jos ham and then I see councilwoman councilman Williams and then I think councilwoman Freeman I I totally agree we definitely need a process I'm I just want some clarity on what the money is going to be used for it's kind of late and I think I didn't hear that yes ma'am um my name is Omar Beasley 3204 Scot Brook Lane Durham um I'm the president and head coach of uh Bull City Express

Track Club the monies that we're asking for and will be used for uh housing as well as some flight assistance for uh Duram youth to go to the junior olyp Junior Olympics in Eugene of Eugene Oregon uh it's a week-long event uh the kids have been running track since March here in durm uh We've traveled across uh We've we've been to Charlotte Wilmington uh we have a meet this weekend here in Durham uh which is one of the advancing meets for the Junior Olympics uh then we have another one in early uh July uh in this housing package uh we'll be staying the kids will be staying on campus of the University of Oregon and they will receive three meals a day um and we've also set up uh recruiting trips for some of our upper classmen that are visit the University and talk to some of the college coaches there um so this is more than just a track event for them this is

exposing them to what's out there um what opportunities can exist if they continue to pursue the sport I think it's a great cause and I also will just echo my council members in terms of trying to get money you know because it seems like you get to go to the junior olymp like almost every year well kind of depending on how you do depending on how you do yeah so yeah so I mean I would just anticipate it because I I know you do good work and just kind of come in and ask ma'am thank thank you Council woman F thank you and I would just follow that up with a question about the timeline just acknowledging is there a time crunch on this funds yes there is councilman Freeman um deposits have to be made for the housing on July 11th um that's two days after our um Regional meet which will be here in Durham on July 9th July 7th to the 9th at Durham County Stadium uh so yeah we

have to have all monies or the deposits in by the 20 no by the 11th of July or we'll lose uh that housing option otherwise the kids have to stay in hotels which is a lot more expensive the housing is uh $99 a night for the kids on campus but if they stay in hotels the hotels are right now going anywhere from $249 to $400 a night thank you and I would just add or Echo uh the sentiments of council I think that there should be a process the unfortunate thing is that for many of the small um nonprofit organizations that run into these types of issues they don't have an alternative and as we think about what our children in this community need I think 50 $100,000 um from the council uh is not a big ask and I know that that's within the city manager's perview um to make that

decision but apparently she doesn't feel comfortable making that decision which is why she asks that I bring It Forward last time because I will say that these proposals have been made these requests for proposals have been submitted previously and so it may be coming to you last minute but they have been shared um and I think it's just unfortunate that we're in in this parment can I ask you how many people how many children you are anticipating taking for the past four years we've qualified anywhere from 50 to 60 kids to go to the Junior Olympics uh we have 101 kids registered with our program about 80 of them will be participating uh this weekend I anticipate anywhere from 50 maybe 60 but right around 50 kids will qualify five for the Junior Olympics thank you coun yeah I um I obviously investing in our youth I think I I was I was a

little caught off guard last time but I I mean because council member Freeman asking it was for the Youth I will always support that um we do have a process in place I just want to go on the record and say that um for all organizations out there just start communicating with us sooner uh if you know that these events are coming up um and I will support uh for the because again we we just did this and I I feel horrible that I I feel horrible for the organizations that are that are also asking and they didn't make it to City Hall tonight um so it's not toward you and the kids it's not toward council member Freeman's requesting the kids but it's more so um the kids who also have something going on and they want to go so what I will say is I I offer to you and as I st to you and other organizations a letter of support also my boots on the ground in helping you raise funds and I will support up to um that amount rather than just that solid

amount because we don't know if that you're going to need all that but I also will commit to you and other organizations that I'll ask uh within our networks um I mean we just had a whole Mall walk out of here you know uh I'll commit to helping to uh you know use my my platform and my office as a as a matter of very verification to uh you know help raise those funds thank you can I speak so so one of the things um and since all of this is being You Know spoken about in public you know anything that we expand it has to have doc you know documentation public purpose um so we you know it would not just be a expenditure you know that we use so you would need to actually you know write up some type of proposal so that be evaluated by staff you know to determine where the funding is going so I that came to my attention when you said up to uh because I I want to make sure that we have in place that the

expectation um when you leave here that you would you know be be well aware of what we would need and and we'll have we'll have staff um reach out to you with those specifications yes ma'am thank you manager paig mayor proin thank you Madame mayor and and I want to thank the uh City Manager for anticipating at least one of my questions again I would ask where where would we be taking uh this money from um I also do want to be careful not to conflate um this with with things that are long-standing parts of our strategic plan um affordable housing eviction diversion these are items that in which we we've already we already have a stake um the folk from housing for New Hope came with a whole presentation they had a whole PowerPoint and and and presentation so I I want to be careful that the things that we have stated as some of our our goals as our strategic plan um where we already have architecture in place and we're funding um I want to be careful not to conflate

that with these type of ass U Mr um um Mr be I did want to ask what what is the total amount that you need totally for the trip um we looked at our budget and this was based on like 65 kids was 140 143 143,000 we've already raised rais um close to 30 that's with fundraisers that we've had um with and we host a track meet and that's a fundraiser so we we did very well with that um so yeah you've got 30 we have a little bit over 30 right now yes sir did you did I hear you say you asked the county for 50 Grand yes sir what did they say uh waiting hear back um going to f they want to see what you guys are going to do on this end I mean it that's what I got both sides well Cy County will do this we'll see what the count what the city's going to do and so I I haven't heard anything definitive from them yet was that representation made in an open meeting

or is this just no sir no sir so was it your understanding that if we do it they're definitely going to do it is that not I I didn't say definitely they wanted to see what was going to happen on this end before they made any commitments so if we if we were to do this and you didn't raise the um other uh amount what what would happen um parents some of the parents would have to come out of the pocket we have some kids that we know their parents can't do anything so we know we're going to have to stomach most of theirs with all you know with our funding um and you know we we we'll I talked to Jeff Durham over there at the um chamber he said he's going to help us out um he wants me to bring our package he was going to try shop it around to some of their chamber members as well so um we're not we're not looking for you guys to fund everything um but the line share from both from both entities that's we are looking

for okay was this um did this opportunity just come about because of some victories on the kid or was this not uh something that could have been anticipated or did this how did this opportunity come about um well Junior Olympics is every year right um I I knew we were looking at this probably in January um I had began having some conversations with some people throughout the community and um until we talked to our parents uh which was in March when we do our registration and they were like yeah we want to do this if we can if we can you know do some fundraising let's try to do it so we made our decision in March and that's when I started having conversations throughout the community about fundraises thank you Madame mayor i' I'd ask that we if we decide to take action tonight that it would be uh contingent upon uh the manator coming back with the with you know requisite

paperwork and a presentation of of what um the expenditure would look like if it's a pleasure of the council um to do this then I I would I would make it recommend that it be contingent upon the giving the manager a little bit of time to do due do due due diligence um and even a recommendation as to perhaps where the money would what fund a balance or what account the money would come from as well that would be my recommendation I I just wanted to make sure that it was clear that there's no conflation Public Safety is a matter um addresses our youth that was all and I'm a thumbs up thank you thank you thumbs up a thumbs down thumb up for helping helping um the track helping our young people who are an important part of our infrastructure just as much as affordable housing uh giving our kids an opportunity like that is just as important as building affordable housing

in my view but everybody's entitled to their own opinion so thumbs up for um the recommendation that the city manager and I'm sure she will do all due diligence to um see what how we can help up to 50,000 um and that will be a thumbs up okay all righty okay so it's been a wonderful uh first six months of the new year we are now at our break for city council it is 12:18 621 2023 we have turn the clock on another day um Bull City strong we are now Jour y'all have a great summer break see you when we come

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