City Council · Regular Meeting · June 8, 2023

good afternoon Bull City we are here um in City Hall cloud and our Chambers on the first floor on this Thursday uh June 8th 2023 at 1 pm. and we will uh call this uh meeting to order we certainly want to thank those of you who have joined us in person today and those who are joining us via the internet as well um Madam clerk would you call the RO please recording in progress mayor O'Neal I'm present mayor proen Middleton has requested an excused absence and it was granted um council member cabayo here council member Freeman present council member Holly Heyman pres council member Johnson and council member Williams presentent thank you sorry all right I'm now turn um to our announcements uh for this afternoon this is our second meeting of the day but we didn't make any announcements this

morning I don't think so look to my okay we'll start on this in with councilwoman Freeman and Then followed by councilwoman cabero thank you I didn't want to apologize I missed the meeting this morning I had another meeting and I didn't expect for you to be done in 27 minutes so I um was fully hoping to be here but I I did want to just apologize to my colleagues for not being in attendance and uh that was all thank you thank you uh good afternoon everyone I just wanted to shout out all our grads uh all across uh Durham County those promoting from kindergarten or 8th grade or fifth grade or high school graduates um it's a big time for lots of families and so just thinking about all of uh the amazing work that our school teachers and Educators do in our community um and I will just shout out uh we will no longer have any any dragons this this coming year we will only have pirates for those folks who know their their

school mascots there you go looking to my left Council woman Johnson thank you madam mayor um I would like to request an excused absence for our work session on Thursday July 20th I'll be traveling for work and um out of the area so would like to um be excused for that day thank you I can we can entertain that motion right now so moved second it's been moved by Council woman Freeman second by Council woman cabier for an excused absence for Council woman Johnson all those uh in favor if you just sign by sign I I all those opposed have the same right hearing none you are here by excuse to travel thank you councilwoman uh Jos hman yes good afternoon to residents of durm to my colleagues again I want to just reiterate my the sentiments of my colleague happy graduation month as an educator I know woo woo and and also

again I know we had our Proclamation the other night for pride month um just want to say again happy pride month and let's celebrate the whole month thank you councilman Johnson I'm I'm sorry Williams councilman Williams thank you Madame mayor um on J June 17th I will serve as the uh State North Carolina fatherhood conference uh keynote speaker with uh judge Vincent Roser and uh I invite uh all to attend this is about the spirit of fatherhood so whether you our uh father mother grandmother grandfather if you are playing that role um we invite you but especially for the fathers it will be at the uh Life Enrichment Center uh 3805 Tar Hill Road uh in Raleigh North Carolina from 8 to 3 and I look forward to inviting folks out thank you oh uh I have a couple of announcements first I want to give a shout out to Chris DPS at the Heron

Rookery I had a hike on yesterday with Chris and two other uh uh board members from the elb uh Creek Board Association uh those birds out there are beautiful I'm really proud that we did that and make sure that that will be there for generations to come it's a beautiful spot right in Durham uh right in the inner city of Durham if you go down Glenstone a drive here in Durham you will see that and have a kind of a hike back I wouldn't suggest you do that without some of those folks who know that area well it's kind of tucked back um in the in the woods so it's a about less than a mile hike in um but once you get there it's a beaver dam and it's also you see the birds F fly off and they are there are lot of them um I saw at least 50 or more they're in the trees out there and they're enjoying their habitat so shout out to those people who brought that to our attention and and that will be there for generations to come I didn't want to spend a few moments and I've asked um our attorney

to give a a few comments and I see our police police chief is also here in Chambers as well we've been getting a lot of email and a lot of attention um to the uh Riders on the ATV um I I I Note One in particular headline said that you know the um Riders uh came through Raleigh and there were a pack I thought it was interesting terminology a pack of writers of about about aund of them came through uh Raleigh on their way back to durm um so it's just interesting how these things are phrased as it being a problem that originates in durm and somehow a pack of them which is kind of that's a different kind of terminology there so I I I take offense at that and uh I don't mind um uh telling the public that I take offense at that when things like that are said um there are better ways to phrase things and there's also a split in our community as to how people are viewing

that you get people who tell us that um they would rather hear them riding through the streets um rather than hearing gunfire uh at night uh you also get people who saying there are you know quite a nuisance um uh I have run into them myself but I did want to take the time to explain where the city council itself sits in this kind of uh joint um effort to see what we can do to not only make sure that our streets are safe and and and people are able to go back and forth on them but also how then we provide an alternative for people to ride uh these recreational vehicles safety safely so from the from the standpoint of the mayor and the councel we don't supervise the chief of police that may be a shock to some who are listening but we actually do not supervise the chief of police she is uh

has in within her chain of command U Bo Ferguson who is a chief deputy and then she has above her above him is our city manager so when we get calls to the mayor or to city council saying make sure that your chief of police does something or not do something there is protocol that we have to follow because we can not overstep our bounds as a policymaking body now we do uh there are seven of us unfortunately sometimes I think for our three employees who would be the clerk our City attorney and the city manager they have seven bosses all seven of us that is not easy most of us have one boss these three positions have have once they're taking these folk have seven bosses right so and they each run

their own shops under our city manager she has 29 departments that she is responsible for what for city managers for Deputy city managers attorney rabber runs a public law firm that means she has a full staff of attorneys who uh carry out the business of the city on the legal in as well as paral legals as well as other administrative staff who help her to run a public law firm right so she has this kind of dual role that she's also accountable to the State Bar as well as being accountable to us because she supervises attorneys who have to maintain their uh legal credentials our clerk also has a full staff that she make sure that all of the minutes and the notes and anything public that has to be public facing and notice our clerk does that but for those

three ladies they're not only supervising staffs but they also have seven bosses and there is a protocol on how we are to approach their staff and so we're not allowed to kind of reach down and tell them how to run their shops that is not a part of the oath that we have taken um and so we have to operate in that vein I have been operating as mayor in dealing with the um issue of evolving revolving around ATVs in the matter that I think that we all can and probably all are doing and that is trying to find the alternative place for these youngsters to ride on the law enforcement end our police chief has assured us and you've seen a little bit of that there there there is a concerted effort being made and put together to address um the laws because they're responsible for

making sure that traffic laws are obeyed are being followed when they uh approach or when they are coming upon the scenes however their role is to gather the evidence and write the tickets if necessary it is not up for them to prosecute that lies outside of this building that lies in the courthouse in the District Attorney's uh uh jurisdiction because uh district attorney DeBerry has the authority as the highest uh law enforcement official in Durham County to prosecute traffic laws when you think about the traffic laws that are being talked about though they they have run into two categories that I see um in terms of that one will be your non-moving violations which are your technical uh uh registration violations

and then your moving violations which could include impeding traffic and going up to careless and Reckless and all those other things there are different things that happen as a result of being charged with that when you're charged with a non-moving violation I'm sure our attorney will tell you you you're not going to get arrested for that for non-moving violation right and for your moving violations normally you hit arrest at certain levels and is I don't know whether a lot of these um impeding traffic will not rise to an arrest level you will probably have to get into the careless and Reckless Arena to deal with that but also keep in mind that the police officers have to be present and Witness the behavior they can't write a ticket without witnessing that behavior but I'm going to turn to this other attorney and let her tell y'all the rest of it that's just my take so what I have

been doing as I've been doing yesterday and a couple of meetings last week we have been meeting with some of these young people to figure out what an alternative is what does it look like for them to ride somewhere else and I will say for our city manager she had has you know cautioned me and all of us who sit in those spaces with them to say we want to be able to put forth something that you all will use and not come and come up with something that you will not use on yesterday we met with a group of business owners who are also helping us in some other Arenas and they have also agreed to help us figure out how we uh have a facility or a place where our those young people can ride as a alternative avenue rather than our city streets and so we had a spirited conversation those conversations will cons continue the next conversation will

be to bring those two groups together in hopes that we will have a solution uh for where they can ride and that's the position that I have taken as mayor to not getting in areas that I cannot um address so that's where I am and I'll turn it over to our attorney to kind of give you further details about what we're doing and not doing well Madame mayor you put your attorney hat right back on and you've you've covered so much ground so well um the only thing I might add for the community to be aware of is this problem is not unique to Durham and I I'm sure the chief could get up here and share anecdotally about her colleagues around the state around the country um who deal with um ATV and dirt bike riders primarily during the summer months it's a it's a perennial event um the they come out to ride and and show off their tricks in the street and you may recall that I went to a meeting last summer of large uh cities

from around this the country and was trying to pick the brains of attorneys from Philadelphia and Providence Rhode Island and New York where they have also seen a real hard time just trying to manage this issue and nobody has any hard and fast answers I will say that in the state of North Carolina um our state law our state statutes cover the gamut of the behaviors that are at issue um so to the extent that residents and concerned parties are asking for code changes in the city of Durham um more uh robust ordinances really the state has legislated in that space um and generally local governments don't legislate where the state has preempted the space their intent is to have defined what traffic violations are throughout the state so there's not a lot that we could do um with local regulations enforcement of local regulations um and also the biggest

problem is not necessarily identifying a charge for some of the behaviors that people are seeing for some of the disruption that people are experiencing um as motorists the biggest problem is being able to stop these vehicles um they are highly maneuverable they're very agile they're small um they're not street legal we know that um and they're able to uh evade and particularly when they ride in large groups like that it's it's a very difficult situation from a law enforcement standpoint and again I would defer to the Chief and her staff in terms of outlining you know what the safest Protocols are but I think most law enforcement agencies have concluded that it is not safe to chase um these large groups of dirt bike and ATV riders it's just not a safe situation for the officers for the individuals on the dirt bikes and ATVs that are not street legal and for other motorists in the motoring public so um I I did notice that if

folks are following the news headlines on this issue um Chapel Hill actually charged six people uh the other day um over the weekend and again these are charges that we see in chapter 20 which is the chapter of our state statutes that governs motor vehicle activity um they've been cited for reckless driving to endanger impeding traffic helmet law violations failure to maintain Lane control driving left of center all those things that people are complaining to you all as elected officials about witnessing people are seeing this and if they can identify the individuals and again if law en forcement has a basis for charging someone they can identify the individual they know they engaged in the behavior those charges will come but that's the challenge so um again the chief may have something to add to that I don't know if you discussed that with her but you know we are working on this we are trying to address it as safely as

possible but uh it it is not a a lack of intent to enforce the law it's just the circumstances make it very difficult to uh take people into custody and charge them with things thank you attorney rer um if the chief wants to address it um she certainly is always welcome to talk um and she's on her way to a microphone thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak um so you know i' I've been watching and reading a lot of the comments the speculation the armchair Monday morning quarterbacking of what our officers can and cannot do and and then people making their own statements about running these folks off the road um or taking other action these dirt bikes um have progressively gotten more and more

aggressive um with some of their and it's not all of them because I have seen some that have operated in a safe manner um but the ones that we saw the videos on obviously were not OCC operating in a safe Manner and so those are the operators that we at the Durham Police Department are going to be spending and I'm pulling people from investigating some violent crimes to do this so understand Durham I am pulling officers to invest that are investigating violent crimes in order to also divide their time to to function in a M multi-jurisdictional task force with other law enforcement agencies there is a video that is that is that is surfaced of us assisting a highway patrol trooper that was trying to get a uh biker bicyclist or a motorcycle list stopped um and that video has been circulating around um at the end of the day it we cannot chase them we won't chase them

because not only are we go we are not going to endanger the general motoring Public's life but we are not going to endanger the lives of these these bikers and ATVs we are not going to do that um the end is not worth the means but we are looking at other actions that people that I'm not going to get into here um we have other ways in which to address the problem it will not be addressed overnight nor immediately um but we are are going to be dividing our resources in which to to at least be able to address the means by which they are behaving in this manner um the incident that happened this past weekend I had there were about 150 to 200 bikes um that were at a gas station over near Jordan High School um and that took about nine or 10 police cars to to

stop uh and and and deal with two of them there were officers that were running on foot to try and get these folks off of their motorcycles one officer was hurt um there was damage to patrol Vehicles so we are doing the very level best that we can but I will ask the public that the speculation the the really aggressive attitudes being demonstrated by some of our community members I understand that people are upset but you're making the problem worse and my officers have to read these comments and comments of you saying that they are cowards does nothing to help support these officers my officers are the bravest people you will ever meet and I will stand beside them every single day every time leave them alone and let them do their jobs [Applause]

thank you Chief um all of us have run into these young people pulled to the side let them go and call 911 and go on with your day and let these officers do their job thank you we now turn to our priority items by our city manager good afternoon Madame mayor members of the Durham city council uh I do have a few priority items for you this afternoon uh agenda item number 19 which is Carver Creek supportive housing acquisition interlocal cooperation agreement budget ordinance attachment number five was revised to reflect a transfer from the general fund to the dedicated housing fund the motion was revised to reflect the ordinance number change from 16093 to 16150 agenda item number 4 two partners for reentry opportunities in Workforce

Development proud Grant contract agreement eer Youth Alternatives Inc a supplemental item was added and agenda item number 43 contract amendment number three for fiscal year 2023 24 training to work re-entry with eered Youth Alternatives Inc is also a supplemental item that has been added that is all I have for you this afternoon thank you thank you city manager Paige you'll now hearit her priority items May I have a motion for their approval so move second move by councilwoman Freeman second am by councilwoman Ciera all those in favor if you assign my sign I I uh all those opposed have the same right hearing none the eyes have it and the motion passes unanimously I now recognize our City attorney for any priority item she may have good afternoon Madame mayor and member members of the council it's good to be with you today the city attorney's office has no priority items however if

I might have a point of personal privilege yes I'd like to introduce our summer law clerks for this summer um if they would please stand we have Samuel Graber Han who is a rising 3L at Duke University School of Law Maya C hanani who's a rising 2L at North Carolina Central University School of Law and mallerie verz who's a rising thrl at UNCC School of Law um they will be doing work all summer that will really impact the work of the council so I'm excited to have them join us for the summer and we welcome them welcome did you say you had something yes city clerk shriber for your prior to items thank you Madame mayor and welcome um mayor and council members the city clerk's office has no priority items today thank you so much we will now turn to our second order of business which is to read uh our entire agenda uh today

we'll start off with the administrative consent items and then move to the departmental items presentations Etc item number one is the Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment number two the Durham bike and pedestrian advisory commission appointment three the recreation advisory Commission appointment item four the housing appeals board mayoral appointment item five the durm Planning Commission appointment item six is the Durham cultur Advisory Board appointment appointment item seven the approval of city council minutes number eight durm Convention Center Authority appointment nine the Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment 10 the human relations commission appointment 11 the housing appeals board appointment 12 the Durham City County

Environmental Affairs board appointments number 13 the external auditor contract modification 14 go Durham bus safety performance audit May 22 May 2023 I'm sorry item 15 is the fiscal year 2020 3 to 24 budget and 2024 29 Capital Improvement plan ordinance other related ordinances n FY 2024 through 26 strategic plan and that is a lot of information that goes along with that now and let's see I think I probably need to read do I need to read each one Madam attorney no for the item 15 for item 15 just want to check and make sure all right item 16 is a presentation and ordinance to establish standards for

trespass from city property item 17 is a discussion of council procedural issues of censure and recusal item 18 is the American Rescue plan act project Opera arp a project for youth by youth FY by and I guess I need to pull my own item which was item 17 item 18 is the American Rescue plan act Opera a pro project for youth by youth fyb I just read that item 19 is the Carver Creek supportive housing acquisition interlocal cooperation agreement item 20 is the American Rescue plan act Opera agreement with Durham County to support joint affordable housing projects 21 contract with code Studio for the comprehensive rewrite of the ud

unified development ordinance item 22 the American Rescue plan act ARA funds ldg multifam Development LLC loan commitment letter for Senova Landing item 23 contract with the central Pont Community Action for the provision of tenant based rental assistance Services item 24 the housing authority of the city of Durham relocation grant for the Durham Housing Authority DHA Downtown Development plan ddmp item 25 is the American Rescue plan act Opera funds Mosaic Development Group Inc loan commitment 902 Briggs Avenue project Madam mayor I apologize I need to pull item number 19 19 thank you and that was the Carver Street

supportive housing acquisition inter local cooperation agreement okay number 26 the contract with corporate FS fax Inc for technical assistance on an affordable housing project I item 27 is the amendment to extend term of agreement with Durham County EMS for EMTs on heart teams h e a r t teams item 28 is the agreement with strategic energy Innovations for cimment corpse Fellowship number 29 former wheel skating center upfi design contract Amendment with DTW Architects and planners L limited Madam mayor need to pull that item all right item 30 is the interlocal agreement with durm convention and visitors bureau doing business as discover durm to add the durm convention

sitter study Convention Center study to the destination master plan 31 the Second Amendment to lease with Duke University and Duke University Health System Inc for the emergency communications 911 backup Center item 32 is the contract for dur Workforce Development board W dwdb Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act wi OA youth program e Youth Alternatives Inc item 33 is the fiscal year 2023 to 24 agreement to fund Economic Development programs and services operated by downtown durm Inc using city of Durham funds item 34 is a contract amendment number two for FY 2023 24 city services and programs for the downtown durm Municipal Service District with downtown

durm Inc number 35 is a contract with axon Enterprise Inc for replacement tasers item 36 supplemental agreement for on call Professional Services for Durham freeway study 37 the award of bid term purchase contract for bulk sodium hypo chlorite to altern Solutions LLC item 38 is a resolution to accept the offer of American Rescue plan funding for the Western intake partnership projects our presentations item 39 the Durham Sports commission multisport complex presentation which is 45 minute presentation a public hearings item 40 is a zoning map change RP residential studio apartments our supplemental items 41 a resolution to honor the late Conan t Morgan lifelong stem Advocate item 42 is partners for

re-entry opportunities and Workforce Development proud PWD Grant contract agreement the E Youth Alternatives Inc and item 43 is the contract amendment number three for FY 2023 to 24 training to work re-entry with eer Youth Alternatives Inc that will conclude the reading of our agenda Madam clerk I have items 17 19 and 29 that have been pulled is that what you have all right okay all right we will now turn to our citizen matters at this time here with Us in Chambers today um signed up there may be others here who have not signed up but want to speak as well miss uh Christian candeloro will be first and jonte Dunston if you will

please come to the podium you have three minutes each thank you if you would first say your name and then um you may have your three minutes all good afternoon to the council my name is Christian caloro uh I am a thirdy year firefighter in Durham I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today I first want to say that I am grateful for the amount of time and discussion that the council has spent on our issue I hope I speak for my colleagues when I say I believe in the desire of this Council to fix the issues of pay in the DM fire department and I'm hopeful for the future but in the last two weeks alone I've received three calls from former Durham firefighters asking me if I have interest in leaving and joining their Department I chose Durham three years ago and I have to Grapple with whether I made the right decision what you have right now in

Durham is a bleed in the fire department we are losing people I also know that there are many firefighters just like me that that are watching this budget process with great interest you have an opportunity before June 20th to make a difference in that bleed if you wait until a comprehensive pay study is done to make any progress towards fixing this issues many of the firefighters you are trying to help won't be here to see the changes approximately 61 individuals will depart prior to the next budget cycle every day that pay study is until that pay study is concluded I will ask myself if staying in Durham is fair to my family how many times over that span will I have to tell my wife I'm turning down other offers offers that would better support our family because I have hope in this Council hope does not put food on my table pay my mortgage or make up for the time spent away from them I understand the complexities this

process brings I understand your desire to serve your city in the best possible way we have the same desire I understand that everything won't be fixed overnight I've sat here through several Council meetings and heard you say each and every one of you say that you support us I've we were told that you don't have to make it any more clear that you would make it happen but if you vote for the budget as it's currently constructed right now people are going to leave right now you have an opportunity to keep firefighters you have an opportunity to make a meaningful change in the future of this department by keeping our valuable employees the Future Leaders of this department I ask that you take a step in that direction so that we can so that together we can continue working towards building out a better department and a better City in the coming

years if action is not taken right now we will not have the experienced Personnel to support the great City that th is please vote to amend the budget give our firefighters faith in this process so we can continue to support the city the way we all want to see it supported thank you thank you so much yes sir Mr dunon if you would State your full name and you have your three minutes sir yes um jont joh I would like to thank everyone this evening um mayor O'Neal city council and our um people in the community and our brothers and sisters on the police department and fire department I'm here to speak on the budget proposal for our fire department and I'm here to say that this 2% you're giving our fire department and our police and them a bad deal I wouldn't

even accept that deal because I'm speaking on behalf of security companies and agency that employ fire departments and police officers part-time because they cannot make the ends meet it brought me to realize that our fire department and our police officers at this budget will be at the same poverty level as most of the citizens are they cannot even afford the mortgages The Proposal you gave 2% and a $300 bonus that $300 bonus won't even cover groceries that $300 will only cover probably their insurance that 300 is probably a subscription but you got to realize that these firefighters and these police officers have kids that are in college they have families they have to support we also have to think about their mental time they have to have down with their families and meanwhile when they should be resting and knowing that us as a community should have their back 100% 2% I'm going tell you straight like

this okay if I get a security contract every 90 days I get a 2% um pay increase a bonus at the end of six months to a year I've never seen a bonus under $300 most of my bonuses are a th000 and a more but then I have to sit there and budget and I understand when these brothers have to sit there and wake up every day I see them in our community I see the fire department First Responders responding to the shootings responding to the elderly they're making their time they're the ones that sit there and be the ones that are the most comfort in our community our police officers are doing the best they can but they need a pay increase because we have to be a competitive based Community because I don't blame if they're going to leave I don't blame them they have to survive and right now I talked to a couple of police officers I talked to a couple of firefighters the other night and they laughed at that deal and they

said that straight up y'all are going to lose fire Fighters and you're going to lose police officers so that means that we have to uproot for our safety and our well-being and then we have to follow our firefighters and police officers to the communities that's going to give them their pay give them their respect it all starts with city council it all starts with the budget just like you said about y'all have bosses then we're tired of speaking to the employees it's time for us to start speaking to your bosses so do us a favor get your bosses in here so we can speak to them directly and let them know and on that end ladies and gentlemen have a wonderful and safe weekend I do note that we have um Miss Jackie waxa who's who signed up before um to speak online but she's here in person so I'm going to ask her to come now um to speak and any other persons

who would like to speak um who have not signed up that are here present now after her good afternoon Madame mayor um I came down in person because you know we have these issues about when we sign up to speak online if we don't get it in at a certain time we may not be able to speak so I just wanted to make sure because you got some important stuff but under this citizens matter I want to speak about the First Responders um on Monday councilman Williams made a statement to the public that it was more complicated about giving yall that raise than we the public understood cuz we a little ignorant to what they do even though some of us been up there before so I just wanted to come down here and let you know that just like you gave yourself $110,000 a raise in 30 days it wasn't complicated give these people the same respect the same raise the same thing and also

you know I'm hoping that none of you will have to call them for anything because unlike them it couldn't be me if you called and I was working for them knowing how you're doing me I might be a little slow on getting up off the bathroom stall I might be a little slow putting on my uniform might be a little slow and that might have an effect on how how your situation turns out but uh this this Council has to do better this vote was taken in 2021 some of you weren't even here but I know some of you were and you have done nothing we are losing these brave people and this is not this is only going to hurt durm and also just a suggestion for the bike riders on the highway and when I heard the mayor speaking it made me reflect that maybe yall watching my Facebook post because I

said there's a way to solve this just like the quickness that they made for the uh skateboards when those skateboarders were skating all over durm all over your property they created a whole park a whole park down there didn't take but a minute let's look at some property and create a biker Park invest in doing some events out there that can bring these guys in and they can be in competition they can get prizes trophies there's a lot of things you can do but we can't just talk about them being out there cuz I ran into them Sunday over by South Point and I had to sit there and wait but it is what it is but let's give them a park the same way we did the skateboard park that's all I'm going to say right now [Applause] I turn now to um our internet citizens

who would like to speak as a citizen man we have Mary molini signed up Miss molini if you're online if you would please let me know and you will have three minutes Madame mayor Miss Molina is not online do we have any other hands raised to speak at the citizens on citizens matters no they no other hands all right thank you we now turn to review our our pulled item and we will start with item uh 17 which is uh an item that I requested to be on our agenda for a discussion of council procedure issues of censure and recusal and we do have Miss wsta um you have signed up to speak to that item along with Miss Mary Molina so if you will come first Miss Wagstaff and then miss Molina if she joins us she can come

after um I signed up for this item because this is near in it's very near to my heart um you have a statement that's always on this form right here about deorum and how people how the public is supposed to act and how were they supposed to follow these rules and I can say today that there are members of this Council that make this being this is just a shame that we shouldn't even have this on here because the rules that you set for the public you don't follow yourself um when we start talking about censorship and conflicts of interest and recusal I'm just going to name you a few times that there were some council members that needed to recuse theel from some votes up here I'm going to start off with uh councilman Williams you just recently voted on the social District unfortunately that social

District caused you to make money because you were opening a business in the social District zone own area I was sitting here you never recuse yourself uh councilman Johnson councilwoman Johnson you had your mother-in-law serving on the participatory budgeting committee she was the chair at one time living in your house giving away money giving away the taxpayers money I never saw you recuse yourself from that vote councilwoman cabier just recently you moved from your residence to another property on the same street three blocks down that belongs to Michelle ows and just in case y'all don't know who she is she's the diaper Bank lady that received $50,000 from the PPP PP the participatory budgetting money makes you wonder about how they're doing business um and also councilwoman Johnson voted on in

2021 on changing the ordinance for the accessory dwellings at the same time she was intending to build an accessory dwelling where she makes money off of it is clear in the ordinance in the charter of this Council that you are not supposed to vote on things that you can financially benefit from or your spouses or your whoever all of y'all are doing this all of you are doing this so all of you have conflicts you don't recuse yourself we sit here time and time again you admonish the public when they come up here and they try to discuss these things with y'all y'all are doing so many wrongs but y'all are the ones that make the decision the policy makers you're supposed to be the ones that have all of the knowledge as you said councilman William Monday night we are ignorant to what y'all do well I'm not cuz I

understand how this works and this need to be dealt with all these conflict all of y'all have them for a point of clarification I understand from the text message from our clerk that there are people here to sign who have signed up to speak on 15b as well so as soon as we finish this we will come back to 15 and 15b is that what we're doing Madame mayor the individuals spoke under citizens matters I think we're fine okay so I can ignore that I believe so can she okay okay all right thank you she she sent me a text I just want to make sure that we not missing anybody this time okay all right so um is Miss Molina present on the internet okay she signed up for 15 as well item what you want to pull the item

15b we'll have to come back to that one when we finish this one it'll be 15b 19 and 29 all right the reason why that I have placed this on is that we have had three outstanding procedure matters to come before this Council where our um procedures manual does not exactly address how we are to deal with those matters and they pretty much remain M outstanding it's also doing conversations with uh our uh City attorney who has indicated that we have not had a review of our procedures since 2012 I believe is it we've had some modifications but not an overall comprehensive review I'll let you speak to what Madam mayor I don't know that the council procedures have ever been comprehensively reviewed and Rewritten

um the list of dates that appear on the front of the council procedures are amendments and most of those amendments are discreet like it's a particular paragraph or provision it's not a rewrite of the entire procedural rules thank you so I had asked um a couple of months ago for our procedures committee which is chaired by mayor protim Middleton also um co-chaired by uh Council woman Johnson and I uh councilwoman josy hman has also asked to CIT that table to ask uh to have a review but I wanted to make sure that we have certain things on the record so that the public would not think that we have ignored things that have come up but sort of kind of are still out there there are two outstanding I believe um censor request our censor policies as I have read them only contemplate being censored for behavior that happens here on the Das and then there is a procedure

for that well the request that we've had for censure one concerns councilwoman hosy Hyman um in that situation the other has also been which is uh behavior that allegedly occurred outside of this Das the second was a request by the public to um have some censor process for a situation involving councilman Williams and so those two procedure those two requests um pretty much are still out there because there is really no procedure in our uh procedures that we have that address those particular circumstances so I'm for one asking that we uh that that committee uh formally take uh those uh those censure um those two censure things that are still out there and

develop procedures that can be addressed when these situations come up the third was a request from the public to recuse I want to say um recuse councilwoman uh cabera on a development issue that has not come before the council but once again there is nothing in our procedures is outline that allows the council to to address those uh those recusal requests that come from the public and so we need to develop some procedures to handle recusal matters as well uh I do have one other issue that I think we've had a lot of conversations and they continue to come up and up and up about um the behavior of council as you've heard now that I think that we also need to address there has also been a lot of talk about uh fraternization with city

um Council officials and city employees there's also an issue revolving um when uh the kind of the opposite of the situation with um uh councilwoman josy Hyman where we there are clear processes uh in my mind to a certain degree about what happened what should happen a process for when a council person is accused of receiving a benefit or asking for a financial benefit from a person or persons who appear before the council seeking a vote however there's no opposite of that where is where a council person has within their own uh Financial wellwith all either from employment or from uh their own wealth where they give monies or financial incentives to people who

come before the council and then uh the those persons who are part of those organizations come before the council and ask the council or Lobby the council for votes so it's almost a mirror image of that and I think that has caused a lot of talk in um our community and for for me as a former judge perception is everything and if you don't have clear procedures that kind of outline how you deal with these situations you get into this kind of oh they're doing this or they're doing that and you don't have a way to address those situations in a matter that is both Equitable and fair for the people who are being talked about as well as our interactions with the constituencies that have to come before us so I would also lay those two um issues at our uh with our subcommittee to ask them to address those are my reasons for uh putting this

uh forth because I want to make sure that we are really clear uh uh to the extent that we can be about our interactions with each other on this Das as well as our interaction with the public and that we do have governing ethical uh considerations uh that we need to consider as far as perception uh people always want to talk talk about corrupt politicians I do not have a desire for uh my name to be in that uh vein of being a corrupt politician and I know my colleagues share that same uh feeling so in order to deal with that we must be come forth with these things that are being said and have a process to address that and I'll leave I'll now turn it over to to my colleagues for further comments Council woman cabier first and councilwoman Freeman after that thank

you Madame mayor um I think that the City attorney um I feel like a week or two ago uh said that the city attorney's office was willing to do I think a a deeper read of our procedures and work with the procedures committee I don't sit on the procedures committee so I just look forward to the conversation when and how it unfolds thank you councilwoman Freeman thank you madam mayor I appreciate you um just bringing it forward and making sure that it doesn't fall to the waight side because I think that this has been in part and parcel an issue that created the kind of Havoc that we had in the last 3 months um and is yet to be resolved um I think it's important to acknowledge that there should be due process around whatever the pre procedures are and the fact that there are missing procedures um highlights why there's such a gray area around some of it I I think even in part my behavior on Council and having an

outburst um with another colleague off the dis is also reason to have those type of procedures and response in place without them you're just kind of Guided by whatever you think or however you feel and I don't think that the city attorney can tell her bosses how to respond I don't think that that's the appropriate way to handle this I do think that that's something either the subcommittee or an external party should take part in which is why it was so frustrating when it was occurring for council member Hosley Hyman because I know good and well that there should be some type of due process procedure in place to address any allegation that is brought forward and whether or not it's uh criminal or what have you you know is not the question question that's not what we're trying to figure out we're trying to figure out what it looks like to say that someone's doing something that's inappropriate and then to have a response and so I I can appreciate you saying you know it's not to point fingers I know

that that's what happens from the community perspective but there has to be accountability and the only way in my mind as a nonprofit administrator that I know um to create that accountability is with actual guidelines and they do not exist in the current format of our Council procedures for off the dis there's too many rumors there's too many accusations flying around about any and all of us and there's no way to address it without something in place and I don't know what that looks like but I do know that it's not something the city attorney's office is going to be able to address so thank you hi Council uh councilwoman Jose hman yes and thank you mayor for bringing that up because that has been in the limbo um because one of them relate to me um which has been a major turmoil in my life um and again not getting due process but also think that which is why

earlier in our budget meeting I asked for maybe some money to have an external um contractor to come and look at the policy and procedures while we have a policy and procedure committee that same policy and procedure committee did not follow the guidelines when the sanctuary was brought forth before me so I feel kind of uneasy about that this is why I want to join that committee also but I definitely feel uneasy because as I said earlier and I said it a couple of weeks ago I don't want this to happen to anybody else and so now we have an issue with recusal we have an issue with another uh Sanctuary on another council member and I don't want them to go through the same things that I've been through in the last three months the other thing is I think we need to also have policies and procedures on just basic deur and professionalism on this Council one of the first things that I said when I got appointed in May when I had witnessed a back and forth argument between mayor protim and council member uh cier is that we have to learn how to

disagree but agree in professionalism and since I have been on this particular Council since being appointed and I'm going to say it publicly I feel I've been bullied I feel that I have been uh bullied I feel that I have not been respected and I feel that the way some people speak to each other is inappropriate the other night as I talked about facial expressions I talked about when people vote a certain way the way people are looked and stared at I talked about just the inappropriate behavior that we have we are people who are who are really serving supposed to be serving for the residents of this community and while I was not elected I was appointed but I still take this job the same seriously that I take my professional career and I do also feel that just personal not excuse me personal but just professional behavior is not shown on this St with each other

or when people come to speak and I've said that before and I've been bullied about saying that so I still still do not feel that the procedure committee is especially the committee that actually put that out sanct about me which was totally inappropriate because it didn't follow any guidelines and now I have other council members that are going to have to deal with similar things it's inappropriate and so I still don't feel comfortable with it just landing on the city attorney's office and I'm asking again that we have an outside consultant to work on this Council M Freeman so I just wanted to um asks what would be the procedure to kind of figure out what an outside resource would look like lining that up is that something that would come from the dis like we need to make a decision is there need to be a vote on something like that and uh I guess trying to figure out if there's a way to move forward so that we actually do put

something in place because I mean it's just going to keep lingering and this is from March we're now in June well my always go tw's is the Institute of government they are State um paid lawyers is a whole pel lawyers I've used them for the last 30 years they normally have uh within their uh within their curriculum um a number of experts who can speak on any manner of governmental issues that's what they are the Institute of government um I feel confident that if we and I think it's it's a good it's a good test for this Council whether how well you judge yourself and your behavior and your demeanor and your ethical obligations to uphold what you do um as a public official um that you there's a part of governing yourself so I think that for for me I'm comfortable

with starting with starting with um the white paper from our attorney um and then also and she has uh her law staff we have some Bright Young Minds um who are uh don't have the taint of us working in her office this summer as interns and maybe she will involve some of them in this process um but definitely if she starts with that um we also have the option of asking the Institute of government um that's what they do that's where they're there uh we use them as judges we use them as Council folk that that's what they're there for and so I feel confident that before we have to expend any monies that we exhaust um the professionals that we have at our available and we can um they are easy to reach out to we can um ask uh we can ask our attorney to contact them and let them know you know becoming it would be an inclusive process she knows those people um she's worked with those people um so on other issues

involved in the council so I as one voice I do feel confident having work with them over the years that they have a significant amount of expertise in this area that we could rely on initially um to get us through the points I just think that we have to be very clear um with them about what they're what we're expecting them to do they don't give you really legal advice that kind of tell you the lay of the land out there and kind of give you your options um so we have to be really clear but uh I'm used to working with them uh attorney rayberg is really used to working with them I just want to make sure today though that we leave here with the issues for the committee to address so that they understand uh their charge and how we are to um the expectations uh I hope that once we come back from the Break um they will have had time to meet and and give us a preliminary read of where they're heading that seems

amable councilman Williams thank you uh Madame mayor one of the hardest things about sitting on this diet is you have to sit here quiet and listen to people coming here and say just about anything whether it's true or not and mostly most of it is opinionated uh I think if we are accept if we we're talking about censure request um from the public then I I think that we might be up here a lot pretty much all day um I just want to govern I just want to govern we have a lot of complex issues and right now this just seems like a lot of trauma and in order to govern it's going to take leadership and that's on us we have folks that are sitting here

worried about their pay in their livelihood and we're talking about who said he said she said so I too look forward to the procedures committee taking up all of these issues I have full faith in our attorney's office that's what we paid them for that's what the community pay them for I have full faith in our procedures committee I have full faith in the school of government and we have a lot of complex issues in the city that we need to take care of a lot but I can tell you one thing for sure I wasn't elected to tiptoe around feelings I wasn't elected to tiptoe around what someone may think of me

the worst thing you can be sitting on this di is is hungry and thirsty so I didn't come here that way I came here full this was a choice I never needed this position I chose to serve so therefore I have the ability to make the most objective decisions and I hope that we will continue to bring the best and brightest and the most the bravest and the most courageous in our community whether you're starting a business whether you're running businesses whether you're leading organizations and nonprofits pertaining to the comment that was made earlier I hope that those out there that are working their butts off for everything they can do to make a living would also choose to

run for office one day I do I just want to govern and that's going to take leadership and that's what we're supposed to be up here doing thank you Council thank you I don't want to Bel the point and I do also have the same Faith um in city attorney's office however with the situation pertaining to me we had those policies and procedures and they were not followed and so that's why it's concerning to me um that we just leave it and I understand what we're saying we're going to also reach out to UNC um's government um to help us in this process but I I guess that's why I keep asking for outside entity because again we did have our city attorney's office that that kind of guided the process and correct me if I'm wrong because I might be misspeaking because no one actually said anything to me

about the process it was just there a cure so I might be misspeaking but that that was a guidance from the city's Attorney office to even put that centure out and it it didn't not follow the procedure of what a sanct is so that's why it's concerning to me about that and I might be misspeaking because again it was never even brought to my attention I just know that it was a sanct out after there was discussion before anybody even asking me anything so thanks all and for the record I'm not speaking directly to you I a censor was just stated about me that I didn't even really know about so I'm speaking very generally and let's refer to the procedures committee let's refer to whatever process and just move forward so I I don't want my comments to think that they're directly at any of you all it's just really General councilwoman fre I would just want to ask that we have a timeline because to council member Williams Point um I think that this does

impact folks livelihood I do know that um there's been resignations there's been a lot of um phone calls a lot of um threats made and it is impacting folks uh and so it may not be impacting you in the same way that it's impacting others but it is impacting folks and I don't think that that should be left to just whenever because I mean again this is March it is now June I have asked um attorney rabber if she would do a draft a white paper um for the subcommittee um before the you know during the break so that they have an opportunity to review and like I said hopefully to meet so I would ask that they have some type of report back to us um sometime in a late August or our first meeting in September let's just put that that they have some type of um

report back to us back then I I I do take all of these seriously um because a a a body without U laws and to govern them um is a lawless body and we are um have to have guidelines uh just as we ask our employees and everybody else to have guidelines on behaviors otherwise you get into this he said she said that eliminates that when you have a process that is clear um on how you deal with situations and that's ever evolving you know because times change people change that's why they me every year in the legislature that's why we meet here you have to evolve with laws so it is very clear to me when I read those sanctions

or th those requests from various people that we didn't have the tools to close those gaps and that is not good it's a simple process of having procedures um that we can go to and adjust as needed but right now we have in some instances is no procedures at all and that's not good for any uh body that has this type of power and perceive power that they they they don't they don't have any any way to govern that behavior of their own behavior councilman just one addition I know that we do um have disclosure statements and maybe that is also included in this kind of in this conversation just making sure that the disclosures are around um I think we disclose our jobs our connected like organizations and like where we own property it may need to extend to like whom you're connected to

as well like in the organization I'm connected to Mr antoan Freeman who's my husband who works on a contract for um echol flow which is now Republic um and it's at he's at the landfill but there's no place to kind of tell you that and so folks might hear it and think there's something there and so I think it's important to make sure that our disclosure forms are updated as well because there's a lot of um nuances around how our relationships work with other people that might work for the organization or within the organization and I feel like when there's a disclosure it's it kind of lessens that burden or lessens that concern around what the perception might be you other the discussion before we move on to the next p item I would say just again with the disclosure for just Definitely Maybe to highlight any I guess issues that might appear that you are becoming or getting any kind of public gain from you being a member of city

council for example maybe being the leader of a a pack or or or being involved with some a committee that then then comes up and presents in front of us and then also maybe Endor as a candidate but you might be in that particular you might be the head of that pack or you might be the head of that organization these are things that I'm just learning right and so I have not been able to benefit and I don't want to benefit from anything from this position I have not benefited in one way if anything I've lost things because I can't do certain things that I used to do because I have attention to this particular job and I've lost things because of other things too because being on this on this on this Council so I think that needs to be added also all right let us move on to our next pull item which is going sorry back to item 15 first thank you thank you city manager and I believe that was pulled by Council

49 and that it's not a livable wage and so I want to be very clear that it's

not acceptable I don't I don't want to move forward with that and so rather than waiting till Monday night I I just want to say that up front thank you anyone else I I well I've said it early in the budget meeting I think I've been seeing it even when we were talking about pre-budget I think I was one of the first people to Bo bring it up I definitely also would like to make sure that we get our fire people to the steps that they need to get to I would love to be able to see everybody get to that point but that's what i' I'd like to see also and I'd like and if we have to again Sentiments of my council member um Freeman if we have to raise taxes not that I want to do that but we I I I want to be able to call 911 call the fire department if I'm having a fire call the police department and be able to feel like I'm going to have somebody come to that door and as I shared before why

it's very dear to my heart is because my husband would not be sitting here well he's not sitting here we would not be here if it was not for a fire apartment coming to my house first one on the on the scene and getting them people there to shock his heart back so um when I recently had a situation where someone came in and um broke into my cars I had to call the police department so we need to do better councilman Williams I let me see if I can ask ask this the right way uh first of all let me reiterate my comments from earlier as well this is not a binary of who support who does the support um I I think everyone on the council supports uh not only our firefighters but our entire staff um and I just want to make sure we're care careful about how we're moving about this and I think it's a matter of timing um during the pandemic no one got a

step and and I'm going to ask that Madam manager you step in and correct me because this is very complex and I'm still trying to figure it all out uh but no one got a step but also as I've stated before not all staff are created equal not you know uh not everybody's jumping through houses that are on fire or or running toward gunfire when others are running away uh but at the same time uh our First Responders were one the only ones to get a raate get a a bonus I believe one time and now we're trying to address that not only for our First Responders again but the entire city staff the entire Enterprise and we've budgeted for a step plan and that I I'm sorry we've budgeted for a pay study the pay study while it may have its complications it will give us it will basically inform us on how to make the best data informed decision to move forward and I think that's how we can be very fiscally responsible um I don't

want this conversation to sound like there has not been anything like the the ethics conversation as if we don't have procedures in place there are some procedures in place that address some of these things um I agree with council member Freeman that we need to have a little more detail so we don't have to deal with the hear say stuff um but regarding this pay situation um Madam manager when is the pay study coming about as so included in the proposed budget uh the administration's proposed budget um is is a dollar figure that would allow us to put an request for proposal out as soon as possible I've spoken to the Human Resources Director today we expect to get the request for proposal for consultant in put the proposal request out in July so you know that we do do a little pre-work when we have a proposed budget but you know we don't make the

assumption that everything in the proposed budget is going to be in the final budget so while we have started to do um you know some pre re work for that request we will finalize it as soon as the budget is adopted and have that request you know out um advertised for a consultant to come in and help us do that work and that will be in July um you know certainly I don't want to sit here and say you know it's going to be a month or six months or 12 months because you know we're going to be working with a consultant but what I can say is we are going to look with current um conditions that we have uh at our our our pay plans our classifications that all of our employees work in what the market value of those jobs would be in current dollars and there always comes with that an estimate of the cost and

you know we we have to have any costs that we apply to anything that we have approved by the city council all of the previous uh pay studies that we've done and there have been recomendations we bring those recommendations to council uh for approval to implement to implement those those plans we will be doing the same thing here I do not want anyone the the employees the the residents to think it is going to be something that happens in a few weeks that is not going to happen that would be too quick and it would not be it would not end in the results that we are expecting it to end in we don't do these things just to do them we do them so that we can have the information that we need to continue to provide Market uh pay for our employees our employees are important to this organization they're important to the community that we serve we have a very

77 is there a way you can give me a dollar figure from a household so um the median household value according to the Durham County tax office um and of course this is the number I'm using is a house valued at

1 cents $16 million um and I have the

calculation for um uh 4 uh it would take the um the current rate of 1 1,364 to $1,462 okay which is about um9 $98 okay so we we're looking to increase about 100 bucks for each household if we were to do that right now but it's it that is just addressing the step plan and I think the city manager is is looking to step in that is not addressing that is just the two steps that did not happen during the pandemic for for me for staff that were here during that time so right so so we would have to address those steps and then where we are now with the market adjustments and all of the other things to come with it that that is not adjusting for any sort of like the consultant that we would be bringing in and Market adjustments that would be something in addition that we would have to take a look at and right

that's not calculated in that $1 million or so it's probably best that we uh probably best that we allow the consultant to carry out this study so we can make a a a really informed decision let me let let me speak to that so whenever we have a market study um as I mentioned the implementation of that actually brings what our current base of pay is to a market a new Market that new market is added on to anything we currently have so that is a that would be in addition to this implementation so if that new market study requires additional funding that we cannot absorb in future budgets then that's additional tax increases in order to cover that if you intended to implement what the consultant says

thank thank you so I I and I want to speak directly to our fire firefighters this is going to happen it's a matter of happening when we can actually make it happen at least that's my interpretation that may not be what we want to hear it's not what I want to he but it's what I can commit to this just me and and I'm talking to you all and I'm also going to project this out to the entire Enterprise because I don't want to say what feels good right now and then not really be able to commit to that or I don't want to say what feels good and then make a huge mistake and then we have other issues because while we're talking about this we also are so close to preventing the actual growth of the tax base and the reason why we can get everything we asked for in the budget this year the reason why we can get everything that we asked for in the budget this year is because we expanded the tax base that means people moved here and we built things for them to live in

so what's happening right now we are really close to restricting the expansion of the tax base but also we're asking for all of this as well we're literally one vote away from that and when we raise the more every time we raise taxes there's a threshold of folks that will not be able to afford it and we say we don't want displacement but it's a balancing act something has to give that's why I keep saying sitting in this seat is very tough it's extremely tough and it may not you may not like everything that happens or everything may not like everything that that that is said but one thing I will always commit to you is I will be responsible and honest and that's where I stand so I'm sure this will happen I think it'll happen when we can make it happen Council woman thank you really quick could staff actually get us if we did and I asked

for this yesterday and I wasn't so I apologize I wasn't there this morning I would like to see what it would be I don't want to do the math myself that's I want to see what somebody's monthly bill would be with City and the county because the countyy is doing a 3 Cent increase and they pass their budget on Monday when people pay their tax bill or it comes out of their escrow or whatever they just pay one bill they don't know we break it out in their water bill and everything else but when you have a county and a city same named the same thing people don't know they just pay the bill so I would like to see what the tax increase is going to be if we said yes because I will be very clear here it's not just y'all I it isn't in fact our paystep folks who are not fire or police officers are actually making like if we had followed the five you know if we just kept you so you got the money you didn't get the step that's essentially what happened if we those General step

8 million ask maybe if we'd gotten the ask in January we could have made some really hard decisions and said no new initiatives no new hires no new anything and that the commitment we made was to the to right siiz the organization and that's the that's the decision we make right but that's something that has to happen not

in June when we have to legally pass a budget by the end of June by state law a balanced budget by state law then we could have had those tough conversations that would have needed to happen that's not where we are right now so what you're asking us to do as policy makers and and and decision makers is to say we're going to we're going to swallow and it may not even be enough right it's giving you all two steps but then we're going to get this market analysis that may say you know what you got to even do more than that so what we're going to actually ask the 330 well city city residents really because the County residents would only get that 3 Cent we already know what the countyy is doing so what we're going to be asking City residents to do in the middle of inflation at you all it's expensive to live in Durham right now I've made this there's not a single one of us on the Das who could actually afford to buy in Durham your city council members cannot afford to buy in city

limits the the pain you all feel is the pain most everyone who's lived here longer than 5 years is living so you would be asking Durham residents to swallow a 7 Cent tax increase on their bill and I want the money I want to see what that's actually asking folks it's a lot it is a lot in this moment that's the decision we're being faced with so I just I'm being real clear and that's why I want to see as I said last week I don't see how we fix this problem if we don't fix everyone's problem and just to be clear can Madam um Madame mayor I'd like the city manager to give me some examples of the other types of employees who are on the step plan besides fire and police thank you and I do want to add one thing um Council woman Ciera when I met with some of the firefighters Representatives on last week at this point they asked at least they asked me and they told me that they'd ask others to consider just

one step not until we get to the um to the market study so they're not asking for the whole 4 cents I think it would be the two cents and we wait for a market study was The Proposal that I got from them I don't know if anyone else got that thank you Madame mayor that ask has not come to me okay thank you they they they did ask me that I don't know if they asked any others on the council okay so yeah I just wanted to also um add some clarity as well um I think for council member Williams I I get what you're saying and I understand where you're coming from you can stand firmly in what you're saying I cannot I sat on this Council on this Di and voted against a raise knowing that there were folks on our staff who were not receiving a liable wage I brought it up then I'm bringing it up now so I cannot sit firmly like you can so I want to make sure that that's clear to you um

for the firefighters I want to be clear for council member cabier they've been asking for that for years so it's not like it's a new request when when it didn't come to you in January it was going to the city manager and the city manager didn't included in her budget that she presented to us so there's no way for them to jump ahead of her in that process which is why it comes to us and it's up to us to figure this out now so I I I do want to say that it's hard to swallow anything that says we're looking at steps because that's not what I'm concerned about what I'm concerned about is we said that we have everyone on a livable wage and from our website which is broadcast to the world it says very clearly that the minimum yearly minimum hourly weight rage should be for FY 2023 $176 60 when we have staff that has been organized through their Union to demonstrate through Collective organizing that we are not meeting our own set minimum wage it is not it is not

it's just it's it's really frustrating because you can't say you're supportive of collective bargaining and not understand that they're fighting for their own wages like that doesn't make sense to to me at all so I'm I'm I'm I'm really like getting angry because there's no way to make it like more clear that they just need four votes to understand that they need to be at a minimum 1760 an hour that's it I don't care about steps you can do the market study you can fix the the compressions everyone on staff should be at 7060 that is what we said we were going to do when we when we passed it that is what we've been working towards and yes we we took a pause but we didn't pause ourselves we didn't say we we're not going to give ourselves a raise I said it very clearly to a couple of colleagues here not to council member cop I won't I won't even put you in that but I did say it you can't give yourselves a raise right now we have not we have not raised the wage for everyone else that is where my anger lies like

that is what that is what you're hearing the frustration from five years of saying we need to raise their wages and I'm I'm specifically talking about fire because I've been talking about fire for 5 years before the current police chief came before the new the city manager was even a city manager I've been talking about it we managed to get them two additional folks on the on the trucks we managed to get them additional gear but what we haven't been able to do is to get them the actual money they need in their pockets they can't keep coming to us asking for the things that they need it's it's just not it's it's just not honest it's not respectful it's just not what um you councilman Williams go ahead councilman Freeman you're you say you're getting angry you're frustrated I I feel you every time there's an opportunity for us to make these type things happen you said we need four votes it only takes four

votes to expand the tax base and that's how we've been doing it because money doesn't grow on trees where is it going to come from it it is it's just not going to appear so I think we're saying the same thing we all want it I just want what I do stand firm is I want to make a well-informed decision and I just don't think we're there yet and I'm not angry I do get frustrated because of how complicated it is but I again this is not a binary of who's supportive of who's and who's not and and I I excuse me hold up for a second the city manager has the floor now then we'll go to council woman Jose hman and I think our staff may have the information that councilman Javier

requested or not maybe not okay go ahead in that order so I wanted to um address the minimum liable wage um that is a topic that we have questions about and that we work um with every year every time we raise that uh the minimum livable wage is is adjusted on July 1st and for the city of Durham um our employees are paid bi-weekly uh 26 times per year and the minimum livable wage equates to $ 38,39 per year that's the minimum livable wage and there are employees who we have to raise to that minimum livable wage in the city government but none of those employees are in the fire department nor are they in our police department at this time so I wanted to make that very

very clear there's no there's we Pro we've provided starting salaries in the proposed budget those starting salaries will go up but none of them are at 38,39 so I I really did want to make that make that statement I appreciate that I think what's frustrating is that you can't lie to my eyes if I'm looking at a pace the all 26 of them and they tell me that I'm below the livable W it's kind of hard to to justify that's all and again it's it's kind of I guess frustrating for me too because um I think I met with the fire department like months ago and they had already been saying that they had been to you know HR and the and and city manager or whatever and they didn't feel like they were being heard but besides that I want to ask a question how much do it cost when we lose firefighters to retrain them right to to hire and train because

as my in my experience of being an administrator it's always like you you know what we're try to do is always retain people because it cost so much to retrain them you know what I mean and so we're losing again again I've said before we have what we have some of the best training here in Durham and we're and what we're doing is we're training them and spending money and they're going other places and they're getting the benefit of our hard training and our money here so I want to ask that and I also want to ask how much has it cost to do this Market study how much money are we putting into that the propos the in the proposed budget is $400,000 and that is a that is a number that we are using because we've had Market or or pce studies classification studies done before and that is the number we have when we put the request for proposal out we will get a you know a proposal to come in and hopefully it will be you know at or lower than that number based upon the scope of services that we need done we have a very large Workforce we have a lot of different positions that need to be looked at in terms of uh the

market pay um you know and the career path for all of those employees so that is the number that is in there when we talk about how much it costs to to train um new employees for certain employees particularly in the fire department we do our training in inhouse so we have trainers we have you know captains who we hire um and part of you know that's just one of the ranks but part of the um you know what we calculate when we talk about new uh new employees coming on is the equipment that they use it can't be reused again um you know the uniforms and things that are um you know that are can't you know can't be recycled uh safety equipment uh th those kinds of things so while I don't have the number in front of me there may be a staff person that has it but we are we are efficient with our training and you know every organization um has a

cost to replace employees when they leave uh that is that is part of doing business yeah I I think the reason why I asked is because you know I think early and correct me if I'm wrong we I think we heard one of our firemen talk about might be 61 removals I mean people I don't know that they say 61 61 um members that might leave so you just kind of times that in terms of having a then train those people back that's why I was asking um and and again I was not on Counsel uh I think Freeman you said you've been trying to do this for five five years and I hear council member um Williams says he is committed I know I think we all are but I don't want to be you know and and I don't know I don't I don't know if I'll be here for another five years but while I'm here I don't want it to be the same thing that they you know that it it's we're one vote away from making this happen and so I would like to see again I keep saying this let's make this

happen for me you know it's it's not emotionalism it's not um you know it's it's pretty straightforward for me and my consideration and all of us have you know the way we think two years we had a pandemic and it seems to me at that time there were already some adjustments being made um for pay uh in particular and during that pandemic when uh those step increases were not given uh there were people who were being called to do more while a lot of us set home those were our firefighters and our First Responders and they did that and they did it well we are years some years out from that and so it seems to me that we have within our power uh our city manager's job is to try to make

sure that we go with we have a balanced budget but it's also under the opes of the council that we do the same thing but we have within our uh jurisdiction the ability to make adjustments to get to a balanced budget if you have some circumstances I think this is a circumstance that's pretty clear they didn't get it none of them especially the firefighters and the police officers they got something but they were also called to do something more during that time but there were always also others who didn't get it at all I am fully prepared as I said this morning to meet them at the point where I think was a great compromise give us a one step we know what that cost is it's about $4 million we're asking our tax bases to do two cent that gives us time to get the market study and we can all kind of go on but you cannot tell Grown Folk who

look who Count Their dollars to look at their past tub and don't believe what they're saying when it says you're making $15 an hour you just can't ask them to do that none of us would none of us I look at my past and I'm in shock so um and I'm just coming to do the political start part of it so and and it was raised but we cannot raise ourselves raise our employees and not think that people are looking at their not looking at their check stuff every time and seeing that as a hit to them that's not a that's not a hard issue for me and I don't think that we have to for me I don't have to sit and analyze that I've run budgets this B it's not new to me to run but big budgets this is something we can do you got three votes I

know you need four and with that any other comments yes H has anything happened over the last five years paywise because it sounds like it's projected that nothing has been given and I I and and I'm not going to sit here on this Council and act as if I don't care about our employees cuz that's what's being projected I that's not I I want to accept that but I as I said I would make the hard decision to make the right decision and that's what I'm committed to and that includes giving our fire firefighters as well as our staff getting them where they need to be but has anything happened over the last 5 years so the answer to that is yes um there's been pay increases to all city employees base pay at some level with

the exception of the fiscal year of 2021 fiscal year to end at 2021 every other fiscal year in the past five years there's been raises provided to base pay for for city employees that's the answer thank you Council maab yeah could I just fear from the um from the manager about positions thank you sorry about that it's okay there's been a l yes so we were asked in the follow-up um budget hearings to just provide some examples of employees that are in our other uh pay plans uh I did mention this morning that there are several pay plans that we have we have a fire pay pay plan a police pay plan we have a general step plan a open range pay plan and a part-time pay plan uh some examples of positions that are in our general step plan uh Solid Waste

collector Administrative Assistant custodian electrici uh Fleet maintenance technician and emergency communications uh 911 uh emergency communications technician uh some examples of positions in our open range plan would be a community Economic Development analyst planner engineer business services manager budget management analyst Community safety clinician so across our organization we would we have approximately 200 different kinds of positions that employees work in all over the organization um more than half of those employees are Frontline workers more than half of them um received premium pay of 5% during the year of the pandemic is not to you can't you can never pay someone for uh service that is critical uh that only they provide at a

3 million and it went as a bonus so that was the in that was the amount of money

that was provided to employees in the year that there was no add to base it was a bonus for every other year there was a raise provided to all of our employees and and that raise was um added to their base pay and it has accumulated to be the current pay that employees who are still with us are receiving any other questions on this matter yes real quick could I ask a few more follow-up questions yes uhuh thank you so if I'm not mistaken and I was here so I'm just making sure I'm remembering correctly everyone's everyone's paying in the entire organization from top to bottom our pay was frozen fiscal year 2020/21 which was the year of the pandemic and that decision was made and I was part of that decision and we were very clear and that was not when manager Paige was manager but that was when manager Bonfield was manager I specifically remember calling and said

we cannot lay a single person off which is what municipalities were actually doing in that moment they were laying folks off because they didn't know what their money was going to look like because at that time that was pre arpa that was pre that was during the car's act money in North Carolina the two cities that got any substantive cares act money if I'm not mistaken were Raleigh and Charlotte everyone else got very little money we got a little bit here we got a little bit there but in general we didn't get that big payout that we saw with arpa you know later on so as a decision maker when we were passing a budget which we were 90% done with if not a little bit maybe 80% done with in March of 2020 when everything stopped we had to make some real hard decisions how are we going to to keep an organization of over 2500 folks afloat we don't know what kind of raft is coming from the state or the feds and it doesn't look good for us and we're not going to lay anyone off when we know that their health insurance is probably tied to their employment in a pandemic

so we froze everyone no one got a step that year no one got bonuses then we started getting some money from the federal government so we were able to do that Hazard pay kind of retroactively if I'm not mistaken Madam manager in the following year which would have been 2122 fiscal year so that is the the money that you're talking about the 5% of premium pay wasn't added to Bas pay but it was given was it enough absolutely not we're never going to be able to repay our firefighters I 911 call operators our trash collectors our recycling collectors we're never going to pay our folks enough for what yall did during the pandemic which is you kept the city running we're just not going to be able to and I'd rather be honest and transparent than than tell you all something that's not true but you did get something that year and then we were able to Madame manager if I'm not mistaken last year was the first year well you all got the big adjustment in January 22 which we acknowledged was like okay this is the beginning of a of movement again was it enough no but I think that's why this Market study is in

there it was a huge amount of money again certainly a debt owed and I've seen the studies I'm happy to send it to any uh folks that need to see it the the an analysis that was provided for staff those decisions your steps maybe were not given right but the money that you ended up with your in your pocket is more than had you gotten the 5% and the 5% which is what I think I'm hearing folks ask right so that was last year and this year and then you're again we're making the same commitment I understand we're going to have to deal with this issue this is not us saying No this is saying we cannot manage this in this moment now ma uh Madame mayor I'm I'm thank you for providing that update that is not an update that's been provided to me about is is there a compromise happy to meet with folks again but I do want from staff I want folks to understand the money of if we I want to you know when you swallow the we swallowed it all I want to know what that looks like because I want that

communicated to folks as well and I want it communicated if there was a compromise because we don't just operate alone in this we have the county we have to think about what their tax increase does as well thank you anybody else thank you um Council W Freeman so just to touch a little bit on 2021 2022 could you speak to how much of a surplus we had that year and how much of a tax collection that we had that year how much did we miss in what we collected after we did the freeze and then moved it to general fund so I do not have that number here but what I can um the budget director may be able to get that during the conversation uh but I would say and it is it is it may not be directly in response to what you're saying is you know finding out what you have as a surplus uh at the end of any particular year that is that is that is fund

balance money and that is that is money that uh that we collected and we did not spend in a particular year and over time that amount builds up but in order to use that money in the future uh it has to be for onetime expenditures or is or is not it is not really responsible to budget salaries or any type of recurring expenses out of a a a savings account and that is not how we uh we receive our you know our our our bond ratings and you know the um the other parts of managing a business a government of the size in terms of the way that we you know we we allocate to our budgets so I don't have the answer I don't know if the um if the budget director has it I'm looking for it so okay and I I appre I appreciate you know we want to make sure that we're fiscally responsible and acknowledging that we're

not using fund balance to cover salaries what I'm saying is that because we took the pause because we were so fiscally responsible what we did was Rec recreated the harm that we are seeing today and so as a response I think it is responsible to address it in the same manner and so if it is um a tax increase of two cents I think that's responsible and if it is um you know a market study that does a full-on adjustment of 80 million whatever it needs to be I think those are responsible things but what is not responsible is to try and act like we didn't receive the money have a surplus and then just put it into fund balance so so I can't I can't speak to what a portion of the the Surplus um did go to so in the mid any time we make a midyear adjustment um you know which which is what we did uh when

we did the uh Public Safety uh Market study we are using surplus funds in that year that we are already in in order to begin making the additional payments in salaries in a mid year so in the case of the market study that this Council um asked us to do midy year um and and was the right thing to do when we actually implemented that portion of the market study we used about $4 million of surplus in order to do it mid budget when we had to then annualize those raises which we have reported to you have been you know 14 15% increases to base pay for our Public Safety officers then we have to annualize those raises in the next year which is was approximately $9 million that went into

the following Year's budget so we did use some of that savings to start and I appreciate that because you're you're highlighting that there is a process and sometimes there needs to be adjustments and those adjustments can take a long time and so when you're you're saying you know you're going to implement a study the 400,000 will go towards a study it could be one month that you know three months or four months before the market study even gets started there's a whole another year that could go by before anything is done and all of that is still on the backs of Staff whether it's fire police open range closed range step all of it is still on the backs of staff and what is consistently like troubling is that we're just asking them to wait and I and I'm not it's not to the detriment of the city manager it's not that the city manager's decision it is what the council is making the decision

on and so I'm very clear that your you're following the guidelines that were set by the state and by our budget office like you're following your guidelines but we as a council still have a responsibility to our staff to actually adjust when necessary based on the information that we have and so yes it can be confusing it can be complicated it can be hard to understand but whether or not we do that and how we do that is still on us all right we continue on um to our next pulled item we will come back to the budget discussion is not over we as I indicated earlier we will not take a vote on um the budget until June 20th uh so we will continue in this process and we now turn our attention to

item 19 which is the Carver Creek supportive housing acquisition interlocal cooperation agreement and that was pulled I Believe by um councilwoman Freeman thank you I I just wanted there's two specific things one I wanted to understand whether there would be City ownership in this property or if we're just transferring funds to an organization good afternoon Bera Johnson Deputy city manager um that we will uh transfer our funds to Durham County they will develop the contract based on requirements and our agreement with them and I just wanted to make sure it was plainly stated that there would be deed restrictions included in that contract with the dollars that are being transferred that is correct and then I also just wanted to disclose that I do own a home in this area and probably will see a bump in in my uh appreciation because I could afford to actually buy um something in the area so thank

you thank you so much thank you uh we now turn to your next Port item um Council woman Freeman which was item 29 I believe which is the former wheel skating center upfi design contract Amendment with DTW Architects and planners limited this yours item 29 yes uh as always whenever uh the Wheels skating ring comes forward I do want to make sure that we clearly State what is happening and um how it's moving forward I've read the documents but I do want the public to hear as well that this is a contract that we discussed in many many meetings and I do want to appreciate um Deputy city manager uh Chadwell for spurring those conversations on and seeing them all the way through to actual understanding so much so that we got to the Crux of all of the things around long metal and uh the skate park and um the skating ring up want to say so

yes good afternoon Madam mayor and members of city council uh my name is Shauna Parker with the general Services Department um and the item that we are bringing forth today is um a recommendation or a request to increase the contingency for DTW Architects uh design contract in order to address some additional design and um uh reconfigurations of the interior of the skating rink to address items that were recommended by um the potential concessions operator uh for the facility D um DPR is currently in conversations with the operator and they've made some recommendations for um uh renovations to kind of make things more um uh make more sense for an operator standpoint as well as making things better for the visitors to the to the facility um don't know if you want me to go into their specific um no I

just I just want I just know that it was clearly stated previously that there would only be ADA compliance and um General uh like repairs done and this is to actually just address the concessions as you stated thank you all right I think we have moved through all of our pulled items we're going to take about a 10 minute recess but before we do that um we're going to ask for um our our presentations to come in sort of reverse order that they appear on our agenda so we will actually have our presentation from 39 39 first um the Durham Sports commission will be first after after the break and then we'll follow that with our second presentation which was item 13 that's 16 um which is a also a presentation as well I also want to note that I did receive a an email from Miss

Molina who wanted to remind me that she had made a request to censor mayor protim and wanted that added in to those other requests about censure from public folks so I make that request so that she knows that that was done we'll stay in recess until 3:15 thank you I

y'all went to yeah I remember that I remember

BAS e much for

com did you know the city of Durham has interpretation and translation services available the city adopted a language access plan to provide language services and help non-english speakers have access to city services and programs without a language barrier through the city's language access plan residents have the right to request interpretation in translation services free of charge receive translation of vital documents and emergency communications in Spanish and submit complaints of language discrimination or on the failure to adequately provide services in accordance with the city's language

gov language [Music] access for [Music] [Music]

m. on your collection day two your cart should be at least 3 ft from all other objects such as mailboxes telephone poles fire hydrants trees and other their carts three your carts should be no more than 3 ft from the curb four no vehicles should be blocking your carts the mechanical arms on our trucks need direct access to your carts and cannot reach around vehicles to find more information about garbage and recycling pickups go to this web [Music] address I was looking for an opportunity and U an old friend of mine suggested that I apply at Gham the community

really relies on us on godder public transportation well I like driving a bus because of the friendly culture I love it in the morning when people greet me good morning they give me a fry wave they appreciate you and that goes a long way being a bus driver and goor anything can be achieved here um you can come in at the bottom and you will be able to accept in Fairly a short amount of time here I started as an operator and I'm here now as a operator training specialist so long as you stick to it you can Excel the perfect candidate that would excel at go durm is someone with tenacity someone with Drive someone who wants to make a difference for their Community you have to be people oriented you have to be experience and you have to be on hands ready to go but with the proper training just like driving a car so as a new driver with Road training come in and you see me and I'm going to make sure

you have all the tools to succeed they give you a lot of input and they work with you step by step so you won't be alone in this to anyone considering working for God Duram you won't regret it please come please apply we would love to have you join the go Duram team my younger sister was someone that never got involved with bad people she was a selfless person and her life was taken away by her boyfriend due to gun violence in front of her three younger kids I was in my car I heard loud gunfire didn't know where I got shot was dramatic and

experien I couldn't you know want anybody to live through gun violence can happen any given time anywhere I'm truly blessed to be alive today the person that did this to my sister is still on the loose and we were Justice for my sister sister and for my nephews we don't want for this to happen to another woman out there don't stay quiet don't be afraid to talk I like being there for people I like when my investigators and I go out there they were out there with a specific purpose and that's to try to bring somebody to Justice on behalf of a citizen to get a violent criminal off the streets I'm born and raised in Durham I still have family members here uh classmates friends it's personal for me we see on the news constantly the

numbers of shootings is in the hundreds um last year is pushing a thousand so you would think that around every corner there's somebody with a gun ready to shoot but through our investigations we've learned that the percentage of the population that's committing a lot of these shootings is very low compared to the number of shootings members of 3:15 3:15 we will now turn to item 39 which is the Durham Sports commission multisport complex presentation all right thank you good afternoon Miss it's says there it is um so good afternoon Madame mayor uh city council members and staff thanks for having us I'm Susan Amy president and CEO of

discover Durham and with me is Marcus Manning the executive director of the Durham Sports commission and we really appreciate you making time for this we know that June is an exceedingly busy month for you all um the city and the of Durham and Durham County in conjunction with discovered Durham and the Durham Chamber of Commerce formed the sports commission seven years ago now with a mission to create economic and social impact for Durham through Sports and sports tourism since then even with the pandemic the dsc's helped create over $90 million in economic impact it's brought new events to the community which include seven uh excuse me four national conferences seven state championships uh conference championships including the uh this year's CIAA track and field one um and it's provided grants of more than $500,000 to help local events expand and prosper and Marcus has represented Durham in helping win the bid for the world University games here in North

Carolina in 2029 so despite this early success Durham's capacity for hosting sports teams and tournaments is really quite limited compared to many other communities across the state and those across the country and what they can provide for their kids our residents don't have as much access to sports play and competition as those in many other areas and with a community that is growing as fast as we know this one is we know it's critical that we are urgently planning for the future so working with some of the industry's top Consultants we've conducted a survey to Define what it will take to support our youth and our adults with competitive sports facilities and we've developed today's presentation uh to artic articulate the benefits this will have especially for the kids this project is a lot more than learning ball handling skills the stakes are much higher than that uh this presentation is the foundation and ra rationale for where we

believe Durham needs to go in the future so later this calendar year we plan to come back to you with a full proposal We'll be asking for your commitment to the project at that time not a budget commitment but a commitment to work together with us and with the county to plan a path to fund create and manage these new facilities presumably as a collaboration of public and private Enterprise so today we want to review where we are and what we plan to prepare to support that proposal and ask for your feedback on anything else that you want to be able to see later so that you feel that you'll be fully informed um or be fully able to make a informed decision at that time so that is the purpose for us being here this afternoon uh and I'm going to turn it over to Marcus who is going to share details about this uh project and it's um Foundation Madam mayor members of the

council thank you for this opportunity uh to have this conversation today uh very excited to to be here and and uh we can we can get started with the the presentation one of the things that I um I learned going through this through this process is the um the opportunity and access that's extremely important for the Youth and we got a chance to learn about uh Aspen Institute and project play and their mission is twofold one is uh creating access and opportunities for every child here in America regardless of zip code the other is um making sure that there is uh opportunity to celebrate educate and promote the benefits of participation and so uh we've been

excited and and U really fortunate to to learn more about Aspen Institute and project play and here we're seeing a video of the 10 years of of Aspen Institute project play thank you so [Music] much my happiest childhood memories are the crazy games of touch football we used to [Music] play I think what you've built is a very powerful road map so whatever the dollar figure is as a society as taxpayers and it's

Corporate America and who name we should figure out how much that costs and then pay for it period [Music] imagination is key because you have to be able to Envision it and dream it first right [Music] I firmly believe that access to sports and safe and healthy environments for

children to play should be made available to every kid [Music] thank you thank you and so one of the things that Aspen Institute did during the pandemic is really want to have an understanding of of certain Trends uh happening with uh Youth Sports and so they wanted to survey uh parents around the country and what they found was that parents the desired outcomes for them uh they simply wanted their uh their sons and daughters to to have a positive mental health uh experience they wanted obviously the physical health uh benefit as well but then also just to have fun develop social skills in in peer peer-to-peer relationships so that was something for

us that was this aha moment in in really the the mental health aspect of it and so they did a follow-up study and they evaluated 2021 and 2022 and they saw that um if focusing in on fall of 2022 that just over 50% of parents felt like there was uh increased mental health uh experiences positive mental health experiences for their children they also felt like the social well-being experience through participation in sport over 71% of the parents felt like their children had had an increased positive experience for social well-being one of the other things that we found out and this was through the Playbook to get every kid to play uh in a game and participate was that not only

was it a positive impact for kids to participate as a child but it had a positive impact throughout their entire life positive academic experience higher self-esteem even more productive at work as in your career uh as they got older into adulthood and so all of these things spoke to just the positive experiences of participating in sport Community Sports Recreation Recreational Sports Little League a sense of safety within the environment we know that's important here in Durham a sful self-awareness and also a sense of belonging to a community one of the other things that we found out as a group is we know about the positive benefits but what's happening here over recent years is the cost to participate we know that there's a

divide that's happening all across the country in here in dur we learned that earning $50,000 or less one in three families were saying that it cost too much for their sons and daughters to participate we also know that travel ball is is very popular now and it's increasing and getting more popular but the cost is just over 200 excuse me over $2,200 and so we are pricing families out and not allowing uh young boys and girls to participate in travel ball and just participating in their local community engaged during comprehensive plan there was a quote one of the first things that's cut is Recreation because of the cost two hours less time spent lower socieconomic uh kids two hours less

spent than more than the the upper class Youth and so as we're find out less and less opportunities less and less time being spent in the 2017 Dum County Youth risk behavior survey we found that lower quality parks and neighborhoods where youth of color live contributes to lower physical lower levels of physical activity again the opportunities uh are not there uh for our youth High School participation over the last 20 years there's been an increase in high school participation one of the things that we've seen is a reduction in major crime and fewer suspensions and so that's meant uh for the Youth and for high school participation an opportunity uh to really identify emerging Sports and

so that's something that we think this project can do as well so we know that there's a positive benefit to participate we know that there is a lack of access and opportunities in Durham we also know that we're going through this transformational period in Durham we are experiencing a growth in 1960 we we had just over 78,000 people here living in the city fast forward to 2021 over 326,000 you may ask the question why 1960 right it may seem arbitrary that is the same time that Durham County Memorial Stadium uh was in his infancy stage let's think about that right so as we're going through this transformational type period here in Durham we are seeing cities and

communities here in our area and across the country starting to invest in sports facilities and so here is a snapshot of different communities that are investing and I will not go through uh all of them but I do want to highlight a couple Carrie is building a new 300,000 square foot facility that's scheduled to open in 2027 highlighted by basketball volleyball 12 basketball courts 20 volleyball courts and also a e-gaming Arena and I'll repeat that a egaming Arena which is which is pretty cool Virginia Beach one of the largest facilities on the East Coast over 285,000 square square fet highlighted by a 200 meter hydraulically Bank track and 12 basketball courts Rocky Mount and our way has 165,000 square fet of indoor space

and it's transformed Rocky Mount in terms of participation not only basketball and volleyball but also concerts as well and then we see Durham at this particular time and right now as it stands today we don't have anything like this in our community so we know collectively that that there's an opportunity here outdoor facilities Westfield Indiana just outside of Indianapolis over 400 Acres 32 diamonds 21 flat Fields baseball softball flag football football lacrosse London County Virginia just had a grand opening last September 17 Fields all lit for baseball softball soccer lacrosse Wilmington North Carolina just

broke ground in February 64 Acres 11 Fields built for rugby soccer lacrosse Ultimate Frisbee I mentioned Durham County Memorial Stadium in 1960 represents 25 acres that's where we're currently at and we are excited about marmore Park 50 acres four multi-purpose fields and we would definitely put that to to use and so we are excited I want to repeat excited about that opportunity but again we know what the opportunity is for us here in Durham in terms of indoor and outdoor space so the question becomes why break ground now right we know there is an opportunity for us we know a positive benefit for sport we have a full understanding if we don't have opportunities and the access to

participate in sport and we're know we're growing in population here in Durham so we can say that there's a transformational type opportunity for us collectively as a community I won't go into too much detail about the of economic and social impact Susan did a great job of laying that out Force but I will tell you in October of 20120 I started with the Dural Sports commission and our vice chair Susan Scott told me that you have an opportunity as the executive director to meet the moment we as a community have this opportunity right to meet the moment when it comes to Sport and providing access and providing opportunity and think about sports tourism and so with that this type of

project this type of project and you're going to hear me talk about opportunity a lot right the revenue and economic impact that can be generated through Sports tourism going from point A to point B traveling because of sports can fund the operation of a facility in turn that can offer opportunities for our residents and our youth to participate now you think about that let's press pause and I'll repeat this a little bit later but one of the things that we see happening now is that uh I mentioned travel ball is popular right so our youth what they're doing now is they're leaving Durham to participate in these type tournaments Regional and National tournaments this type of project allows our youth to stay right here in Durham and to participate so that's just

something for us to to think about as we continue to have this this conversation how do we define success of this type project first and foremost it's a Community Asset and we will repeat that that is the number one thing it is a Community Asset number number two we've talked about this a little bit but it expands opportunities for participation in our community number three with sports tourism it can be a significant driver of economic impact a significant driver of economic impact and number four operationally sustainable business those are the four definitions of success and if we can achieve all four all four there's a transformational impact that will occur here in Durham proposed concept I can see the excitement that all you have right now right as we continue on this afternoon

so stay with me here number one the indoor complex 250,000 Square ft highlighted by 200 meter hydraulically banked track right now we have eight the newest one you see pictured here is in Boston the New Balance Center 12 basketball and volleyball courts 5,000 Cedar rine just over 38,000 square feet of flex space I want to make note and this is extremely important we have titled this a sports complex but is it is a multi-activity type complex you can see highlighted there uh the space is dedicated for Community programming and learning non-sporting type activities four additional basketball and volleyball courts and also a 10,000 squarefoot family entertainment arena

with the thought of possibly having Esports the outdoor portion just over 37 Acres eight baseball and softball fields four fullsize multi MP purpose Fields all Synthetic Turf all lit it provides us the flexibility to host and have multiple Sports multiple activities both indoor and outdoor just in summary just over 250,000 ft indoor highlighted by 200 meter hydraulic Bank track over 38,000 Square ft of of flex space and over 37 Acres of outdoor space that includes the Synthetic Turf diamonds and flat Fields I mentioned non-sporting activities there is an opportunity as we

have this type facility that we can host multiple activities that are not sport rated I just want us to keep that top of Mind as we have this conversation in terms of talking points related to this facility it's a balancing Knack of local programmatic opportunities in sports tourism serves as a yearound sports and recreation hub for Durham providing those opportunities we've talked about the multitude of activities serving a wide range of community Pursuits it has that capability of operating a Monday through Thursday serving the local community but on Friday through Sunday the capability of Hosting Regional and National tournaments that can be a significant driver of economic impact for Durham

again having individuals and families come to Durham to participate and play in Regional and National tournaments you may ask what type of opportunities as it relates to sports I won't list them all but you can see everything from acrobatics and tumbling to stunt to wrestling to flag football to basketball to Esports and this is the third time I mentioned Esports because I'm excited about that potential opportunity but if you look at over 20 Sports not including your non sport activ activities we start to realize that this is a transformational type opportunity for us we've touched on this Sports tourism funds local community growth we've seen it in other communities we've seen it across the country and we wholeheartedly believe

7 billion in direct visitor spending over 635 jobs generated through Sports tourism The Sweet Spot for sports tourism youth 97% of communities across the country hosted some type of Youth Tournament that includes us here in in Durham as well yeah your kids you have the families your cousins your aunts and uncles all travel uh to watch these

tournaments Regional and National tournaments Collegian 83% and I think we can all agree right here in Duram we have two of the best universities uh in college athletic programs in the country and so we can lean into that as well as we think about this potential possibility we did an initial study in 2021 and it said that by year three we could be profitable in terms of our operations by year five we could host over 100 events and also have over generated 35 million in economic impact now Susan to talk about next steps and that didn't include um another feasibility study that were a updated feasibility study that we're going to go through so we will come back with updated numbers okay and that leads us to our next steps

I want to thank you again for the opportunity um to be in front of you today and thank you for listening thank you all right so we have identified eight next steps and as I said in the beginning our objective here is to get feedback from you about what we're planning to how we're planning to move forward on this project uh and we intend to come back in the fall having completed the eight steps that we're going to talk about here but want to hear if we have been thinking broadly enough about this and if you think we're on a path to be ready to answer the questions that you would very likely have uh so to cover the steps one we're doing the an updated market analysis and capital cost projections uh those were done back before the pandemic and as we all know all of those figures are being thrown out and um updated uh second is stakeholder and user group meetings and this includes both talking to people coaches and League members and parents

that would be using a facility like this and also talking as we look at different uh areas in Durham where a facility like this could go also wanting to talk to people in those communities to make sure that we have um done a good job of community engagement the third one is the updated Financial forecast Marcus just referred to the the original one that was done um the idea for project like this as he said is that while the community will need to invest from a capital cost standpoint the facility itself would be work operate on at least a break even standpoint um many people have pointed to the type of agreement that we have around deac and how that's managed um the idea for this facility would be something a little similar where we would anticipate hiring a management company um and there would be an opportunity to share profits uh rising out of operations so um what we need to do now is work out what the details would be of what we can expect

from a um revenue and cost standpoint and what that uh projection would be on break even uh the updated economic impact analysis will also come along with this and that's tied to some degree with where we think the facility might go but clearly part of the story here is not just the operation of the facility and how financially viable it is but also all of that additional spending that a sports facility brings in that supports lodging and um restaurants and bars and retail in the area uh the fifth one here is the recommendations what we'll be coming back with is um we'll be refining the project scope you just heard where we are right now and but we'll be looking at um a a recommendation and probably we'll bring you a couple of different alternatives for the the scope of what this facility could look like a recommendation on physical location some renderings of what a facility like this might look like and then uh some early thoughts on the financial planning

approach and as I said earlier um our next phase uh looking forward to us aligning around um wanting to move forward will'll be figuring out how a project like this can be financed uh the next one is leadership site visits uh we are working with discover Durham and the Durham Sports commission are working with the Durham chamber and with downtown Durham Inc to plan an inner city visit for this fall uh and a significant part of the agenda for that will be visiting other facilities and hearing from other communities about how they've approached Sports tourism uh that would be relevant to us uh we'll take all of that information synthesize it uh so that we can come forward with recommendations that we hope you'll find are very well thought out and uh of course we'll be want to prepare for the discussions and Q&A that would come out of that so those are the next steps we're anticipating and at this point and we we would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on whether this is a holistic enough

approach to this topic thank you both for being here this afternoon I will open it up to my colleagues to see if there are questions or comments all right I just have councilman Jose H you have all I had to say oh thumbs up um I just want to say I don't know where you were like 10 years ago both of my daughters played Club volleyball and now they are Del and have played in college but um as you said the statistics of how much it costes for Club volleyball the traveling which I think it was a wonderful experience because it taught them so much my husband literally had to get two part-time jobs law enforcement two part-time jobs to be able because I literally paid almost a tuition well I didn't pay it he paid it a tuition for them to be able to participate in club volleyball so I I I don't know where you were but we need to yeah think about getting this going because I just also like the fact that you put up the mental health piece and I know with you know being a social

worker Social Work Professor anytime you get you know youth involved in creative activities it does help their whole well-being mental health everything so I'm I'm excited thank you councilwoman K kab thank you Madame mayor I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent presentation I'm excited to see the next steps and how we figure out how to bring this to the community um uh we need it one real quick with the cross country would it just be an out obviously like like what they have at wake Med right now with their outdoor Trail okay thank you anyone else councilman William uh thank you for uh bringing this before us I um it's really hard to say which part was my favorite because it touched on so many areas uh I think ultimately this is this is the type of response we want to the crime that we're seeing in the uh with amongst our youth in the city uh they're board and they need something to do and and

and I think that this would help with that also um economically speaking this is so significant so significant uh we look at DPAC you know and how well that's performing and that's the Arts you know um I I there's a group of kids right now that are trying to raise money to fly out to Oregon I believe and it's costing them nearly what over $100,000 or something one 110 it' be great if our kids didn't have to try and come up with that money they could be right here but instead other communities are bringing their Investments here um and I also love the idea of it being multifaceted you know a multi-purpose um Event Center you know that we can we can do these things and and you know Carrie last week uh didn't even know about this but they just did a a 707 soccer tournament and it's kind of like a uh it's a it's not the the major League or whatever but it's where um you know folks from all types of

7 million over 5 days because they had a cluster of soccer fields now imagine if we had all of these type fils I can I can see having a concert in there as well with the big name uh so I I just wanted to put those those benefits that I took from this in uh out in the atmosphere uh the question I had is uh was would this is an opportunity for us to have a a name and rights opportunity for major sponsorship right like the Boston one has the New Balance Center yes as we consider what the financial stack would be to put together a

facility like this naming rights and sponsorship would certainly be a big piece of that conversation great so when Coach K calls Nike and say the Nike Bull City Athletic okay gotcha yeah H thank you this is amazing uh can you hurry up and get to the next steps thank You' all thank you councilwoman Freeman Follow by councilwoman uh Jose Hamman again and that'll be the last round thank you I I appreciate um my counselor colleagues comments I I just wanted to find out if you made this presentation to the county as well already we are making it later this month and because I am understanding that this is the commission for the city and county the sports commission was formed uh by interlocal agreement including both the city and the county and we would expect that we would be working together with both uh as we work on how how to make this happen and I I want to appreciate your diligent work in seeing this all the way through I know you've been pushing around this

for the last three years and uh very hard this last year and so I'm glad you finally made it in front of us I also um I'm pretty excited about the opportunities on the economic side they're not just uh naming rights but also the jobs that it would provide um it this is this is pretty huge and I'm I I don't want to sound underwhelmed but I am concerned that it's a few years off and so we're just talking about a study and as we start to think about what happens between now and then we need we need to make sure that we're working towards drumming up the support for it on both sides um in a way that is like supply and demand and so I hope that you'll be supportive in that work as well and not just focused on this one task and now that's what that's what that's what my ask would be of you um I think you're in the right vein I know that uh you put a lot of time and effort into this presentation I I've heard it before I apologize it's just hard to

kind of keep focus when you've heard it a couple of times but it's important that the general public understands like this is a great opportunity more than you know we're we're talking about an aquatic center and the sports complex at the same time and it makes sense that it be a great investment and that might mean that there may be 10 cents on the tax rate that it gets raised so I want folks to be prepared for that but it would actually expand the tax base as was mentioned earlier because if you can bring in a million dollars on a weekend you know it kind of decreases what we have to ask for from our residents and so it's a it's a very holistic approach to addressing all of the many issues that we have around making sure our children have some place to play that our adults and seniors um Can can stay active and then also so that the workforce has some place to learn and grow and develop so I'm appreciative thank you

thank you I just wanted to say real quickly that it also inre increases our Economic Development here because not only you know with the club volleyball and just traveling you're bringing hotels you know people have to eat food I remember you know a lot of us had to go travel to Florida to Raleigh and you're there all day so you look for you have hotels for the whole weekend you're eating like it's a lot of money so I think it would definitely bring some economic growth for us also so just wanted to add that thank you thank you all for your comments um this afternoon and we thank you and we look forward to next steps thank you very much we turn now to item 16 presentation and ordinance to establish standards for trespass from city property good afternoon good afternoon attorney Toco if you'll bear with me for just a minute

okay all right good afternoon city council uh my name is anarie tsco I'm an assistant City attorney with the Durham city attorney's office and I'm here to present to you today on a osed ordinance to establish standards for trespass from city property uh it's proposed to be added as a new article 8 to chapter 46 of the code of ordinances which address Public Safety the impetus for this ordinance was a recent lawsuit where a former employee who was trespassed from city property for uh engaging in threatening and harassing conduct what um sued the city um in defending this uh City and that lawsuit the city attorney's office identified some issues with our existing trespass procedures specifically that were there were no documented city-wide procedures that afforded individuals who were trespassed due process rights such as notice and an opportunity to be heard on the trespass we did have some individual departments who had policies

that did so but nothing Citywide so when trespass issues arose in other departments they had no procedures to fall back on this ordinance uh resolves that issue by formalizing standards for trespass across the city um it is protective of the public in that it enshrines their constitutional rights to doe process as I just mentioned by affording them both written notice of the conduct subject to trespass and an opportunity to be to be heard on that trespass as well as their first amendment rights as the uh conduct subject to trespass um our content neutral standards uh by doing so it's protective of the city as it guards the City against liability from future lawsuits um that claim that we have not afforded individuals these rights the Supreme Court has long recognized the city is similar to a private owner of property um in the way it's allowed to control the use of its

property um pardon uh while there's consent to enter property that is publicly owned owned that consent can be revoked by a government um if somebody lawfully authorized to do so revokes it or if an individual engages in conduct that is disruptive or uh dangerous so establishing this ordinance doesn't give the city any new authority to trespass individuals and we don't want to use it to trespass more individuals we just want to use it to create standards to address trespass across the city uniformly when those issues do arise as the city is authorized by the state to regulate by ordinance conduct that is uh detrimental to Public Safety or the peace and dignity of the city the city attorney's office has U proposed regulating these standards in an ordinance that conduct that is subject

to trespass is that which is dangerous unlawful or unreasonably disruptive um and the ordinance does Define uh these are again those content neutral standards uh what they mean to guide a decision maker uh when they're requested to trespass somebody dangerous conduct is that which creates an imminent or unreasonable risk of injury or harm to persons or property unlawful conduct is that which is prohibited by federal state or local law and unreasonably disruptive conduct is that which in consideration of the nature scope use and purpose of the property either unreasonably interferes with the orderly conduct of City business bus or with others use or enjoyment of approved activities on the property or is unreasonably inconsistent with the normal use for which the property was designed and intended to be used and these definitions make clear that they are not intended to apply to conduct that is protected by the First Amendment uh the ordinance houses

authority to issue notices of trespass with the city manager uh it encourages City staff to observe conduct that could be subject to trespass to First uh if it's safe to do so request the individual uh cease the conduct or leave the premises but if they do not then the city manager is authorized to issue a written notice of trespass to the individual and the ordinance does authorize the city manager to delegate that authority to other City officers or employees um that she deems appropriate given their general area of responsibility within the city uh this delegation would have to be made in a writing though so that everybody understood who was authorized to issue these notes notices uh if you'll bear with me for just a moment you've heard me say do process many times and now I'm going to get a little bit granular as to what that process should look like the first step in that due process is that notice I've been mentioning again that is going to take the form of a written notice of trespass here that will be in writing and has to contain uh certain contents

specifically the reasons for the trespass so not only describing the conduct the individual engaged in but which of those definitions it falls under uh describing the locations from which an individual is trespassed and for how long warning the individual of the consequences for re-entering city property after they have been trespassed and most importantly informing them of their right to appeal the trespass in order to comply with that second um prong of due process which is the appeal to the city manager um in order to contest a written notice of trespass an individual is asked to provide a written state statement and any evidence in their support to the clerk within a week of the notice of trespass uh the city clerk will then schedule a review hearing at which the city has the burden of proving uh it is more likely than not that that individual did in fact violate the ordinance at which time the manager will receive all the evidence and can uphold resend or modify the notice of trespass

and the manager must resend the notice of trespass if the city fails to meet its burden or if the individual proves that the conduct they were trespassed for was intended to be expressive conduct uh protected by the First Amendment this decision is final and must be communicated to the individual in writing within five business days of that review hearing the consequences of re-entry I mentioned earlier if someone were to re-enter city property from which they'd been removed and banned from uh while that notice of trespass was effective the city has a few options at its disposal the ordinance authorizes the manager to extend the duration of the notice of trespass uh the city can seek arrest of the individual for violation of Criminal Trespass statute such as second deegree trespass or the city can seek civil remedies such as a court order prohibiting that individual from returning to the city property in question uh finally we are cognizant that even individuals who are trespass

from city property may need to continue to conduct City business access city services or engage in First Amendment protected conduct so the ordinance does contain language authorizing the manager to um allow individuals to reenter city property even if they've been trespassed when there's no reasonable alternative locations or means for them to engage in those activities uh it does authorize the manager to impose reasonable restrictions to minimize any disruption threat damage or injury in order to comply with the intent of the ordinance to preserve the public safety and uh prevent the disruption of City business I know I ran through that pretty quickly um but I'm happy to take any questions you may have thank you so much colleagues any questions thank you for okay go ahead thank you uh what was the resolution of the case that you mentioned that led to this policy being uh my understanding is it settled it for $155,000 in October of

2022 okay thank you any other question questions thank you so much attor to thank you appreciate it great job all right I believe that we have now completed all of our presentations and we will turn to our uh clerk for our boards and commissions mam mayor and um good afternoon everyone I will go through all of the the ballots that have reached consensus and leave the one that hasn't to the end of the report Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment for the category of nonprofit organization is Nicholas T parante Durham bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission appointment for the category of Youth Hannah M Preston the recreation advisory commission appointment caric Sunda

Mory how housing appeals board mayoral appointment John R Griffin durm cultural Advisory Board appointment is Joseph F Jordan and David R long the nomination to the Durham Convention Center Authority appointment is Matthew cobridge the Durham homeless Services advisory committee appointment for the category of corporate private sector is Humphrey Truitt human relations commission appointments there are two one for the Caucasian non-hispanic person is an sukowski hem Street and for the Hispanic Latino person is Javier Alvarez hyames the housing appeals board appointment for two categories the first is at large alternate member is Darren K Chester and the regular member home

ownership is gwendaline Barlo the durm city County Environmental Affairs board appointment two vacancies both for at large is Jonathan Chan and Sandra d Howell the last item is the Durham Planning Commission appointment there is no consensus we have three votes for Talib Graves mans three votes for Sarah Oliver and one vote for Matthew copac Madame mayor I can flip mine to Graves man okay okay so Talib Graves man's is the the nomination and that's the end of the report thank you so much all right we will turn to our city manager to settle our agenda thank you Madame mayor um before I uh uh settled the agenda I did want to speak to some of the questions

that came up during the earlier discussion related to item 15 while Christina is coming to respond to some of them I wanted to um answer a question of council member josy Hyman regarding the um cost for training uh a recruit a fire recruit so in the follow-up information that you received our current entry level pay for a fire recruit is $4,688 per year a a a recruit is in training for approximately 10 months so that's kind of the the uh background for for what the numbers are that I'm going to provide so during recruit um during the recruit period there's personal protection equipment that is issued we can't we we cannot um you you know reissue that uh their uniforms there's

books there's testing and physicals together uh we call those sort of onboarding costs and together those costs are $1,477 so that is that's the equipment part of of bringing on a new recruit you know for the listening public um all of our recruits from day one from the day that we hired them to come on board they become a city employee with benefits and they are paid um as any other employee uh throughout their training period so because we list that uh we estimate that to be about 10 months uh and we consider a training cost uh for a new person to be the salary that that employee would receive while they are actually in training so for 10 months that salary amount uh is $33,900 for 10 months and when you

estimate for benefits it goes up to about $44,000 we have another number that that $44,000 is included in which is is you know their salary plus um their what we call a task book program that they are involved in during that 10 months uh and it is 53916 67 7 so the total number um that we have is $4,395 including the salary and benefits uh and hard costs or you know equipment costs for the recruit while they are in the academy total 6439 367 that is the cost of of the of their hard um you know things that they need for safety uniforms and training as well as their salary and benefits uh dur

during the training period so that was that was the response to one of the questions um Christina also has some information regarding uh the tax increase for a city resident based upon the proposed County tax increase on the city resident as well as any follow-up information that you might have once once she provides that information uh yes so and and um as um council member javiera uh cabier said um the proposed tax increase for the county is three cents at this point um so I will be using um with the numbers that I'm using I'm using the median home value which is given to us by Durham County tax office which is that $244,500 um a Durham County resident would be 7522 which um when you calculate it is

7 um a a res City resident would be paying $3,203 on a home valued at $244,000 that's annually correct that's annually correct would if you have it in a monthly or on your escrow then it would be divided by 12 divided by 12 EXA and that is that includes the three cent that's already included and then what we have proposed that's what are proposed and what they're proposed is as of this moment thank you um I'll let you keep going because maybe you have the next numbers for me um is so if remind me what the next numbers are if we were to do the 4 Cent the 4 Cent which would be about $100 more um someone will be paying $331 or close to three it's $97 so but

yeah if you round up thank you so what I wanted to do before I attempted to set the agenda is to because we will be putting item 15 the budget adoption on General business agenda uh if there are any other questions that the council would like for us to find a response for and put it in memo form and attach it as part of the uh GBA so for the next you know the next um June 20th meeting that information will be coming through the agenda cycle uh response we we are hopeful to hear that at this time do we know the percentage of um the percentage of tax participation right now amongst our residents it it it is over um you mean the tax collection yeah um we are

5% that's what we are budgeting at we are we are actually collecting at a higher rate but um I don't have the exact number for last year and I I want to make sure did you say participation like do we do we know how many folks actually pay taxes in the city based on the population well I'm going to no we don't have that but I I'll responding this way anyone that owns residential property or you know commercial property in the city limits they they pay city taxes or if they own a motor vehicle um that is the those are the two types of taxes that we we primarily uh receive I do believe there's some small amounts for uh unlicensed Vehicles maybe but it's primarily motor vehicles and um residential property as well as

commercial property when we present the budget um because you know most of our taxpayers are they can relate to um you know the calculation based upon you know a resident home you know we don't try to calculate how much it would be for all of our different types of taxpayers uh but the rate is the same for everyone based upon the assess valuation and it is for Real Property and Motor Vehicles you know certainly uh our renters you know people who have commercial uh or you know property that they're renting as their costs you know change for whatever reason sometimes our renters uh we don't like to leave them out as they you know are part of you know uh the the financial model of what happens with taxes but primarily we we look at uh residential and Commercial Property Owners um um there's also a

category of business personal property I left that out uh that is is taxed as well but we do not know the percentage of our residents that pay we know some of young people they don't pay any but or they're not working but we we don't have we don't have that so it would it would probably be helpful to also have the number with the two cents um as the mayor mentioned that they had offered um a concession and of sorts at the one step and what that rate would look like and those numbers so a two cents would be uh $3,252 that's City and tax sorry city and county 2 cents is um 48 $49 about $50 additional for a city

resident based on that value that I gave you before and we will you know we know that this is verbal communication so we will put you know this information in the memo as well but wanted to um just make sure that the questions that you have are included in that followup agenda memo and also just to note that nonprofits in churches are exempt from taxes and anyone who's exempt from paying taxes would not qualify and so we have um a lion share of non nonprofits in the city and often they own property um and so that's not on their like it's not an increase to those organizations or entities ready MH okay so for consent we have items 1 through 14 uh for GBA we have item 15 uh consent items 16 through 38 and 41 through 43 and one GBA public hearing that is item number 40 all right is there a motion so

move second so moved by Council woman Johnson seconded by councilman Williams all those in favor if you sign by saying I I all those opposed have the same right hearing none we have settled our agenda are there any other matters that would come before the council today yes sir thank you mad mayor I just um in conversations with the city manager I did want to bring to council for thumbs up thumbs down what have you on an option for summer camp uh addition for 7 weeks at corn Wallace with a science wraparound uh that would cost around $40,000 and so I just wanted to look to the council to just see if there was support if what was that again a summer camp option so DPR does summer camps at many locations they have a long weit list and so some folks in the community have um tried to put together a 7we program that

would be located at corn Wallace and I will say that uh this this uh came to me through uh count Schoolboard member Javan Lewis and um folks in the community who have been working trying to make sure that all the students have someplace to go and this would give them an additional option for seven additional weeks for those folks who are sitting on the waight list so I I know that I did receive communication in the last couple of days is there a is there a particular vendor yes okay there's particular and the and it will be it will start before this fiscal year ends yes okay we we will work we will work to to provide a follow-up information regarding it and then just one additional um ask of council I know that we normally don't

offer a sponsorship uh when it's not in the city but womage with the national league of cities will be in Charlotte North Carolina and I did want to see if there was appetite considering there were five women on this board who might be in attendance uh for sponsorship of this from the city of dur so you have a a a a cost for what that is I would leave that to the city manager I I mean it could be 2,000 it could be 5,000 it's not not it's just kind of an A V of support for the project or the the work that's happening and that's the I don't I don't know that I participate in that organization a lot but is that the one that um the North Carolina well the North Carolina League of municipalities and um is a part of the National League of cities and I've served as the president of North Carolina League of municipalities women and municipal government and the state the national

president of the league of municipalities um women in municipal government is is from North Carolina so she's hosting the event in Charlotte North Carolina this year and uh both Charlotte and Winston Salem have both made contribution um commitments for sponsorship and I just want to make sure that the city has not missed on that and I shared that paperwork with the city County city manager um I will be attending so I would like to support yes I'm looking at your Le I'm I'm fine with that if you all are participating in it that's these kinds of things to my understanding typically come out of our like our travel funds so is this a request for something outside like couldn't people who are going just it's not it's not for travel it's for the sponsorship of the event so like to say the city of durm supports the North Carolina not North Carol the women North National League of cities

women and municipal government okay so like a conference sponsorship uhuh so like if local progress was hosting in North Carolina and we were to sponsor yeah y'all giveing a thumbs up I'm cool just I would love a heads up I would love a heads up before because I I we asking questions and answering at the same time yeah I don't know enough or feel com able I mean maybe send all of us the information that you sent others or to the I I didn't send it I just I just recognize the name is have about two or three of us on because we all we all well not on that kind of board or they in the the city is a member the city's a member of the organization um I I think it no no matter what it is I I I just want to would like a heads up uh prior to um but if we can if if you can make it work if you can make a word well um one of

the things I I do I do want to say you know as a Duram city manager the the the budget year that we are in is is is at the toward the end of the of the current budget year you know all of everything that we support or sponsor you know it it falls in someone's budget or if it doesn't we have to you know we have to find a place to fund it from when the council provides us Direction um you know majority of the council provides us Direction to do something then we we seek to you know if it's a public purpose um you know we seek to try to do that so we've heard there was support for up to 40 was it is it 40 up to 40 $40,000 we're going to evaluate who that you know who who is providing that you know that service and you know just as we would do any other agreement we would we would review it and at this point in the year we probably do have budget that is

available from departments that don't spend all of their funding but we need the authority to go ahead and do the things that we would typically do uh to vet a contract and the sponsorship is is is the second request and I I don't know I I don't know that that was a direction for me to find find that um thank you I don't object to the content of either of these requests they both sound fine I do have concerns though about the process of council members just kind of bringing last minute funding request to us I feel and and for that reason alone I would I'm uncomfortable with both of these items actually moving forward I think that we should in general like follow our processes that allow our staff to to make these kinds of decisions so that it doesn't seem like council members can just pull money out of thin air and Grant it to people as like you know I I

just think that I think that's bad protocol um I think you know both of these n neither of these I don't have any objection to either of these activities they both sound fine I don't want to have a fight about you know $445,000 but I do think that this process is problematic thank you another job for the procedures committee thank you madam mayor is about to ask about that and I think say when you have a clear process you know people know how you do that so I think because ass signed that under the other process procedures so you all will have quite um a lot to consider and think about and we know you all would do that with all due diligence uh is there any other matter I just want to make sure that we're clear that that the city manager has authorization to move forward I was going to ask about timeline like when when is the camp starting when is the it would start as soon as school gets out and like they're ready to move which is why it's a matter of timing yeah oh wow I didn't realize I get back that's what okay so C direction is it

thumbs up for for the city manager to figure out what sponsorship is at an appropriate amount for that conference she need some kind of Direction so this let three down the manager can make it work that I'm okay I I if she can and that's make it work I but I would say we don't do it this way that's one in it okay um I do want to thank um Mr W while he's here for a very fine Bimi we all had a great time um on last Saturday out there and so just wanted to make note that he's here today and wanted to tell he and his staff congratulations on a great B just when you I did have a couple of questions about how folk get the hometown award so they want to make sure that we you know people want to know if they can nominate or not nominate and when you have the US

presenting please let everybody be a part because I'm getting questions from other people on the council well you know I didn't get a chance can I come up on stage so when you're giving out those kind of assignments please spread it around to all your elected officials so they have a chance to get on that stage and present some stuff too okay all right I'll give up my spot for opening um and then mayor protim can give up some of the time on pres presentations to other counsel so just spread that around all right y'all we are now adjourned at 4:24 on 68 2023 bu City strong