good afternoon happy Thursday here in uh City Hall City Hall Chambers on the first floor of our City Hall here in Durham North Carolina I now like to call our city council work session to order on this Thursday March 23rd 2023 at 1 pm this is our second meeting for today we've had a full day of the people's business and we will now start part two and I'll turn to our Clerk and ask her if she will call the road thank you madam mayor mayor O'Neal I am president mayor Pro tem Middleton I'm here councilmember Caballero your councilmember Friedman president councilmember Halsey Halsey Hyman President councilmember Johnson here councilmember Williams right thank you I believe councilman Williams will be able to hear this morning so I think you will have a full
seven in just the moment we took a break for lunch with that being said I now turn to an announcements by Council I'm looking to my right first uh mayor Pro tem will just go down on the road thank you madam mayor good afternoon ma'am and to my honorable colleagues all in the chamber and those watching wherever you may be our virtual platform very quickly colleagues I wanted to keep Fidelity with our process in terms of uh bringing uh folk or things before our work session our Sports commission has been doing a bunch of work of Leighton it's been a minute since we've heard from them and I know uh all of us are in agreement that Sports and our parks and recs what our parks and recs do our important parts of our strategy and keeping our young people in particular safe through constructive and and character building initiatives and certainly Sports uh provides this is one of those things so I'm asking for permission for the sports commission to come before us and present uh with some specific ask on our next
work session um which I believe would be March 6th uh if I'm correct Madam Clerk April oh I mean April my bad April 6th yeah I'm going so with that college that that's my only announcement is asking for the uh youth commission uh the Sports youth the sports commission to have birth before us thank you councilwoman Caballero and followed by councilwoman Friedman and I won't interrupt again thank you good afternoon everyone I just wanted to um talk about yesterday's uh horrific shootings I know it was an extremely tragic day for our city and I know many of us are grieving and many of our families are grieving the victims were all children and while the suspect was legal legally an adult he was also a young person and this violence has rocked our community but in particular is being felt within our Latino community and because of where the
shootings occurred and where these young people went to school um is also really impacted our DPS Community Durham Public Schools Community all four of these lives the victims and the suspect and their families lives are irrevocably damaged and I want to lift them up the families of these boys and I also want to lift up all of our students teachers counselors central office staff school board members especially at Brogden Riverside and Lakeview I know that I have two children at Riverside and one at Brogden and I know for those communities it was an extremely hard challenging day to get through I know I cried when each one of my kids made it through the door knowing that um that doesn't always happen in the city for lots of different reasons and it is a parent's worst nightmare and so just thinking about our community today
m so for those in our community El futuro offers bilingual bicultural Mental Health Services in Spanish and English so anyone in our community who's struggling I encourage you to reach out to them for support um and um just know that we are thinking about you a La Familia is a icarina gracias thank you councilmember Caballero just in the same vein I wanted to just
take a moment and just uplift all of the families that experience gun violence and just acknowledge that when children come in contact with this type of violence their traumas come across very differently and so just reminding adults around children that they say things like my head hurts my stomach hurts and it's really anxiety and not having words to put to what exactly they're feeling and so just really taking a pause with the children that you're around my training with Durham children's initiative after each of these situations would occur would be to make sure that parents understood exactly just that and so I just wanted to share that and then also I was in the process of supporting the mayor's initiative around this hackathon around gun violence and in conversations with Durham committee on the Affairs of black people and trying to make sure that Dr Karen Haldeman had as many resources as possible around this conversation I wanted to share
publicly that we were in those conversations in the preliminary stages of trying to figure out who those folks would be and I felt like this would be a good time to say more broadly uh that we need we need more folks involved in this not less and I did I just want to say my heart breaks each and every time that a child or a person I mean it's always Someone's Child is involved in gun violence and that's on both sides whether it's the shooter or the person who is the victim in the shooting and I want to extend my sincere thanks and regards for folks at Hillside as well as Linkwood like Lakeview Brogden and Riverside because they've all been experiencing this increase of violence at their doors essentially and just knowing that the staff has been phenomenal and and just addressing it in a way that I don't know that many cities even know how to address I mean I think
the lockdown the way they got the kids out the car the way they're you know making sure that people are are safe and in that moment is not it doesn't fall on me that it's not you know a system that's in place so I want to thank DPS and the staff as well and I just want to invite as many folks into the conversation just ignoring that this emotional and physical trauma is going to continue to to have its roots in our community and we've got to root it out and so I will be sharing that information more broadly making sure that there are contacts for Dr Holderman and the team that's working around trying to get this hackathon moving and so I just wanted to just identify that you know this this conversation is happening and these shootings keep occurring and we're very mindful of it and we we do need to address it we are working to address it thank you that's all thank you I'll turn now to my left to see if there are any announcements on
this end councilman Johnson councilman Javier I'm sorry Jose Harmon we'll let you all go first thank you madam mayor um I just wanted to Echo my colleagues and expressing our grief over the recent shootings that affected um several young children in the community um and um yeah it's always very hard for us and we are um you know our hearts are with all the folks that are that are affected it's especially you know tragic when uh when you're dealing with children and um yeah we are living through some um difficult time our community is having a difficult time right now I didn't want to um not acknowledge that uh and um yeah I think I'll stop there thank you I want to just also Echo first of all good afternoon to my colleagues um I
just want to also Echo everything that my colleagues said I think that's why since I have been appointed in May that I have been really champing this mentorship gun violence in the community safer communities it all ties together I'm also going to call to action some of my uh licensed clinical social workers who are out there in Durham to wrap services around these schools sometimes the schools don't have a lot of services around social work they do have them sometimes social workers social workers are being shared by three and four schools so I'm asking to call to action some of my licensed clinical social workers some of the outpatient non-for-profits that do mental health to really wrap your your arms around these schools around the community because it's affecting everyone it's not just stopping with one economic base one diverse base is now affecting everybody and so I think I'm kind of sick and tired of the conversation I want us to move to solution focused ideas or just concepts of how we can get this going
every youth that is born is also should be guaranteed a full life and that's not happening and so again I just want to Echo what my colleagues say but again that is why I'm championing and have been a champion for mentorship around safer communities that relate to gun violence thank you thank you madam mayor colleagues um not a morning we want to wake up to I'll just be really quick and say that you know we all recognize the problem here um I I don't think that there could be enough ideas we need to keep generating those ideas on what can be done I think as a city um we you know are usually our budget shows our priorities and um I appreciate the budget team for the work you're doing and I appreciate my colleagues for supporting uh task force that specifically focuses on
why this is happening uh the task force was mainly focused on black men and boys because overwhelmingly that's the data point um but I I would be quite amenable to that being expanded to youth in our city when it comes to gun violence and I just really hope that we can accept that and I also hope that we can build community again so knock on Stranger stores and let's get to know folks let's rebuild our community and stop living in isolation let's get back to the Village raising our children thank you yesterday was a really hard day for the city of Durham it's always a really hard day for mothers and fathers and significant others who send their kids to school and we feel the impact when some of them don't make it home
I don't have any words because it always takes me back to my days on the bench and when I lost three kids in one week and I just saw this shut down I was at home last night about 10 o'clock and my phone rang it was chair Howerton and she said Elaine I'm just sitting here looking at the wall I don't know what to do and for all they know her story she lost two of her children to the gun violence I've lost family members and this just shouldn't have it shouldn't be and we are doing our best to to do what we can from this Vantage points as city leaders but it's not enough and it's going to take a whole lot more of us to do more things
but in that vein I do want to mention two opportunities that I'll appeal to the public to try and help there's a joint City County and public education committee there's two from each of the boards along with staff and so as we were contemplating what we were going to do sort of in this vein the three governments began to talk about how we could try to make sure that our young people in this city have a different summer opportunity and the first thing that we decided to do was try to get a baseline of the need and what we offer as the government so the Durham public schools have told us that they have approximately 18 000 young people between the ages of from middle school to high school and that number is expanding when you think about the charter school and private schools children that we have in that age to that end Durham Public Schools things
so they can probably touch about 5 000 of those young people through some interaction with Durham Public Schools the city of Durham you know we offer youth Pro Works program we hired almost 500 young people last year and the county as you're well aware don't have quite the resources that we have in terms of place and time to to give Direct Services but they have some opportunities at their libraries but even at all that you can see the deficit in the numbers one of the things that I am asking to try to steer is to find out what people are doing in their neighborhoods what are the non-profits going to do this summer in terms of offering opportunities for young people so that we can tie all this together and parents can have a fuller picture of what's been offered out there in the summertime and also so that we can get some baseline data as to what we think we will need
so we are contemplating trying to have a roll call of non-profit organizations to see what's going to happen so that we can try to make sure that when summer comes around this time that we have reacted in a way that is noticeable and can be felt by families in the communities seeking to find option for their kids this summer the second one will be what councilwoman Friedman offered as well we are trying to with they have a university I believe in Dr Conrad Alderman who you probably know that name she was the co-chair of the racial Equity task force but she is a activist in this area we're trying to pull together all of the voices that speak in gun violence prevention and try to figure out once again who's doing what where it is important that we are all uh knowledgeable about what others are
doing and begin to try to figure out where we can fill in the gaps and what it is that we actually need to move uh the needle in these two areas so I just offer right now that we have a moment of silence to kind of think about where you fit in in this Arena and also that we think about those families who lost children not only yesterday but continue to lose children in our community thank you all for that I do want to spend a couple of seconds also talking about our scad or what does this stand for against scad the development say it again Leo y'all know I'm not good with acronyms I mean remember what they
stand for I think it's simplifying code for affordable development is that right uh I do have uh I was talking with one of the persons who has signed up to speak with us on Monday yesterday at the Durham chamber event and he asked me well what is it that you want um ask to post a question to me what is a mayor that you want to see happen in this space in terms of um in terms of your understanding of um of these text amendments and I told him one of the things that I think that this provides Durham a unique opportunity to sort of move forward in the Innovation space and it doesn't have to be done in a manner of us against them um he was a a proponent and in one of our development community and I told him that the cards that I saw the other night were split pretty much about evenly about 20 some odd people on both sides and it will be helpful while we are going to get information from our uh
from our city staff it will be helpful if those two sides could get together and figure out where they have points of disagreement to in the interim and he went on to suggest that well you know there are people that think that all developers are really bad people and and on and on and I'm sure they're kind of Bad actors on in any Arena but I do think that in this particular circumstance we have an opportunity to kind of lead the way on how you can have a civil discourse about a matter that's going to probably last Generations so I plan to try to get those cards and make contact by letter with those folks who are scheduled to who had signed up to speak to ask if you all would consider talking to the other side with the hopes of coming back in May with a place where we can dig down I
think councilman Williams said it the other night you know you shouldn't throw out the bad water with the baby or the bad baby with the bathroom or whatever that saying is but there are parts that are some people are going to think are good some parts some people are going to think are bad but it will be real helpful if that does not have to have acrimony in it that we have a civil discourse and we figure out where we have agreement and where we have disagreement and we are able to present that in a matter to us that helps to process uh move along so that would be my request to that answers I will reach out hopefully by letter to ask you all to meet together in an effort to figure out where we have areas of disagreement or agreement and then we come back together in May to have a civil and educational opportunity for us to hear from one another
to that end I also have a little bit of good news before one last announcement and I have received a letter from the from our governor Roy Cooper and he says Jeremy O'Neill thank you for your efforts to make Durham as well as North Carolina a better place to live Parks and Rec creation provide many benefits for our people including Better Health cleaner air and water more opportunities for families and communities to spend time together I am pleased to announce that the North Carolina Parks and Recreation authority has approved a matching Grant in the amount of 500 000 from the accessibility for Parks program for the CR Wood Park project Miss Mavis Greg chairperson of the Parks and Recreation authority will contact you with her congratulations as well as information about how to begin the project congratulations Durham another five hundred thousand
all right I am now going to read a statement that has been prepared about our City Attorney Kim rayberg who's seated to my left on Monday March 13 2023 the Durham city council was informed by City Attorney Kim raber that a property that a property developer had reported to a city staff that a sitting city council member has suggested to the developer that support will be given for the developers project in exchange for a donation to the council members election campaign I promptly reached out to the UNC School of government for a guide on somehow the city council as a body could and or should respond to these allegations and my request City attorney raber also met with several members of the UNC School of government faculty as well as an attorney in private practice with experience in such allegations to compile a list of options that the city
council could work from in determining how to respond to such allegations on Monday March 20th 2023 the mayor and City attorney met with members of the council individually or in pairs in order to discuss the reported allegations the consensus amongst a majority of City Council Members is that the allegations are incredibly disturbing must be taken very seriously and if true May constitute criminal activity and could lead to criminal consequences in light of that the city council has elected to refer the majority of the city council has elected to refer the matter to law enforcement city council staff is currently in the process of preparing a formal referral of the matter to state law enforcement the Durham city council remains a steadfastly committed to maintaining honesty integrity and trustworthiness and All City business
transactions activities and policy making and to that end the city council looks forward to a full investigation of the events in question and to taking the most appropriate action in response to the investigatory findings given that the matter is a pending criminal investigation city council members are at their discretion as elected officials and this is my modification to the statement to make any statements they deem appropriate or inappropriate at this time they are individuals and they may do so however I do believe also with the city attorney the city staff are probably not in a position to provide additional comments about these matters beyond the foregoing statement and with that we will now turn to our priority items by the city manager good afternoon Madam mayor Mr Mayor Pro tem and members
of the Durham city council I do have one priority item for you for today's work session and it is agenda item number 19 the American Rescue plan act arpa project entrepreneur accelerator plus Youth Science technology engineering and Mathematics stem is a supplemental item that has been added that is all I have for today's priority items and thank you you have now heard the managers priority items May I entertain a motion for their for its approval so move been moved by council member William seconded by council member Friedman that we approve the managers prior to items all in favor say aye aye all those opposed have the same right hearing none the ice cabin and the motion passes unanimously I now recognize our City attorney for any priority items she may have good afternoon Madam mayor of the city
attorney's office has no priority items thank you attorney Robert I'm now turned to our clerk to see if she has any priority items good afternoon Madam mayor Mr Mayor Pro teming council members in regard to item 14 built to last the presentation will not be received today and the video has been sent to council and therefore no vote is required thank you all right we will now turn to our second order of business which is to read the entire agenda today uh and here we go and we have a fairly short agenda today everybody item number one is the Durham city county appearance commission appointments item two February 2023 bid report item three is the industrial pre-treatment program performance audit February 2023 item four fiscal year 2023 the 2024 budget development guidelines
item five is the American Rescue plan act Opera project culture and arts invest to restart item six the city of Durham and keep Durham beautiful Inc cultural road map development Grant budget ordinance item seven Madam mayor I don't want to pull it but I do have a very quick question on that uh and this might be for the attorney very quickly I'm serving as the honorary chair of the cultural road map and I know when it came to matters like with DD I'm also on the board of directors of DDI uh some Madam attorney would I need to recuse myself on votes regarding when this comes up the budget ordinance for the cultural roadmap development given my role as honorary chair or can I participate so we went through this during the last cycle as well it's it's the contracts themselves that you have to recuse yourself from not not the overall budget
ordinance is that what you're asking me it is okay all right thank you very much I appreciate it thank you madam mayor thank you item number eight is the housing appeals board annual report for fiscal year 2022. good I'll skip seven I knew I was going to do something okay item seven let's start back there human relations commission 2022 annual report item 8 housing appeals board annual report for fiscal year 2022 item nine resolution and agreement for donation of surplus personal property to built to last Innovations lab Inc item 10 is 2023 National Police Athletic leads monitoring Grant project ordinance item 11 contract amendment number one st-286 petition streets 2021 item 12 is to enter local agreement with
Durham County Soil and Water Conservation District for water quality improvement measures item 13 the Second Amendment to contract with Powerhouse recycling Inc for recycling services for electronic equipment item 14 has been pulled item 15 is the Consolidated annexation 901 and 903 Sharon Road item 16 Consolidated annexation 1300 on Oxford item 17 Consolidated annexation 2142 East gear 18 zoning map change 20 20 2201 Wisconsin Wallace item 19 is a supplemental item American Rescue plan act Opera project entrepreneurial accelerator plus Youth Science technology engineering and Mathematics stem all right and I have no pool items
okay Madam mayor there is a speaker in the virtual queue to item one item run is the Durham city county appointments appearance yes ma'am and that is Miss Donna stanback yes all right we're we will roll that right on into our citizens matter so we'll hear from this stand back first it has a number let me stand back Miss Donna stand back hello yes Mr stand back are you speaking to item number one the Durham city county appearance commission appointment no I was speaking to the open before we normally have a little open um discussion okay all right so we are at citizen matters at this point and you will have three minutes to speak ma'am I won't take but a minute I just was wanting to make sure people understood
that when I presented things at the city council meeting it is not because I'm against growth and it's because I want good to see good plans with good environmental metrics and that's all I need to say I think so a lot of times with our two or three minutes that we get to speak I don't get a chance to address that point but I have said it before in the meetings and that's very important for people to understand for me so thank you thank you Miss stanback thank you I will now turn to we will still have one person on the line um Miss Mary Molina Miss Molina if you are present online you will have three minutes to speak ma'am
I think he may be muted Miss Molina if you could unmute yourself all right I do know we have one other hand raised and that would be Miss Jackie wag staff Miss Wagstaff are you available and we'll come right back to miss Molina okay all right Miss Molina you have three minutes and then we'll go to miss Wagstaff can you hear me Miss Molina is I apologize I I actually didn't realize I had signed up to speak but as long as I uh do have three minutes I wanted to convey my concern that citizens are being sorry that citizens are being targeted
it's been printed that a city council member is taking addresses of naysayers to the scad amendment I think that is outrageous and I have been called out by name in some of those spreads that are on social media this has to stop if you want to talk about we and they on a scat Amendment please talk to the council about their behavior and their actions towards citizens who are speaking their mind I appreciate the time thank you thank you Miss Molina we'll now turn to Ms Wagstaff for any comments you ma'am Ms white stuff you have three minutes can you hear me yes ma'am okay good afternoon Madam mayor council members um
like Miss Molina I do have some concerns but I was just going over your rules of decorum and then the number one thing on this says all citizens May participate in public processes it it appears that that only applies when those citizens are in Alliance with whatever the process is for the night that is agreeable to certain council members um I'm very disturbed by recent comments that have been made by a council member um about people that own homes and have roofs over their head literally don't have a right to come to city council and speak on issues that they are passionate about and it sends a bad message and then if anybody know what A Veiled Threat is I'll give you the definition of it it's not expressed directly or clearly because you do not want the meaning to
be too obvious I feel like a veil threat was given when a council member made reference to they had addresses they had information on people where they live I know for myself when I don't agree with someone and that person comes to me and say oh I know where you live I take that as a threat and I believe that if you're going to expect citizens to behave a certain way when they come and I've yet to see anybody even in their objection to scan or anything else come down into that City Hall and stand at that Podium and be disrespectful to the council they speak their mind they speak clearly and they go back to their seat but to have Sitting council members disrespect citizens who are not elected and have not taken an oath to serve the way I've seen some disrespect that has occurred by this council is appalling and it has to be addressed now you're addressing whatever you're saying about a council
R wood senior we have three minutes as well good afternoon to the mayor and all councilman as you all know I sent you
all uh email asking for the planning department to come to our meeting on the third sergeant in April to what you have said to about trying to get us together that would be a good time also to get your planned Department to come out there to us and explain us about this chat at our meeting so I'm looking for you all to please help us get planning department to our meeting on the third Saturday in April but that's it I'm going for my true reason of coming out here I went back also about Monday night and I got Direct quotes and say I'm gonna call that person name out that's councilman Williams it was to me I can't say to nobody else it was very disrespectful
for him to say certain people that comes up here and speak they have roof over their heads but he had hired two homeless people but you did turn around and vote to give all those the right to have 80 percent or higher housing so that we people that do have roof of our head we cannot continue to stay here endure because our taxes would go up not only that it's disrespectful William that the city council passed affordable tax to help the low-income people to buy houses or get some aided housing but for you to say to us that it was disrespectful to me I don't know about nobody else but you know what your day is coming because you are one of those ones that I
believe I'm not speaking for nobody else I'm speaking directly to you you are one of the ones because I saw you three times talking to the developers but I didn't see you talking to any of the citizens that was opposed against you So Others May not say nothing but I came here today to tell you that your day is coming because how you disrespect us we got a right to come up here and disrespect you as well thank you Mr wood Pastor wood I'm sorry Pastor wood you have three minutes sir first good morning everyone um I want to say on yesterday as well uh I was able to go to the scene of the uh the three young men and from building relationships with uh I had a call from a parent a child that went goes to Brockton and so I was able to be there talk to the chaplains and some people in
the community uh during my interview one of the things that I said then as well as a community as city council pastors churches we need to come together to make things happen and I'm very out forward about that I've spoken to a lot of you as well uh so Mr Williams on the news this morning and so I stand here in front of every one of you when you mention about having black men knock on the doors so as I've seen over the past few months I've seen women speak up so I stand here today with you and with Pastor as well if you want to go knock on some doors you call me and I'll go with you I'm making it very you got my number you know me and I would do that so if you don't call me that means the statement that you made you're making out of false accusation because I'm in the neighborhood I've seen the things God has blessed us to have a van and so I'm in one of the neighborhoods now taking children with
me to church to give them a better way I met with someone on yesterday uh that you're gonna you're gonna be seeing me again on policies as well that you'll be seeing me a lot more so I can say I'm willing to work with you if you're not gonna you want to knock on some doors I'll go cause I'm in the neighborhood hoods and I'm doing that now with young people uh and I saw the the dementoring thing the mentoring yes is very key um and that's why one of the young men's and the people in that neighborhood on yesterday I was able to talk with them a lot of those children do need help a lot of those children are suffering uh from the shooting and so when the parent called me that's why I went to the school there is a program that sends some of these schools about men reading asking for pastors and leaders as well to come out and read for the young people so there's things in place so it's again as councilman said as well it's time to stop talking uh there's
funding I know that's there uh we're building up downtown but what about the people in the neighborhoods what about what are we really doing for those in their neighborhoods to help them get those resources to help them get the needs that they need the counseling and everything they need I have people in my church that are certified counselors in mental health as well so I'm offering help to walk with you I've talked with some of you before as well God leads me to talk to some of you uh some person that you had me to call called that person hadn't called me back yet and so it's one thing to do it but that's how we build relationships and so you got my number call me and I knock on doors with you thank you thank you all I believe those are all the cards that I have and all the names I had from the internet but just to make sure I'm going to look at
our clerk to make sure that we've completed the citizens matters all right then our next order of business is to review our Port items and we have none all right so then we're on to our fourth order of business which is our boards and commission task force uh information and that comes from our Clerk I'm sorry I I know that the um budget guidelines weren't pulled was that supposed to be a presentation or was it just as it is and if we don't see any need to pull it then presentation of of the budget guidelines that you actually have in your packet was was what you saw at the end of the other retreat but what we did do during the break is to make a minor modification to the guidelines related to the conversation we had this morning between
10 and 12 and we were anticipating replacing that budget guideline document with the slightly amended one but Mr Laura is here in the in the chamber to actually show that language if you would like to see it and it will be in your final budget package that you will be voting on in 11 days so thank you madam mayor and Mr Lawrence here good afternoon mayor of members at Council John lore a director of budget Management Services I'm going to stall here a little bit because my assistant walked out but maybe back we have it ready to pull up on the screen but I can't be in two places at once but what it what it is is first I'll tell you what it is and then I can go and show you what it is in the guidelines which is a three-page document on on the last page the third from last bullet
prior to our meeting this morning read funding for City Council budget requests will be considered it was modified after the meeting to read funding for City Council budget requests Advanced during the special budget work session on March 23 2023 will be considered and you will get that in an updated I legislate package we're just working that is if it's not already done it is being done right is that sufficient or would you like me to pull it up no absolutely if it's okay with my colleagues I I my thinking was that our our prior meeting would indeed impact them and if there was anything substantive to report out of that even if it was just word word smithing to us I thought was important at least to hear in this space before we uh we uh adopted in a formal meeting but that that's sufficient for me unless my colleagues have any other inquiries but other than that there was everything else is as as was presented at The Retreat correct
that is correct and we did go over the guidelines during lunch just to make sure that we felt comfortable with them cool thank you very much that's sufficient for me um thank you madam mayor are you back all right clerkshire good afternoon everybody um there are two nominations for the Durham city county appearance commission those nominations are Dan harup and Michaela Jarvis and that's the end of my report for today all right thank you so much I believe that we are now ready to settle our agenda thank you madam mayor I have for your agenda items for consent would be items 1 through 13 and item 19. GBA public hearings items 15 through 18. is there a motion to settle the agenda I Can't Remember by councilman Williams
second in my councilwoman Friedman all those in favor would you sign the saying aye aye all those opposed have the same right hearing none that motion carries you unanimously are there any other items to come before the council today in other matters councilman Williams thank you madam mayor I just wanted to say you know as we all know this this work it can get you know we can get really passionate at it um we have a group that come in here uh although there's some crossover to my previous statement on Monday uh we have a group of folks that come in um in the name of preservo Durham and I just want to highlight that their concerns on the environment out there are driving as I've stated before driving uh the standards that we're raising when it comes to our environmental matters in southeast storm and and I appreciate that and um I will continue uh to uh be impressed upon by their concerns and
as we are asking the general assembly to actually allow us to legally invoke more standards uh and there's a cost with that we're still going forward because it's a moral decision um however to specify my statement from the other night as some may deem it disrespectful I stand by the sentiments of my comments uh regarding you know of having to you know have an open mind uh when it comes to trying to find solutions for housing people in this city uh and I you know I'm one of those elected officials where you know um the position that it appears that we're placed in sometimes if you ignore people it's disrespectful if you respond to people it's disrespectful if you you know uh write down your addresses to see how the subject of a development is impacting the vicinity in which they live it's a threat um they're going to be some uncomfortable
relationships and I respect the passion that everyone comes to that Podium and State but the city elected someone in me that will always engage always respond always protect the Fidelity of the public domain in the Public Square and I don't compromise on that and that's not to be disrespectful it is interesting that some of the most disrespectful people are telling me all disrespectful I am but that's that's that's just not going to change and I have a great deal of respect for folks speaking out but I will I will I will respond you know and and I think there's a greater appreciation for it than not uh but I just wanted to say that this isn't a this isn't an attack it's not a disrespect to anyone expressing their freedom of speech but you know I I just welcome that that dialogue and engagement and if anyone is offended
maybe we can talk about it all right thank you John Mayer since we had a fairly short meeting I felt like it'd probably be a good time to bring forward um a special request from the Carolina Pines Regional Council formerly the triangle J Council of government and just say be to kind of put a placeholder and say that it would be nice to get our organization as I served as a liaison to it in front of us to approve the charter Amendment changes that will need to come forward and so I just want to put that out there for my colleagues that the future work session I'll be bringing that forward thank you councilwoman Johnson thank you madam mayor um we do have one additional matter I wanted to bring up we didn't really decide who was going to introduce this so I will step up and do it um in
our meetings earlier this week another thing that we discussed was a resolution of censure of our fellow council member Monique Cosley Halsey Hyman um for Behavior relating to engaging City staff on her in electoral or partisan work for her and for her re-election campaign we've all received the resolution and I was hoping that we could also discuss that this afternoon and I know that councilmember Halsey Hyman has expressed an interest in making a statement as well um so I'll stop there yes am I yes councilwoman thank you thank you colleagues with a unanimous vote in May 2022 the Durham city council appointed me to fold the at-lawed seat vacated by Charlie Reese based on my prior experience my character and being a
servant leader in the Durham Community for over 17 years on the evening of March 22 2023 at 10 30 PM the Durham city council members received a resolution regarding me via email without consulting or discussing the concern with me in reference to the first incident documented in the resolution from September of 2022 during this time I was inquiring about information when trying to gather information about different packs and resources to educate myself about organizations in Durham I was informed that this request of a city staffer was considered campaign related research the incident to my knowledge was addressed with the staff member her supervisor and myself therefore no further discussion thus calling into question the relevance of this incident seven months later on March 22nd 2023 at 10 30 pm in reference to the second incident
M in March of 2023 the same city safer sent an invitation to event that I was having to another staff member via social media personal account during work hours through human resources the city staff assigned a statement taking full responsibility for their actions on March 14 2023. in conclusion over the past 10 months I have been a servant leader I have been a
colleague to my staff to my city council I have actively listened and advocated and placed the Residence at of Durham at the Forefront of all of my decisions it is essential to remember the voice of all residents and communities in the city of Durham I will continue to be a dedicated servant leader to serve with transparency and integrity and to speak for the Durham citizens excuse me Durham residents thank you any other yes is there a so we all received the notification at the same time and you're right we haven't had a chance to talk about it so are you I just want some clarification on what what happened and what didn't I don't know we discussed that here or what what is your response to is that your response to the resolution okay can I get a copy though can I read that because I just that was my first
time hearing it yeah I do want to clarify that the resolution was not uh was a majority vote um and I do want to say that um last night I did receive a draft of the resolution from a council person that had my name down as the signer from my understanding a resolution had never been signed and I asked that my name be removed from that resolution I think that in order for the record to be correct that it should show exactly who is who was uh for signing the resolution also have some signature lines for those who do not choose to sign or did not vote for the resolution so that the record is clear I would also admonish anyone who uses my signature in a manner that I do not give you permission for to know that
you do not have permission to do that ever okay so is there anything else no I I was just gonna say I'm confused now because of the the process that we participated in like I don't know I I I'm a little confused in the process now because what part of the process are you confused them um our year the mayor program and gather my question thank you madam mayor thank you uh colleagues um uh firstly this this is a a draft resolution um that has not been acted upon yet the the recording of who votes for and who doesn't vote for is a matter of voting that's a matter of our process when we
when it comes before the council um you can affirm it by voting gay or nay and those those uh votes will be um public and they will be available for public scrutiny um in in my years on this Council I have never had a a to consider a resolution of censure um for anyone and we have had some not-down drag out fights on this Council I was part of a council where it got very heated at times at times I thought you know sometimes we may have crossed the lines with some of our characterizations of each other um sometimes I thought collegiality had suffered in some meetings then it was recovered at subsequent meetings um so there is an ability to engage and debate and to engage in the work of the city uh without Crossing certain lines without calling into question a certain standards be they legal uh be they ethical be they just the Norms of a body
um so this is this is this is a really challenging and uncomfortable uh discussion uh for me and I know for us as a council um censure is about an act it is not a statement about the sum total or character of the person it is not a condemnation of the person's whole record or whole being censure is about an act if one of us were to run a red light and we're stopped by the police department that's under us in our in our org chart and get a ticket written uh where our ticket is written or we're cited and we may have done it we may not have had our seat belt on we may have sped um and we deal with the consequences of that it does not necessarily rise to the level of you can't be on the council anymore you can't you know serve the city anymore it's about an act and the question I think before the council is did the acts that happen that
are outlined in this resolution um occur and and I I want councilmember Halsey Hyman who was um unanimously placed on this Council and all of us were elected the rest of us were elected to the council by the people of the city with expectations um and with standards in place um I mean in one of the the the documents in the resolution there's a a conversation that's alluded to um where I believe councilman Halsey Hyman talked to some of us and I recognize some of the language in it because I believe I was the person who said don't blur the line um to to ask yourself you know it I always ask myself is this campaign related is it government related and if I have to hesitate even a bit um then I don't ask the staff to do it I think with respect what we have here
one is is a is a failure on the part of some of the people we listen to quite honestly and some of the people who we who we take counsel from one and the second failure I think is not to mind not to repeat the behavior once it's been identified as problematic when I say who we listen to um you know councilmember Heim and I are both from a context grew up in a place where you know one of the watch words was you know watch how they move watch how people move watch the moves they make and I'm always mindful of who I take my advice from who I take counsel from and how they manage not to get into the situation that you get into how is it that the advice is relevant for them and they manage not to get into the same trouble there's always that one person in the group who seems it always seems to fall on but how do you manage not to succumb to that
whether it's a controversial vote for an appointment and you're the only one last standing with your vote there um how what happened to the people that were um uh counseling you um whether it's um don't cross this line but if there are others who said to you it's okay to ask again I'm referring to the document that's in the resolution then it's up to us to make a decision who we're going to listen to because if a voice said don't do it and one voice said go ahead and do it and who we choose to listen to and base our actions on have consequences and of course censure once again is about an action it is not about the totality of the person um so I agree with you the the relevance of the first incident is is only became relevant because of a second incident um that's what made it relevant because one time it's one off another time it
seems to suggest a pattern if there are material or substantive uh things that are wrong or you think misrepresentations then by all means you should say that and you should bring that to the fore but what has been put before us and and particularly uh what What's Troublesome to me is that we're the most powerful people in this organization um our staff and we always have to maintain a line a bright line uh when it comes to the involving staff and our political activities um our you know our squabbles amongst each other um and we're counseled on that when we get elected the school of government teaches us that we take you know an Ethics Course particularly when it comes uh to campaigning so the question the answer to me about the relevance of the first issue is that it wasn't until the second issue came about um people if people are
disciplined at the staff level and we as a council who basically are self-policing don't have anything happen to us at all I I think it could potentially send a chilling message to to the people that work for us the people that are in the org chart um other people censure really is a demonstration of just how powerful and influential we are because a slap on the hand for us it doesn't affect your ability to vote doesn't affect your access to your office all of the rights and privileges we have to sit on his Deus but the weight oftentimes that's borne by those that are in the staff that work for the city the impact is different for them than for us so it's incumbent upon us who are self-policing who who have to kind of uphold the standard because there's no there's no line above us on the org chart unless you go to the legislature or go to you know other outside entities
um so censure you know the joke about Century to slap on the wrist um for powerful people um but what it really is is a way to say this act has to be addressed but in addressing an act it is not a a summation of that person's entire being it is not a summation of that person's entire record it is not a summation or a characterization of that person's uh Integrity it's about did you run this red light was your seat belt on at the time you're supposed to have it on did you pay it by the the late fee the due date or not and do you have to pay a late fee um and I think that's that's what this is about and now that's all I'll say on it at this point Thank you madam mirror any other comments councilwoman Friedman thank you I'm not sure
um I couldn't follow any of what mayor Pro tem was saying and this but I do want to say that it's it's troubling how this has um come forward and it's been troubling me um as a matter of the way in which councilmember Halsey Hyman has explained the misrepresentations that she did explain and how it's dismissed in a very matter-of-fact way is often dismissed whenever a woman is speaking at this diocese I am really just angry and disgusted with what has culminated over the last two weeks and and I'm still trying to unpack how it got balled up together and thrown at one council member when I know for a fact that there have been many staff
persons involved in different campaigns and and so I know that there's layers to this conversation and I don't want to speak for someone but the manner in which residents in this community have received some of our Council colleagues is the same manner in which councilmember Hosley Halsey Hyman has mentioned and it's it's just unsettling that as a council of five women that we would see fit to make sure that uh this type of behavior would be subject it is just reinforced and ways in which I'm just so I'm just disgusted and I and I can't there's so much more going on behind the scenes and there's so much more to who we are as people and it's really just disappointing and I'll leave it at that thank you
councilman Williams yeah I I don't know what you mean when you are seeing women have been dismissed uh and that's a conversation I welcome personally or publicly I I have no idea um for me this is an agenda thing it's not a it's not a sexist thing um and the reason why I was saying I was confused because when we were talking about this initially it seemed matter of fact based on the notification that we received this is another personal to councilmember Jose Harmon I know I've been struggling with this a lot so for for me specifically as what I was saying I was confused was are we mitigating whether something happened or not or are we actually going based on the information that's already been predetermined so that is what I that's why I was a little confused are we if the resolution reflects what has actually happened and has been proven if staff has a report to say look this happened and the resolution is based on that and that's what we're voting on then if it is a matter of fact and it's
just a process it's nothing personal um and so I was a little confused initially based on just the process of how we're handling this it wasn't a character attack or anything that's why I asked councilmember Harmon could I read the uh read her response and so we all received the same notification and we all um received an invite to have a small group meeting to determine this process I'm not sure if you attended those but I that my understanding was we were determining a response or not not a response but a process and so today I didn't I I wasn't sure we were voting on a resolution or we were actually submitting a resolution but if it in fact happened and this is me too if something like this happens in whether it was willingly or unwittedly if it happened I would expect you all to do the same thing because it's a matter of record we don't want it to happen later on I guess we're setting president here so I I would appreciate us keeping
that objective to to what's going on here and and not getting into the weeds of you know uh people your your comments around women being dismissed because I have the utmost respect for you and women on this Council and I don't and I don't know if you were talking to me directly or not but that's just the nature and culture and what we're governing in councilwoman Johnson then councilwoman Hosanna thank you madam mayor um I'll just make a few comments I wrote this resolution based on the information that was provided to us via email concerning um these incidents um the the one thing in the resolution that contradicts what council member Halsey Hyman said in her statement um is that in January of 2023 councilmember Halsey Hyman asked the city staff for your work related to her political campaign council member Halsey Hyman is is stating that the city staffer volunteered to do work on the campaign and that and she accepted that
offer I don't know if that I mean it's you still have to ask someone to do the actual work even if they volunteer to do the work there still has to be a request to actually do it if they are to be working on your campaign but I can see how that would be misinterpreted as um I could see how that could be interpreted as a more proactive action on council member Halsey Hyman's part then she is um then she is claiming in her statement and so that is something that um I think we could discuss changing if we want to um accept that account also I just want to say like none of us want to be here nobody wants to do this I was up till four o'clock in the morning literally like panicking about this situation no one wants this we fight all the time like as as council member Middleton said we constantly have we have disagreements we make each other angry we make members of the public angry members of the public make us
angry like that's all part of the process this feels to me far outside of um of that normal kind of political debate um even when it gets heated this crosses the line for me into a into an actual ethical violation that is documented and that I think needs to be needs to be responded to and and I I this is a very I feel like we have a very high bar we have a very high threshold for taking this kind of action this has never happened um in the time that I've been on Council I I think you know in conversations we think that maybe there was a center of a council member 20 years ago or more was the last time that this happened we are we are not in the business of um you know applying disciplinary measures to colleagues without reason or even four reasons that don't rise to
um to this level this reflects on our entire counsel and on our city and on our commitments to our community on our um on the way that we use our power and authority in this organization and and our commitments to not use that power and authority for our own personal benefit and that is that is the only reason that um I think something needs to be done about this now their council members behave in ways that I don't like all the time that is not the issue this is far more serious than a simple disagreement or a problem with each other's tone and I take offense to the suggestion that this has anything to do with council member Halsey Hyman's gender um we are evaluating each other's Behavior as whole people and I would never take part in any kind of gender based
um accusation against anyone especially not um a colleague that is an extremely insulting um accusation thank you well thank you I like to say that um it's really disheartening to me because when I put my name in a hat 10 months ago I had a I have a track record first of all I'm a social worker and I have to guide all of my steps by the the nasw code of ethics and I would have a lot to lose to grow things in terms of Ethics I'm going to be 58 this year and I've come through a lot of storms but never has my character been questioned and I'm very disappointed because all I wanted to do on this Council was to serve to serve and help the community and I'm also disappointed because I think since I've been on this County I really have felt that I've been bullied by some council members but that's just what I feel um because I because I stand up for different things than everybody else does you know that's my opinion I am
going to say that I do disagree with you uh councilwoman Johnson because again as I said the council the staffer has more experience than I do in terms of political he's the person has ran before and actually approached me and I said to that person you need to go and make sure that this is okay with HR and as I said with HR he was given permission to be able to work on the campaign I never knew that he sent this or they sent this during the time of work and he took full they took full responsibility I never knew that so to sit there and say that you it's a pattern of behavior I feel it's a slander of character on me I I admitted to the first one in terms of the fact that I was new in the council I asked the question I did not realize that that was campaign related I wasn't even thinking first of all I just got appointed so I didn't even know what campaign related stuff was um this is all new entity for me I've only been on this Council for for 10
months um and then when it was brought up and they said to me it was uh considered research and campaigning no problem then it got through the whole office which I don't understand how that happened so to bring this up seven months later is to me the facing and then lumping things together without even considering to come and talk to me since I've been on this Council I have been more than collegial to everyone on this Council and actually to the staffer too so I'm just really disappointed because again it is troubling my heart that I put my name in a hat to help people and I'm going to be 58. and I have one major Awards I have never in my life been sanctioned anything about ethics in my entire life and I'm disappointed as my colleagues would even do or say or even just think
that I would do something like that when you had 15 to 20 people come and talk about my character when you appointed me so to me I think it's a slander on my character because I don't dance to the drummers beat that people want me to dance to I've come through a lot I'm a strong woman I'm a faithful woman and I'm not going to be boy and so I'm disappointed because I totally put my name in a hat to service the people of dirt and I'm disappointed thank you good afternoon um I just want the public to understand that there was actually a process I in place folks had plenty of opportunity to reach out to call each other to talk to one another ahead of this we had one-on-one meetings we had partnered meetings all of this is documented everyone knew what was happening ahead of this meeting
the resolution and language was shared council member Halsey Halsey Hyman has been cc'd on every single email she's known for several days and we moved with we moved with um speed because the Durham residents deserves this it is not up to us as council members to not be transparent with the public it is why we have open meeting rules it's why we have cornrows it's why our city clerk's office has to put out potential there may be potential Quorum at a community event we operate under a different burden when we take these seats appointed or elected and I am a former appointee so I know exactly the burden you live in because I did it myself we have to behave at a different level in these seats that is just the nature it can be extremely challenging it can be extremely it's exhausting but it is what it is when we interact with staff the wall
between our elected roles and what that means around campaigning and how we govern it has to be a wall it cannot be flexible because corruption in city government affects everyone it taints this office attains this diet it's not just for us in these seats currently but for the future residents have to know that what we do is in their best interest and as transparent as possible it's an it is a foundational part of democracy so the the ethics training that we take the pledges that we we get sworn in for a reason we do it publicly for a reason these the matter that's in front of our council is extremely troubling I'm happy to speak to colleagues afterwards but this was a public process
folks had opportunity to have conversations with one another and if they did not Avail of themselves at the opportunity for whatever reason that is on them thank you yes I just want to clarify the statement that I did first of all I honestly know what was going on um but then when it was said that this was buzzing because no one actually came and talked to me I did reach out yesterday I was on the conference and I was actually supposed to be away on Monday I had an excuse but I took a flight at five o'clock in the morning to be here Monday to go do my presentations and come back in my way coming back driving last night I sent an email to everyone saying that this is all going out and no one has even come as a colleague to come and ask me what happened right I was trying I was away and then I get this last night at 10 30. so I did I disagree with the fact that
you're saying that I had a draft I got this at 10 30 last night 10 30 last night and everybody knew because you gave me a permission to to be excused on Monday but I stayed for the meeting and then took a flight at five o'clock in the morning and came back yesterday I haven't slept in 48 hours right and I did reach out and I didn't see uh councilmember uh Williams he did try to reach me today but I was in the middle of trying to get back here but I do disagree with the fact that no one asked me there is documentation from HR that clearly says that this that the second incident that the person took full responsibility so then for somebody else to say that I coerce this person into working on no first of all the person has more experience than I do and volunteered and he and the person clearly stated that he took full responsibility for what he did during work accidents work hours I had no knowledge of that at all so it is not a pattern of behavior what it is is a slander in my character and I'm going to say it again I have worked too hard in
my life I am totally disappointed because I put my name in this hat to service the people if you wanted to try to break a spirit you're almost there thank you thank you madam Aaron thank you councilmember Halsey Hyman everything you said about your character and record is true that's why we voted for you that's why we voted for you we acknowledged it we affirmed it which is why I said that censure is not about the totality of a person's character or the totality of a person's record it's about did you run that red light was your seat belt on what I I understand the employee took responsibility for was what he was indeed busted for he couldn't do anything but take responsibility for it what it did not shed light on is the assertion whether or not who who approached who when he took responsibility for was something that we can document by our technology the gig
was up at that point I do also want to say that the councilmember Friedman um I apologize for the inability to follow along with me I know how you feel I also want to take issue with uh the the the the bizarre allusion to to gender or the number of women on this on this dice one of whom holds the gavel one of whom wrote this resolution so as one of the two men on this board what what does that even mean how did that that was that was rhetorical that was rhetorical how does that how did that how does that how does that happen those names aren't well you're close to the line um again the the the uh a female colleague has submitted a
resolution about Acts that touch on ethics and legality and we introduce there's five women on the on the council so that's a moment for me that's hard to follow along I will also say to councilmember Halsey Hyman you know I I understand uh about having character attacked and having uh things questioned you you talk about your Awards and accolades all of us up here receive tens of thousands of votes from people um you know there's no elected official probably in Durham that has done more glowing endorsements of more female office holders in this County than I have and yet and yet and yet you know so and yet the character question has been raised about supportive women where'd that come from I mean so our records and our accomplishments and our achievements
aren't really the issue here because everything you said we Affirmed we agreed with those things so we're not going to agree with them you know when we appointed you and then overnight we just oh forget about all of that or we're no longer impressed with that it is an enduring impression which is why you're on the council the question before us is did these things happen and if I ask a a a a a a a a a worker to do something campaign related for me and it gets documented I get caught I would expect no different response I guess what's troubling to me as well is that there was the initial incident was a teachable moment and in the in the language that I see in in the letter there's actual an allusion to a a decision Point some people said don't
blur the line some people said do it so there there was at that point a a decision Point knowledge to be had as to whether or not it was appropriate to ask the employee went ahead and did it and there was no sanction for it the first incident even when folks said don't do it happened and there was no sanction for it it so it wasn't even relevant we we it was let go it came up again because it came up again so I I don't know how to to unsee that I don't know how to unknow that what I do know is that if we don't act as a council on this y'all better not say nothing to any of us if it comes up for any one of us down the road I don't want to hear nothing because we're going to point to this moment and say well we didn't do anything then
so don't mess with me now this has never ever happened before and and if all of the baits all the controversies all of the palace Intrigue all of the backroom machinations I've seen in City Hall I have never seen a situation where staff was involved it was let go and then what should have been a teachable moment the threshold was crossed again I have never seen that I've never seen that um so again I just want to respectfully say I agree with everything you said which is why I voted for you to be on the council but I also want to reiterate that's not what this is about the question and the only question before is is before us is was the red light run thank you councilwoman thank you madam mayor um I in the interest of time and I don't think that
this discussion is going to be fruitful um I am asking if we can close the debate we know we have a resolution before us and we will be voting on it at the subsequent meeting and I think that councilmember Johnson said that she would change one um that there was a edit that would maybe be um done and that would be recirculated thank you I just want to say that again we can go back and forth in the first incident when I did ask people it was it was actually after that I had asked and it was told to me that it was research campaign related I never asked again I met with the staffer with the city clerk and she re-emphasized it to me never asked again and then I then it went through the office it went to other council members with a situation that was supposed to be dealing with me in the other situation again I don't understand when you're saying a gig is up because I am saying to you and the
staff person has also has a has a document that he took that they took full responsibility and you also had that in your package so to me you're like building stuff up on top of stuff to again attack my character and again I'm going to say I didn't say about me having accolades and stuff like that because that doesn't mean anything to me what means to me is I work hard for my for my character and again what means what's really important to me and what I'm sad about is that I put my name in the Hat because I wanted to service people not to be bullied not to have my character thrown out no I'm I'm I didn't work too for my life to do that so for you to say that you know the gig is up and they had to say that no so you're alluding that I told this person to take the to take responsibility at no time did I ever do that at no time and yes I was new on the council it happened in September when I asked other people I had already did it
and I was like just kind of confused doing and then people said a b c and d I never did it again and again met with the staffer and the city clerk and again I don't understand why this is coming up seven months later at 10 30 at night especially after last week when an event happened but okay it's fine I'm just I'm just totally disappointed I'm totally disappointed and like I said if you wanted to try to break my spirit you're on the verge of it thank you I did want to give everybody an opportunity to um address in the matter that they deemed sufficient I have I have very little to say at this moment about it I'll close with the fact that of the elected officials that sit on this dice I'm probably the one who served as an elected official the longest and in different capacities
but never have I seen what happened over the last two or three weeks two weeks happened before but these are the people that you elected Durham and it's up to you to hold everybody accountable and we should be ready for that but whatever that looks like I can't say that I've had a good night's sleep in the last week that coupled with the fact that we are still losing children on our streets every day I don't know where Durham is poised and where it is going but I do hope that Durham city is paying attention to all of us and with that being said it is now 2 32. and we stand in adjournment
but