City Council · Regular Meeting · March 16, 2026

Come on up.

I'm going to read a proclamation about the Crop Walk. I've had the joy of participating so many times in the Crop Walk sponsoring folks through our church. Come on up here, First Presbyterian Church. I got to make sure I get my contribution in this year, so it's a good reminder.

Lemon as well. Whereas the City of Durham proudly recognizes the month of March as International Women's History Month, a time to honor the contributions, leadership, and impact of women who have shaped our community and strengthened the social, economic, and civic life of our city. And whereas women across Durham have long played vital roles as leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, advocates, caregivers, and innovators, contributing their, their talents and vision to continued growth and success for our community. The leadership and dedication of women who have helped build stronger neighborhoods, uplift families, inspire future generations, and drive meaningful change throughout Durham.

And whereas women in public service, business, education, healthcare, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots community initiatives continue to work every day to create opportunity, expand access, and improve quality of life for residents across our cities. And whereas the Durham Mayor's Council for Women remains committed to supporting and uplifting women and girls through advocacy, leadership, and community engagement, the City of Durham affirms the dignity and contributions of all women, including transgender women, and recognize the importance of fostering respect, safety and opportunity for women, girls, and gender-diverse residents throughout our community. And whereas Women's History Month provides an opportunity for all residents to reflect on the achievements of women past and present and to celebrate the leaders, mentors, and changemakers who continue to move Durham forward. Now therefore, I, Leonardo Williams, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim March 2025 as International Women's History Month in the City of Durham and urge all residents to take note of this observance and celebrate the contributions of women, uplift their voices, and support opportunities for women and girls to lead and thrive.

Witness my hand, the corporate seal of Durham, City of Durham, North Carolina, on the 16th day of March, 2025. You are— good evening, everyone. We love Durham. We especially love women and children in this community who help make this city strong, passionate, and full of promise.

As we honor International Women's History Month, we recognize the women who have shaped Durham as leaders, educators, caregivers, advocates, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. Their work has strengthened families, uplifted neighborhoods, and inspired future generations. This proclamation also reminds us to support all women, including transgender women, and to continue building a community rooted in dignity, safety, respect, and opportunity for women, girls, and children. Today, we celebrate the voices and the contributions of women across Durham because the past, the present, and the future of this city is unmistakably imprinted with women.

Thank you. Thank you. And now I have announcements by council colleagues. I'm going to have us do 2 minutes each since we have lots of speakers this evening instead of our normal 3 minutes.

And I'm going to start to my left with Councilmember Kopac and then just go down the dais. Thank you. Good evening, Councilmember Kopac.

Good evening, everyone. Thanks so much for being with us tonight. I want to start just by saying I was really proud to present a proclamation on behalf of the mayor last week to the North Carolina Peace Corps Association in honor of Peace Corps Week. I spoke to a room full of people who have served across continents and decades.

As ambassadors for peace, connections across culture, and sustainable development. I left 25 years ago just after 9/11 to live in Benin, West Africa, where I worked with women's shea butter cooperatives and other entrepreneurs, learned new languages and ways of living, and made friendships that endure to today. And we have a good number of returned Peace Corps volunteers in Durham, and it's an incredibly active group that's engaged in a range of social and environmental justice causes. So happy Peace Corps Week, Durham.

I also just want to say I appreciated attending the Cornwallis cookout yesterday and the chance to network with residents, including our youth and community groups who are advocating for a shared commitment to bringing peace and reducing gun violence in Durham. We can't accept the status quo, and it's really important that we come together around short-term and long-term solutions to stop the loss of life and reduce the terror that so many of our neighbors are living under. I want to give a quick shout out to Bike Durham for its Fair Free Summit, El Centro for their La Lotería, and all the organizations that hosted Communities Over Corporate Profit. I enjoyed all of them.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has submitted budget comments so far, and all of you who came this evening to give your input on the budget. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

Councilmember Baker.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for, for being here and for, for watching at home. First of all, I want to say thank you to all of our city workers who did a lot of work preparing for what was anticipated to be inclement weather here. Um, it was pretty widely anticipated to be inclement weather.

Uh, it's still a little bit touch and go, but I want to say thank you to everyone that did all the work to prepare for it. Tonight we have the public hearing, the first public hearing for the fiscal year 2027 budget. I want to be pretty honest with you, it's going to be a tough year. It's a tough year in cities and counties across the United States.

For reasons that I think most people already know, the Trump economy is hitting everyone quite hard right now. Durham is not immune to that. We are feeling the same effects as everybody else. I do think that there are some things that have been, that have been self-inflicted, but I think that for the vast majority of the issues that we're facing, many of them have been imposed upon us.

Historically and also from the federal and state governments, and they are things that we are just going to have to deal with. And so I want to be honest with people as early as possible that this is going to be a challenging budget, but we are going to succeed and come up with the best possible budget that we possibly can. And I appreciate folks for turning out here tonight, and there will be a second public hearing and of course going on to a vote. So now is the time to engage because you're engaging early. So thanks again.

Councilmember Burris. Thank you, and good evening to everyone watching here in the audience, but also those who are watching at home. Excited to be with you all, and also happy that we did not receive the Inklumet mother at this point. So excited about that.

I had the opportunity on March 4th to participate in our Sister Cities International Women's Day event, which is a conversation led by, um, City— sorry, County Commissioner Michelle Burton with author Abigail Leonard in Talking about the book "Four Mothers: A Journey Through the First Year of Parenting in Four Countries," which I found to be a really interesting and unique conversation. Talking about the evolution of feminism, but also what motherhood looks like for those in other countries that have made more support or better policies to support motherhood. Also, it was followed by a resource fair. I got to meet a lot of amazing organizations that are doing work in the communities to make sure that parents have resources to support.

So super excited about that. Last week also was a bit of a rough week. Sorry, as I just dropping stuff on my lap. Don't worry about it.

I did last week go down to East Main Street, and I don't recommend people go to active crime scenes. I did go for the shooting that occurred on last Wednesday, and I had the opportunity through some neighbor community people to talk to neighbors and residents and hear more about what they're experiencing in the community. It's rare that I say that something leaves me hopeless, but to hear young people, someone who's already been a victim of gun violence at 22, talk about their daily life, and when you ask them, what can we do to make it better? And they're like, just tear the whole thing down.

Those are the comments, someone being shot in front of their children. Those are the conversations we're having, and people in community are expressing what they want. They want increased police patrols, and they want community policing. They want more recreational activities.

They want midnight basketball. It's about who's listening and who we're allowing to make promise live in our communities. And that's really, if you can let a child go through that, yeah. And then finally, I did enjoy yesterday's event, the community conversation in Cornwallis.

Had a lot of great conversations. I'll leave you with this. It was a 6th grader who was out there, and she looked at me and she said, what's going to happen when you all believe, what's going to happen. And that's the reality of kids in our community.

So we need to do something now and not wait upon it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Council Member Cook.

Um, thank you. Good evening. I don't have much to add. I want to associate myself with a lot of, uh, what my colleagues have stated, um, and thank everyone who has come to speak on the budget.

This is This is a really important time, perhaps the biggest decision that we make as a council up here, and I just really appreciate how much engagement there is, already has been, and I know will be in the future. So thank you all for coming out, for talking about what's important to you. We are committed to listening. You heard the comments up here.

I think we all share concerns about what this budget will look like this year, and we're trying to balance quite a lot of interest from across the city. City, but it really helps to hear your voices. So thank you all for coming out, and I look forward to a good meeting. Thank you. Councilmember Rist.

Thanks, Mayor Pro Tem. Good evening, colleagues, staff, Mr. City Manager, residents here and online. It's good to see you all, and it's great to see everyone out here to give us feedback on the budget.

We really appreciate that. As my colleague Councilmember Cook said, we really take those comments seriously as we craft a budget in a, in a challenging budget year. It was a beautiful spring weekend, and I'm glad we avoided some of the more dangerous weather today. It's also a busy weekend in the Bull City.

First thing I want to note is last week was Creek Week in Durham. Keep Durham Beautiful organized a bunch of creek cleanups all around the city. I had the joy of spending Saturday morning on the shores, in the muddy shores of Falls Lake, right near where Ellerbe Creek comes into Falls Lake, with Ian from Friends of Ellerbe Creek, along with Clayton and a bunch of volunteers. I want to thank all the folks that came out to the cleanup on Falls Lake, but also all the cleanups around the city.

At Falls Lake, y'all, we picked up a ton of single-use plastics. So like, if you're using single-use plastics, please make sure you recycle them. But if you can, try to use stuff we can recycle— glasses and not things that are just discarded. Our water supply is so critical in Durham, and keeping our creeks and the lakes clean is so important to our water supply, but also the city of Raleigh.

So Again, thanks to the residents that came out. Also want to note, as Councilman Kopac said, he and Councilman Baker and I were all at the discussion that Bike Durham organized about fare-free buses in Durham. It's a big priority of this council. We talked a lot about what it means for bus riders who ride on those fare-free buses and how we can support that long term.

And so we look forward to that being a big part of our budget discussion. But it's again a big priority for the council. Also big news Saturday night. I see a lot of sports fans in the audience.

Southern High School won the state 7A championship against Mooresville. Yeah, the first state title for Southern after a disappointing loss last year. I know, um, I know Zach Hawkins was there at the game. Mayor, you and I have a mutual friend, the former mayor of St.

Louis, Tasharra Jones, whose son is a starter on the team. So that's great news. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but great news for Durham and Southern High School. And then finally, for folks I'm interested in these conversations about violence reduction, Remember, the next conversation will be this Friday from 11:30 to 1:30, 11:30 to 1:30 at the Holton Career and Resource Center. You can sign up on the city's website.

Sorry, too long.

Thank you.

Thank you. I don't have a lot to say except other, other than good evening. And I also want to thank Judea Reform. They had an immigrant justice Shabbat on Friday night, and I was invited to speak there, and it was a great gathering and They hold these Shabbats at least once to twice a year.

They will be donating— I think the amount was $60,000 to a variety of immigrant rights groups across the city. And so just want to highlight the work that they're doing there in resettling refugee families. Look forward to several of the events. I know that there's a design charrette, I think, for Long Meadow, East End Park, and on Thursday evening.

And then we do have the Violence Reduction Task Force meetings. One is on Friday and I believe the other one is on Saturday. If you go to the city's Instagram page, you can see both of those events and register. And that's all.

Thank you. Good to see you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. It's good to see you guys too. And somehow made it back. So glad to be here.

I'll be brief. Yesterday I joined colleagues at the community meeting. Community gathering over at the Cornwallis community, and it was great to see our community just come together. And the solutions we need are already here.

We just need to be motivated to come together more often. And while we have this violence reduction plan going on, the plan is going to take a while, or the framework, it's going to take a while to develop the plan. And I hope that everyone will play their part to come and contribute to it. There's going to be a lot of talk about it, and everybody's going to have an idea, and everybody's going to— people are going to praise it.

People are going to hate it. I don't really care. All I care is if you're contributing. And that's my number one priority.

You hear me often say Durham is not only the city of medicine, but city of culture. Well, obviously this past weekend, we're the city of champions. So not only did Southern High School win the 7A state championship, NCCU men's and women's basketball, while they did not successfully win a championship, they did go to the championship. And also for the first time in ACC history, Duke, a collegiate school as a member of the ACC, has won men's basketball championship, women's basketball championship, football championship, and I believe lacrosse as well.

I mean, Durham is doing it right now. So these are success stories that I just want to highlight because, you know, based on the clickbait algorithm, you're only going to hear the gunshot stories. But there is a lot of good happening in the city, and it's going to be up to us to tell those stories as well. I just got back from leading a national discussion on immigration.

Oh yeah, you must have did that, didn't you? Just got back from a discussion leading the nation on immigration affairs and how we're dealing with at the local level. So it was great to represent Durham in that front. All right, let's get to it.

Okay, on consent. Okay, good. All right, thank you so much. Well, we are at the priority items.

So, Mr. Manager, thank you. Folks, thanks for your patience. We went back and forth today a lot determining whether we were going to keep the meeting on tonight.

Because we didn't know what the weather was going to do, but we're here tonight and the weather turned out not to be as bad. So, but it was a bumpy flight. It was very bumpy.

On you.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council.

City Manager's Office has the following priority items, and that is for agenda items number 10 and 12. Additional information that was requested during the March 5th work session have been added under both of those items. Those are the City Manager's Office priority items.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of the council. It's good to see you. The City Attorney's Office has no priority items tonight.

All right, thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mrs. Mayor Pro Tem, and members of City Council. City Clerk's Office has no priority items tonight.

All right, thank you. I see a lot of rackets in the audience. What's going on with that? Hold them up.

Item number 15. Okay. All right. Cool deal. All right. Well, at this time, I'll read the consent agenda.

All right.

Item number 1, Durham Performing Arts Center Oversight Committee. Number 2, Durham Workers' Rights Commission 2025 annual report. Item number 3, Mayor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities 2025 annual report. Number 4, Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee Annual Report.

No, don't do that. Item number 5, First Amendment to SD 2025-02 Drainage Structure Improvements. Item number 6, Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, ACFR, and Resident Financial Report. Number 7, acquisition of one temporary construction easement in one area in fee simple at 114 West Cornwallis Road for the SW45 biking sidewalk project.

Number 8, second amendment to the professional services design contract for the City Hall and Annex HVAC project. Number 9, construction contract for the Environmental and Street Services yard waste repairs and upgrades project. Number 11, ratification of 10 fiscal year 2026 Festivals and events contracts. And I— on GBA item number 10, Fourth Amendment to extend lease between City of Durham and LRC GB LLC at 807 East Main Street, Golden Belt Suite 2-300, for the Community Partnerships and Engagement Department.

Number 12, amendment to contract Number 20910 with Haytown Promise CDC, St. Joseph's, and this is GBA. Yeah, number 21481 for 5th Street Corridor Neighborhood Stabilization Project Implementation. Also our public hearings, public hearing on the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget and fiscal year 27-32 capital improvement plan.

And oops. 16, limited obligation bonds series 2026 A and B. 17, zoning map change 1612 Carpenter Fletcher Road 2. All right, and I am— yeah, right, I'm going to take 16 and 17 first so we can just spend time on those. I can make a motion.

Motion to adopt the consent agenda.

All right, thank you. It's been moved and properly seconded.

Second.

Sorry, it's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote.

I started thinking out loud.

I started thinking out loud what I have to do next.

I'm waiting on your— I'm sorry, I'm waiting on your vote, Mr. Mayor.

Oh, it's not doing it. There we go.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. I guess I had to wake it up.

Mr. Mayor, I had put 10 on the GBA, and I'm happy to make a motion. I've had my questions answered.

All right, thank you.

Oh, we have speakers. Just kidding.

Oh, here it is.

Okay.

All right. That's the consent agenda with the exception of items 10 and— nope, already adopted it. Gotcha. All right, we've adopted the consent agenda.

However, we have on GBA items 10 and 12, and I will now address number 10. Madam Councilmember Cook, you got your questions answered with the additional information? All right, I'm going to go ahead to the public speakers. First up, I have Miss Jackie Wagstaff. Item number 10. Welcome, you have 3 minutes.

How many minutes do I get? Oh, 3.

Good afternoon.

Um, I'm glad Miss, uh, Councilman Baker pulled this item. Golden Belt, $2 million, is that— I have a couple of questions. One, I would like to know if Scientific Properties still owns this property, which is Dr. Rothschild, because he acquired this property in 2008 and he formed a development company in 2013.

So he's, he's been developing around there. He owns the Venable too, I'm pretty sure of. And I know we had a department that was located in the Venable at one point. But I heard you say at the work session that there's no longer any department workers or any city workers in the Venable.

I'm sorry, Miss Wexler, can you just put— turn the mic up? Thank you.

But we still have people working out of the Golden Belt, and I just think that at this point, I remember when he purchased this property and he renovated this property, and I remember, I distinctly remember the city investing in this property of renovation Then we put a department in his property to help him pay his mortgage. That's problematic for taxpayers, that we will help you renovate, and then once you renovate, we're going to put one of our departments in there, which we paying millions of dollars to him each year in rent to help him pay his mortgage. That's, that's questionable. So on this item right here, 2 things.

Does Scientific Properties still own this property? Is this still a part of Dr. Rothschild's collage of real estate property in Durham? 2 million, $2,208,440— is that yearly?

Because you want to sign this contract tonight to give permission for you to sign this contract for another 5 years. So is that going to be the total amount for the 5 years, or is that $2 million, almost $3 million, going to be each year for the next 5 years? So that's my questions on that property.

Thank you for your comments. Next, I have, uh, an online speaker actually, uh, Justin Sacco. No, it's the resource person.

He was the resource.

Oh, sorry.

Apologies, Mr. Mayor. He's listed in—

No, you're right, and you highlighted it for me. Thanks for changing it up for me, and I still messed it up. My apologies. I'm blaming it on Madam Attorney.

Uh, next I have, uh, Miss Victoria Peterson. Welcome. You have 3 minutes.

Yes, I'm Mrs. Peterson. I want to sort of piggyback a little bit on what Ms. Wagstaff has just stated.

Scientific properties. Now, if I can remember, and none of you folks were up here at that time, this happened years ago. This was a young man that was one of Duke's, Duke doctor. At least that's what we were told.

He had a relationship with Duke. So I also have a question. What happened to the dollars that I thought the city gave him to fix up and remodel the property? I think it's what, St.

Mark's? That the city across the street from— I'm sorry, I don't want to say anything wrong, but across the street from Mr. Pester's property, that they was across the street, that they had that large area over there that they were supposed to— at least he and his group was supposed to be remodeling. So I would like to— where's this Jones?

Where's the person that, uh, Mr. Mayor, uh, last name is on the bottom of this? We have some questions for them. I would like to know what happened to those dollars.

'Cause that property to this day has not been remodeled, has not been built upon. It's just sort of a sore space there in the community. So is the Jones here that we can ask them some questions? And also, I was over there at Golden Bell.

You folks are paying rent over there. But I know one of those buildings, the city does not have office in there. Because I was looking for the young lady that was dealing with Haiti, Haiti Promise. I was told that her office was over there.

And I went over there numerous times. And then that whole section that they were in that the city's paying for, There was no one there. So where's the Jones at, Mr. Mayor?

We'll make sure they speak with you to get your questions answered.

Well, I would like for them to answer it now since this is a public hearing, if you don't mind.

It's not a public hearing, and I want to make sure you get your question answered, but it won't be in this forum.

It'll— well, can you folks sort of ask them?

Oh, it's documented. Your question is there.

Yeah, is he still involved? If that is true, if this individual is the Duke doctor, if he's still involved, I'm asking the city put a hold on this because we need to come back and find out what did they do with the monies or the commitment that they were supposed to redo and fix that property up off of on Fayetteville Street.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. And we can have someone answer questions. All right, thank you so much.

So at this time, Mr.

Mayor, if I may just speak to it. There are a few questions raised. I do just want to address one of them, which was about the approximately $2 million. And it is— when you pull up the staff report, it is a little bit confusing because it says the annual rent, but the $2 million is in reference to a total amount for the 5 years.

So it's between $300,000 and $400,000 per year. So it goes, goes up to about $2 million over 5 years, and then there's the optional extension beyond the 5 years. I just wanted to address that because I believe that was Ms.

Wexler's question.

What's that?

I believe that was Ms. Wexler's question.

Yes, I wanted to address that.

And we'll have staff address your question before you leave tonight. It may not— you actually may not get your answer tonight because I don't know if they are prepared to answer that, but we will get your answer, your question answered. Thank you. We're about to vote right now.

I can appreciate that, but we're going to have to resume and we'll get those questions answered. All right. All right, at this time— yep, there are 3 of them. I'll entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute the Fourth Amendment to extend the existing lease term by 5 years with LRCGB LLC in the amount of $2,208,440 for the office space at Building 2, Suite 300. —of the Golden Belt Complex located at 807 East Main Street. So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

I'll also entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute an option to further extend the term for an additional 5 years in the amount of $2,776,634. So moved. Second. It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. And lastly, entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute subsequent documents permitted by or required by the lease agreement, including any amendments, extensions, renewals, or related documents. So moved. Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. And please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. All right, the next item on GBA is amendment to contract number 20910 with Haiti Promise CDC St. Joseph's and number 21481 for Fayetteville Street Corridor Neighborhood Stabilization Partnership implementation. This item— What's the item number?

Yeah, it's the first one.

Oh, right here, number 12. All right, um, Madam Clerk, do you see Amanda Wallace online? No, Mr. Mayor, I don't see her online.

All right, I will, um, the first person I see online on the list Oh, not for Item 12? No, just Item 12. All right, I have, um, yeah, okay, I'll start right there. Uh, first up, Miss, uh, Jacqueline Wexler.

Welcome, you have 3 minutes. Um, I had a lot of questions. About this contract. And one of the— one question, and it may not— it may be small in, in the amount, but we never got an answer.

I would like to know how a city employee's card was credited $1,000 to be repaid to that city employee. That question never was answered. And it may be a small amount compared to $10 million, but it's an important question because I can't imagine why a city employee should have been paying for anything for this nonprofit when there was $10 million involved. Also, there's quite a few other questions about the creation of the nonprofit, the length of the nonprofit.

How they obtained the money in 2024 when they didn't even have a 501(c)(3). And mainly would like to know why Haitai Foundation wants to pull out of being the fiscal agent of this organization, and now you want to redirect these funds back into the city HARPA so that they will not have to meet the obligations of the government, the federal government, ARPA funds. Because those funds would have to be used by the end of this year. So by the proposal tonight, if you agree to it, then when that money goes back into HARPRA, they no longer have to abide by federal government rules. And how many other organizations got HARPRA money that are going to be given this same extension? So got quite a few questions, but I'll write them and submit them.

Thank you. Next I have Angel Iset Dozier. Welcome, you have 3 minutes.

Good evening, Angel Iset Dozier, Historic Pine Street. I'm here to formally ask, uh, that you vote no on Item 12, and not to kill this work, but to pause it and bring the originating community coalition back to the table. If this revitalization is going to happen, it must be done transparently with the people it belongs to. The Haitai community survived one broken promise.

This council will be on record for how it responds to this one. If we're going to move forward and revitalize the Haitai community effectively, it must be done without deceit and the rampant division and exclusion that many of us originators of the plan have experienced. If you want to understand how Black people were sold out of their own neighborhood when the bridge was— or when the highway was built in the Haitai community, sometimes by their own leaders. You're experiencing them right now.

You're witnessing it right now. The switcheroo, the bait and switch, all the different conversations about how this CDC was formed. And I can go on and on and on. I was there for each part of it, so I know what I'm talking about.

755 million transferring it from St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, an entity that was never supposed to be assigned fiscal agency, to Haiti Promise CDC, an entity formed by the former executive director of Haiti Heritage Center, Angela Lee, using its 501(c)(3) status— St. Joseph's 501(c)(3) status— and street address 804 Old Fayetteville Street without St. Joseph's Historic Foundation's knowledge nor consent on February 13, 2023.

Durham historian Dr. Andre Van documented it plainly in his book. City leaders and members of the Black middle class played pivotal roles in removing this community in the name of progress. Over 4,000 families and 500 businesses were displaced.

The reinvestment never came. That is the documented history of the Fayetteville Street corridor that Item 12 claims to revitalize. And I need to correct the record. Fake Calhoun said this work began with the ULI report.

That is false. The ULI report was not published until November 2022. Our coalition had been working on this work particularly since, uh, July 2022, and I was working on this for 10 years prior. Particularly in 2021 at Haitai Heritage Center.

I can provide more details. I'm running out of time, so I'm asking that we pause this decision and bring in the originating community coalition to do this right. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next, I have Victoria Peterson. Welcome. You have 3 minutes.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. I'd like to know what happened to the $4 million. This organization and whoever they were partnering with, they were supposed to be responsible altogether with $10 million, and that's good and that's fine. But even I've spoken to somebody, well, Ms.

Peterson, $10 million really is not a lot of money. For what they wanted us to do. Well, the question is, what was it that the, that the city wanted them to do? Because I have spoken to persons in that area, at least businesses, who were not even aware that there were monies to help them with their businesses as well as to help them with their homes.

So my question, even though that the city wants to transfer this to another group. I believe they're called what, the formal Rebuilding Durham or Rebuilding Together of the Triangle, all of these different groups and names. I don't know if somebody is here to represent that organization, Mr. Mayor, but what are they going to be doing?

Are they going to be working with houses? Are they going to help people in the community remodel their homes? Um, I'm going to ask publicly, because my understanding, this is also supposed to be done. — I want to say Mr.

Mayor, but no, this is the city manager. I'm asking for an audit on this organization and this money. I'm also asking for an audit of the $50-some million that the city received for not just these funds, about the $10 million. I want an audit on all of the monies that the city received and what organizations received the funds and what organizations— my understanding from some of the work session money, uh, meetings— that some of the organizations have given those dollars back.

So what has happened to the dollars that have been given back? I also have asked the city over $50 million. Those dollars are sitting somewhere. And Mr.

Mayor, you know, I've asked you this several times. What is happening with the interest? Where's the interest at off of $50 million? So I'm going to ask the city manager publicly for an audit on this organization and an audit on all of those other dollars to make sure that these organizations that have received these funds are using these funds correctly and properly, how they said that they were going to use the funds.

Now, can I get a commitment from the city manager today before I go sit down? Can I get a commitment? Since this is— did you say no, Mr. City Manager?

No, he did not say that, but we will get your questions answered. I'm sorry, we'll get your questions addressed. Okay, well, I, I want—

even if you put it in writing, I want an audit on these organizations.

Thank you. Next up, I have Marcellus Smith. Welcome, you have 3 minutes.

Thank you very much. My name is Marcellus Smith, and I'm on the board of Hayti Promise. I'm here to say that what we want to do more than anything is continue the work that we've begun dealing with the citizens in the Haitian community. One of the things that I can tell you about the board of Haiti Promise is half of us are Durhamites. And I'm not saying people who live in Durham, I'm talking about people who were born in Durham.

I'm not talking about Hayti that I read about or Hayti that somebody told me about. I'm talking about Hayti that I lived in.

D. Hill Play School. G. Pearson Elementary School and getting a burger from Mr.

Eastland's place, the College Inn. And we remember the people of Hayti. You know, we remember Ms.

White. Williams, who was my teacher.

And remember that by the time you got home, if you did something bad, he got home before you did in Durham.

Remember when you got to Hillside, I wasn't just Marcel Smith, I was Curtis Day's nephew who also went to Hillside.

So our commitment to doing this work, and I'm not going to litigate old stuff and talk about things that happened before I got on the board. I'm just going to talk about what we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish. And like many of you have heard, my main goal is for North Carolina Central University students to be able to walk from their campus to this downtown that we talk about without being harassed and bothered and not safe.

They deserve that. G.

Pearson School every day and wasn't concerned about anything. And Fayetteville Street deserves to be that again. And so I'm just asking that you vote in favor of this because I can just tell you about our commitment to what we're doing.

And I appreciate your time.

Thank you for your comments. Next, I have Cheryl Brown. Welcome. You have 3 minutes.

Good evening, council members. My name is Cheryl Brown. I am a homeowner and business owner at 2500 Fayetteville Street, and I serve as the chair of the Hayti Promise CDC. The work being done by Hayti Promise CDC did not happen by accident or overnight.

Hayti Promise was formed following the recommendations of the Urban Land Institute, which conducted a comprehensive study identifying best practices for revitalizing the Fayetteville Street corridor after decades of disinvestment. Many of the loudest voices criticizing this effort today didn't even participate in that process. Multiple nonprofits connected to Fayetteville Street received funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, some of them long before Haytar Promise received anything, and several of them were brand new entities. If we are scrutinizing for equity and accountability.

The question is simple: when will those organizations be held to the same level of public scrutiny? There's also a deeper concern. So many loud voices claim to speak for our community, but when progress does not happen under their control, according to their vision, or directly benefiting them, Their response is to try and block the progress for everyone. The truth is Fayetteville Street Quarter today is not thriving.

It is a quarter that has experienced years of decline, and the people who actually live there, work there, and walk their dogs there every day are tired of seeing progress stalled for no reason. A small group should not be able to hold an entire community hostage simply because something is not happening their way. The residents, the business owners, and families who live along this corridor are paying attention because the future of this community matters to us. Real community leadership It's not about control.

It is about progress. And people who live there deserve progress now. Please let us continue our work that we are working so hard to do in the Fayetteville Street corridor. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next, I have Larry Hester. Good evening. Can you hear me?

Yes, welcome. You have 3 minutes. I'm sorry. The reason that I'm here tonight is that I was encouraged to hear several council members say that $10 million was not enough to rebuild Haiti.

And with that in mind, I request that the organization I represent tonight, the Durham Business and Professional Chamber, uh, some of the initiatives that we have created be funded in the upcoming budget cycle. Urban renewal may have destroyed Haiti's buildings, but the vision of rebuilding has never left our community. That vision includes economic development, workforce development, and youth development. We know that every vision needs a plan, and such a plan to fund $55 million to Haiti and Fayetteville Street was presented to the City Council in 2005.

Even though it was deemed to be too comprehensive by one of the council members, we kept working to restore Haiti. To its former position of prominence in the Durham community. Today, over 100 businesses are in the corridor when only 4 survived the HATEI renewal, urban renewal.

Over 300 jobs have been created by these small businesses that are there.

Our small businesses whether you realize it or not, contribute to the tax base in this city. Something is wrong with this picture that we are getting. The chain created Durham's only African American local historic district to preserve historic homes and our history. The chain created the Rights of Passage program that has mentored over 500 young men to curb violence in our community.

I see a couple of them in the audience. Very well spoken. The chain has been a sponsor of Phoenix Fest that brings thousands to Fayetteville Street to celebrate the legacy of Hayti and to support small businesses. I think that's what we're all about.

The chain recently created a vocational pre-apprenticeship program where over 100 graduates so far have graduated and have began to enter the workforce. I only have one more sentence. Please complete. It is important that organizations in our community continue the work that has been done for decades after the destruction of Hayti by the city of Durham. Thank you for your comments. All right, and last I have Michael English.

Welcome.

You have 3 minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Manager, Commissioners, City staff, and members of the public. My name is Michael English. I've been a Durham resident since 2008 and recently appointed board member to the Haiti Promise CDC. I'm here this evening to express my support for Agenda Item 12 and to continue the work to advance investment and opportunity in the historic Hayti community.

I want to share my personal journey to serving on the board, which I believe began long before my appointment. " The paper detailed the economic decline of the Hayti community following urban renewal. Learning about the dismantling of what was once one of the most vibrant Black business districts in the country sparked a deep frustration and curiosity in me. I wanted to understand how a thriving community could be disrupted so dramatically And more importantly, what would it take to rebuild it?

That question ultimately led me to UNC Chapel Hill, where I earned my master's in city and regional planning and business administration. The goal was to develop the tools needed to better understand economic development and think about how communities like Hayti could be restored and reimagined. Before graduate school, I shared the frustration that many Durham residents feel, seeing a community with tremendous potential but lack economic opportunity, limited investment, and aesthetic vitality. Through my academic and professional career seeding economic development initiatives domestically and internationally, the most important lessons I learned is that economic development work is generational work.

Given the history of of economic exclusion, government interference in communities like Hayti Trust is not built overnight. Rebuilding the economic and cultural fabric of a community moves at the speed of trust. It requires patience, sustained investment, collaboration across public, private, and community partners. Ultimately, my master's thesis asks one simple question: Why doesn't Fayetteville Street look like Franklin Street?

Through my work with Hayti CDC, now I have the opportunity to seed a future that does not attempt to copy another community's model, but instead builds an economic and cultural district that is uniquely Durham and deeply respectful to Hayti's history and legacy, an opportunity to improve the social, cultural, and economic quality of life for residents. Agenda Item 12 represents another step in that long-term effort, one that helps lay the groundwork for continued reinvestment, partnership, and community-led progress. As one of the stewards of this opportunity, I want to thank the Commission and the broader community for the continued feedback, support, and engagement. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. All right, those are all of the speakers I have for this item. What I'll do is entertain a motion, and if there are any— what I'll do is entertain a motion and a second, and then open up for a discussion if so. Are we good?

So moved. Second. It's been moved and properly seconded.

Any question or discussion?

Yes, I have a couple questions. Director Flora? Yes, please come on down. The price is right for you.

Tim Flora, City Finance.

Hey, Director Flora. So I have a couple questions for you in regards to the revenue replacement. Just want to make sure we all have the same baseline to understand this. So if we as council approve this change, will we have met our maximum amount of dollars for revenue replacement? Is there like a cap on how much money can be utilized for revenue replacement?

The cap for revenue replacement is $10 million.

Okay, so this single project would completely exhaust the revenue replacement fund?

7 million.

Okay. The other, the other 3-point-whatever is, uh, was regular ARPA funding.

Okay, so, um, if we again move forward, will we be able to provide other organizations with the opportunity to have additional time utilizing this method of revenue replacement? All right, for the record, thank you.

Potentially, yes.

Okay, so is there opportunity at this point instead of reallocate or reclassifying the entire $6 million is there opportunity to reclassify a lesser amount? So instead, if you're saying like the remaining, like the 3 were used for ARPA funds and met the guidelines, so the rest of the 6 is not gonna be revenue replacement. Is there, if we decided to say, hey, maybe we should just like give them, maybe use a million for any replacement and then allow other organizations to use that money to have it spending deadlines? Is that an opportunity?

I think I would have to go back and take a look at individual projects and, and get— wrap my head around that.

I'm not sure, I, I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying, but yes, we have up to $10 million of revenue replacement funds.

I would have to— we would have to like juggle.

So let me ask it this way then. If we approved this, how much money would be remaining for revenue replacement?

So there will always be $10 million in revenue replacement funding, but if we, if we swap the funding— so what, what I would be swapping out would be regular, uh, other expenses that, that would just supplant that amount. And so, so I, again, I'm not exactly sure I understand exactly what you're asking of me. Well, and this is—

you can have a seat. Thank you so much for that, because what I'm getting around to is an equity issue. Um, what I will note is I— we can go back to, I believe there was a memo by the Audit and Budget Services— well, the Audit Department— that flagged in, um, April 2024 that, hey, this money had— there's delay in obligating the funds, and it particularly highlighted for around the Fayetteville Street corridor that there was concern if they didn't obligate the funds, but there would also be a concern that the group would not be able to expend the funds by the December 31st, 2026 deadline. That was flagged in 2024.

So I'm trying to understand. Then it was also— and the recommendations were accepted by the manager's office that said like, hey, we acknowledge and we'll make sure our staff works this group to ensure they're able to expend the funds by the 12/31/2026 deadline, right? So that's 2024 that happened. If we want to advance to 2026, we received an email telling us, or memo advising us, there'd be a termination for several groups, um, for convenience because organizations haven't advanced at a pace necessary to ensure compliance.

This organization, in my thought, if we're still utilizing the ARPA guidelines, they have not advanced to meet compliance. So what I'm trying to establish, is there a way to ensure that other organizations have the same opportunity to have revenue replacement to get the— because with my I'm sorry, slow down. My concern is that we've had city staff embedded in this organization and they still have not met compliance. Well, they still have not been on pace to actually spend the funds.

And so when you think about a lot of great work happened in the Fayetteville Street corridor, it's like, are we not providing this opportunity to not only orgs in that corridor, but other organizations that have to return the money back since they were not on pace? Why is there exception for this one organization and not all the organizations? Is that kind of— you get where my timeline's going here? Yes.

I mean, I don't know. Again, I would— there was $10 million worth of revenue replacement funds of the $52 million that are out there, and so we obligated up to what we could, and at some point, uh, we obligated all the regular ARPA funds that we had, and then we moved into the revenue replacement funding. And so I, I can see what you're saying, but it also— we're trying to go back and rethink the circumstances we were in 2 years ago. And so at the time, that was not a— it wasn't a consideration. I mean, I don't know, I don't really know what else to say.

Do you want to take a moment to go and like do a little research? Colleagues answer questions and get some footing on it. Or like, so what I'm getting around to is that I just— again, this isn't about holding a community or a neighborhood hostage. As I said plenty of times before, it's about making sure we're accountable for use of public dollars.

With this, this CDC Corporation, you had us— you've already had board turnover, right? So they just received their, um, 501(c)(3) status in December of 2025. So what I'm trying to do is make sure that as a city, we are setting organizations up for success. And if we have embedded a city staff person, if it was flagged in 2024 that, hey, based on your delay in obligating these funds, you're gonna— this group's gonna need extra support.

And then we turn around, it's like, okay, so we're gonna put a staff member in there to help them get through these, these hurdles or set everything up because it's a new organization that was formed in response to this report, is what it sounds like at this point. And so then you have the staff member embedded in that organization, they're still not making progress to go and we are affording this opportunity to one group while we have others who are being forced to give the money back. Does that kind of like— so it's an equity clause for me here and thinking about the city took a risk and now could we have done better to make sure that they are going to be on track? Because based on what I've witnessed and seen thus far, it shouldn't be this hard.

I have spent the last week of my life meeting with other organizations who are submitting or who receive ARPA grant dollars. I was able to go through their documentation. They had application packets put in there. They had scope of work, but also bank statements, receipts.

Everything they've done was all compiled in one document. We asked questions about this organization, and it's like been like a Where's Waldo, like trying to find things on your own more so. If you are submitting these reports in a timely manner, then I felt that should be more easily aggregated, right? That you should have that somewhere because other groups were submitting, and then other groups were being flagged like, hey, you might not be on pace.

I want to make sure that everyone has the same opportunity here, and I just really don't think that I've been convinced of that at this point. That's what my comment is really going like. So we can replace the money, all the other things, but I don't feel comfortable this moment because we have provided special support to this organization and still have not met the metric. At some point, someone has to be the adult in the room and say, what can we do differently and move forward?

Thank you. Yeah, I want us to get some clarity on this issue. I would feel really bad sort of leaving it out, leaving it out in doubt. Mr. Flora, I can see the confusion still on your face.

So I I'd like to just get some clarity if we can sort of source the question a bit more and get, um, since I can, Mayor, there is an ARPA update item that's scheduled to come to council in April. I think we'd be happy to provide kind of a full overview of the ARPA program at that time. Uh, I think all of the standards that we use to manage the ARPA contracts, uh, all of the obligations that we hold recipients to I'm very comfortable that we can be fully transparent on all of those. If, if there are questions about any agencies that have requested additional time, I'd be happy to answer that and ask staff to collect that information. I don't have that information this evening, but at that meeting in April, we'll be able to answer questions about any of the ARPA contracts that council may have.

So I'm just trying to figure out how that helps me tonight, because we've been having a discussion since what, maybe January? I've only been on council 3 months. And so during the work session, we've been asking some of the same questions and haven't received. So I'm just trying to ascertain like how that April discussion is going to help inform what the vote is tonight.

I wasn't suggesting it should inform your vote tonight. I was just updating council on when we have a scheduled presentation coming forward. I understand and hear your concerns.

Thank you. I just want to provide some clarity. So, um, the, the CDC money was completely outside of the regular ARPA process. We— the— that was a— it did not get vetted in the same way as the community-driven process.

So when the city got— I think it was $52 million— that's a— we set aside about 50% of that money. That was a process that community organizations went through. Um, we have had several updates on those projects. There are a few that weren't, you know, weren't able to meet the terms.

There weren't that many of them. Most, most everyone was successful. And if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken, I don't think anyone got more than $1 million in that process. That was kind of the cap that we put.

So this has always been kind of a parallel or outside process to that. the process that you're talking about, Councilmember Burris. So just providing that additional information. Everyone's going to vote the way they're going to vote this evening, but it's not the same as, as that process was, if that makes sense.

We basically were like, we're going to hold some money aside to see what else kind of comes forward. And then there was, during a budget process, both Councilmember Freeman and Councilmember Middleton, if I'm remembering correctly, put forward the idea of, you know, this is a moment to do some, you know, historic reparation, obviously not enough, and we should take the opportunity. So that was kind of how the decision was made at the time. Not sure if that's helpful or not.

You good? I'm just— well, my thing is, is that, that it's just, it shouldn't be this confusing. So basically that was a set-aside is how that money was defined for, or— because I'm just trying to figure out the guidelines and criteria. If you're saying that we put money aside, like, was that still subjected to the ARPA guidelines and reporting criteria as everyone else, or was that different?

It was all ARPA as far as it had to, it had to qualify under the rules set aside by the federal government, right? But it was not part of the kind of, um, comp— or not really competitive, but the community kind of regranting process. It was a separate routed thing. It came through, you know, how when we just did our budget retreat, it was council asks that came through for $10 million.

That was the initial ask, if I'm remembering correctly. And then it was determined by council because we we still had ARPA dollars, like, hey, why don't we use ARPA dollars in this way? We still have some money that we didn't use during this community process. That's how we arrived at that decision.

There were also some affordable housing projects, the same thing. The costs for those affordable housing projects, the construction costs were higher than originally anticipated because those were 2018-2019 dollars and inflation in '22-'23 was really high. And so it was the same thing. Same thing.

It was outside of the initial process that we ran with leftover ARPA dollars that we were like, well, we don't want to use the whole $52 million. We want to have some to know, you know, we, we're not 100% what— sure what this economic recovery is going to look like, so we don't want to use the full amount. And so that's also how we used it. So we backfilled, um, several affordable housing projects, uh, when we did, uh, we had set aside some from the affordable housing bond.

But when, when it came time, there was— we had to backfill, I think, 4 affordable housing projects, um, and the county— so I think we put $10 million towards affordable housing projects, and then the county matched us another $10 million. But I, you know, this was 4 years ago, so maybe I'm wrong. But yeah, well, I just keep hearing like the process was different with the community engagement piece, but my question was like, does the ARPA restrictions in like because we're saying that basically they're not going to meet the deadlines, which insinuates that they're still held to that same standard. What I don't— and I'll land on this where I'm at with it— this is a very sensitive community and it's not about halting people's progress.

But what I don't— I've heard some things that have been disturbing to me in terms of like Black people fighting over crumbs. That's number one that still plays in my mind. But then this notion that, oh, Black folks can't get things together and we're hearing that from non-Black people. And so what I don't want to have happen is that we see that, you know, downtown is approaching this neighborhood very rapidly and it's going to have some impact.

And then we recall the moment that we invested $10 million and we cannot show where that money or how that money was spent and utilized in this community. And that's going to be justification for us to say we can't give you any more money because we've already invested and didn't get the results. So my thing is like, there's an optic to the city in this involvement. It doesn't look like We have done our best to ensure the success of this organization, and that's all we've been trying to get around for, for a month and a half. So I'm still solidly at a no tonight.

Thank you. Yeah, I, um, thank you, Councilmember Burris and Mayor Pro Tem. So, uh, when— yeah, go ahead.

Sorry, and just, just so you know, we had to restructure affordable housing deals exactly for this problem. We had to put the ARPA dollars forward when we were talking about a subsidy stack exactly for this reason, because whenever the dollars came down, we always knew that, that we were gonna— like, it was an awareness from the beginning that we were gonna maybe run against the clock. So it's not the only thing that's had to be restructured to make a thing go. So when we were looking at subsidy stacks for affordable housing projects, um, we had to make sure that the ARPA dollars got expended first before our local matching dollars. And so this isn't the only one that is kind of, quote, like outside the process. I'm naming the affordable housing ones because it was— they were also outside kind of the community-driven or community regranting program.

Yeah, I just in '21, when, when I was elected with Mayor O'Neill, When we came on council, the process for ARPA had already started and the city was getting $52 million. The process was, I guess, devised by the council then, and there were a lot of organizations. And I think the criteria, the standard was no one would get over 75% of their requested amount. But it was a lot of organizations, which means the city stood up a department, or, well, a team to support all of those organizations.

So staff were sort of embedded in all of them. When we got on council, I remember hearing Mayor O'Neill and Chair Howerton at the time really wanting to invest in affordable housing. And so that was a decision that was made, as well as wanting to do something pretty significant. And this was an opportunity after listening to much of the discussion in the HIV community.

Councilmember Freeman, I believe, asked for $30 million, and Mayor Pro Tem at the time, Middleton, asked for an amount, and we ended up on $10 million. So instead of breaking it down into multiple organizations like the first round, which was a process that the council devised, we at the time, majority, and then everyone, I believe, agreed to make two significant investments, one in affordable housing and the other into the Haitian community. And part of that discussion was putting it in the community's hands and letting them figure it out. I believe at the time, because the ARPA's— the, the required— the requirements of ARPA changed, and I forget what the terminology is, but it changed.

And we were able to utilize up to $10 million worth of replacement funding, which— that was a lot of money for so much work to be done in order to have spent by the end of 2026. And I believe at the time, staff I did, um, choose to revenue replace that $10 million. Now, to your question, Councilmember Burris, and to your response, uh, Director Flora, uh, part of it has already been spent, so therefore it would be $6-point-something million remaining. So that would mean we still have X amount that could be revenue replaced.

Am I understanding that correctly? Or it has a $10 million— no, because the late— but earlier we did the $10 million replacement already, correct? Right. All of the ARPA funding has been obligated.

Okay. Gotcha. All right. And so the previous amount, the previous organizations were, they were under, so every dollar for ARPA that was given to the City of Durham and expended out to organizations met the requirement for ARPA.

The other process is what we actually came up with here locally. Correct? That was the first round of funding with all of those organizations and setting the standard of up to 75% worth of the requested amount. I follow it.

Basically, there was a— the federal government gave us a process to expend ARPA money. We did that. To get the money on the ground here in Durham, we chose to invest in community organizations. That was a process that came from the city, right? Not the federal government. We chose to do it because other cities chose to just do infrastructure.

The process for the ARPA funding was developed internally to the city?

Yes. Yes. And consistent with the guidelines provided by the Treasury Department? Correct.

And that was the first tranche. Second tranche was these major— these two major focus areas, Haiti and affordable housing. So Yeah, so we got the money all at once. We chose to spend half of it one way and half the other way, which was affordable housing projects and the $10 million for— because I know the first time was before I was on council. The second wave was when the council had changed, an election had happened. Any other questions?

Any questions? Go ahead. Thank you. Um, I feel like, I feel like a bit of a broken record here because what I, what I keep saying is that every time we have a conversation, I feel like I again have less and less clarity, or I learn like new information that I wish I had maybe gotten like months ago when we talked about this the first time.

This has now been the fourth time we've discussed it, I think. Um, it's helpful context to hear about these like sort of two— I know they're not tranches because they came in at the same time, but these like sort of two— the way that the money was divided into these two big pieces. Um, it, it's also like maybe makes me feel more concerned about it because it's, it's such a much larger amount of money and we put it into a brand new organization and also had flagged concerns in 2024 in our own city records about the ability for those timelines to be met. So it's like we already had this like extra large contribution that we wanted to go to Fayetteville Street Corridor.

We put it into a new organization which like I've met with the board and I do believe in those individuals like commitment to that community, but it's like there were already community advocacy groups ongoing in those, in that community, and like anyone would take time to build like capacity there. There's just no way to do that as a new brand new organization. And so we like sort of set them up. I, I don't want to say like for failure necessarily, but it is kind of what it feels like.

And my concern is the same as Councilmember Burris's. Like, I don't want us to have spent all this money and not see the benefit from it. It's a huge chunk of money and also to like have maybe like poured money into something that's gonna become more divisive than it is even to like do the things that we wanna see. And we are several years in.

We had those flags about issues in 2024. We dedicated extra staff time. And okay, we dedicated extra staff time and I still feel like we don't— we aren't getting the responses to the questions that we're asking. I'm sorry, there's— I just— there's so much talking ongoing. I'm, I'm gonna— I'm just gonna stop.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. This is a— this is an important policy discussion that we're having here. This is the— this investment we've made in HATEIS and historic investment, as we've talked about, for $10 million in the rebuilding.

As we said, and others in the audience have said, this is not enough money to rebuild Haiti, but this is a down payment on that process. We have had conversations about this for the last couple of months and even before that about ARPA generally, a one-time investment in our future. From my perspective, we've got like, we've got 4 response memos in the agenda here, in the agenda for tonight. So I feel like staff has responded to our questions.

We may not agree with the decision years ago to create a new CDC. It does take time to develop a new organization, to get it— get a 501(c)(3) status, to build capacity. Those things take time. That's a decision this council has made.

Folks may disagree with that on a policy level. I think we've got enough information to make a decision. Some of the money has been spent, some obligated. The CDC is still working on these objectives. I'm comfortable with the information we have here for now, and I'm happy to take a vote on this. I'd like to call the question.

Yeah, I, um, do you have a comment?

Go ahead.

Yeah, first of all, I just want to, I want to appreciate, um, the deep dive that Councilmember Burris has done on this issue. The, the work of accountability, particularly accountability of the organization that you represent, is very, very difficult, as you can— you're all seeing it tonight. Um, this— the Haitian community deserves $10 million. They deserved it yesterday.

They deserved it 50 years ago. Um, they deserve $100 million. They deserve much more than that. Um, and they— and, and it's necessary.

It's necessary. Um, I will say that when this came up in 2024, I certainly had Concerns and reservations about the nature of the scope of work being so thin for such a large sum of money, proportion of the ARPA funds. And, you know, you've heard me say this 1,000 times. We need to set up communities for success.

That is our responsibility as a city. And we do that through community planning and community engagement. We have a community engagement department. Uh, we have a planning department, we do long-range planning, and when we don't and leave that work to the community, it makes it much more difficult.

And so, um, I think that we're, we're seeing, we're seeing some of that. And I just, in the future, we need to be, we need to set up communities for success by being proactive about small area planning and engagement. Um, We— there's a lot of momentum right now behind this. A lot of work has been done, and we, we, we are where we are.

Obviously, I do think that there are some potential wins that we could get out of tonight where we are. And so I do have a few requests. One is that there is a project website for, for, for this on the city's website. There is also a website dedicated to Haitai Promise with information on there.

My request is that all major work items be posted to the project website as well as to the CDC website. and that those also be forwarded to council. So, for example, um, the small area plan, the market study, any other major work products, I would like those to be— to make sure that those are posted and that those are forwarded to us and also made publicly available. The scope of work, the 6-page scope of work, also has several tables of metrics and basically says we can develop these metrics at the wish of, of the city.

And so I'd like to express my wish that we, that we receive those metrics until, until the funds are fully— the public funds, the ARPA funds and replacement funds are fully expended. I would request that at a 12-month interval. Interval, but I also would be open to 6 months. Um, and then I would also— this is a little bit fuzzier, but I would also request meaningful engagement moving forward.

Uh, again, I think the city is— we are democratically elected. The city, you know, for all of our flaws, um, we do represent, uh, you know, again, with, with flaws, Democratically, the people of Durham. And so we are good stewards of the community engagement that happens and our ability to have staff in the Community Engagement Department who can, who can bring multiple different stakeholders together. My hope is that the Community Engagement Department and the city can work closely to ensure that there is meaningful collaboration with all of the different groups within the Fayetteville Street corridor.

And so those are, those are my 3 requests tonight. I think if we came out with these 3 requests, we would be, we'd be better off than not. So is that something that we can agree to? Is, is those 3 requests?

What was the 3rd one? Sorry.

Yeah, Councilmember Baker, can you, can you just restate those three?

Let me ask on the mic. Councilmember Baker, I'm going to ask that you repeat your request. The only concern I would— not even a concern, but just question is how, how can— how much can we not engage? I think we can engage, but how much can we control if any of those requests— I'm asking the same again— if they require operational control from the CDC? That may be a question. I don't— I think these—

well, yeah, Madam Attorney, I think the things that Councilmember Baker is asking are not things that are appropriate to work into motions for the item. They're not contractual things. They are administrative things, oversight things. Um, and I believe I will defer to the manager on, you know, how he wants to receive information from the council, but you don't need to actualize those things into the motions that are before the council right now.

If I've answered the question.

Yeah, but I think that we can still provide— I agree. I still think we can provide that direction. This is tangentially related to the item tonight, and I also think that it's already built into the contract that it is an option. and I just want to express that I think that this transparency is necessary.

Yeah, yeah, I don't disagree with that. I, um, that— yep. All right, any other, uh, comments before we move on?

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I think it's clear to us all that Haitai and this quarter have a rich history and also a history of broken promises, a history of the harm of urban removal.

There's still richness in this community today of neighbors who care and are passionate about bringing back investments into the corridor. And I want to respect everyone who's played a role historically, who've spoken up in this process, who've asked questions, who've asked for accountability and advocated for their community. I think that's really critical. I'm grateful for my predecessors and residents who advocated for $10 million to be available for this quarter to act as a small catalyst for the work that's still needed to have some measure of equity and restitution.

And it's a big responsibility that we all have. And so I've been grateful for this accountability exercise, for the staff's efforts at giving us more of the history of my colleagues who've been involved in this a lot longer than I have as a new Councilmember, and it's been a really important part of the process. I want to give respect and appreciation to the CDC board for their efforts as volunteers. I've had a lot of questions.

We've all had a lot of questions, and I believe the city and the CDC have provided meaningful responses that have gotten me to a greater place of confidence. And I appreciate the partners and the plan that we've seen, and I appreciate the staff support that was arranged and has been provided. I think when you have small grassroots organizations, that there can be struggles getting up and going. We saw that.

I think we've seen meaningful progress to where the CDC is today. And I believe building on that momentum with the clear plan and the metrics that have been communicated puts us in a better place going forward than engaging in a further delay. I've heard a lot of narratives about this project and its history, and To be honest, it's hard to know that we have perfect information, to know that we have the whole story. And so I want to honor people who have their history and their story that they've shared.

It can be difficult for us sometimes to be able to sort out what everyone's place in this, but going through this process to understand the context, I do think moving forward with the CDC is the right decision at this point. I do believe that Ongoing collaboration between the CDC, between organizations like St. Joseph's, between other partners in the corridor is really critical, along with the city. And that's something that I want us to make a reality and want to see as part of an engagement process going forward.

I really want to see this be successful. I'm committed to doing my part to help it be successful so this can be a down payment versus a cautionary tale. And it's going to take all of us in partnership to make sure that we can put us in a position to bring more investment in the future. And I believe that we do need to ensure that we continue to see the metrics, have that transparency into the progress, make sure there is meaningful partnership and collaboration with other community groups, that strong engagement, if we have a chance of being successful going forward.

Thank you. All right. Yeah, I look forward to moving on with this. I appreciate all the questions, all the concern, and I think we can still figure those things out, whatever, whatever confusion is left out there.

When I think of my colleagues for digging deep into this, I confidently made my vote when I was on council with Mayor O'Neill at the time. You know, I appreciate our audit department being very thorough as they are, and I believe that gave way to why some of the decisions were made with staff, some of the adjustments. I— several organizations and nonprofits in this community have received millions of dollars, and not every organization is getting this level of scrutiny. And I want to make sure that I don't challenge the competency, but also want to honor the concern.

So on both sides of this, so I'm, I'm going to go ahead and support this as we're moving forward with it. Councilmember Rist, you called the question and I am out of order, uh, so I'm gonna call for your question. I'm gonna honor your question and then once again we will— give me one moment just to make sure I'm in I'm technically supposed to go ahead and call this, but several people have spoken since he— yeah, once everyone has spoken, I need to go ahead and call the question because we did call the question after the motion's been made, but I'll honor it.

And then we'll go. Yeah, I mean, I stopped because there was like so much whispering and I was having a hard time concentrating and I don't have much to add. I just want to be really clear that like I'm still debating and I'm still really not sure where I stand on this. It feels to me like I want this amount and more to go to this community.

So if I vote no, I want to be really clear that it's not an issue of trying to block any progress in Fayetteville Corridor. It is really to ensure that we are being good financial stewards of money that we are distributing, and we have had high levels of scrutiny. I know that I've pulled a bazillion contracts in work sessions. This is the tip of the iceberg, but we have high levels of scrutiny for public dollars.

And as I had a conversation with the board, like, if you take public money, you have to be accountable to the public. That's just part of how it is. So it's, it's not a question for me of whether this community deserves this money. It's not enough, as several of my colleagues have said.

It will probably never be enough because you can't recoup what was lost by very intentional decisions that were made from these very seats. And so I just want to be really clear that I'm not sure where I stand on it, but a no vote for me tonight will be because I am concerned about expending this money and not seeing real benefit from it or having it being used as a lever in the future to dissuade folks from further investment. So those are the things that I'm toying with, and I just want to be really clear about that.

Thank you. The question has been called. Madam Clerk, if you will please open the vote. Madam Clerk, if you can pause.

I did not read the motion out. This is a motion to authorize the city manager to execute A First Amendment to the ARPA Revenue Recovery Subrecipient Grant Agreement with Hayes High Promise Community Development Corporation to remove St. Joseph's Historic Foundation Incorporated as fiscal agent and change the funding source in an amount not to exceed $6,755,000. All right, it's been moved and properly seconded already, so at this time please continue the vote.

Yes.

All right, please close the vote.

And the motion passes 5-2 with Council Members Burris and Cook voting no.

Thank you. And I'll also entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to negotiate and make subsequent modifications to the amended grant agreement with Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, so long as total grant funds do not exceed $6,755,000. So moved. Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

And lastly, I'll entertain a motion to authorize the the city manager to execute a First Amendment to the Haiti Promise Community Development Corporation, City of Durham, and Preserving Home Incorporated, formerly Rebuilding Together of the Triangle Incorporated, agreement for Fayetteville Street Corridor Neighborhood Stabilization Partnership implementation to remove St. Joseph's Historic Foundation Incorporated as fiscal agent. So moved. Second.

The move, the properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote. And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Go, we be okay.

I look forward to it.

Mr. Mayor, I just want to ensure that we receive the request, the request in 6 months, 6-month interval.

6 months.

Thank you. I appreciate that from Councilmember Baker. Just in general, because we get ARPA updates periodically, I would hope to just get that information. I think that we all know that the stakes are high for the success of this.

And I also— for the CDC to please invite us to all of the celebrations that I know I'm looking forward to. So yeah, I appreciate that. And I know that we've gotten a good amount of information from city staff about the ARPA process over the years. So I hope that even though these are city dollars and not ARPA dollars, we will continue to get that.

Thank you, colleagues. I'm going to alter our agenda just a bit here to, uh, knock out 16 and 17 so we can spend some time on 15. Let's make sure I don't have any Right. All right, um, we're going to go ahead to item number, uh, 16, limited obligation bonds series 2026 A, B. Welcome.

Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor, Madam Pro, uh, Mayor Pro Tem, and council members. My name is John Reese. I'm the city's debt administrator.

The purpose of this public hearing is for a limited obligation bond series 2026-AB, which is financing for general capital, solid waste, and DPAC, Durham Arts Performing Center, CIP projects adopted by council in prior budget cycles. This public hearing is required by state statute, and all notifications have been made and are on file for review. Key points to be made are: this financing is not to exceed $136 million. 6 million to reimburse the city for DPAC HVAC project costs spent to date.

We are working with our financial advisors, First Trion, and bond counsel Parker Poe, to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of the process. All debt activities of this type and size require state approval, and we submitted an application to the Local Government Commission on March 3rd. We anticipate closing on this debt on April 30th. In addition to the public hearing, other actions related to this financing for your consideration tonight include adopting a resolution approving an installment financing contract not to exceed $136 $6 million and accompanying deed of trust, and authorizing the city manager or his designee to execute other associated legal documents related to this agenda item. I appreciate your consideration and welcome any questions you may have.

Thank you. You've heard the, uh, staff report out. Are there any questions or technical questions or comments for staff? All right, at this time I'll declare this public hearing open, and I did not receive any sign-ups for this item.

So therefore, I'll declare the public hearing closed and back before the council. Once again, any comments or questions? All right, at this time I'll entertain a motion to adopt a resolution approving an installment financing contract not to exceed $136 million and accompanying deed of trust, conducting a public hearing concerning the contract, and providing for certain other related item matters. There— moved.

Second. Second. So moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote.

Please close the vote. And the motion passes unanimously.

And I'll also entertain a motion to authorize the city manager or his designee to execute other associated legal documents as necessary to complete this transaction and to make changes to any of the legal documents prior to execution, so long as the changes are consistent with the intent of the agenda item memo and the existing versions of the documents.

Second. So moved and properly seconded.

Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. I think we can get 17 in. All right, uh, next item, number 17, zoning map change, 1612 Corporate Fletcher Road 2.

Good evening, Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, and honorable council members. I am Peyton Burgess with the Planning and Development Department, and I am happy to be here with you tonight. Before I begin, staff would like to state for the record that all Planning Department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law And affidavits of all notices are on file in the planning department. 9 acres and located at 1612 and 1562 Carpenter Fletcher Road.

The current zoning is commercial general with a textual development plan and a small sliver of office and institutional along the southern property line. The applicant proposes to change this designation to commercial general with a textual development plan, to expand the permitted uses on the site. The properties are currently designated neighborhood services on the place type map. The proposed commercial general with the textual development plan zoning is generally consistent with the designated place type.

Thank you. Staff and the applicant are available for any questions. Thank you.

You've heard the staff report. Any questions, technical questions, or comments? All right. At this time, declare the public hearing open.

And I do not have any speakers for this item. Therefore, I'll declare the public hearing closed. Oh, I'm sorry. Yep, go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, um, Council and Manager. Um, we're here with 1612 Carpenter Fletcher Road. Our goal here is to expand the uses, um, from the single allowed use currently to, to a handful of uses so the property can be— uh, well, Erician, the current tenant and owner, are leaving the site, and so we want to market it to new owners or tenants. Um, we did add to, uh, the list of uses daycare on behalf of a Planning Commission request. Um, if council has other uses that they think we should add, um, we'd be happy to consider those.

All right, thank you.

I'll now declare the public hearing closed and back before the council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to raise one point. I understand that By voting for this, we'd be expanding the, the allowance of uses, and that it might be for lease or for sale.

Um, it may keep the same footprint, or the site may be redeveloped at some point in the future. Uh, that is unknown. But when we get commitments, uh, they convey with the land even through sale. So I think what I would be interested in knowing is, in looking at the policies that were not met and thinking about those that would be realistic to attach in the case of sale and redevelopment.

It's policies 101 and 108, which is, you know, commitment to native plants and also to installing green infrastructure, which is, I think, especially critical when we think about, you know, movement of stormwater generally across our city and the benefits of those sorts of installations. I mean, if it's not being touched, then I wouldn't think it would need to be included, but I'd like to ask if the applicant would be willing to make those, uh, make those commitments in the case of redevelopment. So that would convey in the case of sale and redevelopment.

I think I would need Planning Department to input on that a little bit because that seems appropriate for a graphic development plan. We're just doing a textual development plan here. To expand the range of uses. Um, I'm not really sure how that would be accommodated outside of, let's say, site plan or commercial building permit review.

Good evening, Sarah Young with the Planning and Development Department. Certainly we can, through a Textual Development Plan, accept a proffer about landscaping-related proffers. That is something we frequently get. I think staff's concern in terms of green infrastructure is that is actually a very broad potential topic. And so without knowing specifically the type of intervention that folks might be looking for, I think it would be challenging to have an enforceable possible text commitment without additional specificity, which may be difficult without knowing the future development of the site.

Exactly. Okay, okay, that's fair.

But using native species, for instance, for any required landscaping, that is a relatively easy text commitment that could be added.

Okay, well, I will withdraw the, the request around the green infrastructure, but would still be interested to know about native plants for landscaping if that is redone.

If landscaping is required for any tenant or future owner that seeks to redevelop the site or make changes to the site, that's certainly possible via site plan review, but Is there a specific amount of plants that you would like to see added? As I expressed in my email to you earlier today, there are native plants included in the landscaping plan for the site plan that is currently in place. 23 trees, native species. Did you have a specific number you wanted us to commit to?

No specific number, just in terms of the percentage to use Well, I guess in terms of percentage to use all, let's say, because it's a small site, all native plants if there's landscaping that's done.

And we wouldn't be replacing existing landscaping with native species. I mean, just a broad general commitment to native, to inclusion of native species or exclusively native species if the site is redeveloped in the future, um, we would be agreeable to that. Great, thank you.

All right, there are no other questions. I'll, uh, entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the Unified Development Ordinance by taking property out of commercial general with the textual development plan and office and institutional and establishing the same as commercial general with its actual development plan. So moved. Second.

Remove the property segment. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Can I just clarify?

I know that it was relatively simple and there was only one thing, but could staff— could y'all just repeat back that y'all heard that commitment? Can we just get a confirmation on it before we vote? Thank you. Yes. And tomorrow I will reach out to work with the applicant to get the official language committing to native species if there is any changes to the landscaping and redevelopment of the site.

All right, Madam Clerk, please continue to vote. Please close the vote. And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. I'll also entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carolina General Statute Section 160-D-605.

So moved. Second. The motion properly seconded.

Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

We're going to take a quick break and let's come back at 9:05 and we'll tackle number 15.

Oh!

All right, thank you all so much. We are going to resume with item number 17— 15, I'm sorry, item number 15.

Um, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of council. My name is Christina Reardon, Director of Budget and Management Services. Tonight's item is a public hearing to receive comments on the development of the FY 2026 to 27 budget and the FY 2027 to 32 capital improvement plan. City staff and the Budget and Management Services team are currently working with the City Manager to develop next year's budget.

The City Manager will present his proposed budget to the City Council on May 18th, including the proposed tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year. Following that presentation, the council will hold a second public hearing on June 1st to receive additional comments before the budget is considered for final adoption on June 15th. Tonight's hearing provides an opportunity for residents and stakeholders to share input as the budget is being developed. Budget staff are here to listen and ensure that all comments are captured for the city manager and council as they continue their work on the upcoming budget. All public hearing notices have been met, and thank you very much.

Thank you very much. I will say that, um, we do have quite a few speakers, but the budget is the most important duty we have, so, um, look forward to hearing everyone's comments. I am going to leave it at 3 minutes. And this is, this is an opportunity for the council to listen.

This will not be a back and forth engagement, but it's for us to listen and get your comments on the record for our review and staff engagement as well at a later time. But I'll go ahead and get us started with our online speakers. And before I do that, I have to actually declare The public hearing open. The first speaker I have, Shannon Bartle. She is not in the queue. All right, Sarah Lawrence.

Hello, good evening, Mr.

Mayor and council members. Can you all hear me?

Yes, we can.

Welcome, you have 3 minutes. Great, thank you so much. I wanted to comment that tennis participation continues to surge nationwide. There are over 27 million players, and the Eno River League, that's our Durham League, tracks with this growth, experiencing another record-breaking year.

For example, we have over 3,000 people registered for adult tennis leagues just this, just this season, and this does not include the kids that are playing or the schools that rent the courts. Nor the 600+ that join the Eno leagues in the winter months. But Durham, what really makes Durham stand apart from other, other tennis regions in the state and also the country is our great community programming. Tennis is more affordable and accessible here than other places with our great community support.

This is not a country club sport, and in Durham we really show that, and the community has won twice recently some Community Tennis Association awards. The Tri-Tennis programs that are instructional programs to get beginners out on the courts already have over 100 participants just this year. And this is really driven by our incredible volunteers and a budget that is on a shoestring. We do an amazing job in Durham, and we hear on the courts people coming from Raleigh and Cary to play with us here because we are so welcoming and we have such a great community.

And we create great access to the sport, but we do not have a court infrastructure to support this, especially compared to our nearby neighbors in Raleigh and Cary. We need courts that are safe to play on. We need courts that have lights that will work at night. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for your comments. Next, I have— so that's going to take us a long time if we do that between every— I'm just going to say it, let's hold off applause at the end, like graduation. Thank you all. Uh, next I have Kellen Kropanek. Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

Can you hear me okay? Loud and clear. Welcome. You have 3 minutes. Thank you so much.

I appreciate being here tonight and for your attention. Um, I just kind of want to piggyback on what Sarah said. Um, there are a myriad of beneficial domino effects to, um, the tennis courts and the Tennis Association, and I'm also going to throw pickleball in there as well. It's a great space for health, for mentally, physically, and it is a huge place of community gathering.

There is just such a diverse group of people. It's, it's not just country club white women. There's a socioeconomic diversity. Through the public parks with Durham.

And it's important that we protect this and we invest in that. My mother, who is a public school teacher, always said a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit now as far as an investment is concerned to save more money longer in the long term, preventing a complete overhaul for these courts that really need to be addressed. I also want to say that being part of the tennis community, I moved here to Durham about 10 years ago, and that got me into a lot of these parks that I wouldn't necessarily have visited. I live close to the Eno, so I hang there a lot, but it is a place of community gathering.

There's like a group of retired men that hang out at Elmira and cheer people on. And it's important that we continue to invest in these spaces. It increases property value. Continuing to have social gatherings and sports gatherings in these spaces continue to keep the area safe beyond just people showing up randomly to take walks on the trails or, or anything.

It's not something that we want to scrap and start over. Just a little bit of investment will continue to keep this community gathering space available for everybody. And, you know, as stewards of social engagement, I hope that you on the council will consider spending some of these funds to continue to invest in what makes this community great.

Thank you. Thank you. Next, I have Ms. Stella Adams.

Welcome, Miss Stella. You have 3 minutes. Thank you.

Can you all hear me loud and clear? Um, Mr. Mayor, um, council members, my name is Stella Adams, and I'm here because, um, because the budget is not just a spreadsheet, it's a moral document. It tells the truth about who we value and whether the people who make this city work can afford to live in the city they serve.

The most recent data from the Economic Policy Institute shows that a single adult in Durham now needs nearly $49,000 a year just to meet basic needs. Housing alone is over $18,500. and transportation adds another $7,000. These costs have risen far faster than wages.

6% this year simply to keep pace with the cost of living. That is not a raise, that is reality. HUD's latest data confirms what residents already know. Rents in Durham-Chapel Hill region have risen more than 40% since 2020.

Vacancy rates are at historic lows and the average new home price now exceeds $500,000. Durham's homeless count rose 10% last year. 6% of all the approved affordable housing— all the approved units by the council are affordable. 6%.

These numbers are not abstract. They are the lived conditions of our neighbors and our city workers. At the same time, transportation remains the second highest cost burden for Durham families. Fare-free, reliable transit is not a luxury.

It is an economic infrastructure. It reduces household costs, expands access to jobs, and supports the very workers who keep this city running. Also, Durham made a commitment to the Sixth parks that are, um, have environmental issues. You promised during the park and recreation bond movement that you would fund it, the remediation of these parks, in the general budget.

I'm holding you to that. So I'm asking you to adopt a budget that meets the scale of this moment. Fully fund city worker wages to match the real cost of living. Invest in fair, equitable, reliable transit. Increase— Thank you.

Next, I have Lauralee Bible. She's in person. Oh, okay. Okay, got it. I was wondering why it was crossed out on my paper. No, I'll come to you in just a bit.

All right, moving.

Those are all of my online speakers. Now moving to in-person. Jason Davis, welcome. You have 3 minutes. Good evening.

Good evening, uh, Mr. Mayor. Council members, City Manager, Mayor Pro Tem. My name is Jason Davis, and I am proud to represent the professional firefighters of Durham Local 668.

First, I want to thank the council for the actions they took during the last pay plan adjustment. Those decisions made a real difference for the firefighters who serve this city, and we appreciate the council's recognition to the value of the people who protect Durham every single day. As you consider this year's budget, we are asking the council to support a 5% base pay increase for Durham firefighters and to fully fund the merit raise system that you all voted on. Durham continues to grow rapidly, and with that growth comes an increased demand for emergency services.

Durham firefighters work 24-hour shifts responding to fires, medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, hazardous material incidents, and disasters at all hours of the day and night. When residents call 911, they expect trained professionals to arrive quickly and solve the problem. Our firefighters deliver that service every single day. A 5% base raise helps ensure that our compensation remains comparable to our peer cities and recognizes the responsibility training and commitment required of the men and women who protect this city.

It shows that Durham continues to value the work firefighters do to keep this community safe and running. Equally important is fully funding merit raises. Merit pay rewards firefighters who go above and beyond, those who train harder, take an additional responsibility and dedicate themselves to providing the highest level of service to the residents of Durham. Funding merit raises reinforces a culture of professionalism and excellence within the fire department.

Budgets ultimately reflect priorities, and investing in the firefighters who serve Durham every day is an investment in the safety and future of this community. Thank you very much. Have a great night.

Thank you. Next, I have Durant Long. Welcome. You have 3 minutes.

After Durant Long, I'll have Adrian Charleston, Coach Tuffy Taylor, and Alexandria Gwynn. So you'll start making your way up. Thank you, Council.

I actually was just writing my statement. I haven't finished it, but I'll keep it brief. There's lots of talk about the Durham of tomorrow, about the years to come.

About the development that will happen and the waves of tax dollars and sales revenue and tourism that will come into our community and support our budget and give us enough money to pursue all the creative and daring programs to tackle problems in a way that only Durham can.

Well, standing here today with not enough money to do what we want to, to do what we need to, and rumors of property taxes rising on the horizon, I would ask y'all to put extra focus onto tax relief programs, because for as much as we want to make the city great for the Durhamites of tomorrow, we need to care about the Durhamites of today. It breaks my heart to know that people each day have to face the choice of moving out of Durham, or perhaps navigating the difficult public housing situation or homelessness, just because we have built, built, built in an inequitable manner. And I hope that we can support the people who most need it. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next, I have Adrian Charleston.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Adrian Charleston. I'm a resident here in Durham. I am here with my 8-year-old son.

His name is Lightning. Yes, Lightning. Lightning, like Mayor Lightning.

It's a pleasure to have you here. All right, Mayor.

I would like to just ask that we continue to keep funding in our budget for improvements in tennis courts. Of course, I've heard, I know you've heard from my tennis friends that were on the feed and we have a lot of tennis players here in the room, but it is just so important to us that we continue to develop the community around us. When I moved to Durham 13 years ago to attend Central after attending ECU, one of the things that honestly brought me into community was my son taking tennis lessons a few years ago. Him kind of just, you know, out there with all the other kids.

Another mom asked me to start playing and Here we are 4 years later, and I'd just really love for us to continue to keep the courts maintained. Maintaining, um, the tennis courts are much easier than rebuilding, and so if we have consistent maintenance and prepare for the future in that regard, that would be beneficial to us. I really just, um, also wanted to just say that, of course, as you can see, we have tennis players that are as small as him, and we have some that are you know, 80 times his age, unfortunately for some and great for others. But he also just wanted to mention something today.

I'll give him the mic. I know y'all can't see him, but he wants to read a card that he made. Every weekend, me and my mom go to Elmira Park. To play tennis and hang out with our friends called the Old Man Crew.

We eat snacks.

They teach us how to play more tennis and get better at it.

When we don't play tennis, we sit under a tree and laugh, crack jokes and talk each other's heads off.

And that was all my stories.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next I have, uh, Adrian Charleston followed by— no, I'm sorry, Coach Tuffy Taylor. Followed by Alexandria Gwynn and then Mary Long.

Good evening, Council. Um, I'm here on behalf of the Durham tennis community, past, present, and future. Um, the Durham tennis heritage and legacy started with the Haitai Heritage Renaissance era in the early 1900s. D.

Hills Rec Center. D. Hills Rec Center. In addition, the late great Arthur Ashe and his mentor, the late great Althea Gibson, both spent significant time training at this center.

It should be noted that both went on to become number one tennis players. In the world. First Althea in the '50s and '60s, then Arthur in the '70s and '80s. Durham's Algonquin played a large role in their development and helped set the stage for this important legacy and heritage.

My name is Warwick Taylor. Some know me as Tuffy Taylor. I'm the owner of Impact Tennis and Racquet Sports. It's a local community-based grassroots tennis program.

I'm also the president of the Love to Serve Tennis Foundation. I'm here today to advocate for something simple but incredibly important: greater access to Durham's public tennis courts for our youth. Right now, access to tennis for many kids in Durham is far more limited than in communities across the country. When court access is limited, the opportunities that come with the sport are limited as well.

Tennis is more than just a game for young people. It is a powerful tool physical health, mental well-being, and personal growth. Regular access to courts gives children a safe space to move, exercise, and develop healthy habits. In a time when childhood obesity, anxiety, and screen time are rising, tennis provides an active outlet that builds coordination, confidence, and resilience.

But the benefits go far beyond physical health. Tennis teaches young people discipline, problem-solving, sportsmanship, and perseverance. It creates friendships and mentorships that strengthen our community, and studies have shown that youth who participate in sports like tennis often demonstrate strong academic performance and leadership skills. Public tennis courts like those mentioned, like Elmira just now, are not just recreational spaces.

They are community assets. When they are accessible, they allow organizations like mine, you know, CTA, and Dr. Durham Orange Community Tennis Association and other organizations to provide programs that introduce kids to sports in a supportive, low-pressure environment. With improved access to public courts, we can expand youth programming, introduce more kids to the sport, and create opportunities that positively impact their health, confidence, and future.

Our goal is simple: to make tennis accessible to Durham, to more Durham youth, regardless of background or experience. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, Alexandria Nguyen, followed by Mary Long and Laura Lee Bible. You're going to have to pronounce that when you come up here.

Hello. Hello. Good evening, Mayor, Council members, city leadership. My name is Alex Gwynn, and I serve as chair of the Durham Human Relations Commission.

I'm speaking on behalf of the commission today. The DHRC is a resident-informed advisory body focused on housing stability, race and ethnic relations, and public safety trust building. Over the past quarter, the commission has been working to strengthen coordination with other city boards and commissions, support community engagement around the down payment assistance program, and participate in listening sessions related to the city's violent crime reduction efforts. Based on our work and recent survey responses from other boards and commissions, we encourage City Council to continue supporting investments in housing stability programs, eviction diversion, and community engagement initiatives that strengthen trust between residents and city institutions.

We also respectfully request that the DHRC be included in all stages of upcoming police chief selection processes, including advisory participation, community engagement, and structured dialogue sessions. As a commission focused on human relations and community trust, we believe our participation can support a transparent and community-informed process. Early advisory engagement from boards like the DHRC helps the city anticipate community concerns and strengthen trust while implementing policy effectively. Thank you for your continued leadership and for considering the DHRC's recommendations as part of your FY 2026-2027 budget process. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, my name is Mary Long.

So hold on one second, I was going to say something with Alex, but So we hear— I know it's not super loud, but we can hear in here. But at home on YouTube, the closer you get to the mic, the louder it is. And there are computer speakers. So when you all come up to speak at the mic, just ignore that it's there.

Just make sure it's pointing at you. You good. Don't grab it. Thanks.

My name is Mary Long. I joyfully serve as president of Eno Community Tennis Association. Thank you, Mary Williams, for that, um, well-timed break. Now that our fatigue is gone and the brain's back in our brain, um, we appreciate your listening and, um, consideration of our request tonight.

I know that you will hear some personal stories about tennis experiences and the lack of courts. I know that you are receiving emails from tennis enthusiasts regarding the same things. Some may include stats and numbers that are all very important. But tonight I want you to think about the possibilities.

There are so many possibilities that are lacking in Durham, and it's not from the effort of those community members. Eno Community Tennis has a strong staff and a very strong board. We are currently working hard to create community committees to work specifically on 3 groups in Durham. Those are senior citizens, the neurodivergent and disabled, and youth.

Unfortunately, we have— well, fortunately, we have a robust USTA tennis program, and there are just not enough courts to support even our USTA play. So now to consider programming for 3 different groups on top of a robust schedule of USTA matches, it's almost impossible. But with the dedication of staff and a board, they are looking outside Durham Public Courts, and that is just not acceptable. I have teams currently that are playing out of Southern Village Club.

They are Durham USTA teams, and we are playing at Southern Village. The disabled— we would like to start— I'm sorry, we'll start with the seniors. We would like to start programming for senior citizens. Lessons.

What a wonderful social circle for these individuals at a very little cost. We would like to have programming for disabled and neurodivergent. They should have access to the same things able-bodied individuals have in Durham, but without courts, that won't happen through Eno CTA. We just don't have the facilities.

The youth I know this council spends many hours, many hours dissecting the problems with the youth in Durham. And some of the problems stem from lack of resources and access to things that could keep them busy. Eno CTA would like to be part of that solution by creating programming for youth in Durham, particularly underserved youth. But again, we don't have the courts, we don't have the facilities.

Whether this has been from a lack of awareness or an abdurate resistance to investing money in local infrastructure, we're not concerned. But we do look forward to having funding. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, I have followed by Anna Mersa McClain, I believe, is cut off. And Ashley Trice.

Um, good evening, my name is Laura Lee Bible. I'm a Durham resident and an avid tennis player. I learned as a beginner just 4 years ago through the Tri-Tennis program at Eno CTA, and I'm here to ask for your full support for the increased Capital Improvement Plan budget that would enable funding for our parks and tennis courts. Um, we're not just talking about recreation, we're talking about maintaining a vital piece of Durham's public health.

Parks are one of the few free recreational facilities that we have in our city, and data shows a massive shift in how Durham is using its parks. Um, currently Durham is the 4th largest of 14 USTA leagues in North Carolina, um, and additionally we offer social programs. Um, and this isn't just for our seasoned players, it's for beginners like me and for youth and seniors. Um, tennis is bringing hundreds of new people into our parks in Durham every year, but our courts are becoming a problem and a bottleneck.

We're seeing constant cancellations, safety concerns on surfaces that haven't been able to keep pace with Durham's surge in participation. Um, and why does this matter? 7 years to your life, more than any other activity. You can continue to play it as you age, um, and that exercise can reduce cardiovascular disease by 56%.

Um, and more importantly, public courts is where tennis becomes inclusive. We've moved past the era of elite private clubs, and the majority of play in Durham happens in public spaces. And when we let our public courts deteriorate, we're effectively removing affordability and inclusivity, um, that make this lifetime, um, sport for all Durham residents regardless of their zip code or income. Public parks are the foundation of this growth, and by approving enough funding for resurfacing and repairs and for our parks in general, you're investing in the long-term health and social cohesion and safety of thousands of your constituents.

So I'll ask again, please fund the increased capital improvement plan request and keep Durham moving. Thank you. My name is Anna Mercer McLean. I hope you all have a copy of the letter that I've brought with me this evening.

I am with the Durham Orange Community Tennis Association. It's been around since 1998. We've been working with our youth as well as adults promoting and encouraging tennis. We are here to support the capital improvement plan with the emphasis that we want it to support and include the design and the construction of tennis facilities, resurfacing, repairs. We have been here a long time.

I've been here over 4 decades. Playing tennis on Durham courts.

And it's not the first time that we're talking about resurfacing. We talked about this 20, you know, 20 years ago with resurfacing the courts and having a maintenance plan to maintain those courts every 8 to 10 years, redoing courts. It's time to really complete a plan that works, that makes sure we have courts that are working.

We have over 1,400 children who are participating with Dr.

Plain junior team tennis each year over the last 2 years. And when you talked about Southern Plain and the Southern team winning, my son was 18-1 at Southern playing tennis. All my children went to Southern playing tennis and they played on Durham courts.

My son is now assistant tennis coach at North Carolina Central University.

Tennis is a career path for youth, and if you don't help plan and make sure courts are ready and available for them and safe now, there's not much of a future later for those people that want to go that path. We have a plan that we need to work on together. We have the Eno CTA here, the Durham CTO here, uh, CTA Impact is here. You're here.

We need to work to make sure these courts get resurfaced. And get resurfaced in '26-'27 as a part of your, uh, plan for your capital improvement plan. And I think that you should need to make sure also that the fees that are charged to organizations outside of this area are also looked at, that I put into the plan, because as an association, we're charged for county, uh, fees. So that's something else you need to look at. I thank you for the opportunity, and I, I hope you will take advantage of this and make sure the courts get redone.

Thank you very much. Next, I have Ashley Trice, followed by Victoria Peterson and Rex Miller. Good evening.

My name is Ashley Trice, and I'm the parent of a first grader at Hope Valley Elementary. I'm here tonight to advocate for permanent funding for a crossing guard at the corner of University Drive and Dixon Road. One of the things we love the most about Hope Valley is that we can walk to school.

My daughter looks forward to our walk every morning, and she calls it a jam walk.

Where we bring a portable speaker and listen to Frozen or Apa Ta Pa Ta every day. Um, those few minutes together are one of the best parts of our day, and they represent exactly the kind of healthy, connected community experience schools should encourage. However, walking to school also means navigating the intersection of University and Dixon, an intersection that is extremely busy and often chaotic, especially during morning drop-off. Over the past few months, Hope Valley has had the benefit of a temporary crossing guard, and the difference has been tremendous.

Tremendous. As a parent, it has provided real peace of mind, and I know many other families feel the same way. Before the crossing guard was in place, there were multiple close calls. Last year, a car nearly struck the stroller my husband was pushing.

A driver turning right on red onto Dixon didn't look and stopped at the last moment. I know our family is not the only one that has experienced something like this at that intersection. In fact, earlier this year, one of the crossing guards themselves was struck by a vehicle. Thankfully, they were not seriously injured, but it highlights how dangerous this intersection can be without proper traffic control and visibility.

There are over 100 students who live within the designated walking zone, including many families in the nearby apartment communities. These children and their caregivers rely on safe crossings every single school day. A crossing guard does more than simply help children cross the street.

Their presence signals to drivers that they are entering an active school zone.

It slows traffic, increases awareness and creates accountability for drivers who might otherwise be distracted or rushing through the intersection.

Crossing guards also model safe crossing practices for students, help— helping build lifelong habits around pedestrian safety.

Simply put, the crossing guard is not just a convenience, it's a critical safety measure for a large number of Hope Valley families. We want our children to be able to walk to school safely. We want families to feel confident choosing walking instead of driving, and we want to prevent a tragedy before one happens. For these reasons, I am urging the board to approve permanent funding for a crossing guard at the corner of University and Dixon.

This small investment will have a meaningful impact on the safety and well-being of our students, families, and school community. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Welcome. You have 3 minutes.

I, um, Durham is in a crisis. It really has been bothering me over the last few months, particularly the winter months, why so many African Americans, particularly men and women— this is Women's Month— are out in the streets and living in the streets and living on the street. It's just too many. We have all these apartment buildings that are being built downtown Durham, and when I ask persons about those buildings and how much does it cost to get an apartment, it's close to $2,000.

I mean, really? When I was coming up, There was a thing called— Mr. Mayor, you're a little young. Okay.

Matter of fact, most of y'all on the council are young. I'm closer to 100 years old than one. When I was coming up, there was a thing called the YWCA and the YMCA. As a single person, I lived at the YWCA.

I want to make sure I say it right. Was not the YM. Listen, folks, that old police building, Mr. Mayor, out there, was it West Chapel Hill Street?

We need that building. We need that building to get a lot of these folks off the streets. I believe I was at Burger King the other day. $14 an hour?

Is that what a lot of these companies who are big corporations, they're only paying their employees $14 an hour? That is not enough money to live in this community. We're concerned about crime. I hate to say it, I can see why people steal.

I'm sure a lot of them don't want to steal, but you really can't live that kind of life off of $14 an hour. You want a nice place to stay. These young folks were out at night in the winter of the night with fires. On private property burning fires to keep warm. Ms.

Peterson, please stay close to the mic.

This is a rich community. This ain't no poor community. Did y'all know when I came here in 1978, some of the wealthiest African Americans lived in Durham? Did y'all know that?

Some of the wealthiest African Americans in this country lived in Durham. Thank you. We need to do something and get that building fixed up, that old police station. We need that.

Thank you, Miss Peterson. And thank you. I know, I know, I know you will. I look forward to it. Is Rex Miller in?

Miss Mayor, Rex, I think he had to leave. Okay.

Gregory Williams, followed by John Talmadge, Stephen Rockhine, and Colleen Boblitz. Those are the following speakers. You can start to queue.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council. My name is Gregory Williams. I'm here with Bike Durham. First, I want to thank the city for its continued leadership on fare-free transit.

We are asking for the continuation of fare-free Go Durham and Go Durham Access services, and we hope that the city will continue working with the Board of County Commissioners to secure the roughly $2 million in transit sales tax funding needed to support the program rather than raise property taxes. Fairfree Transit continues to save Durham families hundreds of dollars each year while increasing their access to jobs, groceries, family, church, healthcare, education, and too many other opportunities to list. With the timer counting down. Secondly, we encourage the including of funding for the recommendations in the upcoming bike walk plan update in our 10-year CIP.

So that the city can continue building the safe and sustainable infrastructure residents have asked for. Third, we urge the city to continue improving the way projects are delivered so safety and mobility projects can be completed faster and more efficiently, allowing Durham to save money and reinvest those savings into additional infrastructure needs. Next, we ask that you fund the development of a street design manual. Having easily accessible standardized designs for the projects we have will help with both project delivery and consistency.

And speaking of the additional infrastructure needs, we also ask the council to support funding for sidewalks along Hoover Road to begin creating safe infrastructure and connections ahead of the new aquatic center coming next to Wheels, and for the families that are currently visiting from nearby neighborhoods or taking the bus that don't currently have a safe way there. Finally, we encourage the funding and creation of a program that allows community groups and institutions to take the lead on quick-build traffic calming projects so neighborhoods can partner directly with the city to make their streets safer. Thank you for your time and continued work to make Durham safer and more accessible for everyone.

Thank you.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Good evening. I'm John Talmadge, resident of Durham at 910 Virgie Street, and here this evening representing Bike Durham. Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Mayor, Mr.

Manager, and Council. I'll just add a few things to Gregory's comments. One, on the fare-free and in the discussions with county commissioners, I want to make sure that you're aware that the regional transit sales tax that's collected in Durham County has $210 million sitting in GoTriangle's bank accounts, and that that is earning more in interest than the request for keeping fare-free. So we will be communicating that to Durham County Commissioners as well.

But I want to make sure that you're aware of that. Again, on the adding the new projects from the draft bike walk plan, we understand that that is maybe an unusual request because you haven't adopted yet that bike walk plan. But we're excited that the city will be developing a 10-year CIP, and programming those projects in that CIP now means that we can move them as expeditiously as, as possible. Uh, in that draft plan, there are a number of recommendations for advancing projects, uh, and hopefully that these things are already in the budget, uh, or in the staff recommendations as they're being considered.

But those include adequate real estate staffing.

They include training for staff on how to deliver locally administered projects when they're funded with federal dollars, as well as training the project management staff on the new project management software that has been or is being implemented. Make sure that taking full advantage of those fully invest in those staff that are delivering those projects so that they can be completed as quickly as possible. And then the community-led quick build— there are community members in neighborhoods and institutions across the city that are looking for ways to make their own streets safer. This is a type of program that has been implemented in many cities across the country.

We've started communicating with staff about a series of recommendations about how one can be implemented here. I'm not sure that there's a financial ask this year, but looking for your support in making that happen. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Stephen Rakhine. You can pronounce that for me to make sure I'm doing it justice. Welcome.

You have 3 minutes. Upside down. Okay. Mr.

Mayor and council members, my name is Steve Rockin, and I serve on the USDA North Carolina Schools and High Schools Committee and the board of directors of the North Carolina High School Tennis Coaches Association. I'm also the varsity women's tennis coach at Riverside High School. And an adult league tennis player and a Durham resident. I'm here to advocate for the repairing of and adding to the existing tennis courts in our county.

Fixing the courts and adding to our court capacity will result in extra revenue for the city for court rentals. Courts that are in disrepair lose rental revenue. USTA North Carolina and USTA Southern have funds available to help with repairing courts courts and lights and building new ones with 50/50 matches available in many cases. The more courts that are playable, the more money that will come into the city.

Durham hosted the 40 and over state championships in 2008 and 2009, which brought in $1 million in revenue each weekend we hosted. This includes hotel reservations and restaurant usage. These are in fact pre-COVID numbers. So you can erase that entirely.

And last but not least, health benefits to our citizens. Tennis has been shown to be the healthiest sport to play in terms of longevity, adding 9 years to the average life expectancy. Good for me. I'm 77 years old and playing on 4 local league teams and captaining the 5th.

Uh, one of the teams is 18 and over and the other is 40 and over. That's all I have to say about that. Thank you.

Gosh, coming here showing everybody up, it's against the rules. Welcome.

Hi, my name is Colleen Boblitz. I'm a resident of Durham and a volunteer with Bike Durham. I did come here to to talk about the Bike Durham requests, but I've learned some delightful tennis facts along the way, which I really have appreciated. So I work in Research Triangle Park, and I've started commuting using my bike and the awesome 12 bus route.

In addition to reducing the burden on working people, the free bus fare is a major incentive for choosing to commute in a way that reduces traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and the cost of road maintenance. Related but separately, I've appreciated engagement and responsiveness for questions that I've had from, uh, city staff regarding the Roxborough Mangum repaving project. I love our downtown and especially the library, but would find it more welcoming and accessible if it were safer to visit this public resource as a pedestrian. I'd like to encourage the city to negotiate with Durham County for transit sales tax funding to continue fare-free Go Durham and Access services, fund the upcoming recommendations for the bike and walk plan update via the 10-year capital improvements plan. This would help support safer infrastructure on Roxborough via the repaving project, funding a street design manual as requested by the city transportation department, and accelerating completion of infrastructure projects to save money for reinvesting in other needs. Thank you.

Yep, that's two. Thank you. All right, next I have Pablo Friedman, Pablo F, followed by Donna Stanek and David Green.

You good on the mic? All right, good. Um, good evening, Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, members of the City Council, and the millions of viewers who are watching this incredible City Council meeting. So good evening to all.

So this budget hearing, I want to talk a little bit first on the revenue side because I think we're trying to play— make a very difficult decision with very limited tax dollars. We just concluded an election cycle where I think many of us saw so many ads about, you know, who's going to take it to the billionaires and the corporate players here in Durham. And I think now it's time to lean into some of those progressive values on the revenue side, right? So we have a billion-dollar entity in Durham.

They don't pay property taxes, they get sales tax refund, and they try to bargain away the state health care plan by having some of the highest health care costs to state employees. And yet they pay nothing, um, when it comes to the city coffers. I think this is a bold moment for each one of you on the dais to publicly call on this institution to give you all $10 million. I think that's actually far lower than what they should be giving, but that's a start and can lead you out of some of this budget mess that you're in.

Okay, so that's one option I want to put on the table on the revenue side. Secondly is, I went to school with Hudson Vaughn. Both of our— both of us are Chapel Hill grads. He was one year older than me, but he's put out some research talking about how, with the recent property tax reevaluations that occurred here, commercial properties are significantly undervalued relative to residential properties.

We talk a lot about equity in this town. I publicly call on each one of you on the dais to ask for a property tax reevaluation, placing specific emphasis on commercial owners. I live in downtown Durham. I have the lowest property tax bill I've had in 5 years.

That's not right. Systemically, we've got to reassess property tax. That's the one thing you can control, and that will help you on the revenue side. Because I actually think you got— the county got it wrong on this one, right?

On the expenses side, I've talked many times and I've been up here around how y'all give a lot of money to nonprofits. I think we heard earlier tonight some money being shoved to a nonprofit. I really think the city needs to have a very clean process for giving monies to nonprofits from the get-go, not here and there and there, because y'all give millions of dollars every year to nonprofits. And I think the public deserves some transparency as to how that's taking place.

Last, I've played on the tennis courts. They do need to be resurfaced. Also, shout out to my pickleball players. I played in Piney Woods.

There's a long wait to use the pickleball courts at Piney Woods. I also know there's an expansion request regarding soccer. I played youth soccer back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I think they need their money. So please fund your rec programs. They help keep kids healthy and occupied, and I think that, that should be a unanimous, nonpartisan goal here in Durham. Thank you very much.

Welcome, Mr.

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. My name is Donna Stanek. I'm with the Durham Parks Foundation, and, um, I'm here to talk— I have 3 things I want to go over very briefly. We've heard a lot about recreation facilities, and being on the foundation board, we are supportive of improving recreation facilities across the spectrum here in Durham.

The, um, we've heard someone mention the Hoover Road sidewalks. That's an important element because it was mentioned providing sidewalks will allow the neighborhood to access more easily, access the Merrick Moore playgrounds, which you all have already spent a significant amount of money investing in and improving, which they're great, but sidewalks that help kids stay from walking in the road and staying on the sidewalk. Facilities are great, but another thing that Durham Parks Department provides, and we support as a foundation, is programming. It's great to have facilities, but it's good to have good programming as well.

So I'd like to encourage you to increase the budget in the general programming elements of— so we can provide more expanded concerts in the parks, especially in the spring and summer. Spring and fall when the weather's better, um, expand the Bin Bay Festival, which is mid-May, which is a great festival. I personally go and work it every year and always have a great time. And the newly acquired— the Parks Department is going to be taking on the holiday tree lighting, and I think more funding would allow that to be a great event, maybe even a regional event that'll attract people from throughout the, um, area. And so I'd like for you to consider those three items in the budget, and, uh, appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome, David. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council.

My name is David Green, also with the Durham Parks Foundation.

I will be brief. I don't have much prepared. I want to reiterate everything that Donna said and also Gregory with Bike Durham specifically on the Hoover Road sidewalk improvements, and then also specifically point out a request to fully fund the CIP for playground renovations, which I know have been tagged for the ongoing year, and your continued support in that. As Durham Parks Foundation, one of our major pillars is advocacy for inclusive play and access for all, and it is my understanding that renovations for both of those playgrounds will go toward improving that goal.

So unfortunately, I don't have Lightning writing cards for me, which would be wonderful. I wish I did. Uh, but otherwise, I'll say thank you for your time this evening, and I hope you all have a nice night.

Thank you. I have, uh, next Ramsey Ritchie, Tammy Sneed, and Connie— yeah, we just had this conversation, my bad.

Evening, Mayor, Council, I, uh, I had a script prepared, but my phone died during this incredibly long meeting. So thank you for your service and for still being here. Um, I am following up on Ashley Trace's comment previously on funding a crossing guard for the intersection of Dixon, Chapel Hill, and University. Just to provide a little bit of background about where that request's coming from, right now the crossing guard that is sitting in that spot is funded through a subcontract, contract agreement with All City Management.

Services, I think that's right, through a pilot program that ends in June. And so it's not like the other crossing guard programs that you might be funding through DPD. It's a pilot using a subcontractor. And so we're going to lose funding for that, not because we need more funding for the DPD crossing guard program, but because that pilot program needs to be continued in order for us to hold on to the crossing guard that's providing essential services to our community right now.

So just as you're thinking through your budget Um, I don't know exactly what the mechanism for that subcontract is. I think DPD might be trying to, um, move some of the crossing guard services to a subcontract. Either way, we would love to make sure that that funding continues for that specific intersection and many more in Durham where we know the services is required. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council, Durham. Um, it's been a long night, but thank you for, um, allowing me to come and present this evening. I am Tammy Sneed.

I am a representative from the Durham Parks Foundation, and I, um, 100% back everything that my fellow board members have been speaking about, about funding with sidewalks and acts Furthermore, I am speaking today in support of strengthening Durham parks overall, including tennis courts, bikes, bikes, trails, all the things. An investment in the parks is the best option for everyone. Durham parks are more than green spaces. They are places where families gather, children learn, explore, and discover.

It's where communities build meaningful connections. Our parks give special social-emotional connections. Access to high-quality parks supports healthy developmental activities for all of our learners, including our youngest, youngest learners in early childhood, which is very near and dear to my heart. I am the director of the Goddard School in Durham as well, and this is very, very dear to my heart, to make sure that families and children have a safe, brave space to explore, to discover, and to find meaningful connections.

Durham Parks Foundation helps to expand and improve these spaces by bringing together community members, donors, and partners to support projects that city alone cannot overtake and cannot support fully. We want to make sure that we are part of this partnership and, um, this community-driven initiatives, and the foundation helps to ensure that our parks are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of the neighborhoods that we live in, all of our neighbors, our fellow people that we touch every single day. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Nope, you do it.

Revolutionary love to our mayor, city council members, and of course to our beloved community members. My name is Kanaya Dom Ruydez-Bey. I live in Central Park District here in Durham. I serve as a community violence prevention organizer.

With North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. Earlier today, while walking my dog down Rigsby Street near Central Park, I saw a city worker removing graffiti. And it was— as I was looking at his truck, I noticed that it said Durham Neighborhood Improvement Services. I'll be honest, I didn't even know Durham had an entire department focused on improving neighborhood quality of life.

But when I looked into it, I learned they focus on code enforcement, blight reduction, community engagement to help maintain safe and healthy neighborhoods. And it made sense. I constantly see people downtown picking up trash, cleaning up the streets, having different community events and fixing things. So how can I not feel safe in downtown Durham?

But my concern is for community members across Durham who may not have the same privileges, people living in neighborhoods shaped by redlining, disinvestment, and fewer resources. So the question becomes simple: What would it look like if we invested in safety in every neighborhood with the same level of commitment? Across the country, the cities that have seen the largest reductions in homicide have one thing in common: They made serious, sustained investments in community violence intervention, CVI. Cities like Chicago, Birmingham, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, Detroit, Newark, Richmond, Oakland, and of course, as most people know, Baltimore, invested deeply in CVI strategies, and the results followed.

One lesson from those cities is clear: violence prevention cannot be treated like a short-term pilot program. It must be treated like public safety infrastructure. Based on what we've seen nationally, building a real system here in Durham would require about $10 million per year with a 3-year commitment, which is around $30 million total, specifically for violence intervention and prevention. That investment would allow Durham to rebuild and scale the kind of violence interruption work that programs like Bull City United once provided.

Violence interrupters are trained community members who mediate conflicts, interrupt cycles of retaliation, and reach people most likely to be involved in violence before tragedy happens. But a full CVI strategy also includes prevention, mentoring, job placements, education, developing parks and recs, And of course, of course, youth summer jobs. Because real safety means investing before violence happens. And here's the reality we are already facing.

In 2025 alone, 39 homicides in Durham. That's with the estimate of $625,000 cost per homicide. We're looking at $24 million spent just last year alone. As of February 19th this year, Durham has spent over $10 million in homicides.

I know there's been more homicides since then. That was 9 homicides on February 19th. So we talk about investing $10 million, we're talking about investing in prevention, intervention, not just new spending. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, I appreciate the grace from community members tonight and saying this is a long meeting. I believe my first year on council we were in here until about 3 AM. So, uh, yes.

I know you all are ready to go home, so I'll try to keep it brief. My name is Donald Hughes. I'm a proud Durham native, born and raised in East Durham. But today I'm here to talk to you about this crime crisis that we have in Durham.

I'm going to read I'm going to read to you a petition that I created 5 years ago that was directed to then-Mayor Shewell and city council members. And I'm only going to read a few parts of it. As you prepare for the city's FY21-22 budget process, we are writing to submit a specific budget request for inclusion in the upcoming budget. With an increase in some types of violent crimes in recent years, especially shootings, there's a clear need to examine the intersection of economic despair and crime in our community.

And then I go on to say, while there's no singular way to address these challenges, doing nothing is a sure way to see these issues continue, which they have. We must try a different approach, one that focuses on the economic needs of many in our hardest-hit communities. So we are requesting a deeper and more impactful commitment to youth employment in the city of Durham. The current budget— this was 5 years ago— includes $559,500 in program funding, which covers program expenses as well as stipends for about 480 youth summer participants.

19 million, and this increase in funding should be able to cover stipends for nearly 1,000 summer youth participants. In those 5 years, the budget for the YouthWorks program is completely the same. We're only covering about 480 youth when we have 30,000 young people in the Durham public school system. 5 million to participatory budgeting, which has continued to exist here in Durham.

And I'll go on to say, let's spread economic prosperity to every corner of Durham, from Crosdale to Cornwallis, and from downtown to Daymark Court. So I implore you members of this council to do what's right. When the house is on fire, you don't go out in the front yard and plant flowers. You deal with putting out the fire.

And Durham is on fire in terms of our young Black people dying in our streets. So we must pause this participatory budgeting. We must look for other ways to cut spending in the budget and address the issue of employing our young people, because the data, they show that if young people are employed, their participation in criminal activity not only decreases during the summer, but it decreases long after they participate in that summer program. I came back in 2023.

org petition where I was asking for the same thing. Here we are 5 years later. Do we really care about our young people? Are we going to make the investment in saving their lives, or are we going to continue to build these beautiful, glowing buildings while our young people are dying in our streets? Thank you.

Thanks for those comments. All right. As I was saying, thanks for the grace. This is not too bad.

And it's always one. One year was the bird sanctuary. This year it's tennis. Williams, but we're going to try our best to embrace all of the comments as we deliberate and consider this budget.

There were a lot of very pertinent comments made tonight, and I know that the council has taken them, taken them all. So really appreciate it. At this time, that is the end of our agenda. You know what, that's right, we do need to close the public hearing so we can pass this budget eventually, right, Chelsea?

Yeah. All right, at this time I'll declare the public hearing closed, and we are back before the council, and we have addressed all the agenda items. So thank you all so much, we are adjourned.