 One minute to air the live stream has started 30 seconds on the Durham City Council meeting to order for this the seventh day of March 2022 at 7 p.m We certainly want to welcome everybody back into City Council chambers this evening We are here. We are here. We are here and we want to welcome those who are joining us Remotely as well We're gonna wait for our fellow council Colleague to join us who was stuck in traffic and then we will have a moment of silence once he's seated We just also want to recognize Councilman Reese and ask that you reflect on his time of service here doing our moment of silence talking to me We're gonna reflect on all of the good things that you have done Will do We will have a moment of silence meditation. Thank you Thank you Thank you at this time. I'm going to ask Councilman Reese to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance if you don't mind Thank You mayor and Neil good evening colleagues city staff the very few members of the public who are here including my family and Those of you watching at home if it's your practice to do so and if you're able Please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance Thank You mayor and Neil thank you Madam clerk if you will call please call our role Mayor, O'Neill. I am here mayor pro tem Middleton. I'm here Councilmember Caballero here councilmember Freeman present councilmember Johnson here Councilmember Reese right here the councilmember Williams Here finally We do have a couple of ceremonial items I will be reading the first one and then Councilman Johnson will read the second Your honor, I'm sorry ma'am, but you hold on for just a second. We can't hear you Make sure our mic is on Okay, I think they have to turn it on in the back. Is it on them? All right. Thank you so much Let's start from the beginning. This is an honor of my one of my mentors Senator Jeannie Hopkins Lucas a Proclamation Whereas senator Jeannie Hopkins Lucas a native of Durham was born on Christmas Day December 25th 1935 to the late Robert and Bertha Hopkins and Whereas senator Hopkins Lucas attended East End Elementary Now Eastway with it junior high and hillside high school She earned her undergraduate with a double major and graduate degrees from North Carolina Central University And whereas senator Hopkins Lucas was joined and supported in her life endeavors by her husband of 47 years William Bill Lucas and Whereas from 1957 to 1975 Senator Hopkins Lucas was a classroom teacher at hillside and was recognized as an outstanding educator and recipient of the Durham City Teacher of the Year in 1974 in 1977 Durham City Schools Employed her as director of the Staff Development Center and she became director of personnel staff development when the city and county schools merged in 1991 She served as director of school community relations in 1992 and retired from Durham public schools in 1993 and whereas in 1993 Senator Hopkins Lucas became the first African American female to serve in the North Carolina Senate representing Durham Grandville person and weight counties and was elected for seven consecutive terms in 2003 she was the first African American ever elected as the Senate majority whip and Whereas she took the lead in the General Assembly on issues related to children the elderly mentally and physically challenged HIV AIDS patients health insurance for low-income residents education economic funding for minority and women owned businesses the environment and juvenile justice reform Senator Hopkins Lucas was instrumental in securing more than $15 million to aid in the construction of a new education building on the North Carolina Central University campus and Whereas Senator Hopkins Lucas was an active member of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus where she co-chair the caucuses annual conferences and served as secretary She also served as secretary for the state Democratic Caucus and whereas Senator Hopkins Lucas Won the respect of her colleagues and became affectionately Referred to by members of the Senate as Queen Jeannie and whereas she was a member of the Durham committee on affairs of black people The Durham alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Sata sorority the Durham chapter of the links incorporated and a lifetime member of the NAACP just to name a few and Whereas Senator Hopkins Lucas was a member of Mount Gilead Baptist Church Church and served as secretary of the trustee board chair of the budget committee member and president of the mass and gospel choirs and Sunday school teacher now therefore I Elaine M. O'Neill Mayor of the city of Durham, North Carolina Do hereby proclaim March 24th 2022 as senator Jeannie Hopkins Lucas day in Durham and hereby honor the memory of my great friend my mentor Senator Jeannie Hopkins Lucas for being a great leader and a woman with great compassion who love god and her family Witness my hand This the seventh day of march 2022 Elaine M. O'Neill Mayor of Durham I believe her sister Is here who is also one of my mentors. I actually work with her at Duke University And we affectionately call her Bernie If she's there Bernie, I won't mispronounce your name again But if you would say your name, thank you so much for being here Good evening mayor The honorable mayor Elaine O'Neill esteemed city council members Distinguished elected officials Prominent clergy and all citizens of Durham and beyond It brings me Bernadette Hopkins David Yerumo great pleasure and an abundance of joy to accept this proclamation Naming march 24th a day of recognition for my sister the late senator State senator Jean Hopkins Lucas Her family is excited and overjoyed to hear your decision to bestow our gene with such an awesome tribute of high honor My sister was a woman of the people By your actions today, you have assured us that her legacy will live on forever Please know that our family is elated and have sent you loads of praise and love For making this proclamation a reality Our gene must be smiling and grinning in satisfaction Because of this honor her work for Durham will live on eternally We her family, thank you Thank you Thank you with our blessings Thank you so much recording in progress Thank you so much And no it was not by error that I pronounced her name genie That's what we all called her with her family called her gene, which is the correct pronunciation We're so glad Bernie to do this in honor of her memory Madam mayor, would you like me to proceed? Okay Good evening everyone. Thank you all for joining us tonight I've read a lot of proclamations and this is the one I have to say it's going to be on my top most exciting proclamations of my council career In honor of my friend and colleague charlie reese who informs me that It's been two thousand two hundred and eighty one days since we were sworn in To the Durham city council out that i'm counting He's never counting And i'm excited to read this proclamation For charlie reese day Whereas council member charlie reese was first elected as an at-large Durham city council member in 2015 And whereas before and during his time serving on city council He worked as general council for row incorporated And whereas his constituents know him as a strong supporter of education clean air and water improved transportation alternatives And development that considers the needs of all residents And whereas he has served on the city council's procedures legislative and northeast central durham subcommittees He's also served with the durham chapel hill carboro metropolitan planning organization and sister cities of durham And whereas while on city council he engaged with many durham residents by answering emails and involving city staff to make Sure resident concerns were heard and questions were answered And whereas he is sought to know durham fully by visiting every public park writing every go-durham bus route biking or running every mile of Trail in the city picking up roadside trash on durham streets and walking every property that has come before the council for annexation or rezoning And whereas council member reese has been a dedicated and constant advocate for durham and its residents And whereas the city of durham has benefited greatly from council member reese's contributions Now therefore i elaine m o'neill mayor of the city of durham north carolina do hereby proclaim march 7 2022 as charlie reese day in durham And do hereby commend its observance to all residents of our city Now you have to come get this big I Don't feel like waiting Thank you council member johnson. Thank you mayor o'neill. I never in my entire life dreamed. It would be a charlie reese day Especially not in this city. We all love I was looking back on some remarks. I made it my swearing in in 2015 five minutes after jilliam Um and I was looking at some remarks I made in 2019 when I was sworn in for the second time again five minutes after jillian And I closed both remarks the same way and so I thought I would share that with you tonight Um, both times I wanted to lay out what I thought the council's work should be Um when business comes before us and I think now It'll be about how I think y'all ought to go about your business in the months and years ahead When we see something going right in durham, let's please celebrate that and build on the successes we have right here at home When we see something broken in durham, please fix that Use what's right about durham to fix what's wrong about durham And in all of our conversations around public policy, please please Center the experiences and voices of durham's working families They won't be here for those conversations That's how we build true progress in the city. That's how we build a city for all And I have every confidence. I know in my heart that y'all can do that and that you will do that The only other thing I wanted to say is I wanted to thank my family my wife. Dr. Laura helms reese My older child rose on my younger child went Without them. I would not have been able to do this job As I said when I announced my resignation two weeks ago Our family has Conformed our life In such a way that I could do this ridiculous impossible incomparable job And so I just want to thank you guys For your support over the years Thanks for knocking so many doors with me. Thanks for Not minding when I had to miss dinners and putting you to bed But I guarantee you over the next couple of years you're going to get more of that than you probably want So anyway, just thank you all so much This has been the most rewarding experience of my life in the public sphere It's the best job I've ever had and I'm just really lucky to have done it. So thank you very much and I can't believe it's charlie reese day That's bizarre. So thank you very much. Appreciate it Let's get back to business The period of announcements with opportunities for Our colleagues to speak And tell all about their experiences of charlie reese on this great day. I'll start that off as one of the people who Came in to this venues last So I want those who know you best That they'll be the last voices that you hear So I thank you I thank you councilman reese You've been a kind man. I'll tell you My sister yuna sanders. I was introduced to you By my sister yuna sanders who Is the executive director, I believe of crayons to calculators, which is the non-profit organization that may have steve schule started In order to give supplies To our public school teachers And she talked about how kind you were And how you worked really hard in that space And so I just want you to know that you have fans That you probably don't even know about Who have watched you And and watched your your real work Out there on those streets of Durham And who speak of you highly And about you And that's what I how I was introduced to you Through her and I've learned that that is true And so when I got into this new role You welcomed me You even brought me mask To my door And so I just hope this is a tentative so long And you'll be back with your beautiful wife Your beautiful daughters that I met at the Christmas parade In those beautiful outfits your head on that day You're a man to be reckoned with In a good way You do Durham proud And I'm proud to call you Collie And I'm proud to call you friend Thank you for all you've done Thank you mayor and you'll Yeah, may I uh councilman wreath I'm still uh A little bothered that you're leaving so soon now that I get on here, but I understand Dr. Wreath, I understand Um, so I have tried to get as much time with you as our schedules were to lie allow Um Promising I'm going to call you and not getting to it, but at least I said the text. Hey, I want to call you um to you know, um You know stealing some of your ideas Going across every park in the city Uh getting ready to kick that off. Uh, that was inspired by you To walking two and a half hours through the woods With residents to see in person What we see on paper And you know if anyone was to ever have an idea of what it's like or what it should be like To serve the people You've laid out a grand template for that and I you leave that to no question and I am so appreciative of that Uh, and I appreciate knowing that just because you're stepping away temporarily that your line of communication is still open And I do plan to bother you so I um For you know for uh for the time to come I wish you all well And uh, I will see you. I I will be in the uk here and there. So I'm sure I'll reach out with you there Be well and in my wife's language. They say Hamba kushley Go well and be strong Thank you. Councilman Williams Mayor pro tem, would you like to go next? Thank you madam mayor. Um, I thought about what I would say tonight And um, I'll just tell you what happened today Uh today on his last day in office When no one would have been mad at him for just packing boxes or kicking back or just, you know Using the city hall wi-fi for a little while longer Um, he was working He sat next to me at the Fire department's graduation ceremony class 32 We sat next to each other as we celebrated 22 new firefighters. He didn't have to be there But he was there Uh, and then he left there and went to do more constituent relations On his last day Working Up until the last minute What better exclamation point can you have on his time with us than that? That he went hard Up until the last minute and went down shooting Um, you've set the bar high my friend As we say in my tradition, we won't end with a period or an exclamation point just a comma Dot dot dot. This is to be continued in just different arenas in different places May god bless you and keep you May god bless and protect your family May your success embarrass your expectations On behalf of the people of war two on behalf of a grateful city on behalf of me Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Europe doesn't know what it's getting into Uh, so we'll check on them from time to time But Durham loves you and your words that I love so much Durham today Durham tomorrow Durham forever Go well my friend Thank you, mayor pro 10 meadowton councilwoman freeman Thank you and uh I'd like to say of the 2283 days that you've served on council. I've had the pleasure of serving 1554 of them with you I think and I if I can calculate the exact number of hours. I think it's 14 hours and Uh, doing math 54 minutes I can't count the seconds But yes, you get the idea and I think that that is what sticks out for me the most is just how meticulous you've been About every single case that's come before us and I respect the work that you do Um, I respect the way that you've Been so committed to every resident in this community and I wish you all the best I would say that all of the time that I've served on this council. I've learned so much Um from your work and not just your work, but your kind notes And letters and thank you cards and gifts And I will definitely miss the gifts I will say that you're I when you first called I was I was kind of like I don't I don't understand what the hesitation was but I do And that I understand that service comes first for you and it will always come first for you And I appreciate your family sacrifice. Just knowing, uh, I know my family sacrificed And you guys are the greatest. I I I can't say enough about your wife and your daughters They are growing up to be really lovely young young women And I know that they'll enjoy paris So Adriana's already jealous But I've told her we will go But uh, yes, I just There's not enough time to like gather all of the ways in which I guess like The way that you work through the issues when I first got on council. I can remember, um There wasn't I think it was an issue around the taxes that would came up and how to work through it And you were like on it. You're like call this person. Let's get this sit down meeting. I'm like, hold on. Wait a minute Let's talk to some folks about getting engaged, but you're just always ready and I appreciate that so going to miss you and uh Again, I wish you all the best because anything I could do to let me know Thank you. Thank you councilmember freeman. I appreciate that Councilman macabre Thank you. Good evening everyone. So tonight we say goodbye to um councilmember reef's in his official capacity as a Durham city councilmember Charlie has become a close friend over the years and I'm going to miss him a lot He's been an excellent and dedicated councilmember since he was first selected in 2015 And I've learned a ton from him And I've also enjoyed Watching folks squirm a little bit when he decides to go into former prosecutor mode something he graciously doesn't do often He's done so much behind so much work behind the scenes There's so many residents in Durham quietly picking up trash at bus stations meeting families at their homes when they faced evictions lightly trespassing all over Durham To really dig in to our zoning cases And we could all go on and on about the tremendous incredible work that you've done for So many folks in the city, but I want to end on the kind of friend that you are And you have been there for me since day one. You've been there for me since you barely knew me When I was a brand new councilmember very much a deer caught in the headlights And you listened to me and you were generous and you were genuine And you helped me understand the burden and responsibilities What does it mean to actually have this job? And what does it mean to actually help make decisions for 300,000 people? So I'm going to miss you compañero And I know you're not living forever And I am not at all surprised that you are following your badass wife On this next adventure because that shows exactly the kind of person husband and human you are That girl that's cool. Thank you so grateful Thank you councilmember cabrera Councilwoman johnson Thank you. Uh, I was instructed to keep this short So I'm just going to tell a little story. Um about the first time that I met charlie So, um In early 2015 when you know in the in the run up to the election You know, there's always in the run up to the election the rumors start flying Who's gonna run for reelection? Who's gonna, you know, who's not running for their seat again? How many seats are gonna be open? And so the rumors started flying around Durham about there being an open seat on the Durham city council And a couple of people were talking to me about Whether I would be interested in running and so I was trying to decide whether or not to run And through the rumor mill we hear this name charlie reese charlie reese is thinking about running for city council And so we were like well Let's meet with charlie reese and let's see if instead of running for city council I can convince charlie reese to support me to run for city council Um, so I show up to this meeting at bonds with like three pages of notes About how I'm gonna convince charlie to to not run for council and support me instead Um, and we sit down at bonds and I'm like super nervous and after I get through maybe You know 15 of my arguments charlie says stop You don't have to say anymore. I'm not gonna run for city council I'm gonna support you and I'm gonna throw you a house party. Just let me know what you need Um, and then of course as the election cycle progressed we found out that they were going to actually be Two folks who weren't going to run for re-election um, and I was so excited to be able to To have charlie join me on the campaign trail and to be elected together and sworn in together But I think the story just again illustrates the kind of person you are that for a random stranger you would never met in your life After very little conversation You would You would put aside the work that you were excited to do And instead support somebody else to do that work And you have had my back every moment of every day from that day forward And we're gonna miss you, but I'm not worried because I'm still gonna see you all the time Um, once you get back from paris, I might even actually visit you there If I can't convince you to put me in your luggage when you leave I will have to go visit. Um, but we're gonna miss you doing this job And really appreciate all of the friendship and support And being able to work with you for the last six years And I love you Thank you councilmember johnson I'd now like to recognize our city manager Thank you madam mayor Um, it is my privilege this evening to On behalf of the 2600 plus city employees that we have in the city of Durham Government to say thank you mr. Ease for your service from everyone You have kept us on our toes You keep us Making sure that we are able to respond to Any kind of question from the smallest question to the biggest one You get it to us and we get you back an answer And and certainly tonight. I want to personally say thank you for all of the support Uh, the confidence in me the friendship that you've provided to me and encouragement That you've shown to me over the years Um, I will never forget it Uh, I will really miss working with you Day to day and I'm really excited for your family As you embark on your new Stage of life in paris Um, tonight I will say farewell before I said I would not but tonight I will Uh, but in charlie restyle Uh Not quite This moment because you do have four more hours Um to serve our great city as a council member um, so Until that time expires We'll keep working And I say, uh, best wishes to you and your wonderful family Thank you city manager page. I appreciate that Attorney donnell tool from the city attorney's office So I have to say council member caballeros prosecutor wording As as a city staff person an attorney for the city I think I've been on the receiving end of that a couple of times And um, you know the first time you experience that it's a little shocking but um, I I just want you to know that we understand why you do that and um I really think um the Your intelligence your legal background all of the experience that you've brought to this job I think it's really great that you and the other council members really challenge us and um, just sort of the established norms and what really Is possible And so I just want you to know that um at times. I didn't love the prosecutorial questioning But I want you to know how much I appreciate it and I do think that you make Made all of the city staff do their jobs better and more thoroughly and thank you so much for doing that Thank you Don I just want to let folks know that the first time I met donno tool The first time I met donno tool. I was knocking doors in his neighborhood in the fall of 2015 He was walking his dog with his wife and approached me and um Gave me a little cross examination. I must say About some loose language and one of my flyers about what the city could and could not do legally So I just like to think I was paying it forward a little bit From that first meeting But the good news is you won't have to endure that for me ever again. Congratulations I now recognize our city clerk dinosaur Good evening everyone and um good evening council member reese. This is our last meeting together and uh And the best fashion of the city clerk. I want to keep it short and sweet I want to wish you and your family all the best as you uh go off for your peresian adventure We hope that you keep in touch with our our Durham our city and I wish you all the best So thank you Thank you city clerk schreiber We're done now Thank you all for your wonderful remarks On charlie reese day another round of applause And now as tally would say councilman reese would say we're now about the people's business And we will turn to our announcements by council. I did have a request from councilwoman johnson That we turn our attention first to item number three on our Consent agenda which is adopt a resolution in support of the declaration of fundamental Reproductive freedoms. We have a speaker here Miss tyra romano who we would like to have her speak first unless someone else has any objection Yeah, madam mayor. She's on the zoom all right and we're ready For her and I believe she is on zoom Miss tyra Romano, can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Oh, wonderful. Thank you Well, thank you for inviting me to speak at this meeting. My name is terra romano And I am the executive director of pro-choice north carolina It's no surprise that the city of derm is considering passing a resolution in declaration of fundamental reproductive freedoms The city of derm is among just four local governments in north carolina and approximately two dozen localities around the country That have passed resolutions calling for an end to the unjust and anti-abortion federal hide and amendment This resolution is also a welcome action as we witness the most intense attacks on abortion access at the federal and state level in nearly five decades Reproductive freedom including safe and affordable access to abortion contraception pre and postnatal care and comprehensive and accurate sex education is a necessary and critical freedom that too many Politicians are eager to trade away in exchange for political power With the us supreme court seemingly ready to overturn nearly 50 years of legal precedent in order to recriminalize abortion And states like texas openly define federal constitutional rights to ban abortion And lawmakers here in north carolina continuing to stigmatize and erode access to all sexual and reproductive health care We need local governments to take a take a stand for these fundamental freedoms Whether it's ensuring safety at abortion and reproductive health care clinics Finding innovative ways to expand access to affordable quality reproductive and sexual health care Ensuring youth have the tools they need to assert their value autonomy or creating tangible and material support and policies for people making their own reproductive health care decisions There are numerous ways local governments can step in where our state and federal governments have fallen short We applaud the city of germ's proactive efforts to assure its residents that their local elected officials are committed to the values of reproductive freedom Restrictions on abortion justice restrictions on all health care Impact black indigenous and people of color communities more acutely and disproportionately Unnecessary and political restrictions force these communities and people with low incomes rural communities young people immigrant communities LGBTQ people and those with disabilities to bear unjust burdens as they try to access care that is critical to their health safety well-being and economic security As reproductive oppression occurs at many intersections We know that abortion access is not the only target and that we must remain vigilant in facing these escalating oppressions We applaud the city of germ for considering this proactive approach to reproductive freedom We encourage the city to adopt this resolution the first of its kind in north carolina And to build on the city's history of championing human rights and equality for all and to stand as a leader for other local governments to follow Thank you Thank you Mr. Romano, we're going to quickly move through our announcements and then we'll get to our priority items We want to have uh councilman Reese with us for as long as possible tonight So i'm going to have you here for a little while longer All right. Are there any other announcements from council? All right councilwoman caballero Yes, good evening everyone. Um This will be a little bit long. So I ask for some indulgence and forgiveness First, I want to thank my colleagues for my excused absences for the last several meetings I've never missed that many meetings Since joining council on january 2018 And I want to talk a little bit about where I've been and what I've been doing So I had the unique privilege of traveling to chile south america, which is my tiranatel where I was born with a fellowship sponsored by mijente a political Latina organization and I stayed a little bit longer So I could actually see families some of whom I hadn't seen since 2008 The two weeks since I've been gone the in the bullet since I've been gone from the bull city I arrived this morning after an overnight flight. So i'm quite tired Much has changed a dear colleague and friend has resigned A war has broken out And folks have been talking about nuclear weapons being used Something that hasn't you know a conversation that hasn't resurfaced after many many decades of diminished concern We have new maps And many amazing people have filed to run for office and last but not least UNC beat duke at caraman stadium For coach k's last home game and while i'm not a hardcore UNC fan. I certainly relished Seeing all the trash talk I So I went to chile to meet with uh a current elected and movement leaders during an absolutely amazing Time in chilean history. They're in the middle of rewriting their constitution And many many folks are all over the world are watching what is politically unfolding there And they're about to change a lot of how their systems are organized and how they work Many chileans are terribly afraid including some of my own family of what may come next But what I actually saw and what I actually observed was an overwhelming amount of Regular folks regular people saying they'd had enough with a system That was deeply unjust for them And where many many people Are living in deeply precarious economic situations not dissimilar to what we see here And many of the many of the concerns that folks shared Sounded all too familiar the cost of living was too high Wages were too low and for too long most political most folks in political power Were in power to serve the many but the elite And the process that they're undertaking in chile is profound and hard and they're doing it through the very message messy challenge of democracy And that commitment that commitment to democracy is something that we're also seeing unfold in the ukraine Which is also defending democracy And i'm marveling At the resistance and the resiliency of so many regular people standing up to injustice in this moment And so I come back renewed recharged and with a greater purpose to always working towards a better and more just world And I very much appreciate the time that I was able given by the my colleagues to do that incredible work I look forward to having more conversations about my experiences there Thank you so much. I look forward to those conversations. Are there any additional announcements from a little My other colleagues Mayor pro tem Thank you, madam. Just very quickly. I just want to uh stress my gratefulness to a couple of people Well a bunch of people actually of this evening. Um on on friday. I was involved in a pretty serious car accident Uh in with some from individuals were injured. I a motorist T-boned another car which spun into my lane In front of me And I struck that vehicle Firstly, I want to say how grateful I am that those that were injured are are coming along doing well I've talked to each of them And uh, I want to thank uh I'm very thankful for preservation this evening, but I do want to just acknowledge our first responders our firefighters our emergency medical Technicians and our police department who responded Uh and immediately began seeing to folk that were there and that were injured Um their professionalism And I observed this before they knew who I was Um their professionalism and their their their seriousness and the quickness with which they started Tending and seeing about people. I just want to I've already expressed my thanks to chiefs all those to fire department Chief Andrews as well Uh for the police department and I want to send a shout out to our friend at the county as well for our emergency medical responders Um, it's very grateful That it wasn't worse than it was But you know when you sit at this desk and kind of pass policies That affect those apartments You don't ever think about what it's like on the receiving end sometimes to actually be a client if you will And it was really um gratifying for me to see Uh what we do here kind of in the abstract actually manifest itself in real time In real people's lives So I just want to send a uh an extra shout out again tonight To our first responders of the fire department our police department our emergency medical technicians as well to our emergency call takers as well In our 911 center uh in all Durham employees tonight. Thank you madam mayor Thank you Councilman wreath. Thank you. Mayor anneal. Um, it's gonna sound sound a little odd After all this, but I wanted to remind folks That next week is creek week here in Durham March 12th through the 19th. This is a week that happens every year We're ordinary folks just like you and me Get our feet our hands dirty and our feet wet Making sure that our creeks and waterways in Durham are kept clean Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending about two and a half hours Planting trees shoveling mulch and smoothing out compost out at southern high school With a large about 30 volunteers with keep Durham beautiful. Um, they had two I think it was public works trucks. Maybe been general services Anyway, they had two trucks that uh that the city very kindly allowed them to use to tote stuff around It was a fantastic experience. I plan to go back by the way in 10 years They said put a calendar reminder for 10 years from now to go back and take a look at your tree So I plan to do that. I hope my other volunteer rick Also does the same because I don't know his last name and that's the only way I'll get to see him again Is if we meet in 10 years, but that's neither here nor there the creek week Is a great way to volunteer. Like I said, get your hands dirty get your feet wet Make our our green space is a little a little greener Folks can go to www.durhamcreekweek.org And look at all the exciting volunteer opportunities I know councilmember copier has already been there. She told me she was uh Checking out some of the volunteer opportunities. I know probably drag your kids to that too. They would absolutely love that So, uh, anyway, encourage, uh, everyone who is hearing me now to sign up and do that There's nobody too fancy and too grand that can't help keep Durham beautiful. So, uh, that's my last announcement. Mayor. Thank you Thank you councilman reese. Are there any other announcements? Councilwoman freeman Thank you, madam mayor and thank you councilmember reese for reminding me to make an announcement Uh, I unfortunately won't be here for the beginning of creek week Um, being away for the national league of cities congressional conference in dc But i'm gonna hope that I can catch the tail end of it and get my hands and feet dirty Um towards the end of the week, but I just want to let the folks know that the I believe myself councilmember middleton and councilmember williams will be attending uh on behalf of the city. So You'll have great representation. Thank you Thank you. Thank you all for attending for for for us I will be traveling at the end of the month to florida so To make sure we things have we have things covered As a part of a transportation group that will be visiting I fought a lot of them any other announcements Councilman williams Uh, yes. Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, I'll be in the mayor's suitcase at the end of the month To make sure she's okay It's a big suitcase Down in south florida I I just wanted to um I just wanted to talk about this briefly We are back in person tonight and gosh, I miss you guys in person. I really really really do And we are also, you know today marked the day that was quite contentious across the city Releasing relieving the mask mandate and I just want to say that uh one I have I personally You know appreciate It's moving forward on that, but I also wanted to state just based on our conversations that This is not to say covet is over Uh, this is not to say the pandemic is over Uh, it's to say that the mandate is now No longer here necessarily, but you know, you can optionally wear your mask still and we all have our masks on And that we still want to now evolve to the point of mitigating safety You know and as promised I uh I've been communicating with quite a few quite quite a few small business owners and Other folks throughout the community and I promise that I would share some of the top ideas And put it on the public record that folks are talking And they're not just saying hey, you know move the mask out of my way, but more so uh create space for us to uh Determine how we move forward safer responsibly the top three ideas were one making mask optional Uh two Some folks are interested in having protected hours in their businesses for immunocompromised community members Another is you know seeking support financially for better ventilation systems And finally a color-coded community response plan Whereas code red means new variant and there are specific instructions to follow And all code yellow to orange to all the way to code green where we're totally in the clear But each color would communicate Uh basically how we respond at that time and I you know, I I really was attracted to that idea because We did start experiencing some folks uh revolting and Folks like me and my rest of our capacity Having to police masks at the door was really really hard I didn't have any problems because I'm six five two hundred and eighty pounds But there are others that are not so big And uh, so I just wanted to say that now we're in a space where we can truly Um evolve our conversation around how we respond to covet in this pandemic And that Durham is still playing it safe and Durham is still doing it right And I appreciate the leadership of you mayor O'Neill and chair howerton And uh all of all of the folks in Durham We hear you and we'll always create a platform for all voices to be heard This is not to shut anyone down. This is to make sure that we are all listening To everyone and we make the best decision moving forward. So thank you for this time and I thank you for this leadership Thank you councilman Williams. Are there any other announcements? If not, I will conclude with a couple uh myself I do want to reassure all of Durham county that we are doing our best to to Listen to everyone And making decisions Based on the science I was at university today. I also talked with Chairwoman Brenda howerton we talk almost on a daily basis And so we are we are still Very much recognizing that we are not in the endemic stage Of the pandemic, but we are still in the pandemic stage But we are like I said, we're putting our big toe out there to test the waters Um, and we will be constantly monitoring the temperature So rest assured that we're still very much on the job and engaged Without public health and other health officials in this matter To that end, I also want to take a moment to reassure in another capacity my work In helping to Solve and help to solve The issues around violence I have been hard at work since Well for 24 years actually in one capacity to another But in this capacity, I have been working very hard In the city for the last four or five months in an effort to broker a ceasefire agreement With some of our residents and also to engage them Into new levels of conversation that they have not had the opportunity to to have with public officials Because of my capacity as a judge a lot of these young people I know In different arenas and because I am from Durham And there are few people who can speak into this space But I do believe that I'm somewhat uniquely qualified because of that background To go into arenas that others may not be able to navigate and negotiate However, it is a very fragile situation And oftentimes It can be dangerous for those who are involved So I will not be pressed Until the timing is right To bring forth The works that we have been doing and continue to do but I do have two announcements tonight Chair howerton and I as I indicated we have been speaking Pretty much every day every other day and we are reconvening The Durham crime cabinet which will meet on march 11th We will be meeting again and we have sent out invitations To folk who were joining us it will look a little different because we will have those as you often heard me say Those closest to the pain Will be closest to the power So we're going to have Different individuals as well as those who have been involved back in that space We are also going to convene a task force That will take a systems approach And we've already started that in dealing with some of the Issues because they're all interrelated, you know housing affordability crime All of those are related and the systems that interact We are we'll be convening that And we will hope that that task force will have a report Due prior to my state of the city address We've already identified a date for that which I will not say tonight because I do need to make sure that the task force Will be ready so that I can Along with chair howerton we can really unveil to you what we have been doing But suffice it to say That we are working There's not been one week that I have not put in more than 10 hours On this particular effort, but it's well worth it But I will not be the one To act like it's just me alone There is a group of people who are involved and it is as I said very delicate tight Almost like walking on a tight rope To navigate these spaces so I ask and I appreciate your patience. You have known me for 24 years as a public servant. I have not changed I am still the same person who has worked really hard To make sure that I serve our community well And I will ask your indulgence At this time to make sure that I do not get ahead Of the work that has been done by so many And so For so long And that will conclude our announcement And I would turn to our next order of business our first order of business our priority items And I will now recognize our city manager To see if she has any priority items Good evening madam mayor mr. Mayor pro tem I do and members of the Durham city council. I do have two priority items for you this evening Agenda item number seven professional services contract award to sniable engineering south professional corporation for little river little river dam embankment settlement and seepage improvements attachment number two was updated to clarify terminology to include Changing the document name from a contract to an agreement. However There are no changes to the terms of disagreement And finally agenda item number 13 the 2021 fourth quarter crime report Pursuant to council's request additional information related to data on the psychological verification or criminology A violent crime has been provided in attachment number two under priority items by the city manager City attorney and city clerk Those are my items this evening Thank you city manager. I will now turn to Uh, assistant city attorney donald tool for any prior that the items you may have Mayor mayor pro tem and council members the city attorney's office has no priority items I would now like to recognize our city clerk For any priority items that she may have Good evening madam mayor Mr. Mayor pro tem and council members I would like to request a priority item this evening By requesting a motion to accept the resignation Of council member charlie reese effective immediately And I moved I will entertain the motion at this time So moved Is there a second Do it Do it Second It has been moved by councilwoman freeman and seconded by council Woman johnson We are now Ready for the vote If you would please open the vote madam clerk Madam you would Motion passes seven zero If you will please close the vote Thank you, madam clerk The eyes have it And we reluctantly Except by Your resignation chalice Thank you so much all right We will now move to our second order of business, which is the consent agenda The consent agenda consists of items that the council has previously considered in a work session All items on the consent agenda may be approved by a single vote of the council Items may be removed from the consent agenda by a council member Or a member of the public and those items will be considered separately at the end of the meeting tonight I will now read the Consent agenda into the record Item number one is approval of city council minutes item number two FY 2021 the 2022 second quarter financial reports Item three adopt the resolution in support of the declaration of fundamental reproductive freedoms Item number four Board committees commissions and task forces 2021 calendar year attendance reports Item five the expedited hearing requests for zoning map change application Z 2 1 0 0 0 3 7 East gear street residential Item number seven the professional services contract the war to schnabel engineering south professional corporation for little rhythm river dam embankment settlement and seepage improvements item eight january 2022 bid report Item nine 2022 duke doing good grant project ordinance Item 10 emergency watershed protection EWP stream bank stabilization EWP that's 2021 That's 01 amendment number one item 11 the janitorial services for public works operations facility item 12 street and infrastructure Acceptances Item 18 appointment of finance offices I'd like to entertain a motion to approve The consent so moved second Been moved by councilman williams and seconded by councilwoman cabrero Madam clerk if you would open the vote if you would close the vote once it is The motion passes six zero Thank you, madam clerk the eyes have it and the consent agenda is approved unanimously All right, we now will turn to our third order of business, which is our general business agenda and we have Item number six will be the first one for consideration Which is the interlocal agreement with gold triangle for reimbursement of commuter rail related waterline adjustments And we will recognize our resource person Tom devlin Was will it be sean egan tonight? And I believe mr. Egan from our transportation department is here Good evening magician. I'm available restrooms. Good evening. This is sean even i'm a director of trance tonight How are you this evening? Well, thank you Mr. Egan, I think you're coming in a little broken up. So we'll try it again. Let's see You may have to turn your video off This is sean egan. I'm the director of transportation city of Durham I'm here to address any questions that Council has about this item. Are there any questions from council about this item councilwoman free Thank you, madam mayor. It's not really a question. It's Essentially a statement just acknowledging I think we went through this at work session and acknowledging that the can opener bridge is great that we're addressing that I raised the concern. I just just knowing that we've had an issue around having Transparency in the process with the commuter rail and so I just want to make sure That I note that it's not a staff question. It's not a staff Issue the issues with go triangle and I just want to make sure that they're Noting we would like to have a lot more transparency in the process And tonight I will not be voting in support of it. Thank you Are there any other Questions or concerns? Mayor pro tem. Thank you, madam mayor. I see nothing absolutely nothing controversial about this particular Into local agreement. I'm prepared to offer a motion if you're ready to entertain one Unless there are any other questions. I believe I'm ready to entertain the motion Move to pass Is there a second second It has pardoned me madam mayor. We have a speaker to the item All right That will be miss jaqueline wax staff if she is available Absolutely. Good afternoon, madam mayor and uh mayor pro tem um I actually had the same concerns that uh councilwoman freeman had about Disagreement with go triangle because they have not been transparent over the course of several years doing the um, I guess we call it Fail commuter rail and just so that you would be aware of this that Because they have not been transparent. I would actually Like to know uh, what would that amount be that the reimbursement to the city is going to be how much is that reimbursement and What is the plans for the reimbursement once that happens with the city? But I too have concerns about anything that has to do with go triangle when it comes to Exparency something that we haven't had over the years with them Thank you. Thank you so much Mr. Egan if you could answer the question the reimbursement The amount of the reimbursement is $39,000. That's one half of the seventy eight thousand dollar cost associated With relocating the greekson street water line restating the motion second It has been moved by mayor pro tem middleton and seconded by councilwoman johnson madam clerk We are now ready if you would open The vote and if you would please close the vote The motion passes five to one with councilmember freeman voting no All right the eyes have it and the motion passes seven Six to one five to one Gotta get my numbers right now All right, we now turn to our next order of business which is the general business agenda public hearing And we have two this evening First will be item 15 the ellis row pdr Rezoning two which is a zoning map change And we our second one will be item 16, which is you the letter u tower Which is also a zoning map change And I believe that we have speakers for both. We will start with item 15 Our resource person Is mr. Michael stock? Thank you very much Michael stock with the planning department Before I begin staff would like to note that all required public hearing notifications. Oops That went away For the planning department items have been performed and are on file for review Case z 20 0008 as a request to rezone five parcels totaling approximately 30 acres from commercial general with a development plan or cgd To plan development residential 18.220 or pdr 18.220 This site is currently part of an approved development plan approved back under case z 15 0 0 7 Which is attached in your agenda packet the proposal would allow for a maximum of 519 apartments The future land use map of the comprehensive plan currently designates these parcels as commercial And if the zoning were approved staff recommended Flumb change would be medium high density residential The plan proposes commitments that are detailed on the cover page of the proposed development plan And they include open space landscaping building design and architectural requirements The planning commission recommended approval with a vote of 10 to 1 at its december 4 14 14th meeting 2021 With the applicant proffering additional commitments that include 75 a lighting to be led lighting drip irrigation systems to use moisture sensors Stormwater control measures to be designed to accommodate the 100 year storm And no parking between the street and buildings Along two thirds of the frontage north of unis road As a reminder there are two actions requested tonight the first is a motion regarding the approval of the requested zoning map change itself And second adoption of the appropriate statement of consistency. Thank you, and I believe the applicant is out there somewhere To answer your questions. Thank you very much Thank you. We now receive the staff report and We will now go I am now going to declare this public hearing open And we do have several speakers. But first are there any questions for staff from members of council? Seeing none I have on my list of speakers and I would also ask if if there are any other speakers who would like to speak if you would raise your virtual hand But I have a mr. Jacob hall each speaker will be allowed three minutes each First we will have mr. Jacob hall Mr. Lara hollamann Mr. Ryan acres And mr. Eric riftkin Mr. Hall you have the floor for three minutes, sir Hi, thank you. My name is Jacob Hall I live on Talbot place in the Ellis crossing development And I'm speaking in support of the Ellis road pdr rezoning Because I feel that rezoning will improve our community My wife and I regularly enjoy walking and biking around the neighborhood And we are looking forward to the public's commercial development and other developments in our area Although we're excited about these commercial developments We do have concerns about the additional traffic So we're glad to see that the proposed pdr zoning projects a decrease in daily trips from the current zoning The Ellis crossing neighborhood has a variety of housing types including the single family homes Town homes which we live in and existing apartments along Ellis road So it makes it a great location for additional multifamily housing To complement the proposed commercial development In summary, I'm in support of the Ellis road pdr rezoning and I asked the city council to approve the zoning map change Thank you Thank you. Mr. Hall Miss hollamann Good evening. Can everyone hear me? Okay. Yes, ma'am great Thank you, madam mayor and mayor pro tem and other members of the city council I would like to defer my Speaking to the project's attorney mr. Patrick biker with morning star And I represent the planning Group macadams and my address is 2905 meridian parkway Durham 27713. Thank you Thank you, miss hollamann Mr. Acres and mr. Rifkin You would each have three minutes if you'd like to speak at this time Good evening Miss barron council members. This is air riftkin at 5600 street in apex north carolina I would also like to give my time over to Patrick biker at morning star law group Who will be presenting on our behalf? Thank you so much. Mr. Acres Hey, mayor and counselors. This is ryan acres 2905 meridian parkway. I am also with laura hollamann With the applicant. I'm the engineer of records, so I'll defer to the uh the attorney. Thank you. Thank you, sir Mr. biker You're free to speak sir Good evening mayor. Can you hear me? Okay? Yes, sir All right, wonderful Sorry, I took me a while to get logged on there. I don't know what the problem was but I appreciate y'all's patience A good evening mayor o'neill mayor pro tem middleton and members of the city council I'm patrick biker with morning star law group. I live at 2614 stewart drive I'm here tonight representing ellis road w e hlp for this agenda item A lot of me tonight are The rest of our team that you've already heard from laura hollamann with macadams ryan acres also with macadams and eric riftgen the vice president for ellis crossing This agenda item that before you this evening represents the last 29 acre phase of our master plan development That consists of commercial apartments townhouses and single family homes within a relatively new 350 acre neighborhood in south central durham called ellis crossing The apartments along ellis road are built and fully leased up with the commercial site They're ready to go with a site plan approved for a public's and other restaurants and retail spaces And other residential sections are approved and moving forward The ellis crossing neighborhood today is providing quality housing that is for residents We're sometimes referred to as the missing middle And what really makes ellis crossing important for durham's growth in addition to the overall neighborhood Is its central location with convenient commutes to downtown duke and rtp? Since around 20 people move to durham every day It's imperative to keep our housing supply increasing Especially when it is workforce housing located near our core employment centers So we are not locating new housing farther away This agenda item check filled with boxes and it's a positive development for durham Next it is important to note that this 29 acre zoning map changed from cg to pdr Representing down zoning when it comes to traffic Our traffic engineers have submitted an analysis to the city's fine traffic staff And that proves that a m peak hour traffic will decrease by 327 trips and more importantly Afternoon peak hour traffic will decrease by 791 trips In addition to this significant increase in traffic It's important to note how much else crossing has spent on improvements to ellis road If you go back about seven or eight years ellis road was a two-lane ditch section road in this part of durham Ellis crossing has spent over five million dollars to to upgrade ellis road to a multi-lane facility with bike lanes curb gutter and sidewalks In fact ellis road Ellis crossing has built over one mile of bike lanes And this makes biking and walking to job opportunities in the northern section of research triangle park and alternative to driving Along with the road improvements ellis crossing spent about a million dollars to extend the sewer line from the west side of the durham freeway To adjacent property on the east side of ellis crossing, which is another huge community benefit Lastly it was the traffic signal that ellis crossing funded that in turn made the public's grocery store possible at this location As a result this will be a walkable bikeable community with a neighborhood shopping center anchored by a public's So residents can walk or bike to the store for their shopping needs if they wish to do so We respectfully answer your approval is rezoning tonight and our team will be happy to answer any questions. Thank you time Thank you attorney biker I will turn our attention to our Clerk and to see if there were any other speakers who have raised their virtual hand She's not in no madam mayor. There are no other speakers Thank you so much I will now declare the public hearing to be closed And the matter is back before the council We have two motions Madam mayor, hi Yes Yes, sir. Thank you, madam mayor and good evening to the applicants and thank the uh residents who spoke tonight um Mr. Biker this may be for you this a proposal isn't Isn't particularly challenging or controversial for me. I think with what's already going on out there I think this type of project is is compatible with what's already in the area um, I did note the staff's inclusion of of Language regarding affordable housing that this project isn't being built as an affordable housing project and median sale prices and rents were Um given to us in the staff documentation, but just for the record Is it fair to say this is a market? This is a um Uh a development that will be a price at market Is that fair not luxury not affordable of this market Yes, mayor pro town that's a fair statement and uh, certainly, uh, uh, it's been very successful so far. We're very, um appreciative of the support that the city council has given us in the past and we certainly, uh Appreciate those concerns. And so we've done everything we can to make sure these Apartments townhomes and single-family homes are priced where Hopefully most people can afford them Well, sure. Absolutely. Again, I I I plan on supporting. I don't see anything I didn't see anything particular controversial about this particular pros I I did note the 10 to 1 vote uh from our planning commission which is which is a statement in and of itself These days. So, uh, I won't say congratulations. I'll just say that's quite a feat Um, so I think that all the questions I had a matter of mayor. Thank you. Thank you Are there any other questions before consideration of our motions? All right councilwoman lee. I'm sorry Councilwoman johnson Is that working now? Great. Um, thank you, madam mayor I just wanted to ask the applicant if they had considered proffers to our public schools and to our affordable housing fund Yes Councilmember johnson, can you hear me all right? You're a little bit it's a little bit quiet patrick if you could get a maybe a little closer to your microphone or something We can hear you but it's a it's a little bit hard. Okay. Ken. Is that better? That is a lot better. Thank you Okay, I'm sorry. I apologize. Uh, yes. Thank you for asking that question council member johnson We reviewed the staff report and uh, we'd like to stay on the record tonight that We will make a contribution of $50,000 based on well established precedents Contribution of $50,000 to during public schools and likewise we would also make a contribution of $50,000 to the city's affordable housing fund Have both of those be delivered prior to issuance of any certificate of certificate of occupancy for this zoning map change Area and be happy to work to mess that with the planning department tomorrow morning. Thank you Thank you for those proffers. We appreciate it Are there any other questions of council My thanks to councilmember johnson, uh for for that the staff need to capture that that that won't affect Our voting tonight. Will it it has been captured awesome Get that money, Mike All right, if not, we will consider motion number one under item 15 Ellis road pdr rezoning two zoning map change the motion reasons follows To adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the commercial general with a development plan cgd district and establishing the same As plan development a residential 18.2 to zero pdr 18.2 to zero district I am ready to entertain a motion moves. It's red okay All right, I believe mayor pro tem middleton has made the motion seconded by council money williams Madam clerk if you would open the vote If you would please close the vote The motion passes six zero Thank you all that motion has passed unanimously. We will now turn our consideration to motion number two Which reasons follows to adopt a consistency and Reasonableness statement as required by north carolina general statute 160 d that's 605 Is there a motion Don't move second It has been moved by councilwoman freeman seconded by councilwoman johnson Madam clerk if you would open the vote if you would please close the vote And the motion passes six zero The eyes have it and that motion passes unanimously We now turn our attention to item 16 our second public hearing Which is you tower zoning map changed? And I believe our resource person is again missed to stop Thank you. Yes, uh, michael stop with the plan of the department again Excuse me Z 20 00045 is a request to reason approximately one and a half acres Located at 3007 petty road from office and institutional with a development plan or oid To office and institutional li with without a development plan The site is currently under the approved development plan per p o 227 Which limits the site to only office uses the applicant has indicated a wish to establish a residential use as part of a larger project Which the oi zoning without a development plan would allow However, it should be noted that no commitments can be made with this request and any use allowed within the oi district Would apply to this site including any limitations on the use or other supplemental requirements per the ordinance The future land use map of the comprehensive plan currently designates this parcel as design district And if the zoning were approved staff recommend that the plumb change would be to office The planning commission recommended approval by a vote of 10 to 1 on its at its december 14th 2021 meeting and again as a reminder two actions are requested The first regarding approval of the requested zoning map change and second heat option the appropriate statement of consistency Thank you, and I believe the applicant is available for questions Thank you, mr. Starr. We receive your report I'm now going to declare this public hearing open. First are any questions for staff from members of council we have one person To speak to this matter this evening And also if there are others in the audience if you will please raise your virtual hand. We have three minutes of please Attorney Patrick biker will be speaking On the behalf of the applicant Good evening. Mayor. O'Neill. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can you're a little low, but we can we can hear you Yeah, sorry Good evening. Mayor o'Neill bear pro tent middle kid members of the city council. I'm patrick biker moore star law group I still live at two six one four steward drive I'm here tonight representing vintage university tower jv l lc for this agenda item And I've been working with a longtime friend tylen morris as the applicant For this item as was mentioned in the staff presentation this item I received a 10 to 1 recommendation for approval from the planning commission And I want to note that this will be an infill project since our site plan Will allow for 208 apartments at this location To the north and to the west of university tower In addition, this site has very convenient access to a bus stop for go-dure on route 10 Just about a quarter of a mile away with a sidewalk connection I know you have a closed session following this item And so given the strong support this case had from the planning commission With no citizen opposition. I don't want to take up any more of your time tonight We respectfully ask for your approval. Thank you very much. Be happy to answer any questions Thank you attorney biker. I don't think we have a closed hearing closed session I'm looking at attorney old tool and he's shaking his head. No, I'm aware of Okay, sorry No problem No problem Were there any virtual speakers? Madam clerk Madam mayor, there are no virtual speakers this evening I will now declare the public hearing to be closed and the matters back before the council I do want to thank councilwoman freeman Who came and picked me up this morning and took me for a drive around both of these properties Today, so thank you for that. That was my first kind of time What do they call it lightly trespassing? So we had a great time this morning. Thank you councilwoman freeman for that Are there any other questions before consideration of the motions? Just a note that I'll be sure to bring the drone next time Say that again. Just a note that I'll be sure to bring a drone next time Okay All right seeing no questions We will now entertain motion number one Which I will read as follows To adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the office and institutional with a development plan OID district And establishing the same as office and institutional oi district So moved Is there a second right it has been moved by councilwoman freeman and seconded by councilwoman caballero Madam clerk if you will open the vote And if you will close the vote The motion passes six zero Thank you, ma'am That motion has passed unanimously And we will now turn our consideration to motion number two which is to adopt a consistency And reasonableness statement as required by north Carolina general satchel 160 d that's 605 is there a motion I'll move second Been moved by councilwoman freeman seconded by councilman Williams Madam clerk if you will open the vote If you will close the vote, please And the motion passes six zero Thank you that motion passes unanimously Thank you all We will now turn our attention Back to our next agenda item Which will be other matters And I would uh like to ask our mayor uh pro tem if he would be recognized to give us some updates on the process for the selection of Every placement for council mon grease Thank you, madam erin. Thank you colleagues. I think we're going to get out in good time tonight. So I won't be long This is a very full emotional and in substantive evening The sad news is that of course we have a tremendous colleague That's just left this chamber for the last time as an official member of this body The happy news the good news is that we live in the city That is full of incredibly gifted And committed individuals who will give us a great reservoir to draw from to fill the seat The other good news is that we've been this Down this road before So we have a really really excellent template in place to help us The moment madam mayor we voted to accept councilmember Reese's resignation the clock began the 60 day clock Statutorily prescribed to us and by our charter to fill the seat by selection Or an election would happen if we don't fill it in those 60 days on tomorrow morning Per year directive madam mayor to assume leadership of our procedures committee tomorrow morning, I'll be meeting with counselor otoo and Mayor protet our councilmember johnson And city clerk madam clerk Shriver to talk about our timetable. I'm going to ask our colleagues that on at thursday's work session Subsequent to our meeting tomorrow That I would be allowed depending upon how the conversation goes tomorrow, which I think it'll go fine To bring an additional matter supplemental matter on thursday to talk about the outlines of a proposed timetable It will ensure if we do what we've done look like this We will have a period of accepting applications the council will receive those applications each councilmember will receive That packet we will whittle that number down to a number that we will invite in for interviews There will be a period of interviews which will be public There will be an opportunity for public commentary to be made Councilmembers will then have an opportunity to give their Take on the matters that occurred before them and let us know who they're going to vote for And hopefully by the end of this process we'll get that number down to one and then we will Vote on that new colleague and that colleague will be sworn in almost immediately After our vote and assume the at-large seat vacated by councilmember reese So that that's the state of play now. We've got an excellent template in place I want to assure the people of our city that are watching tonight That we will avail ourselves of the of the excellent work we've done In this position before when we've been here and that we will Choose a person that loves this city just as much as councilmember reese did and will be just as Thorough and committed and engaged in the work That's it on that matter. Mayor. Thank you so much and I look forward to the meeting tomorrow reporting back to the full council Like thursday's work session Thank you mayor pro tem Are there any other matters To come come before the Durham city council this evening seeing none We will now adjourn The city council meeting on this march 7 2022 Bull City strong At 8 36 Y'all be blessed to have a great evening. Thank you, mayor. Thanks colleagues Thanks everybody great job We'll be right here right here, yes