 or portion of this business is done. Tonetta looks different. Yeah, I actually like that here. Her first say something, say that she doesn't. He's going to be up here. I was going to say, we have seats for people like Senator Woodard or Marshall Ray or anybody like that. He's still outside of my farm. I don't think so, unless they can go in here if there's any available up front. I'll ask Ann. Yeah, because Ann handled it, so I don't know. OK. So we're going to have to do a little crowd control. All right, I'll let you all do that. Oh, that is the smile of a man who knows the end is not. Got it. Yeah, you look. You know, that the fire Marshalls will direct it. His face is just right. Awesome. Good, good. I've got all of the my law stuff, and I can get it all to you if you don't already have it. OK, I do not already have it. And I'm pretty sure that that's. I'll make sure you have it. OK, great. Makes it even better. Mr. Mayor, how are you? Hello there. Cameron. Oh, look. You must be in the front row. So many people. There's a lot of people. Yeah, I was out there as like, these people are not going to fit in there. Were there this many people last time? What, honey? Were there this many people last time? No, because there weren't so many people getting sworn in, I think. And it wasn't in the mayor. There weren't this many people here when I got sworn in. Wow, I see some people haven't seen a long time. And again, we had, you know, we knew members. I met a person out there looking for resources for veterans. Say again? I met a person out there looking for resources to help with the veterans for access to medicine. You know, I had to come through. I'm like, I don't really know, but for the farm marshals. I'm going to try to. Locked down a closet upstairs. You're standing right there at the door. Izzy, Izzy, good evening. We'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order. And certainly want to welcome all of you that are here. I know the fire marshal is trying to, the fire marshal is trying to make sure that we don't exceed the limits. So if everyone that doesn't have a seat, if you can find a seat, that would be helpful. And where's the fire marshal? They're at the door, Mr. Mayor. OK. If we could just take a moment for silent meditation, please. Thank you. I ask Councilor Davis if he would lead us in the pledge. May we rise? We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. It's easy. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll, please? Mayor Bell? Present. Mayor Pro-Tim Cole McFadden? Present. Councilmember Davis? Here. Councilmember Johnson? Here. Councilmember Moffitt? Here. Councilmember Reese? Here. And Councilmember Shul? Here. Thank you. As I'm sure most of you know, tonight is the Everybody Knows. Tonight is the night when we have sworn in the newly elected City Council persons and Mayor Lek. There's an organizational process that we go through. And we begin that process now. The first order of business would be to ask William J. Bryan, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Elections and Derek Brown, Boards Director of Elections, to present the certification. Good evening. My name is Bill Bryan, and I am the Chairman of the Durham County Board of Elections. With me is Mr. Derek Bowens, the Durham County Director of Elections. It's our happy task to certify the results of the 2017 City of Durham Municipal Election. Derek, if you would hand over the certified results, please, to the clerk. Also, I'm here to deliver the certificates of election to the successful candidates. Before I do that, I thought I would share with you some of the statistics from this election. There were 36,014 votes cast. Approximately, at this time, we have approximately 189,000 registered voters in the City of Durham. So that is 19% of the registered voters in Durham voted in the city of Durham voted in the municipal election. Of that number, 25%, roughly 26%, voted early voting. That's 9,342 votes. And in a turnabout of the way it has been recently in elections, 26,282 voted on election day with 190 provisional ballots and 200 absentee by mail ballots. The demographic breakdown was 37.8% were black or African-American, and 55.5% were white, with the remaining numbers being undesignated or of other ethnic groups. 58% were female, 40% were male, and 1.7% were undesignated. So at this time, I would like to hand out for Mr. Bowens here to hand out certificates of election to the successful candidates. First, Mr. Steve Shul, Mayor. Mr. Shul garnered 21,362 votes and had a margin victory of 69-11. Next, DeGreana Freeman, Ward 1. Ms. Freeman got 18,957 votes and had a margin victory of 3126. Next, Mr. Mark Anthony Middleton. Mr. Middleton garnered 19,294 votes with a margin of victory of 4,882. And last but not least, Ms. Vernetta Alston, Ward 3. Ms. Alston received 21,332 votes and a margin of victory of 8,595. So we congratulate all of you and wish you the best, and we thank you for your participation. Thank you. It gives me distinct honor to be able to present on behalf of the Durham City Council a plex to the outgoing council members. And the first that I'd like to ask if you would join me is Councilman Eddie Davis. And for those of you who have not had an opportunity to attend our council meetings, either in presence or on television, if it's one thing that we all found out is that we are honored to have a historian on our council. And although Eddie, it wasn't a history-may general thing, but he's fast become a historian for the city of Durham. And so Eddie, we'd like to present this plaque and appreciation to Eddie Davis for four years of dedicated public service and commitment to the city of Durham and citizens as council member from Ward 2, serving from December 2nd, 2013, December 4th, 2017. And it's signed by Wendy Bilbell, Mayor, Coral Cole McFadden, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Member Jillian Johnson, Don Moffitt, Charlie Reese, Steve Shul, our city manager, Thomas J. Bonfield, our city attorney, Patrick W. Baker, our city clerk, Dee Ann Gray. Thank you so very much, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate everything and I'll have a few more remarks later on. Thanks. Thank you. Next, I'd like to ask Don Moffitt if you would join us. Eddie has been a real stalwart on our council. If it's ever a time when we're going through presentations or going through the agenda, Don understands all the I's and T's in it, need to be dotted. He's very quick to point it out. And I know, but not for Don, probably a lot of us might have sort of skipped over a lot of the things that have been done, but Don has kept us true and steady as a council person. He's been a true friend also. I've had great pleasure of being able to work with Don and I want to wish him the best. And let me present this certificate plaque which again reads, an appreciation to Don L. Moffitt for five years of dedicated public service and commitment to the city of Durham and Durham citizens as council member from Ward three in January 2nd, 2013, December 4th, 2017. And again, it's signed by William Bill Bell, Mayor of the city of Durham, Carl Cole McFadden, Mayor Pro Temps, council member, Zady Davis, Jillian Johnson, Charlie Reese, Yashul, our city manager, Thomas J. Bonfield, our city attorney, partner, W. Baker, and city clerk, D. Andre. Winner, thank you. I'm gonna save my remarks until in just a few minutes. Thank you. And last but not least, the lady who has said she always has my back. She's had it. A true friend, a person who served this city well in many capacities, both as a city employee, a county employee also. And as a member of the city council, as Mayor Pro Temps of this council, Carl Cole McFadden. And it reads in appreciation to Cora M. Cole McFadden for 16 years of dedicated public service and commitment to the city of Durham and citizens as mayor Pro Temps and council member from Ward one from December 3rd, 2001 to December 4th, 2017. Again, it's signed by myself as mayor of council members, Eddie Davis, Jillian Johnson, Don Moffatt, Charlotte Reese, C. Schuyl, city manager, Thomas D. Bonfield, city attorney, Patrick W. Baker, and city clerk, D. Ann Gray. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, thank you to all those persons who have supported me over my last 50 years of public service. So now I am free, hallelujah, I'm free. Mr. Mayor, you come up here with me, please. Before I read this plaque, I will just say that I think we all know that we are in the presence in Bill Bell of one of the greatest Durhamites who has ever lived. I think that is for more than one quarter of the history of Durham. He has served in public office in this city and served us so incredibly well. He has been, as you all know, widely praised and he's had a kind of farewell tour of Durham these last several months. So I'm not gonna say too much, but I will tell you one thing. It tells you all you need to know about Bill. I went into his, I had sat down with him to ask him how to be mayor and he had told me a few things. And then a couple days later, he called me into his office and I said, yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. And I sat down at his table and he said, Steve, something important to ask you. He said, yes, sir. I said, how good was that corned beef sandwich from scratch? Bill Bell is not only a great public servant, but he's a great human being and a friend. And I'm so proud to call him my friend. Let me read you now this plaque. In appreciation to William V. Bill Bell as the longest serving mayor, dedicating 16 years of public service and commitment to the city of Durham and citizens, December 3rd, 2001 to December 4th, 2017, signed Cora M. Cole McFadden, Mayor Pro Tempore, council members Eddie Davis, Jillian Johnson, Don Moffitt, Charlie Reese, and Steve Schul, city manager, Thomas J. Bonfield, city attorney, Patrick W. Baker, and city clerk, Dee and Greg. Congratulations, Mr. Mayor. We have one, we have yet one more present for the mayor, Mr. Mayor, from the city clerk's office and from all of us. By my calculation, you've probably presided over something like 2,000 meetings in your time in public life, just a rough guess. And I think our city clerk felt it very important, sir, that you have this gavel. And if you get concerned about how to use it, my suggestion is convene your grandchildren. And perhaps you might want to call a meeting of them, sir. Congratulations, Mr. Mayor, thank you. I have a few words out of my colleagues have had an opportunity to speak. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can I ask Councilman Eddie Davis? Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank the community of Durham. And first of all, I'd like to thank each one of my colleagues sitting here on the desk. And I'd like to add Diane Cattotti and Eugene Brown to that group. Those are the folks that I've worked with over the course of the last four years. It has been a wonderful experience. I've gained a great deal of knowledge and insight. I've been able to learn from them how to be a fairly good member of the city council. And I've also enjoyed collaborating with them for the benefit of this great city of Durham. I want to thank the people who serve our staff and who serve our community as folks who work on the second floor in the manager's office, in the attorney's office, in the clerk's office. I've gotten a chance to meet each one of them individually and to develop a warm and personal relationship with each and every one of them. I treasure the relationships that I've had with them and the interactions that I've had with them and the laughs that I've had with them along the way. Each one of them is very, very personal and special to me. And I would have the extension of those folks on that office to be the people who work in the contact center and the folks who work in the teen center. They all come under the auspices of the manager's office. I also want to thank all of the other members of this great staff in the city of Durham. They do phenomenal work. A work that sometimes is invisible in the minds of a lot of people, in the minds of thoughts. Most people don't think about the wonderful people who allow for water to come out of the spickets when they turn them on. I shouldn't tell you the word spicket, that shows how old I am. I don't know. I don't know. Also, there are so many things. We take for granted often the fire protection that we have, the protection that we have from our police officers. We take for granted the people who work on housing. We take for granted sometimes the people who are looking here in terms of planning. We certainly take for granted the people who work to make sure that the finances and the budget of the city go forth and the auditing that goes along with it. These folks do phenomenal work. And there are many other people who do inspections and who do planning, who do all kinds of things to make this a wonderful, viable, and a city that is much desired in the minds of lots of people. That's why we have such growth. I want to thank the extended community, the people who live here, who play here, who pay the taxes here, who come in and do things for us, as well as the people who come to look at Durham, to eat in Durham, to go to theater productions in Durham, who come to do recreational activities here in Durham, who come to go to college here in Durham. So I appreciate all of the people who are here and the wonderful individuals that make up this city. Ernie Mills has had a chance to spend lots of time with him over the course of the last four years. And he has a running joke. It's not original with Ernie. I've heard it before from other people. Ernie knows that I'm a son of a sports fan and he told me once that he, like me, played on a high school basketball team. And Ernie said that he played all three positions. He said that the coach said, I want you to be the special person. I want you to sit right in the center of the bench. I want you to guard that water bucket. And I want you to look forward to maybe getting in the next game. For me, I have enjoyed this particular four years. I have not decided that I want it to be the center of attention. I'd want it to be as much of a team player as possible. I have not looked forward to any other position. This is not a staff step position for me at my age, but I certainly want to make sure that I do everything to be supportive of the team. And I do want to look forward and I want to guard the reputation, the compassion, the sensitivity of the city of Durham. And you all here on the stairs, as well as Diane and Eugene have helped me to do just that. I want to keep in touch with what you are doing and I want to hold perhaps the most important position that anyone can have and that is a voter and citizen. So thank you very much for allowing me to be here with you. I recognize Councilman Marford. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, everyone. In a few short minutes, I will be promoted to citizen. And should I wish to address the council at that time, I will be limited to the ordinary three minutes. One last time though, I have the podium to settle in. When I look back over the last five years, I feel good, very good, about my contributions to advancing several issues, but I see a lot of work that remains to be done. First and foremost, we as a council and the city staff have done much to move the ball on affordable housing. It's a huge, complicated and expensive problem. Thanks to the work of community development and Karen Lotto, we've gone from thinking about it as an abstract idea, to having a detailed knowledge of the scale and scope of the issue, to creating a strategic plan for financing and creating much needed new housing. But we all know that there are thousands of households in Durham that are still cost burdened by housing. They're paying more than 30% of their income for a place to call home. And we know from the studies that we've done that the problem isn't for people at 80% of area median income. It's not really for 60% of area median income. It's really for the families making 50% or less. Those are the people who are waiting for the city to act still. Job number one left undone then is to build housing for the families in those income brackets. We did well to make so much progress on the light rail and on improvements to the bus system, but it's not finished by any means. The new downtown rail station does not have done deal yet and Go Triangle still putting the finishes on its latest bus study. But I know that the work will go on. We made a lot of progress on major rezoning issues to the rail station areas, but there's much left to be done there too. I spent years working towards a coherent, intelligent policy for incentives for including affordable housing in new developments. The good news is that we, the people of Durham, have a truly dedicated and capable planning department working every day on those solutions. I'll regret though that I won't be here to see that work completed. Another good thing we did acting together, we helped fund affordable housing for veterans and effectively ended homelessness for those who have served in the military. But homeless people remain everywhere. As you pass into the Durham freeway, look up. It's heartbreaking how many people live under the bridges up high and how many of them are in the underbrush of our city. Together we advanced issues around policing. I'm grateful to Fade for raising important issues three and a half years ago. I'm thankful for the hard work of the Human Relations Commission holding listening sessions and carefully considering 34 separate recommendations they brought to council. I was at each of those listening sessions and attended every HRC meeting while they developed the recommendations and it was clear to me that it was beyond time for change. I'm pleased that we have implemented every recommendation that the HRC presented. And one outgrowth of those recommendations that I'm very proud of is the Misdemeanor Diversion Program. It's a collaborative between governments and between a judicial system and it's kept hundreds of Durham youth out of the justice system if they only complete requirements of the program. But we still have a significant crime problem in Durham. Knowing about the shootings, the armed robberies, domestic violence, and more has left me feeling sad and somewhat helpless. I think about the many victims of violent crime. I'm glad we authorized more first responders for the police department. I want victims of crime to have the best possible people arrive at the scene. It'll be good when all of those positions are filled with trained and capable officers. More officers are not enough. I'm pleased that our police department is shifting the way a police is the community. We're making progress. It seems slow, I know, but you cannot turn a large ship suddenly. I'd say that of our 2,400 employees, no one has a harder job than Chief Davis. And I've found her to be an extraordinarily capable leader. We've rolled out implicit bias training to all officers and increased the number of officers with crisis intervention training. The escalation training is underway and expanding number of officers taking racial equity training as well. And that's something I'm really proud of. I push to get racial equity training for our staff. Now everyone in our city manager's office has been through the training. So have all the department directors, the police department command staff, all of our deputy department directors. But here's something that needs to be done moving forward, the 2020 census. I know, I know it's a federal initiative, but it's critical for Durham that every resident be counted, every person uncounted is lost revenue and it's lower representation in state and federal elections. The city can and must play a role by laying the groundwork for an accurate count by promoting the census throughout the community and urging everyone to get counted. You've got two years. These past five years have been fun, humbling and an honor. I'm delighted in serving all of Durham and I wanna thank the people of our beloved city for allowing me that privilege. 250,000 constituents, that's what each of us, well now you, must consider in decision making. I thank each person in each community that invited me into their homes, their block parties, their neighborhood meetings. Each of you added to my knowledge of the many people and the communities that make up our city. I also wanna thank our amazing and dedicated staff for making me welcome in your workplaces across the city. They were always open and eager to show me what you do and where you do it and each visit I made to fleet maintenance, the recycling center, the solid waste transfer station, fire stations, wastewater treatment plants or the many other locations I was able to visit, each was an education unto itself. Patrick, thank you for your work as a city attorney. You and your staff do a great job protecting the city legally and I thank you for your guidance and your patience. And I have no doubt that Durham has the best city clerk in the state. You and your staff do a fabulous job of keeping us in line with our statutory requirements and you do so with grace and humor, thank you. If I start appreciating by name all of the superb department directors, deputy city managers and others that I've worked with, I'll get emotional and we'll be here a lot longer than any of us want. So let me simply say thank you, Tom for building a great organization, one person at a time. I hope your tenure is long and satisfying and that the many talented people that you have attracted to our Bull City continue their work here to ensure that Durham's best days are yet to come. It's a blessing to work with you and the people who surround you. To my colleagues, both current and previous, thanks for making the job fun and intellectually stimulating. Thank you for your own dedication and commitment to making this city great. Mr. Mayor, I wanna particularly thank you for your leadership over the last four decades. I well remember when Durham was more abundant, when our reputation was terrible and growth was stagnant. Many communities in that situation are still there but Durham is not. In a most spectacular fashion, Durham is not. And I do not doubt that your leadership played a key role in moving Durham from bust to boom. We're very fortunate that our leaders today can focus on the next layer of challenges. Finally, I have a couple of things to offer to the new council. First, word of wisdom, I've learned over the years that because you control great resources, it's critical that you disperse them with integrity. In fact, I've learned that a lot of state laws designed to ensure as much as possible just that. So it's cumbersome, but the processes involved protect the public's interests. So the city does great work but most never can do it quickly. I've had to learn a lot of patience. The last, before you leap to filling the vacancy on the council, consider giving that job to the voters. You will of course need to consult with your attorney but I'm confident that you can do it without costing the taxpayers anything. Call the election from May 8th. That happens to be the 2018 general primary. So every precinct in the city will already be open for business. You won't even have to pay for a runoff because the result will be determined by plurality method. Had the method, had plurality been in use in Durham, the outcomes of the elections in 2017, 2015, 2013 and many others would have been unchanged. It's easy, it's free and it gives the power to the people. Please at least consider putting the decision in the hands of the voters. My final thanks are to my family who are here with me tonight. My beautiful, strong, kind partner, Sydney and my intelligent, creative daughter Izzy. They patiently put up with me being absent night after night, Saturday mornings and whenever. They have always had my back and I give thanks that I'm fortunate indeed to share this journey with them. The time for change has come. I wish the new council great success. Enjoy the ride. It's truly been an honor to serve you all. I can ask the Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole McFadden. Well, you saved the best and shortest for last. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. First, let me just give honor to God for offering my steps to give back to my birthplace. I have been shaped for community service and I have just given my life for the last almost 50 years. Oh my God. 50 years of my life I have given to a place that I love so dearly in. Most of you who I love, I love all of you dearly as well. Let me just honor the presence of my daughter who I'm really indebted to. Can you hear me now? Okay. My daughter Lori who joins me here tonight, she is a parent of my two granddaugts, Dallas and Frankie. And I'm really indebted to her for having at least those as my grandchildren. I'm also joined tonight by the first ever child to be, to have a day proclaimed for her. Where's Kyla Newkirk? She's one of my mentees. Kyla, would you stand if you're here? There's Kyla. Kyla is one of the kids that I've mentored and I look to see great things happening with her. There's another kid who's here who will be a gymnast and I look forward. I hope God will spare me to see her in the summer Olympics before I'm too old to be able to see her. Where is she? London, there she is. As a matter of fact, London Starns is the state champ for eight years old, in eight year old kids in gymnastics. So give her a round of applause. And I single out them because as most of you know, my life is really devoted to children because they are not just our future, they are our right now. And so I challenge each of you to touch a child's life. That's what the mayor has been telling us over and over and over and over again. Touch the life of a child. I'm not talking about yours necessarily. Some other child who needs your help. And I will give another testimony for a kid who I mentored, who lives in the Mac, Magnuva Terrace. When I first started working with her, she would always say, I can't do this. I can't, I can't, I can't. And so I counseled her and she's able to say, I can now. I can, I can. And as a matter of fact, her last reporting period, she had, she made the AB Honorable. And that's because it was instilled in her the I can attitude. And we've got to place more emphasis on our children. We've got to place more emphasis on our children. Throughout the campaign, I heard so little about children. So we need to redirect our thinking to focus on the future of the city, of the state and of this country. But let me just think, let me divert, let me go back to this. Tom Bonfield, you one of the best managers we've ever had in Durham. And I want to thank you for all that you've done to make the city the best city in this country. And I'll give you a round of applause. And Patrick Baker, now you know you are one of the greatest mayors in this, excuse me, attorneys in this whole country. And I want to thank you for guiding us always down the right road. And even though you're leaving us, you've got to be the best city clerk in the world. You've got to be. And I thank you for all the work you've done. And all of our staff, Evelyn and Laverne and Tanetta and Diana and everybody in the clerk's office, you really rock. And I ask that the community pray for Sheila Bullock who is having some health challenges now. I want to thank all of our city employees. And I don't want you to think that because I will not be on council, I'm gone. Ever should I ain't sleeping, ever goodbye ain't gone. Forget about the, you can applaud that too. Because I am not gone. And the same way that we've been held accountable, I plan to hold everybody who's on the city council accountable as well. And I want every city employee to know that I pray for you daily. Every city employee, every one of you, I pray for you daily and I will continue to pray for you and I will continue to pray for this city. And Ms. Chief, police chief, the first ever black woman chief in this city, I pray for you and your family daily. Tom, I pray for you or your family and Patrick and all of you, your family's daily because I know that you need it. And if you ever needed it before you sure do need it now. I am so proud to have been a city employee. So when I was elected to council, I was able to come in and look at this thing in two perspectives. And so I will continue to look at how you have been, you are being treated as employees. You deserve the best. So you deserve to be honored for your expertise and I appreciate everything that you do to make us look good. So we want to give you a round of applause too. I want to thank every single person in the city of Durham or wherever you are for having voted for me. I hope everybody voted legally. But I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to serve. I've served on so many committees and boards and this has been a blessing. But one of the greatest experiences of my life has been to have the back of this man who I call the greatest mayor on earth, the best I've seen in Durham. And it is the honorable William V. Bill Bell. Had it not been for Bill, I would not have been the first black woman mayor pro temp. So I am so proud and thankful to you for having that foresight and exposing me to this experience. I know everything that happens in Durham just because of you. And I'd like to thank the mayor's wife. Stand up Judith. And all the grandchildren are standing too. They are gorgeous and look forward to the mayor's side. But Judith has had to sacrifice a lot of time with her husband. And now, Judith, he's all yours, almost. I will not go into all the accomplishments we've made because everybody here knows them. You know the good that this council has done. So I don't have to testify to that. I know we did great things in Durham. I know we touched the lives of people in a marvelous way. I know that we touched the lives of children. Our youth commission, would you stand please? Is the youth commission here? Or did they eat and leave? Oh, thank you for being here. There were, and thank you for being here. That youth commission is, they are stars. And I am so indebted to you guys for all that you do to make Durham look good wherever you go in the country. A lot of folk actually feel that I should be sad over this. I mean, I don't think that I lost anything. I didn't lose anything. I have nothing to be sad about. I know who's in control of my life. I know who's in control of the city. And so what I will do is to continue to pray for my city. The place where I was born, the place that I love, I pray that the elected officials will think about those among us who don't have what we have. If you look around, look up here. The decisions that we've made could not be based on what we have because we don't represent the masses. So we always need to be cognizant of the fact that there are people who can't afford to keep paying more and more taxes. I've been thinking about having a tax free year for senior citizens so that you will see that senior citizens really count. Give me a round of applause for that. All right, Tom, we would pay counter taxes, not city taxes, okay. But anyway, that's something that we should not do because our employees would not get paid. But we need to learn to appreciate everyone. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for voting for me. And I will continue to stay involved with Durham in some way. Don't try to find things for me to do. I already have things planned. And that is absolutely nothing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, before you vote your remarks, I want to be able to go home tonight. I did not recognize my wife. I would have done that. Harriet Van Hood-Davis, thank you, of you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for that. I am really going to be brief. I think you understand why this council has been able to do what it's done because of the eloquence of not only the colleagues that spoke, but my other colleagues on the council. I just want to be brief and say I have to thank, first of all, my family. My wife is Judith, who's always been recognized. Four of our kids are here, my son Billy, Tiffany, Christian, Andine, and five of our grandkids, I thought you just took one out, right? So six of them are here, six of them are here. We're here somewhere along the line. But having said that, I've constantly said, it's really been an honor and a privilege to serve as the mayor of the city of Durham. I had an opportunity to serve on the board of county commissioners. It's no question that the things we've been able to accomplish, we've been able to accomplish as a team, but they couldn't have gotten accomplished had we not had the great staff that we've had. They've been spoken to, but I just want to add my congratulations to all the city staff. They do a super job for this community. And we all should be appreciative of the fact that we've been able, Tom has been able to establish assembly of the staff that it has. That's right. We have been fortunate in so many ways in this community. We still have challenges. Don has spoken to the challenges. Cory has spoken to the challenges, but we know what they are, but I'm convinced that this council, this community can meet the challenges of reducing poverty, of reducing crime, of providing for affordable housing, but concerning keeping us in great financial state in terms of having AAA bond ratings and all those things. I'm convinced that that can happen. So I know this council is in good hands. I know the city is in good hands with the incoming council. I know that we all look forward to their serving. I don't have any advice for you. I think you've been through the campaigns. You've attended some of our meetings. You understand to a certain extent what this is all about. You understand that it's much easier to campaign than it is to govern. And you'll soon find that out if you don't know that. But the point is that you would do well and you have my support. I'm sure you have all the colleagues in the support. More importantly, you're gonna have the support of the city of Durham. So having said that, we're gonna get on about the next phase of the business, which is to see new council person sworn in. And at that time I'm gonna ask if the judges who are gonna be doing the swearing in, after the council person has been sworn in, we will leave the new council to come up and take the seat and the mayor will conduct the business. So first is the mayor to be sworn in. Steve, she will, Mary, Lex, Steve, she will. Apparently not. Yeah. Is that right, Ian? You have to take the screw. Okay, oh, fine, okay. I'm trying to give the job up too quick, I guess. Yeah, you can't get out of here that fast, Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry. Mr. Mayor, I changed my mind, sir. What's true? Can I have my, I can have mine, thank you. You forgot about me. Turn the mic on, she's coming, she's coming. I should have recognized the judge. One of the judges is gonna be doing the swearing in. Ms. Ryan Hart, Judge Ryan Hart. Just you go and do the swearing. Nope. Hold on to the mic coming. Yeah, hold on. I'm going to give him the count. I'm going to give you the count. Yeah, she's giving me the count. Two, testing one, two. May I have Mr. Mark Anthony Middleton? Who is going to hold the Bible for you? All right, and if you'll put your left hand the Bible and raise your right. Put your left hand the Bible and raise your right. Please state your name. I, Mark Anthony Middleton. Do hereby solemnly swear. Do hereby solemnly swear. That I will support and maintain. That I will support and maintain. The constitution and laws. Constitution and laws. Of the United States. Of the United States. And the constitution. And the constitution. And laws. And laws. Of North Carolina. Of North Carolina. Not inconsistent, they're with. Not inconsistent, they're with. And that I will faithfully. And that I will faithfully. And impartially. And impartially. Discharge the duties. Discharge the duties. Of my office. Of my office. A city council member. A city council member. Of the city of Durham. Of the city of Durham. So, help me God. God. Next, Ms. Pat Evans and Judge Pat Evans, Patricia Evans. I got a pawn in the back of my heart. She claims she'd like to fish. We'll see. Your class now will move swear that I will support the Constitution and laws and the Constitution. The Constitution and laws and laws. I'm interested in their work and their consistent work. And that I will faithful them and that I will faithful and partial and partial. I need you to sign. All right, Steve, come on up. Oh, that's it. We're done. Yeah. I need her to sign. Oh, no. I'm going to call him sign. All the best. Yes. See? See? Yeah. I see all the signs. Move there, Patrick. Sure. Yeah. OK. Thank you all. Just wait for lunch. Yeah. All right. All the best. Oh, hey. I mean, that's what I'm trying to say to you. All the best. All right. All right, Laverne. Thank you. Thank you, Laverne. I'm not worried. I was here. Busy, busy elves. Don't look at the back. Run on. Run on. Chris, Tiffany give us these clucky pants. I like it. Hi, Tom. Congratulations. You'll set out. I said you got it. I'll see you. I got a job to do down here. I'm glad to meet you. Yes. It's correct. I bow what you're doing. Of course. Naturally, Actually, we're shipping the stars that we're going to allow to keep in my seat. It's reasonable. No, I will not do that. How do you do this? How are we doing, Anne? Thanks, don't add up. Thank you. Have we got them Laverne? Are they good? Mark Anthony and Vernetta, please come on up and join us. Yeah, she. Thank you so much. We're now going to have remarks by our newly elected council members. They're an official. Can we look in? I'm missing somebody. You're on it. Yeah, I don't keep the family. Mine was mine was. You did good. Thank you. Thank you. Ask everybody clearly. All right, we're now going to have our remarks by newly elected council members. If you would like to, if you'd like to remain, please take a seat. I have to sit. Please sit. Thank you. Anyone that remains in the room needs to be seated. I just thought that was a video game. These screens. Please, please take your seat. I am the official water pour. Would you like glass? Okay. So that worked out. I'm going to do it. This is so. So if you are going to remain, please take a seat. If you're not going to remain for the remarks by council members, please clear the room. And those who would like to remain, please take a seat. We'd love to have you stay for a few more minutes. So please take a seat. If you're going to remain, thank you. And could the fire marshals clear the back of the room, please? We're now going to proceed with the remarks by the newly elected council members. And I'm going to start with to my left with Mark Anthony Middleton. Thank you, Mayor Schull and congratulations to you. Fellow citizens, thank you so much for this high honor. Serving you on this council. I firstly want to give thanks for the presence of my family. Benjamin and Margaret Middleton could not be here tonight because they have made their transition, but they are here tonight because their children are here. So I want to thank my brothers and sisters and extended family for being here tonight and representing our parents. We have a discussion going on in the city about inclusion in this renaissance that we have going on. And the reason why we're able to have that discussion is because we have a renaissance going on. Thank you, Mayor Bell, for your service, for putting us in a position to have that conversation. I want to thank Councilman Eddie Davis, who is outgoing, who seat. I'm assuming stewardship of tonight. Tonight is the 100th and 11th anniversary of my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. I bring, I bring that I bring that up because on tonight, I assume the seat on our founding night that was once held by the legendary Brother Howard Clement, a member of this fraternity. And we honor his spirit and memory tonight. We're gathered in this chamber tonight. What I would want to say to our citizens tonight is to take consideration of this room. This is our room. This is our living room. It's bathed in light. It's open. And there are many seats up here. It's an important graphic because no leader should ever be stuck in an echo chamber. There are many seats up here because Durham consists of many voices. No one voice, no one organization, no one interest should hold supreme power in our city. This room is lit. This room is open. And there are multiple seats up here. We won't hold these seats forever. Those of us that are up here. But for now, Durham, this is our time and this is our season. The election is over and now it's time to turn towards each other. Durham's a very special place. We are the envy of the South and for many in our state, we are in Oasis right in the middle of our state. But, but Durham, places like Durham don't happen by accident. There's nothing inevitable about Durham. We have to get up every day and defend what we have. We have to work for it. We have to commit to it. And we have to contend for it every day. So when we're in this room, may we be reminded that no matter who you are, this room is bathed in light. It is unobstructed and there are multiple seats up here, signifying that your voice matters and that your presence is important. This is our time. We're on the stage now. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I do know that if we pull together now, the next chapter of Durham will be its greatest. Thank you so much for the honor of serving you. Congratulations to my colleagues. Congratulations to the mayor, our new mayor. Thank you, staff. Let's get to work. God bless you. God bless the Blue City. Thank you very much, Mark Anthony. And now we'll hear from our council member, Vernetta Halston. Thank you, Mayor Scholl. First, I want to thank Judge Reinhardt. Thank you for your for being a part of this ceremony. Thank you to Mayor Bell and our outgoing city council members, Moffat, Cole McFadden and Davis. Thank you for your years of dedicated service. Thank you to Mayor Scholl, all the members of city staff for your continued work for the city of Durham. I also want to acknowledge my family, my wife, Courtney, my both my parents, Nettie Alston and Rick Alston, my father-in-law, Bob Young. Thank you for being here. Thanks also to my friends and campaign team. Thank you for your love and support over the past many months. Finally, thanks to the people of Durham. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as a member of your city council. In one way or another, everyone here has chosen Durham. I've chosen it because it's where I'm from. It's where I was born. I've chosen it because it's the place where as a child. There is this time where there are a few brief moments where I was mistaken for a ball kid at a Duke basketball game. And were it not for what I think was a sturdy conscience, I would have made it onto that sideline if they were to watch that game from the bench. They were very brief and very glorious moments. It was here that at the age of seven, I walked up to the Reverend Jesse Jackson at Dillard's barbecue and asked him for his autograph. And with a half this is true, a half eaten hush puppy in one hand and a pin in the other. I watched him crawl out, keep hope alive on a piece of blank receipt tape that I still have today. Durham is also the place where my my daughter was born just this year and where my wife Courtney and I have chosen to raise her for all of those reasons. And for so many more, the opportunity to serve this city and to serve the people of the city is a tremendous honor. It is a responsibility that I will commit to every single day because this city is critical to my own conscience. And I believe that how we lead in this moment will be critical to Durham's conscience. I've said it many, many times and I'll say it again that Durham should be the standard bearer for real progress in this state and in this country. And I'm here to be a part of that. I do want to acknowledge that this is a time of great transition. And I believe great opportunity for this council. I plan to do what I can along with everyone here to make that transition successful and to live up to the opportunity that we have to give everyone in this city a meaningful voice to my colleagues past and now present, those sitting here on the dais and those seated throughout the chamber. I'm ready to work with you. I'm ready to work with integrity and with great humility. And I will always be motivated by the values of fairness, equality and inclusion demanded by those who elected us to serve. And to those very people, the people of the city, I will respect your will. I will honor your history and continue to be a part of the work that you, including so many people sitting in this room right now, engage in every single day to make Durham the city that it is. Thank you. And I look forward to what we're going to accomplish together. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council Member Austin. And now we will hear from Council Member DeDriana Freeman. Thank you, Judge Evans. I understand, I believe, but I want to also thank Judge Meinhard as well for being here. I'm completely excited and like overjoyed and more so because all of my siblings were here this evening. And that has been a long time since we last all wear together. I want to say that I try to keep my remarks short and to the point. And that's how I end up reading from the sheet of paper. Otherwise, I will go on forever and ever. Just noting, as a public servant elected to guide our city manager and on behalf of the people of the city, I humbly accept the challenge to make sure that we move in a progressive in the progressive growth movement. I'm thankful for the blessings I have in family and friends, some here and some not for all my supporters, all the voters of Durham. And those who participated in the process for shaping our new council. I am excited and I look forward to all the work we have ahead. It's been hard to not start running. So just bear with me. I'm going to ask you that. And my thankfulness also extends to the gratitude that I have for our shared life together as the stakeholders in this community, as residents, business owners, neighbors. And as I think Councilman Shul, I'm sorry, Councilman Moffitt mentioned everyone who comes here and partakes in what Durham has to offer. I I thank you in advance and I look forward to providing you with the supports that are necessary. I want to take a few moments just to say that out of the service for the city, my highest priority is to serve effectively, delivering on equity, diversity and inclusion. I understand that the hard decisions that lie ahead and I understand hard decisions that lie ahead and setting priorities and upholding our existing commitments because we cannot afford to do all that is needed. Immediately, but I can commit to staying focused to get more covered each year and to move forward, expanding on the equitable Durham for everyone. And delivering on that on that agenda, I want to share in the collective work we all can do together as a council and as a community addressing the inequalities of being a mid-sized city with growing economic divide, with a growing economic divide, we must work on our hard and soft cost of living with with the obligations in mind to respect all of the residents of Durham and to one another, responding to injustices and inequities within our city, our state, our country and our world as one voice as possible. I make one request. I ask you to please make a commitment to stay engaged, to push harder and to go deeper in considering the business of our city government. We must work together and united for Durham. As a stakeholder residents and members of the Durham Committee, I want you to know that I'm committed to do in my part to seek the engagement or building on those engagement tools and resources for shared prosperity, prosperity, whatever may come, I will seek to address the solutions in a way that best that's best for the city of Durham, not just for a few. Know that we are called to live in community with one another, seeing the face of one another and each other, providing opportunities to build on our moral obligations to do our part to make sure that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice in the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King is just putting it mildly. I can guarantee you that I'm going to push as hard as I possibly can to to move us in a direction that makes Durham more equitable for everyone. I want to say thank you and farewell to the council members departing tonight. All three Moffitt, Davis and Mayor Pro Tim Coral, Cole McFadden have served as well. And I hope to keep the lines of communication open for lots of questions and of course for feedback. I want to especially thank our Mayor Bill Vell for being such a shining example of what leadership is. I think there was a quote noting that he's conducted the symphony. And I want to say that with that symphony, I want to look to attack or tackle the national issues with progressive ideas, tools and play and play new instruments that maintain our tempo, moving in a sense of direction that is louder and more distinctly Durham than ever before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Freeman. Now I have a few remarks. First of all, I want to thank Judge Evans and Judge Reinhardt for being here tonight to swear us in. Thank you so very much. I want to thank the people of Durham, the voters who participated in the past election, no matter who you voted for. Thank you for making Durham such a rip roaring democracy, a place where every voice is heard. And thank you to my incredible campaign volunteers and for so many, all the volunteers who worked on all these campaigns. It was an amazing democratic process this year. I want to thank my my fellow mayoral candidates in the election, especially for Ali. I think for odd is left. I saw him here earlier for odd. And I spent way too much time together over the past six months, including more than 30 forums. And here's what I can tell you for odd is a good man. He set an extremely high bar during the campaign for kindness, for civil debate and for mutual respect. When our president is elected based on a campaign of character assassination, Durham has got to be different. And I'm very proud that we were different this year. Two, two, two weeks ago in this chamber, I made extensive remarks about the individual council members and the mayor who are leaving us. But I would like to address them just briefly as a group right now. Each of us sits in one of these seats as a steward of our community and its well-being for as long as the people will have us here and no longer. The mood of the public can be fickle and changeable. It can turn on a dime. But what will never change is the history that the four of these people have written. Together, they have carried this community forward through good times and tough times, through crises and through the unsung, mundane, day-to-day city council work that has made this community the wonderful place it is today. So to my friends, Bill and Cora and Don and Eddie, I say thank you. I stand here in awe and gratitude of your remarkable stewardship. You have set an exceedingly high standard for those of us who are following you on this dais and we owe our beloved Bull City the same care, the same wisdom, the same patience, the same openness, the same careful discernment, the same unflagging devotion as stewards that these four have offered. On behalf of our community, I say to all of them, thank you and Godspeed. Our stewardship, our stewardship of our community begins with our stewardship of our city government. We live in an age where government is constantly under attack, where institutions as basic as our public schools, our great public universities, our national parks, the progressive income tax, the towering centers of scientific research and even the independent judiciary are battered and broken under the constant deliberate assaults of ideology and greed. We must not let that happen here in Durham. I will say, I will tell you that I have been shocked over the last few years at the fragility of our most important democratic institutions. How susceptible they are to demagoguery and lies. And I know that part of our job as stewards of our city is to defend the institutions of local government. Government in Durham is good government. Our 2,500 employees of this city are working hard every day to pick up our trash and recycling to pave our streets to improve the quality of our lakes and streams, to respond to the health emergencies and fires, to keep us safe from gun violence, to build new sidewalks and trails and provide safe, clean water in whatever quantity you want whenever you turn on the tap. They do this with a constant eye on our tax dollars and by and large, our employees do a tremendous job. All of this is under the direction of three people that the city council hires. The first is our city clerk, D. N. Gray, and you're going to be retiring at the end of this month after I won't even know how many years of service. You have done an amazing job. We have had a lot of fun together, Ann, and I will miss you terribly. I know the city will miss you terribly. Thank you from all of us. We are very lucky that we have a superb city attorney and a superb city manager, Patrick Baker, our city attorney and Tom Bonfield, our city manager to lead this city's work. Patrick and Tom, I want to say to both of you, you have my total respect and full support and confidence. Thank you for the fabulous job that you both do leading our city. One more person I think I believe I probably need to thank is my beloved Leo. Babe, in all our 43 years together, this one might have been the most emotional. We began with the joy of Abe's wedding to Lauren Lee. We've watched our boys grow and flourish this year. We've loved and cared for our aging parents, and we've gone through this very grueling campaign together. Thanks for being my chief support and chief strategist, and thanks for being there with me and my brother and sister two months ago as we held mom's hand as she took her last breaths and passed into eternity. I miss her terribly, but I have you. I also have something else. I feel very deeply that I and my new colleagues and my veteran colleagues on this council have the good wishes and deep support of the people of Durham. Everywhere I have gone since the election, I have been met with smiles and kind words of encouragement and requests for selfies. The people wish the best for us. They want us to succeed, and they are so ready to help. This campaign for mayor and city council, as I said, really been grueling. It's, I think, served a very significant community purpose, even more important than the choice of the winning candidates. This campaign, I believe, has empowered our community to forge a vision for our common future. And so I want to talk just a minute about that vision now. Here's what I heard during the campaign. We, the people of Durham, envision a prosperous, innovative, green and welcoming city that thrives on diversity and difference, that puts racial and economic justice at the top of our civic agenda, that defends the vulnerable among us, that cherishes robust, respectful debate on difficult question, that believes science is real, that embraces nonviolence, that embodies the belief that all residents get an opportunity to share in our newfound prosperity, that serves as a progressive beacon for the South in the nation. It's our job, not just the city council, not even mostly the city council, but all of us in this room and in this city to make that vision real. I want to speak directly tonight to some of our community's most vulnerable communities. First, if you were a refugee who has come to this country in flight from Somalia or Iraq or Syria, we welcome you here to Durham with open arms. If you were a gender non-conforming kid who's trying to figure it out, we embrace you in Durham. We want you and we love you. If you were a transgender person, come to Durham because we don't care what bathroom you choose. If you were a Latino immigrant, struggling to stay in this country, Usted es bienvenido en Durham. Usted es bienvenido si eres de México o Honduras o Colombia o El Salvador. Usted es bienvenido si usted está luchando para aprender o si usted solo habla español. Usted es bienvenido bienvenido en Durham si está documentado o indocumentado. In Durham, in Durham, haremos todo lo posible para mantener a su familia segura. Son bienvenidos en nuestras escuelas, en nuestros lugares de trabajo, en todos los lugares públicos. Queremos que usted y su familia para vivir y prosperar aquí en condiciones de seguridad. In Durham, we welcome you with open arms and open hearts. And finally, given our presidents, anti-Muslim tweets in the last week, I feel it's especially incumbent upon me to speak directly to Durham's Muslim community. I want everyone within the sound of my voice, everyone in Durham and everyone in the White House to know. If you worship the God of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we respect you, we stand with you, we support you, and we welcome you. If you thought my Spanish was bad, wait till you hear my Arabic. Except from us in abundance of respect and appreciation. Forging a common vision can be difficult, but it is actually the easiest part of our task. The hard part is still in front of us, and that is implementing that vision, making it real. That implementation work is going on, fortunately, every day within city government. And in my state of the city address in a couple of months, I'm going to talk specifically about our goals and programs. But tonight, I want to appeal to you. After the 2016 election, a chant arose that I heard over and over again. If you want to make change, run for office, run for office, run for office. Here's the problem. If you take all of our local office holders, mayor, city council, county commission, school board, state legislator, soil and water commissioners, there are only 26 of us. Running for office is good. I've done it a few times myself, but it can't be the only path, and it can't be the main path. If we're going to realize our collective vision, we have to do other things as well. So I appeal to each of you, find your own way to advocate and serve. Government has a crucial role to play for sure, but it is the people at the grassroots who have the biggest role to play. The biggest role to play in the changes we want to see. So serve on the board of your favorite nonprofit, organize your neighborhood, take a job on the PTA, write a blog on the issue you care about most, march in protest, mentor a young person, fundraise for the cause closest to your heart, get your church involved in social action, register voters. If you're a young person raising a family in Durham, I challenge you to do the thing that I believe is going to make the most difference for all of us in the long run. Send your kids to Durham Public Schools and get involved in our schools and fight for them, fight for them. During this past month, people have come to me and over and over with the same question, how could I help? And that's how. Advocate and serve. Find your way to do that. Here's the greatest challenge of all. We know that 20 percent of Durham's people, mostly people of color, are not sharing in Durham's newfound prosperity. That is a national problem, and we know it's very hard to change, but we want to change that here in Durham. Here's the hard part. We really don't know that we can make that change, do we? We aren't sure because nobody else has. Which leads me to the words of Lillian Smith, who's the great anti-lynching crusader of the 1940s, and she said, To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives is the only way to keep the future open. To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives is the only way to keep the future open. In Durham, we are believing in something not yet proved and we are underwriting it with our lives. What I'm sure of, however, is that we won't complete this work ourselves, this council, or the next. It is the work of years. So that takes me to the words of Rabbi Tarfan, the great Talmudic sage who said, It is not incumbent upon us to complete the task, but neither are we free to desist from it. So let us not desist. Let's get started right now tonight. I promise you that I will do my best every day to realize our common vision. And I know my colleagues will as well. But we need all of you together. Let's make the city we love a city for all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Here's the remaining business. We have one more piece of business in this portion of the meeting. And then we're going to have a brief recess. And then we'll come back for a little bit of business. Well, but let me first take care of the next very important piece of business. We are now at the part of the of the our meeting with the designation of the mayor pro tem by council members to be recommended by the mayor. It is my great privilege and my honor to recommend as our next mayor pro tem my former student, my current colleague, and my great friend, council member Jillian Johnson. I'm going to ask council member Reese. I'm going to ask council member Reese if he might offer a motion to that effect. I do make a motion, Mr. Mayor. It's nice saying that, by the way. I would move that we designated amongst our number, our colleague Jillian Johnson to serve as the mayor pro tem for the city of Durham. Second. It has been moved and properly second that we designate council member Jillian Johnson as our mayor pro tem. I guess I was I was going to say all in favor. We don't do that. Do we end still learning still learning. Madam clerk, can you please open the vote? Close the vote. Let's let's see how we did. Madam clerk. It passes. We are now going to swear in and administer the oath of office to the mayor pro tem. Ann, are you the swear in? Thank you. It looks like Jillian's family is coming up as well. Great. Paul, go ahead on up. Hi. Hi, Mama. Hi Jillian Johnson. I Jillian Johnson. Do hereby solemnly affirm that I will support and maintain the Constitution and Laws of the United States the Constitution and Laws of the United States and the Constitution and Laws of North Carolina and the Constitution and Laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith and that I will faithfully and impartially And then I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my office discharge the duties of my office as mayor pro tem as mayor pro tem of the city of Durham of the city of Durham. We will now take a brief recess. We will now take a brief recess of 10 minutes and we will read. We will gather again at 844. If you would like to stay for the small bit of business that we have then you are free to do so. If not, we bid you good night. So that feedback. Okay, there's no ceremonial items, right? The sound was on and so we could hear and so it was causing feedback. Can we reconvene, please? When people spoke loudly, it could, it could catch it, catch it. They fixed it. They fixed it. Can we reconvene, please? If you are planning to, if you're planning to stay for this meeting. You did. We did the thing. I'm sure everything will be fine. Could the fire marshals clear the room, please? And the fire marshals clear the room, please? If you are planning to stay for this meeting, please take a seat. And if not, please leave the room. Thank you. Okay, we're now reconvening. Any announcements by the council? Are there any priority items by the city manager? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening. Again, everyone, no priority items from the city manager's office. Thank you. Are there any priority items by the city attorney? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No priority items. Thank you. City clerk, are there any priority items? No items. Thank you. I will now move to the consent agenda. I have a script. I'm finding it. The next door to the business is the consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda may be approved in one vote unless an item is removed by the council member or a member of the public for separate consideration at the end of the meeting tonight. I'm going to read the items in the consent agenda. One, Durham Performing Arts Center Oversight Committee appointment. Two, Mayor's nominee for reappointment, Durham Housing Authority Board of Trustees. Three, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the financial year end of June 30, 2017. Four, Water Management Meter Disconnect and Reconnect Performance Audit. Five, Interlocal Agreement with the County of Durham for reimbursement of lost revenues and fees. Six, Amendment to Piedmont Reynolds Loan Agreements Dedicated Housing Fund in Home with Durham Community Land Trustees. Seven, Interlocal Agreement Reauthorizing the Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission. Eight, the Men's Ordnance Section 70-49A Water Deposits. Nine, October 2017 BID Report. Ten, License Agreement with Davis Park East Master Association, Inc. For a sign within the median of a public right of way. Fourteen, this item can be found on the General Business Agenda public hearing. Those are the items on the consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, could you please open the vote? Close the vote. Thank you. It passes six to zero. Passes six to zero. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll now move to General Business Agenda one item. It's a public hearing item. And the item is public hearing and adoption of resolution approving the issuance of multi-family housing revenue bonds by the Public Finance Authority for the financing of the Lynn Haven Apartments Affordable Housing Project. And now we'll hear from our staff report. Mayor Shewell, Mayor Pro Tem Johnson, members of council, first of all congratulations. Thank you, Reginald. Thank you. I'm Reginald Johnson, Director of the Department of Community Development. The item before you is a public hearing and adoption of a resolution approving the issuance of multi-family housing revenue bonds by the Public Finance Authority in connection with the financing of the Lynn Haven Apartments Affordable Housing Project. The staff recommends that you hold the public hearing and that after the conclusion of the public hearing, you adopt the resolution. Thank you very much. We've heard the staff report. I'll declare the public hearing open and we'll first entertain questions and comments from the council. Any questions or comments from the council? I have one question, which is, are these bonds, are these bonds also related to a tax credit? Is there a tax credit that's part of this deal as well? Mayor Shewell, I'm going to ask Eric Christel, General Counsel, Legal Counsel, for the developer to answer that question. Thank you very much. Good evening and congratulations to you all. Thank you, Eric. There are no tax credits part of this deal. Okay. So is this the kind of financing that's endangered by the changes that both the Senate and the House have passed for low income housing bond financing? Do you know that? Yes, those are called private activity bonds in the House version of the tax reform, private activity bond authorization was eliminated in the Senate version. It was included. So the differences need to be reconciled in conference committee. Okay. So at least in one of the houses of Congress, it's still in. Right. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I do think it's just worthy of note that this is one of our tools for creating affordable housing, which is now in jeopardy in the new tax bill in Congress. Thank you very much, Eric. We have no speakers signed up to speak on this item. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak on this item? Anyone at council? Have any questions? If no, then let the record reflect that no one else's request to speak on this item. And I now declare the public hearing to be closed in the matters back before the council. Mr. Mayor, I move to adopt the resolution approving the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds as set forth in the agenda. Second. It's moved and seconded. Can the clerk please open the vote? It passes 6-0. Thank you very much. We have no further business, so I will declare this meeting adjourned at 8.50 p.m. Thank you all very much for being here tonight. We may be. Okay. I can't both say that. That's right. Patrick, thank you for the script. It's very good. Very necessary. Thanks, Steve, for not to say it. Thank you. Exactly. That's great.