 What is all this Bell shield Oh Good evening we'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order Monday December 7th at 7 0 5 p.m. And certainly want to Thank all of you and welcome all of you that are here with us this evening If we could just take a moment for silent meditation, please. Thank you as As councilman He's a man of ours this evening as most of you know this is a Very special evening for the council and certainly for the members of the council and their friends and families the first order of business this evening will be the Certification of elections and we have the chair of the Board of Elections. It's Brian and Michael Perry. I don't know who's going to do what first, but I'm at your beck and call Okay, good evening. My name is Bill Bryan, and I am the chairman of the Durham County Board of Elections I'm here this evening with mr. Michael Perry the Durham County Director of Elections to report on the outcome of the November 2015 City Council elections 1994 people voted in the November election This is 10.8 percent of the registered voters in the City of Durham of that number 3746 voted early or 19.22 percent of those who voted in the election at this time. Mr. Perry will present to the clerk the certified copy of the election results The results of the election are as follows for mayor Mr. William Bill Bell for City Council at large mr. Stephen Shule Ms. Gillian Johnson and mr. Charlie Reese at this time Mr. Perry will be presenting you with your certificates of election There were no valid challenges to the election and the results were certified by the Board of Elections on November 10th 2015 We congratulate the winners and thank all who participated in the project process. Thank you very much Again, congratulations. Thank you as most of you know this is a Sort of a changing of the guards a certain set we have Two of our colleagues that I've had the privilege to serve with for doing their 12 years on the council Both of them chose not to seek reelection for various reasons, but Todd sat in this they made that choice But I can tell you that during my time on this this council I can't think of two finer persons to have served with on on the City Council They were very engaging Always doing their homework and once we made a decision we moved on to the next next item so This evening I'd like to present on behalf of the Durham City Council and Certainly all the citizens of Durham two plaques first. I like The plaque reads an appreciation to Eugene a brown for 12 years of dedicated service and commitment to the City of Durham and citizens as council member at large serving December the first 2003 to December the 7th 2015 and Assigned by William B. Bell Bell the mayor Coral Cole McFat and Mayor Pro Tem Council member Eddie Davis council member Don Moffitt council member still Steve shul City manager Thomas J. Bondfield City Attorney Patrick W Baker and city clerk D. Anne Gray Gene again, we want to present this to you and I'm sure hopefully you can find a very prominent place to display it And one of your many offices, okay? Diane I don't know what else I can say about dance. She's the person that always does her homework sometime when we have extra-long meetings You can blame it on Diane Steeds not anymore. We'll leave it to Steve now, but seriously Seriously, Diane has been a very very helpful and very guiding Council member as I said, she really does her homework and you never know what type of questions Diane is going to come up with but you can tell it's always at the appropriate time appropriate question and Sometimes we find answers sometimes we don't but she raises the question So then again, I want to present this plaque and I'm going to read it It says the same exception name, but I think it's important to read it says an appreciation to Diane in Catahti for 12 years of dedicated service and commitment to the city of Durham and citizens as council members at large December 1st, 2003 to December 7th, 2015 and again is signed by William V. Bill Vell, Mayor Coral Cole McFat and Mayor Pro Tem Councilmember Zedda Davis, Councilmember Diane Moffitt, Councilmember Steve Shull, City Manager Thomas J. Bonfield, City Attorney Patrick W. Baker and City Clerk D. Andrey So at this time, I guess we will do the swearing in and Before the New council persons take their seat. No, I want you guys to stay down until very very Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We want to do swearing in and after that's done then we're gonna have remarks from Diane and Eugene and tonight we have the honor of being sworn in by the Honorable William A. Marsh's 3rd District Court Judge to the Minister of Office test testing Mayor Bell I will read the oath and If you agree to that oath you simply at the end need to say I with So if you will please raise your right hand William V. Bill Bell to hear by solemnly swear that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina Not inconsistent therewith and that I will faithfully and impartially Discharge the duties of my office as mayor of the city of Durham. So help me God. I will congratulations It's my wife Judith Elena Marcus my son-in-law Tiffany oldest daughter and on today. I'm no daughter. Thank you The reason we're doing this is probably most of you know And I've been reminded this constant. I really never thought about it as much until I really got got here this evening this is my 21st swearing-in of office from 26 years on the Board of County commissioners and seven terms of 14 years on the Durham City Council and I just Thought it was appropriate that people who've been with me Throughout these different stages some came on board lately such as this one in that one To have them a part of what were we doing today and our son building his wife living Charlotte And they were not able to be here to see it But again, it's been an honor and it continues to be an honor to have an opportunity to serve as an elected official in the City of Durham and although I've got two years left I probably won't really feel it until I do what Jean and Dan are doing two years from now But again, thank you. I have the honorable Jillian Johnson and her family join Johnson if you will raise your right hand, please and repeat after me Actually, I will read it and ask you to Firm I Jillian Johnson Do you hear by solemnly affirm? That I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States And the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith and That I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my office as Council member of the City of Durham Thank you so much everyone. I just want to thank my family for being here tonight my Mom and my dad and my brother came in from Richmond Today and just thank you everyone to the people of Durham for your vote of confidence in me and to my many campaign volunteers and Donors and just everyone I feel like this was really a community effort to get me here And I'm really looking forward to Being able to do do great work for us and great work for Durham. So thank you all so much Charlie Reese and his family join me, please Come sit with me All right, if you place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand I'll read your oath and you can tell me that you agree I Charlie Reese to hear by solemnly swear that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States And the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith and That I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my office Councilmember of the city of Durham. So help me God. I will So thank you everybody for coming out tonight That's my wife Laura by the way and my daughters Ellen Gwyn Two of the greatest door knockers in the history of the County of Durham City of Durham I just want to thank everybody for your support and thank you for coming out tonight Tonight marks a new page in my personal history in the history of this city and the city council And I'm honored to join this legacy of servant leadership Following the footsteps of Diane Cattati and Eugene Brown as we all seek to make this city a better place to live Thank you. I have the honorable Steve Shul And his family join me, please you place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand Actually, I'll read it and you can affirm at the end I Steve Shul Do hereby solemnly swear That I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States And the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my office As council member of the city of Durham. So help me God Congratulations I'm going to go sit up there and make my remarks But I do want to thank my son Solomon and my wife leo for being here for me tonight And I have a couple of other things I want to say so I'll do that in a second. Thank you so much As the mayor pro term Comes to the dyes What I like to do is to recognize again Diane and Eugene for their remarks Out of which and Steve since he wants to make remarks on and Steve out of which would ask the new council members to join us In your rightful seats. Thank you, mr. Mayor I have a little bit longer remarks and I read them down. So I came up here to make them Um Mainly I want to offer thank yous I'm so grateful for the voters of Durham for giving me a second term and I will strive to be worthy of your trust Um, I want to thank my parents. They're 91 and 87 years old still role models for me and They raised me to believe that politics is good that Politics is something you run towards not away from And that public service is a noble privilege And that our religion Judaism teaches us that We should live a life dedicated to the pursuit of justice. That's what they taught me I wanted to thank my beloved boys. Abraham and Solomon Solomon was here is here tonight For inspiring me to work for a better future for their generation I want to thank my colleagues on this city council and I'm glad to see the mayor pro temp has just come in So happy to see her in in in health enough to be here And I want to tell everybody in this audience and who's listening at home This is I am so lucky to work with this group of people. I cannot even tell you It was sometimes we disagree with each other, but it's it's always done with such respect and kindness And care for Durham that all of us share Uh, Mr. Mayor and my fellow council members I cherish our work together and the friendships that we force and I'm looking forward to doing it again I want to particularly thank uh, Eugene and diane and I want to say about Eugene what stands out for me about your work Eugene on this council Uh, is that you're fearless in pursuing what you think is right You're not afraid to be a lonely voice To speak the truth as you see it regardless of the political consequences And this is an incredible gift to all of us on the council to enter people in Durham We have needed your willingness to stand up and to stand alone and many times that lonely stance has proven to be right And diane I want to say that You are my mentor Sitting next to you here on these monday nights and on every every other thursday afternoon for the last four years I've asked you a million questions. You've answered them all Every time we vote I turn to you and say how should I vote and you always offer me your wisdom And uh, and mainly I do it But you have provided me such incredible wisdom every single time And so I just want to thank you for taking me under your wing I want to say about our amazing dedicated city staff all of you folks over there and everybody who work for you All of our directors and the people that work for you The 2000 plus people who pick up the trash and keep us safe who inspect our buildings and pave our streets who Help the unemployed find a job and run our bus system and take care of the parks and coach our kids Make sure the millions of gallons of water we use every day is safe and clean comes out of the tap every time we turn it on These are amazing fabulous people and your your work does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. It's so appreciating And most of all I want to thank my wife leo rubert um Who I love very much leo and I have been together for 41 years And since the beginning I have watched her drive off pretty much every day to raleigh Uh in the general assembly where she has spent a lifetime working for A just criminal justice system Four decades ago a way before mass incarceration was a word that people said she's been working against mass incarceration reducing the prison population lobbying for alternatives to prison and For substance abuse prevention and treatment for violence prevention programs against the death penalty against the privatization of prisons For the racial justice act and for pushing north carolina finally into the 21st century to Hopefully join the rest of the nation raising the age at which juveniles enter the juvenile at the the adult court system from 16 to 18 So I admire this work so much leo and it inspires me all the time And what leo tells me every day when she drives back from raleigh is that the moment she begins to feel good Is she is when she sees the r kelly Bryant bridge? You know fighting off one more assault in the legislature and then there's that moment when discouragement is lifted That moment when she sees in the distance the beautiful blue light of the arc kelly Bryant bridge The arc that beckons her home and I think beckons us all home when we come that way where she knows that Even in our imperfection here in durham. We're striving to build a beloved community And I drove under that bridge myself one night last week and Under the beckoning blue arc And it reminded me of another arc the words that president obama has used quoting martin luther king The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice And I believe that is true, but only if it's only if we will do the bending Durham even our newfound prosperity is Many tough problems to solve And often as a council member i'll tell you that's difficult for me to figure out the right course of action It's hard to figure out what will work It's hard to figure out what's just rhetoric and what can really make a difference And what are the best ways to fight for racial justice and For an end to poverty and durham inequality for all And that fight is the reason I want to do this work But it's hard. It's can be confusing and discouraging and it and it seems never ending and so It's hard to finish. You know, it's hard to bend the arc So I remember the ancient words of rabbi tarfan when I think about this which are Rabbi tarfan said it's not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it Which brings me to jillian and charlie You all represent a new generation taking its rightful place Today in the leadership of our city A generation which will also not complete the task But will bend the arc of the moral universe much farther than our generation has Um jillian we have been friends for many years since you were my student at duke Uh, and you were brilliant and brave and kind even then And charlie as i've come to know you through the campaign i've grown to admire your brain power your work ethic and your conscience And thankfully also your sense of humor And i'm excited to start with you So it's with real gratitude that i look forward to the next four years on the city council Together with all of you. I think we can make the city. We love the city for all. Thank you Alrighty turns out I like the view from up here. Oh well Yeah, I know So this is a really tough goodbye for me. I love this job. I will miss it greatly Um to my family. I want to thank you for your patience and loving support and chuck and leah and alex Thanks for being here with me tonight My children were young when I started now. They are adults making their way in the world and making it a better place Chuck you're the best. Thank you To tom to wanda. We're where's wanda? There you are to bow to keith karmisha Beverly mark steve. I could go on all night So to you and to all the hard-working staff of the city I have the utmost respect for the work that you do Your integrity and your commitment to making the city city better is unsurpassed and as you know, I will miss you all tremendously So to patrick and the city attorney's office. Thank you for your wise counsel and dedication to the city To ann and the staff of the city clerk's office. Thank you for your tremendous support and caring service To my supporters and campaign team over the years. Thank you. Your support means more than I can ever express I love this city. I love our diversity our passion and our ability to wrestle with tough issues to make things better To the newest council members I wish you all the best I hope you build on all that's come before you And lastly to my colleagues You know I'm really so very proud of what we've been able to accomplish together for our city and I will miss you all so very much Thanks for your patience and counsel and vigorous debate over the years. It's been a fun ride Keep up the good work Good night and good luck All right, this is the top Tonight, uh, my wife sitting Sitting and I would like to bestow Upon this city That has been so Good and gracious to us This very special print This is by the artist That most of you know Norman Rockwell It's a special print that's been approved by their museum in in boston Uh This rendering which was oil and canvas when he did it in 1963 Then grace the cover Of look magazine In 1964 And what this depletes is a girl A little girl Name ruby bridges As she walked in november Of 1960 To her elementary school in new orleans Now note that the full image of the the girl Is the focus of this Very fine piece of art Not the four u.s. Marshals Who accompanied her So in my judgment what the artist is trying to say Is that ruby is the most important subject In this piece and in this time And if it is anyone Any person Who has ever exemplified courage It is this girl Uh indeed this iconic painting Has come to serve as an important symbol Of civil rights for this country So much in fact that president obama Requested that it'd be put on display the original In the white house And so signa and i believe That it should also be on display In the Durham City hall You see why we're going to miss these classy persons Such a well done job Yeah, what Ten pages of remark I'm glad all of you had this great dinner outside Chateau Brion Finest wine Spiked Baptist punch Well folks the uh The last 12 years have been quite a ride and I approached this evening as As Diane does With uh mixed feelings It is almost like uh drinking An enticing cocktail Comprised of two jiggers of happy And one of sad I love this job As I have said too, I believe I'm been pretty damn good at it And so It is with sadness and some respects That I leave I am also sad because I am leaving my My dear colleagues Bill Bell Diane Cattotti Cora Cole McFadden Eddie Davis Steve Shul and Don Moffitt I'm also sad to be leaving our three Exempt burrary City council employees That is city manager Tom Bonfield City attorney Patrick Baker And city clerk Ann Gray And of course I am saddened to to leave our city staff and department heads You've been terrific to work with all of you And I love you all And now I have some special Thank yous I want to thank the citizens of Durham Who on three different occasions elected me to this office And I more than appreciate Your confidence in me and your appreciation Of what together we have achieved For my hometown Most importantly I want to Take the time this evening to thank the special woman In my life My wife sigma And also My daughter christine And her husband Brad Thank you all for your patience and understanding why I served on council and would the three of you please stand Now I do want to add However That during the last several months Whenever my wife was asked What is your husband Going to do When he retires Her answer Was always the same He's going to drive me crazy Now the good portion Of the cocktail that I mentioned Is the positive role This mayor and council Have played in the past 12 years And really turning This city around Some of you have short memories And do not recall What Durham was like back in those days And tonight is not the time to dwell on that But I think there's been a true renaissance In Durham And we're all The better for it And Diane and I are in agreement Tonight we're leaving this council With our heads held high Knowing that we are leaving this city In far better hands Than it was when we were elected 12 years ago For as I had As I have said Durham is no longer an up And coming place It is the place The place for our citizens to work Play Enjoy And participate In their city affairs And they do participate And I hope And believe That our two newly elected members Charlie Reese And Jillian Johnson Will work with our mayor And current council members To continue The progress that we have all made Now folks I'm not naive I realize that in spite of our progress We are not yet that perfect Shining city upon a hill Challenges still abound And especially too In dealing With that recalcitrant general assembly In Raleigh I am cognizant too With many of the issues That were raised and discussed during the fall campaign Poverty Homelessness The lack of affordable housing And the need to improve police Community relations Rest assured This existing council Understands And is committed as we have in the past To addressing these challenges As well And so I am reminded Of a rather insightful Quote By the theologian Martin Luther Who wrote This life therefore Is not righteousness But growth In righteousness Not health But healing Not being But becoming And I would Use poetic license to alter This quote To say that For we As a city We are not yet What we should be But in his words We are growing towards it The process is not yet finished But it is going on This is not the end But it is the road And so I leave you tonight With a simple farewell From my favorite journalist Edward R. Murrell Who was fond of saying Good night And good luck Elected council persons Let me recognize first We had some elected officials here Representative Mickey Michal Form a city councilman Now Senator Mike Woodard Ellen Recal Ellen Recal County Commissioner I know former county commissioner When the Jacobs was here Ed Harrison Chapel Hill Town We have the district attorney Roger Eccles I don't know if I'm missing anyone else If I am would you please stand Elected official With Sheriff here Sheriff was here at the reception Mike Andrews was here earlier Okay well Again this has been Great night Great comments And now we're going to ask The newly elected council persons If they would join us at the podium You can all be seated if you like Or you need to leave I understand that too The first order of business Is to organize the council And one of the other positions That I consider very important Is the position of Mayor Pro Tem I've been privileged in this council I've been privileged, the city has been privileged To have had the services of Mayor Pro Tem Coral Cole McFadden And I will again endorse The nomination Of Mayor Pro Tem Coral Cole McFadden To me again Mayor Pro Tem For the next two years And I will entertain a motion to that effect It's been property Moves in second Madam clerk will you open the vote Okay everybody vote Close the vote Thank you So there are any comments By members of the council Thank you Mr. Mayor During Steve Shul's remarks He talked about coming back To Durham from the east Coming in To Durham and going Driving under the blue lights To Kelly Bryant lights Those lights will be there I hope forever But we have had the Loss of the man who The lights Stand for And after 98 years Two months And 14 days We no longer have Our Kelly Bryant with us here in Durham So I hope that we will Pray for his family and Hope that all of us will understand And appreciate the wonderful Contributions that he has made To the city of Durham The state of North Carolina And these United States of America Over his lifetime Thank you Could I just ask again for a moment of silence In the memory of Our Kelly Bryant Any other comments By members of the council Here and then we'll move with the agenda The first item is the priority items Again we have priorities by city manager City attorney and city clerk And thank you Mr. Mayor good evening no priority items Likewise city attorney Thank you Mr. Mayor no priority items Likewise city clerk No items Mr. Mayor The items that we move with now Is the consent agenda May be approved single vote If a council member or someone from the audience Chooses to have an item removed from the agenda We will remove it and discuss it later In the meeting Item one is approval of city council minutes Item two is the cross connection Control performance audit October 2015 Item three is professional engineering Services for the east west Reinforcing the main route study of what Contractor Hazen and Sawyer PC Item four is professional engineering services For American tobacco district water line Replacement contract award to Kimberly Horne and associates Item five is the bid report for October 2015 Item 16 is proposed sale of 2600 Serra Avenue by upset bid Parcel ID 104 738 and parcel ID 104 739 city track 563 and 496 Item seven is priority trails For a healthy well connected Durham Item eight is comprehensive annual financial report For the physical year ended June 30th 2015 Item nine is fiscal year 2015-16 first quarter Financial report Enterting a motion for approval of consent agenda The rolls are approved. The second Madam clerk when you open to vote Close to vote It passes seven as you want one other item that we have to deal with is organizing the council in terms of committees I'm going to pass around the committee assignments and what I would ask is if any council person remove his name from the particular committed he's been he or she's been consigned and would prefer to go to another committee my first recommendation would be that you have that discussion with the council person who might be in committee you're looking for in any event what I would ask if you could have this okay by our work session Thursday so we can give it to the clerk and she can inform the various boards and commissions on which you serve and I have added one more committee to this to this list I guess what one of the items that I I have had some concern about and it's not just me a lot of people come up to me and say this and I'm sure to say it to others is the fact that you know Durham is now as I say it over and over again the fourth largest city in the state of North Carolina behind Charlotte Raleigh and Greensboro we're certainly in the top 10 cities and the one thing that I think the city ought to be able to do you know where cities considered to be creative innovators American Underground all those good things we ought to be able to have a holiday parade so the committee that I've added is a holiday parade committee and I've asked the mayor pro tem to co-chair it I'm asking councilman Don Moffitt and I too newly elected council persons to serve on that and the timing is right for it I mean what what and I know we've been through this before I know one of the issues is where do you stage it what time of the day you have what day do you have it all those things are going with a parade but for the citizen to do it we ought to be able to do it here in Durham and the timing of it is correct because it's always going to take money so I would hope that this committee will work towards preparing a plan for a holiday parade in 2016 you picked a month to date the time but haven't read it so that when we do our budget this year in June July that we can have this as a part of our budget because it's going to cost some money you don't get anything free even Christmas doesn't come free so especially for us tonight especially for us so you'll find your names on on this committee list and again I would appreciate if you look at it closely again if you have thoughts you might want to change speak to whoever you want to make the changes to but we'd like to have this done so that Thursday we can have it at work session and the clerk can go on with provide an information to the records I'm passing it out now are there any other items to come before the council tonight if not we're adjourned at 7 54 p.m. thank you