 No One minute to air live stream has started one minute to air live stream is started 30 seconds I call this work session of the Durham City Council to order at 1 o'clock on Thursday, November 18th, and I certainly want to welcome everyone here today our Wonderful colleagues our great city staff and anyone who may be With us today in person or also listening in in any form. We're really glad to have you with us Madam clerk, will you please call the roll mere shul your mere pro tem Johnson? Here on some member Caballero here on some member Freelon Councilmember Freeman present on some member Middleton. I'm here. It's a member Reese here. Thank you Thank you very much madam clerk Colleagues will now move to announcements by members of the council any amount any announcements today Councilmember Reese Thank You mr. Mayor a couple of us had some nice things. We wanted to say about you. This is the last Meeting you'll chair with us Intended to say some stuff Monday night, but it got a little late as you may recall So I thought this would be a good time to share some thoughts About Your service to the city You know, I'm gonna talk mostly about what you've meant to me as a as a friend and a mentor Although that's not obviously not the most important story to be told about you But I don't have the skill set to write the history of what you've contributed to our city But I do know this year mayor that for the last 2172 days, it's been the highest privilege of my public life to serve alongside you as a member of this council over the course of those 172 days you've taught me so much how to prepare for meetings and work sessions the right way How to show up for folks in our community like physically be with them during difficult moments and wonderful moments and lots of moments in between How to be hard on the issues while being kind to the people? Especially our amazing city staff a lesson. I've learned over the years And maybe most important of all how to work hard to bring people together around a progressive Public policy agenda the concrete results of which are making this city even today even as we sit here this afternoon Are truly making this city we love a city for all But the thing I'll remember most perhaps my favorite thing you ever taught me and mr. Mayor summed up by a print that hangs in my office It's a short quote just nine words and it goes something like this You must be prepared to work always without applause That quote is attributed to some famous literary person, but make no mistake. Mr. Mayor you taught me that The way you've worked so hard every day for the people of our beloved city heedless of the notice of others Regardless of whether anyone knew enough to applaud you for everything you did for us and for our neighbors Especially over the last 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic with the weight of so many decisions so many life and death Decisions weighing down heavily upon you You just kept doing the hard and necessary work of public leadership in a way that has been and always will be in a word inspiring and Now we're arrived at the end of your services and elected official and a well-deserved and it is I know you'll enjoy all the time You're gonna sit spend with Leo and your family, and I'm certain you'll enjoy spoiling the heck out of that adorable granddaughter We got to see Monday night and hope you will enjoy getting a decent night's sleep without responding to so many emails at one O'clock in the morning or even later. Goodness gracious recording in progress awesome to hear Few have earned their retirement from public office more than you so mr. Mayor on behalf of a great loop full Durham I say farewell and Godspeed and thank you Thank you so much. Thank you so much Charlie. I really appreciate those words. Thank you All right colleagues any further announcements? You're pretend Thank You mr. Mayor I Also wanted to say a little bit about our relationship and Working with you over the last six years My relationship with Steve is one of those great examples of how really meaningful connections in life happen Entirely by chance. I met Steve when I took his class as a public policy undergrad major at Duke 20 years ago now which does not seem possible And it was a required class for the major and I chose it almost entirely because it fit my golden role of never taking a class That started before 10 a.m. I don't remember most of my undergraduate classes now But I have some great memories of Steve's class We kept a journal where we wrote reflections on each of the readings that we did for the class and somewhere in my house I still have that journal With all of Steve's scribbled comments on my musings about Stanley Milgram and the Black Panthers and the King David Hotel bombing and all of these exciting moments in history that we had the opportunity to Discuss and learn from And at the end of the semester Steve had our entire crew of unruly undergrads over to his house for dinner where I got to meet Leo and learn a little bit more about Steve as a person and the community of Durham because when you're an undergrad on an insulated campus like Duke you rarely get off You really get off campus. And so going to Steve's house was was a real treat When Steve decided to run for school board I put out the first yard sign that I'd ever had in my yard and I remember I kept it for a little while afterwards because It was kind of a funny design I remember it said Steve's shul and then I think it said school board on top of underneath it said at large And so we would make jokes in my house that Steve shul remained at large And when I decided to run for city council Steve was one of the first people that I called at the last six years I've had the honor of working by your side and learning from you every day as we've tried to make Good decisions for this community. I have enjoyed immensely your State of the City addresses for the last four years that you've been mayor I've saved them all and I refer back to them when I when I need a little bit of Guidance or support and thinking about where we're trying to go as a community and how to how to make good choices that are That are based on a very clear set of values and principles and Goals that you have done an amazing job in your time at public service and your time in public service communicating To us and to the community at large. I think you are an amazing leader. I am So excited that you get to retire and spend more time with that sweet baby But I will also be requiring you to continue to hang out with me And you don't have to answer my emails at one o'clock in the morning But I will still be sending you emails and text messages and showing up at your door whenever I have a problem I have really valued this opportunity to work this closely with you and And our friendship over the years Thank you for your service and for being an amazing friend and mentor and I'm not going to miss you because I'm going to Still see you all the time Thank you so much Jillian. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much Alright any other announcements Councilmember Freeman. Thank you I appreciate my colleagues and sharing their thanks for your Service I also want to thank you for your service to our community acknowledging a true appreciation around the work you've done around affordable housing You're focused on green spaces and trails. I secured Greenways and recreational spaces across the city You've kept your finger on the pulse for each department for all the city staff every monumental moment and Even in the face of this pandemic. You've just kept a smile. I really appreciate that you're capping off a very long career in public service for a city and public schools and It's admirable at least and To say to say that you know, you're you're retiring to Josephine is amazing And I'm I'm kind of jealous, but I definitely will be Keeping your breath to what's going on at end points and times you've served as a founder of so many pivotal organizations From Durham's People's Alliance to crayons the calculator to student you and countless others You're incredibly diligent and hard-working as a mayor and I really respect that I think I've pushed You to be even more Then then I then I probably could have imagined and I appreciate how you've taken that I know that You work really hard to build middle ground and communicating on the hard issues and very clear point-by-point Ways with all of your documents and I am just grateful for all the lessons especially as Charlie mentioned as Constable really mentioned Around being hard on the issues and not the people. I really wish you the best in your retirement I I do have to say that I've not seen anyone retire So I I hope that it means retirement for you Where you're actually get to rest? I hope in a number of ways But that you stay and remain a phone call away I do know that we have a lot more work to do and I'm glad you'll still be here in the city. Thank you Thank you so much. Didriana. I really appreciate those words. Thank you All right, colleagues any further announcements councilmember Middleton Thank You mr. Mayor so a Jewish intellect and a black preacher walking the city hall one day And while that may sound like the start of a bad and potentially career-ending joke It's actually the first chapter of a story that has been so impactful in my life Mr. Mayor, I don't I really don't know what historians are gonna say in terms of policy decisions or The nuts and bolts of governance about your tenure what they're gonna say about a gas explosion or a pandemic or The challenges of light rail or the transformative work on affordable housing. That's for them But what I do hope they get right is a story about character. I Hope they get that right and I hope they get right the story about integrity And just personal demeanor and swag that you have I want to thank you for the lessons taught even when you didn't know You were teaching them For the admonition in the form of a smile For modeling a work ethic and dedication to something bigger than ourselves and for always having a way to remind us that even on our worst days It's a privilege to be here on The most challenging days There are 300,000 people in this city roughly and only seven people at a time get to sit in these seats Even on our worst days You always reminded us that it is a privilege to be here and I will never forget that I want to thank you on behalf literally of thousands of people particularly in the African-American community for showing up For building relationships literally over decades Sometimes you showed up and it was to open arms and smiles And sometimes you showed up it was to fold in arms with side-eye glances and Tisk in the audience, but you kept showing up That's character That's integrity I hope Josephine will now have your full attention But we are going to put a big search light on the top of City Hall And from time to time we will shine a bow tie in the sky When we need you to come out of retirement and return and God us do some difficult times Thank you so much Steve Schull For your service for your compassion and for your example And now me the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of Sarah Rebecca Rachel and Hagar Bless you and grant you peace. I pray that your territory would be enlarged and that your path would be gentle And from time to time to stop in and see about us. I bless you on behalf of a grateful city. Thank you so much Mark Anthony I really appreciate it. Thank you so much Javier a council member Caballero. I'm sorry. No, that's fine I didn't even let my students call me my last name So thank you I Do not have as long of relationship with you as many on this diet I want to tell a few stories that I think encapsulate to me what you represent to me and my family So the first time this was right after my appointment and then we had a massive snowstorm so there was a couple of days where you couldn't really get around Durham and Steve asked to me and we met and he asked me What do you want to get done and first I felt a little bit like I was getting called to the principal's office quite honestly So he asked me what do you want to accomplish and how can I support you in getting that done and That has been our relationship since day one for the immigrant community for the Latino community You have been an extremely important ally and advocate You have helped carry that essential work to Include some of our most marginalized members and expand how we do government in the city I've seen you in so many instances and I think to me this is the core of the service that you do it is a deep Desire to fully connect with people wherever they are whoever they are I've gone on tours with you through City Hall with a bunch of third graders where they ask you how old you are And if you're a granddad and all kinds of terrible personal questions that eight-year-olds have no problem asking you and you have easily Just been able to be with them answer their questions and have true joy And that is a marvel to behold because not too many humans can do that as well as you do so that they are going to school Thank you so much for everything you've done. Thank you for being a dear friend colleague and mentor Thank you so much Javier. I really appreciate your words. Thank you so much You tell some member Freelon. Thank you. I just wanted to say a few words as well You know, we really met and connected first on the campaign trail and You know, we were talking on Monday about the rough and tumble politics of Durham and I was you know Uncertain and a little nervous about how that would be But you are always so warm and and kind and brilliant And I just really appreciated the rapport and relationship that we developed at that time Both of our parents were we're ailing and that was another thing that I really appreciated You always asked about my dad and we had some intimate conversations about our parents And I know both of our parents are really proud of the work that we've done on this council And I can say yeah with with full confidence that they're smiling down on us and down on you for sure So yeah, just to reiterate some things that I said on Monday Just you've been a wonderful mentor and and the father figure for the city of Durham and and for me Personally, so I really appreciate that and one other thing really quick thing. I want to add you made me think During your marks on Friday. It was funny. Do y'all notice how when he was doing his remarks He was just passing like page after page after page. I was like how long was this thing gonna be? If we hadn't heard from all those other people But you said one thing that really struck a chord with me was something I thought about earlier in the day Which is about the paradigm shift that's happening in Durham and nationally around the leadership of black women And I just wanted to put a point and kind of underline that because you named a lot of black women who? rightfully are reclaiming political power in Durham and we see that with our mayor-elect Elaine O'Neill and of course with the legacy of Mary and black and core Cole McFadden And many of the other folks that you mentioned on Monday But I also wanted to raise up a torch for the community organizers who have been such an important part of my service here You know the women that we see every week here the con its constant right and Vanessa Evans Alexis John from Bragg town miss Bonita green from Merrick Moore. They're just so many Incredible black women for whom They've really been kind of the glue for the advocacy efforts that have really pushed for the progressive agenda That is the heart of the city of Durham So I just wanted to say to the black women of Durham. Thank you. I hear you. I see you I appreciate you both ones in the community on our staff those in in public leadership from Ashley Kennedy at the McDougal Terrace resident council muffin, you know the Mamanias and Maya hunters and a deal or teases of Spirit House who Helped organize. We are the ones who've been waiting for Just I really just wanted just to send a word of gratitude out and appreciated you for naming that I thought that was really important and really cool. So thanks. Thanks so much. Mr. Mayor Thank you so much for your remarks Colleagues, thank you. I appreciate it. I think that this is the end of my farewell tour But I'd so appreciate all your marks. Let me just say one thing, you know all these years I always at the council meetings at the work session. I always use our last names council member reason Just now as I was saying, thank you Pierce. Thank you working. It's any, you know, it felt so different I'll tell you why I do Bill kind of mixed it up a little The reason that I started doing that and kept with it when I came in was that I Felt like when we first came in we were coming in after a kind of a group there of people who had Tremendous respect in the community and longevity on this council. I can't remember, you know, you're thinking people who Bill was on for Bill was mayor for 16 years Cora was on the council for a similar amount of time Diane Eugene Mike Woodard Howard Clement was on the council for 30 years And when we came in and We were all I wasn't young but the rest of you all were young and we were all pretty inexperienced I remember thinking to myself. I better use everybody's last name. So people really think we're an actual city council and And that that we take this as seriously as we need to and we are there was people responsible for our city and so that's why I always did it and I Stuck to it. So I'm not sure if it was always the best practice, but Mark Anthony, Aviera, Pierce, Jillian, DeGiriana, and Charlie. Thank you. Thank you for all your words and It's been a I can't imagine a better group of people to do this with so you have my undying gratitude All right, and I'll just say to Mayor elect O'Neill you see if you can do this for a few years people give all these great speeches about you So you have something to look forward to and we're glad to see you and councilmember elect Leonardo Williams in the audience with us Thank you All right, I think we've done the announcements and I'm going to now ask if there are any priority items about the city manager Thank you, mr. Mayor man and mayor pro tem members of the Durham City Council If I might have a moment of personal privilege, I would like to only have of the 26 plus Employees 2600 plus employees that we have here working in city government I would like to thank you for your services mayor and on the council for so many years providing great leadership Compassion and love for this great community that you've been a part of since she came here as a student I would like to Remind you of our first encounter We as local government Professionals sometimes 15 years plus ago We we would kind of stay in our normal what we would consider Municipal service area and one of the first times I had an opportunity to work on a community partnership was working with you to Develop an agreement to open a teacher warehouse, and I will never forget that experience Even recently I found notes in my own workspace from from the time we work together over several months to get that going and It still is active in this community. So I thank you for helping me to expand as a community leader and I also Will always remember the day in the park When you brought the message of this council To me that you all had selected me appointed me to be The Durham city manager. So I thank you for your leadership I will miss our weekly meetings, but I think I'm going to see you over there talking as a resident at some point and I Wish you well in retirement. Thank you so much madam manager. Thank you very much Yes, and I do have a few items For the council's consideration so today The city council is being asked to suspend the rules and vote on the following agenda items today at the work session Agenda item number four, which is a contract with legal aid of North Carolina to administer an emergency rental assistance and housing stability program a Lead time of 30 days is needed for the legal aid of North Carolina to set up the city's emergency rental assistance to known as e r a to program and to begin accepting applications from low-income Durham residents facing eviction Suspending the rules and voting on this item at the November 18th 2021 city council work session will allow the e r a to program to launch in mid December before the winter holidays agenda item number five contract with Benavati ink doing business as Neighborly software for software as a service for the emergency rental assistance program to meet the Award term conditions set by the US Department of Treasury for emergency rental assistance to e r a to funding It is necessary for the city to leverage specialized software to efficiently deploy e r a to funds to low-income Durham residents Facing eviction and to comply with reporting requirements on how funds are spent Suspending the rules and voting on this item at the November 18th 2021 city council work session Will allow the e r a to program to launch in mid December before the winter holidays Agenda item number 13 memorandum of understanding with built-to-last innovations lab incorporated for organizational Planning deliverables Attachment number four was added to provide the names of the board members and Finally agenda item number 18 Consolidated annexation item two two one one page road Attachment number one was updated to remove track changes. Thank you. That is all I have Thank You madam manager Colleagues you have heard the manager's priority items and now accept a motion for their approval So moved moved by council member Freeland. Is there a second second second by council member Freeman Colleagues, I believe we're doing it the old-fashioned way all in favor, please say aye No, thank you The as have it the motion is approved unanimously Madam attorney good to see you any priority items tonight Good to see you as well. Mr. Mayor madam mayor pretend members of city council The city attorney's office does not have any priority items today But I would also like to take a point of personal privilege to say a couple of words if that's okay, of course right the city manager certainly speaks for our office of 12 in the city attorney's office with her wonderful things and Commendations to you and your services mayor, but I would like to add to that by saying it has been such a tremendous privilege and honor To work with you in my first few years as a city attorney The city attorney and the mayor I have learned do you have a very close relationship? and I've thoroughly enjoyed it both the work and the personal connections that we've made You know those of us who are career servants in the public sector as staff Serve faithfully no matter who is an office on the elected official side But it is such a joy. It is so heartening It is so encouraging when you're elected officials espouse values and Aspirations for your community that you can also personally embrace and That means so much to me that this this council speaks to my heart and my hopes for Durham as a person and as a voter and I have just enjoyed, you know Collaborating with you on the things that will move this community forward on the things that protect The city of Durham the public Fisk the city itself our employees And I'll remember every minute of it. I'm thankful for your confidence and your encouragement along the way I will remember those, you know late-night calls till 1231 in the morning in the early days of the pandemic crafting mayoral emergency declarations Those are very special times. They were important times meaningful times But I'll carry with them carry them with me through the rest of my career. So I thank you You have been an exceptional mayor You know the city of Durham sits at something like number 73 in population in the country But you are up there in terms of your visibility in the nation I think because of the nature of your leadership Because of your aspirations for the bull city and we salute you and we thank you Thank you so much. I really appreciate your words madam attorney. They mean so much to me. Thank you All right, madam clerk as council member Reese says coming at the end by that time everyone has said ever I do want to express my appreciation for you, mr. Mayor because I came on as a new city clerk and you're always there for me You're willing to discuss anything from policy to procedure to personnel. It was just wonderful all the support you provided and I've seen you as a compassionate leader for the city of Durham I've seen the progressive agenda that's been launched by this council and I've seen you there Supporting everyone along the way and I really appreciate all of the the encouragement and the The guidance that you've provided me as well as many many others in your career So thank you very much and and good luck with your your retirement and enjoy your Josephine Thank you so much madam madam clerk. I really appreciate it. So Wanda and Kim and Diana you all are amazing and Just so grateful to have been able to serve alongside of you all truly Truly am thank you Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry to interrupt. Yes, go ahead. I would like to request a point of personal privilege to introduce a Intern that we've had with the city clerk's office. Her name is Amani Fulton Uh-huh, and I will ask her to unmute at this time so she can say a few words. Great Hey, hello everyone My name is Amani and thank you for giving me the opportunity to join your work session today Can you see me? Okay, so I'm an intern with the city clerk's office, and I've been here for about five months now Everyone has been extremely welcoming and I'm really learning a lot and it's been a pleasure to work alongside all of you we're very glad to have you with us Amani and I'm I know that you're doing a great job. I've heard about that from the city clerk and Very very appreciative of having you with us in the city. Thank you Yes, thank you and happy retirement. Thank you. Thank you madam clerk. Thank you. Mr. Mayor Mr. Mayor. Yes, this one more a point of personal privilege. I didn't want to Interrupt a flow of the celebratory flow earlier But I did want to honor something I said I would do and I want to send a shout out to the students and faculty and staff at Hillside High School last Friday evening I attended a performance of something called State of Urgency That brother Wendell tab Put together Through the prompting of students to give us their take on gun violence and racism and and all the other Isms and phobias that affect us as a society. I want to tell you I sat there riveted Looking at the stage and listening to those students just speak as not just as future leaders, but as leaders now It was a powerful evening and I do want to send my congratulations and shout out To all of the students there and to particularly a brother tab and the wonderful job that you're doing their art is not only entertaining us They're using art to inspire us and to challenge us To face the challenges we we have as a city Upfront so thank you for allowing me to do that and I want to just shout out the Hornets today. Thank you Thank you very much councilmember All right colleagues We are now ready to move into Our administrative consent items and I will be reading those over the city clerk's office approval of city council minutes Under departmental items audit services department item to fiscal year and 2021 inventory performance audit October 2021 On a community development department item 3 affordable housing implementation Committee report and this is going to be a presentation Item 4 is contract with legal aid of North Carolina to administer an emergency rental assistance and housing stability program This is an item that the manager has asked us to suspend the rules and vote on I'm going to come back to that in a minute because we do have some speakers for that item an item 5 contract with Benevate Inc. DBA Neighborly software for software as a service for the emergency rental assistance program And this is also one we've been asked to suspend the rules and vote on and we will do that in a little bit Under department transportation item 6 amendment and extension of the interlocal agreement with the capillary metropolitan planning organization For the triangle bikeway implementation study under the department of water management item 7 construction contract award to Carolina Civil Works Inc. For the 2021 water and sewer point repair project Under the finance department item 8 October 2021 bid report. Mr. Mayor I don't want to pull the bid report, but I would just like to thank the staff for Continuing to push for energy efficient vehicles. There's a ton of hybrid vehicles in that report. It's great to see you. Thank you Thank you very much council member for pointing that out Under item non fleet management item non cooperative group purchase contract five automated refuse trucks Under general services department item 10 ninth amendment the assignment agreement for the Durham athletic part operating agreement I'm going to pull that item Under neighborhood improvement services department item 11 US Department of Housing and Urban Development Fair housing grants Item 12 US Department of Housing and Urban Development Partnership Initiative funds Under office and workforce development office of economic and workforce development item 13 member and of understanding with built to last Innovations lab Inc for organizational planning deliverables. Mr. Mayor, would you pull that please? Yes? Thank you 13 thank you Under the parks and recreation department item 14 janitorial services contract with top-notch carpet and upholstery cleaning LLC for the Durham armory Mr. Mayor, I don't want to pull item 14 But I wanted to recognize that this vendor is paying their staff living wages and appreciate them For that commitment. Thank you very much for pointing that out. Madam. Mayor pro-town. Thank you for for that Under item 15 public works department debris management contract award with DRC emergency services LLC I'd like to pull that please right Under item 16 debris monitoring contract award with tetra tech. I Want to pull that item? Under presentations budget management services department items 1720 21 First quarter financial report and that's a presentation Under public hearing city county planning department item 18 consolidated annexation item 2211 page road and item 19 zoning map change 518 Martin Luther King Parkway, Jr. I'm sorry Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway and let me just Say on that that there is a person who was Signed up to speak on item 19 and Dave Olverson madam clerk and Mr. Mayor the individual who is on the the list is Representing the developer and he was here for questions. Okay. Thank you You might I will let if if the mr. Olverson is listening in mr. Olverson I will tell you that we only take up public hearing matters on Monday nights So if you are listening in mr. Olverson you can Leave this meeting and enjoy your afternoon But we only do we only we only only take up public hearing matters on on Monday nights All right, let me just just for the benefit of Our new council member and and mayor lacked Just say that what we've done is that we have been presented with these items to Read through prior to the meeting then I read them and we only and and staff is listening in if it was normal times They'd be in the room. We'd be up on our committee room. We'd all be in the room and Then I read the items and madam mayor like you will read the items And then those items that council members would like to pull for discussion That's when people pulled items and you'll hear in a minute that I'll go through this with the city manager We'll discuss where we think we are In addition to those items which council members have pulled the administration has also got a couple of presentations for us and so We often also have people who are here to speak it on citizens matters. We don't today But they would also be here signed up to speak They the work session they can speak on anything that they would like for a three-minute period and people will sign up in advance to do that So the process we just went through was the council members pulling items that they wanted to Discuss further at the work session and then so then they go in consent agenda for Monday night And we don't have to discuss them again unless there's a need to but that that work is done here So that's kind of what we're going through so And then sometimes council members won't pull an item, but they'll comment as you heard From council member Reese and mayor pro tem just now Okay Madam manager what I have is that we have two items that you have asked for us to spend the rule that's item up for an item 5 We have presentations on item 3 and 17 and pulled items are 10 13 15 at 16. Is that what you have that is what I have Mr. Mayor, thank you very much Madam manager Okay, I Think what I'd like to do first is go ahead and go back to items 4 and 5 colleagues Which are the two items that the managers asked that we suspend the rules and vote on today those items Have item 4 has several people have signed up to speak on it, so I'm going to go ahead and hear from them Madam clerk, could you please make Larissa Sybel available to be heard? Good afternoon Miss Abel welcome you have three minutes Thank you. I'll just take a minute. I'm here to thank you for Starting the emergency rental assistance program. It is so needed There's it's been a month and a half since the county stopped taking application And there's people who call me just at every day asking me when we'll start and I'm here with Sandra Nelson who spoke with you earlier in one of the work sessions She'll speak now Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon. My name is my name is Sandra Nelson I'm one of the victims that got shot over and that into the terrace and I was on y'all Other section y'all had before But I want to know when would y'all be able to open up the rental assistance? It is really needed my check two weeks ago was two dollars and ninety seven cent and Also, this week is a 33 cent check. I Cannot pay bills like that So I really need assistance if there's a way y'all can open up the Rulers system for us, please Thank you. Miss Nelson and Miss Sybel. Thank you so much miss Nelson I'm going to let you know what we hope to be able to do The staff is we're approving this today without waiting as we usually would So we can be do this as quickly as possible and I know that our staff Hopes to and plans that the that legal aid who will be working with will be opening up the applications in December hopefully in early December Mid early to mid December the manager has corrected me so as soon as we can But we're grateful for you being here and miss Sybel. Thank you for your continuous advocacy on this It's really been very important. Thank you. Yes, thank you Thank you All right, next we'll hear from Sarah D'Amato. Madam clerk. Can you make Sarah D'Amato available to please? Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Miss D'Amato welcome and you have three minutes Thank you. We just appreciate everybody's consideration of this proposal to have legal aid help with the Administration of the new e-wrap funds coming through we are right now as y'all know legal aid we are representing individuals facing imminent eviction and We have been swamped in the past month or so particularly with folks who have fallen in between the cracks of Not having an available rental assistance Program available to them to help cover for the months that they've gotten behind so it is it is a Ness a necessity. It is urgent Especially as we go into the winter right now with utility prices going up and people having to choose between Catching up in order to stay in a house So we are again so appreciative of the city council's consideration of Our proposal to to help administer this rental assistance and so that we can prevent More homelessness right now in Durham, especially as we are going into the winter Miss D'Amato, thank you very much and we're really appreciative of our of our Contract that is going to be happening with legal aid as well as our continuing relationship on the eviction diversion work So thank you so much Thank you Madam clerk, could you please make Ajax Willie available to be heard? Thank you. Good afternoon Mayor Shulin. Congratulations on your retirement. Madam. Mayor pro tem Madam mayor elect members of council madam manager and friends and colleagues Thanks for the opportunity to speak briefly on this item since February 2021 Durham Canada's affordable housing research action team has been following the emergency rental assistance program As part of our work on evictions and DHA accountability Our organizers have remained in dialogue with decision-makers that the DHA Board of Commissioners Durham Department of Social Services County Commission and others with direct influence on the outcome of the ERA one program and Like you we've also had the privilege and the heartbreak of listening in the community to The numerous stories of residents whose attempts to access relief and support from these federal funds Have often been grievously frustrating and unsuccessful and these stories are Keys to understanding how the community can reshape its policies and its political culture moving forward to better serve our neighbors who experience periods of low income and Housing instability So of course we support councils move to approve this item today to restart the flow of emergency rental assistance funds under the ERA to program and Based on some lessons learned from ERA one. We would ask that the following items be added to the city's portion of attachment a item B point one point C titled city responsibilities So these are just some suggestions upon program implementation Provided publicly accessible spending dashboard on a new web page updated in real time to show the community the ongoing outcome of this program Have the dashboard implement rigorous standards for tracking and displaying data such as race and gender Etc that ensures public accountability for equitable distribution of the funds according to the state city's strategic goals Provide immediate training and resources on the ERA to program for Durham one call Operators to ensure that no one calling for help with rental assistance is turned away Especially when that would be due to lack of capacity involving language access And finally add a one-click option to connect with the ERA to ERA to program intake on the city's one-call home page So we understand that the implementation of the intake and application process will be the duty of the contracted agency And we're very glad that that's happening And we also understand it will be multiple avenues for neighbors in need to apply for the funds However, as others have mentioned given the gap in applications During the period from October 4th until mid-December the change in provider and the challenges with outreach and information to the community We think that these extra steps are both worth it and within the power of the city and appropriate to its duties under the circumstances Thank you Mr. Willie, thank you so much. We appreciate your comments Let me suggest that you send those in writing to the council members as well as to the mayor elect and council member elect Williams We're not going to delay this vote today to add anything new to the contract But we're happy to have your suggestions and and grateful for them. Thank you. Yes, sir All right, madam clerk. Can you make Bernetta Reynolds available to be heard, please? Hello, this is Bernetta Reynolds with legal aid in North Carolina. Thank you Ms. Reynolds. We're glad to have you and you have three minutes Okay, thank you. I'm sorry. I'm not really sure and do you want me to talk about the budget we submitted? Oh, I'm sorry. We only wanted you to comment if you want to comment. No, you don't need to talk about your budget Okay, and well, no, I appreciate I guess I'll just say I appreciate you guys Looking at legal aid to be able to help with the rental assistance program. We've successfully done that Last year with NCOR the HOPE program. So we're excited to be able to help out again. Thank you Thank you. We appreciate you for being here with us and especially for working with us on this. Thank you alright Yeah, so let me just say that those people have signed up some people are here just for informational purposes And so if I call your name and you don't want to speak you can let us know that's great George house and junior madam clerk. Can you make George house and junior available to be heard, please? There's no George house and junior in the queue. All right. Thank you. And how about sherry Gilchrist? There's no sherry Gilchrist. All right. And how about Vilma Suarez? There is no Vilma Suarez, right? I believe that these were folks from legal aid who I had their names on the list But they were here for informational purposes. Mr. Mayor, there is a ci you an acronym They are representing legal aid. I just don't know the name of the person. All right Why don't you make them available to be heard and we'll ask if they would like to speak? Hello? Or is this someone from legal aid who would like to speak? I'm not hearing it madam clerk, so we're going to move on Thank you so much. All right, colleagues. We have a Request by the manager that we suspend the rules and vote on this item Can I have a motion to suspend the rules, please move to suspend second moved by council member Middleton second by council member Freeline that we suspend the rules and vote all in favor. Please say aye. I Know I's have it and the motion passes unanimously We will now I'll accept a motion now. Let me just look at the motion that we need To authorize the city manager to execute a contract and the amount specified with legal aid of North Carolina And to adopt the emergency rental assistance ERA to program funds grant ordinance. Can I have a motion to that effect? Move to the right I can't move by council member Middleton seconded by mayor pro tem Johnson that we Approved this item madam. I'm sorry all in favor. Please say aye. Hi. Oh, no Thank you very much. The eyes have it the motion passes unanimously We'll now move to item five the second item that the manager asked that we suspend the rules and vote on can have a motion That we suspend the rules and vote So moved second moved by I think maybe council member carbillados. No, okay Mayor pro tem Johnson seconded by council member Freelon that we suspend the rules and vote madam clerk. No, we're not. I'm sorry All in favor, please say aye. I Was no the eyes have it the motion passes unanimously We have suspended the rules and now we'll need a motion to authorize the city manager execute this contract and the amount specified Who made the motion have your council member carbillados seconded by mayor pro tem Johnson that we approve this item All in favor, please say aye. I was no Motion passes unanimously Thank you very much colleagues, and thank you very much madam manager, and I think we all know the importance of this Want to express my appreciation to the administration for Getting this going with legal aid as quickly as possible Deputy manager Chad. Well, thank you and your folks that work with you. We appreciate it Mayor shulka say something really quick course council member. Thank you Just wanted to let the community know because there is a conversation happening about expanding not just rental assistance But the money we dedicate for attorneys for evictions, and that is a conversation that will be happening in the future I did not want advocates and community members to think that we are not aware of The eviction crisis we are facing. We know we need to expand things besides just rental assistance So a contract to expand Additional attorneys for legal aid will be happening in this body In the next few weeks. Thank you so much. Thank you very much council member Excuse me, mr. Mayor. Yes, madam clerk. I have one more speaker in the queue. I'm Jacqueline Wagstaff Would you like her to to speak sure on item four? Yes. Yes, absolutely Madam clerk, please make Ms. Wagstaff available to be heard makes Ms. Wagstaff are you with us? Yes, I am. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Welcome and you have three minutes Always a pleasure, mr. Mayor and Congratulations on your retirement just to let you know. Thank you, madam. Thank you, Ms. Wagstaff Okay, um, I I'm happy to get this off my chest first said we don't have a chat mechanism I don't know why in this soon There's no ability to chat because if there were I could have relayed my question I could have chat, you know, written my question in the chat and someone probably could have answered it and Could you explain to me why there's no chat in this zoom and we in previous meetings? Even though you open to the public now, you still allowing zoom why the chat mechanism has been disabled But also for this item, there were a couple of questions. I had about the funds. How much how much money was being dispersed to legal aid? Does a person have to be an active eviction process to access these funds to help them stabilize their housing? And also I had two phone calls this week from two individuals that were facing this problem And they actually received the money The problem was the landlord did not want to receive it So what how is that going to be addressed and have y'all talked about that? They are landlords in Durham And they're notorious for being slumlords, but they are now saying they don't want this money They don't want this whole money They don't want any of this money and one of the concerns that they had is that they have to sign agreements and those agreements are not Specific on how much money they're gonna be be receiving are they gonna be receiving all of the back rent? Are they gonna receive a portion of the back rent? They're not comfortable with that so they're not signing it So people are still facing eviction because landlords are unwilling to receive this money So those were a couple of my questions, but I also would like to know why the chat has been disabled for this meeting Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much Ms. Wack staff. We appreciate you being with us I'll address just one of those questions, which is the question about the landlords You're absolutely right. There are landlords who've refused to take the The e-wrap money have done so while the county's been administering it This is not something we were able to force them to do And I agree with you that it's very very problematic the Your other questions on the item there was another question that you had on the item That I wasn't I don't think we can answer right here, but if you would email me I'll be happy to find an answer for you All right colleagues will now move to the items that have been pulled and we'll start with item 10 ninth amendment The assignment agreement for Durham Athletic Park operating agreement and this is an item that I pulled and Not because I think it's a I think that this is a you know, they've done a great job operating this for us The Bulls have and I want to do this again, but I did want to talk to us for a minute and About the we received a letter colleagues from nil gauche from Durham Central Park Last week that you all will remember concerning the Durham Athletic Park and Durham Central Park's Ideas about it. So just to refresh everybody and we've talked about this a little in council North Carolina Central University stopped playing baseball and they were using half of the dates in Durham Athletic Park The so that that is in itself a sad thing that they're not playing baseball But we're now in a situation where we have this amazing Facility downtown in the middle of downtown with many many opportunities for using it and so We received this from Durham Central Park As you all know there's been a lot of interest in Putting turf on the field and making it available for not only baseball, but soccer and other sports as well And also for turning it into it could be an amazing venue for performances. And so I'm just pulling this to say Just to keep this on you all's radar, I know that our administration is thinking about this And I think this is probably now in Bertha Johnson's portfolio Miss Johnson Just want to keep it on your radar as well I think that this is a really great opportunity the Bulls have looked at a couple possible possible scenarios for Durham Central Durham Athletic Park So I pulled it just to give this little speech And I hope that you all will keep in mind that this is a wonderful opportunity for us All right, enough of the speech Any other comments on this item council member race, thank you, Mr. Mayor Just real quick wanted to say that the Durham Athletic Park It may be for a certain generation of North Carolinians and Americans the most recognizable Facility in Durham because it was the real star of the movie Bull Durham And when I moved to Durham, it was the one building that I recognized And so keeping that a bit of our cultural history in active use is really important to all of us And I know that the administration will work hard to find the right answer about how we continue our Stewardship of that incredible place and I know that's going to involve lots of communication and conversations with the neighbors Near there about what they want to see at this facility really appreciated Durham Central Parks Board sending us their thoughts and I know there's lots of other ideas Appreciated the memo making it clear that this is going to be a long-term process that we engage in to try to figure out What's next for that and appreciate your comments. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Thank you very much council member much agreed All right colleagues will now move on to item 13 and I believe this item was pulled by council member Middleton Indeed it was thank you, mr. Mayor, and I want to associate myself with your comments And indeed council member Reese's comments regarding Durham athletic Park it could be such a windfall for us in terms of Cultural and entertainment value and community cohesion as well So item 13 the memorandum of understanding for bill to last first. I just want to say I guess in an editorial vein how how excited I am about movement On this particular issue under the the larger rubric of our shared economic prosperity plan Anyone in this city that's ever had any conversation about dealing with the root causes I imagine would have to share my excitement about moving forward in a concrete way on this issue When we are looking to move real money, whether you think it's enough or not. It's real money Towards making our prosperity shared In Durham, so I want to thank The staff and thank you mr. Mayor. I want to thank all of my colleagues up here who have leaned in On our shared economic prosperity plan and the realization that many of the ills that we face as a city indeed as a country Are directly tied to economic and economic participation and economic empowerment And I am I'm excited about this. I want to thank the staff for for moving us forward on this I do have a question specifically about the the first straightforward question Uh math the the tranches of money. I noticed in the in the memorandum. I think total by my math 210,000 And the um, but we're voting uh up to 416,000 through hundred and fifty dollars So I guess my first question is we're going to be uh re upping this mo u yearly I know this is supposed to be a standalone Um Non-profit, but will we be uh re upping this mo u indefinitely every year going forward Uh, do we have staff to who will be answering that question? I see deputy city manager chapel Good afternoon permission to unmask. Yes, sir Mr. Mayor madam madam mayor pro team members of council Keith Chadwell city manager's office um Mr. Council member we we don't I don't have a final or uh ultimate definitive response to that In concept what we're doing is nourishing and feeding Decence of a startup so that all the component parts for success Will be in place with the intent of of of uh creating a long-term play for it We chose this concept primarily because it's a contest a con a startup And their components to it that for the Durham market have never been realized or created anymore Another abiding principle Is that upon its creation there was a determination That we wanted to create uh an entity that was so independent in its existence That it would ultimately not be reliant on on public investments To sustain it so we came up with this concept to fund it as a startup So we will reach a point not necessarily bound by a fiscal year or a definitive timetable But enough of a timetable to involve that we could come together Prior to the exhausting these funds and make some additional assessments So that we can plan for what public investments might be to bridge us to the necessity Or to the opportunity that it might be able to sustain itself I appreciate it fairly good to see you man. Um So the the mlu runs for a year So based upon everything you've said what what might Happen at the end of the year of this mlu. We could potentially Do another mlu they could potentially get the difference between 210 000 to 416 000 that we're approving Today, what what might happen after the end of the year? Assuming they meet all their deliverables or don't meet all their deliverables What what happens after well allow me to stay on the the positive and optimistic part of that if you might What we hope is is that the product that's being asked for in this guiding the the principle of this being a startup engagement We'll have firm understandings of what the components of success are with respect to the goals of sustaining A long-term opportunity to support small businesses in Durham so What we're seeing in that regard Is that We'll have a firm understanding of the costs the overhead Some of the programmatic aspects And some of the challenges that right now are that are open variables Um parenthetically what i've referred to primarily is is is an access to capital feature Around the creation of an equity development fund, which is not a simple task And we like some definitions around that work so that we can put very definitive kinds of costs on there married to the opportunities and and requirements for the Uh non-profit to be able to create a a plan to sustain itself Thus in that context defining what kind of public investment might be necessary And at that point in time make a hard plan for it It may be as as as I talk out of the other side of my mouth That if if something within that within that area does not realize That also would further define what what kind of necessity for us to participate Uh and that that may be a mutual opportunity to understand its viability at that point So appreciate that so at the end of 12 months, we've spent 210 000 And the the 206 roughly 206 000 left would would There's potential that we may be spending more even beyond that 206 000 at some point down the road What what is that left? I hope this answer is responsive The number that we have been in the agenda item north of 416 000 While this is certainly a planning document That's requirement and is the essence of the quid pro quo between the receipt of the funding by the non-profit And why we are uh are providing it what What we're really um What really is happening is that we we we don't have any aspersions That the entirety of the of the dollars available are going to be just for a plan In addition to the requirements to provide a plan There's a period of time in there where some of the principles In some of the operational opportunities might be launched and started and realized Uh, you know this very very creative organization has started one or two initiatives already And so you know starting from a base of about 300 000 dollars at its inception Uh and in negotiations with the city manager and the organization itself We've added some dollars so that one of two things that they launched on their own might be sustained And also create an opportunity that they would have the resource to make sure that they Deliver the fundamental aspects of the business aspects of this the operational planning and the like And have some room If not robust, but some room to test fire some of these principles and concepts Thanks much the um The so the the additional attachment we we received with the three names for the board Says the the organization was formed by and is currently operating under its organizing in an inaugural board membership So these these three names that we have before us now in the in the additional attachment They are not currently serving as board members correct. They are indeed. They are yes These are the these are Persons that were recruited and agreed to join us to help actually start up the organization To create its initial bylaws and and form the foundations of its existence As a part of the business planning process, they will be engaged in all kinds of further activities activities to expand board membership Put a final and punctuating moment on certain aspects of the bylaws of that service And so for continuity purposes and and and other reasons they will be a part of this Until we get from a bylaw perspective of full Full tenures of service Fully defined and move forward with got you so when we say they're currently operating under its organizing in an inaugural board membership These are in fact, this is in fact the inaugural this is in fact the inaugural and and and is currently existing board today As as as we move forward. Okay, got you Um, I think that's it with my questions. I know there are some things yet to be Revealed and determined. We're kind of in experimental Waters with this, but I just want to again Just underscore my appreciation And my excitement and channel um You know the reservoir of goodwill Um that many people in our city have for this initiative and and how important it is to to sort of put words Uh actions, I should say to our words in terms of economic empowerment for all people Endure them. So thank you so much. Uh, however, we I know I speak for the whole council I'm sure I do with however we can be helpful in making this happen Uh, please let us know and uh, keep up the great work. It's very exciting. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it Thank you. Mr. Mayor yield back Thank you council member colleagues other questions Mayor pro tem and then council member freeman Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, and thank you. Mr. Chad. Well, I'm really excited to see this item and see this moving forward Um, I just had a couple of questions about board and staff Is there staff or contractors like who is actually going to do the work? What and That's the essence of why this is a startup Board members are volunteering some things, but we do have some carryover funding that's expressed in the $400,000 amount from the cedar grove institute that was instrumental in The genesis of the built to last concept And so this resource allows them an opportunity for some consultative assistance while they do staff up And make plans for a long-term opportunity for how that that staff is realized and perhaps long-term is sustained Okay, so the so the plan is for cedar grove institute to to be the initial contractor to To do that initial piece of work that we'd be funding with the one I don't want to officially get too far over my skis on that That's their decision. Okay. The opportunity exists and and certainly cedar grove With compliments to them has has not jettisoned this while we've transitioned from where we worked to its existing opportunity And the manager was good enough to create the opportunity for that to be a sustained relationship Okay, thank you. And when you say it's their decision, you mean the board the board's decision. That's correct. Okay, and the board How was the board constituted? Well, the um The definitions in the the mou and All of that one gives us an opportunity for them to explain that just a bit What we've negotiated in in this arrangement is We want to we want to recruit and try and get board members related to the mission and the purpose And in some of the seriousness associated with the challenges With what this work is going to do against some of it is very very new to this market once again, I turned to the the creation of an Inequitable development fund Which is no small task which not many markets do But it's a marvelous opportunity in the realm of access to capital And so that would be an example the type of expertise We want to bring a board to help study research and create an opportunity for that kind of thing to be realized And there's they're varying tasks along those lines Like opportunities for the kind of academies that will come up for the training An opportunity to connect With and engage with the business community and aspects of the ecosystem that supports it We will want expertise to guide us through those kinds of things so that all things that are curricular based And anything related to it might be realized So so who's finding those people like how how are how is this organization being developed? So I that'll be primarily the work of the initial board with the consultative assistance and the mou Creates an opportunity for the city to participate in the deliberations. Okay. And did the city pull together the initial board? How did that happen? Yeah, the the city was involved with With some guidance from the cedar grove institute itself Okay, and you know, it was a long term kind of negotiation and so the outreach and recruitment and Justing just enough initially. I think to get the thing organized so we can continue that efforts. That was the thinking Okay, that's why we wound up with the three members. Okay. Yeah, it feels like a little bit of a catch 22 because we wanted to be an independent organization, but also As a brand new organization we I I want the city y'all staff to be Pretty significantly involved in pulling this together Um because otherwise there doesn't seem to be you know without that there doesn't seem to be much there You know like without our people Yeah, you call it out as a as a catch 22. I call it perhaps the most pernicious challenge of its creation In the aegis of trying to do private funder private sourcing That was sustained it beyond the necessity for a public investment We have to be very very cautious that as we interface with those kinds of opportunities and markets That the sources being recruited are not realized Don't realize any hesitancies Around the fact that whether or not this is purely a city effort or not Okay And that's a very very carefully crafted relationship that we have to do on behalf of that board to support its ability To raise monies that are not public Thank you. Yeah, it feels like we are very much doing this on on the advice of staff like that that the That y'all are saying that this is what we should do Just looking at this contract without Without staff engagement and staff involvement. I would say this is a brand new organization with only three board members and no staff But it seems like y'all Like I feel like I feel like I'm doing this on like the full faith and credit of y'all saying this is what we need to do now and I just want you to Tell me that that's the case Well, you know, certainly the full faith of credit of myself and my colleagues we feel very confident about But not not not notwithstanding though. I would return you to you know several months ago The genesis of this conversation and this concept came out of the original built-to-last document that was provided to us by cedar grove Which in in Substantial part Creates the variable and component parts of how this kind of thing might work It didn't come It didn't come out of isolated circumstances or bereft of other markets that have similar kinds of activities going on What comes to mind immediately for examples is an organization called invest Detroit And so there are models of this kind of thing that exist and that that was a component part And then based on the research that was done for this body by by cedar grove and in some other research We put together a component part that suggested that this kind of organization Might be a very very important component part to our efforts in in um shared prosperity So it wasn't it wasn't bereft of external consideration Some careful carefully crafted research In addition to the kinds of efforts that your own staff brought to the table Thank you. That's helpful and I trust y'all uh, and so you know i'm and i'm and i'm excited to see this moving forward uh and Look forward to to hearing more updates as we go through it about How we're how we're negotiating that that tension that relationship between The city engagement and the independence of of the nonprofit Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am Thank you. Madam mayor pro tem councilmember freeman and after councilmember freeman, uh, miss della adams here is here And we'll ask her uh, she would like to make some comments as well and she's one of the board members Councilmember. Thank you. Um, mr. Mayor. I just wanted to take a moment and just thank the volunteers that have stepped forward to to lead on this board in this very independent initiative to actually Create the support that's necessary for businesses to continue and be sustainable I just wanted to note that I appreciate, uh, dr wilson with north carolina central stepping forward with his with his work and I'm sure the full support of north carolina central university, uh central university's school of public administration and then also just noting that Miss della adams and both pilar roger goberg are very active community members that I think will be very beneficial to Making this making this a successful endeavor and standing up the organization So I appreciate that staff has brought this forward and I want to make sure that it's supported And so if there's anything else that I can do to help with that as uh councilmember middleton noted earlier I want to make sure that I offer that. Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much councilmember Madam clerk. Can you make miss della adams available to be heard, please? Good afternoon. Can you all hear me? Yes, we can miss adams. We're glad to have you with us Thank you, and I want to thank you mr. Mayor for all that you have done over the years For our community and for um the least of these we appreciate you Even before you became a public servant In terms of electoral politics, we appreciate your leadership at as an independent voice In them in media and in the newspapers So I just want to share with you that um The board members Are active That many of the goals We have Tempted on our own We have incorporated the organization adopted by law set up Counts we have Applied for and are waiting on Our 501c3 designation There are things that we have not been able to do Because we did not have sufficient funds to be able to Have access to Other funding sources. We believe it is critically important to be a partner with the city in developing Sustainable long term you all hear me often talking about the needs of minority and small Small minority owned businesses here in Durham and built to last Is is created with the concept That what we're going to do is we're going to um create a sustainable opportunity for equity and for small and minority businesses in Durham to grow Into larger businesses and to sustain our own community Through growth and opportunity There are three components to this um process as you has been shared with you by the Cedar Grove Institute And we look forward To expanding the board. We have many board member nominees prospects That um have the skill sets that we need to be able to carry out our mission that are waiting for this contract to be This memorandum of understanding to be adopted and once it's adopted it'll be short Very short time before we will be Have our board fully developed, but as an incorporating board We have been we have done our job We have been diligent about making sure that we dot eyes and cross Ts to make sure that there is um sufficient distance between the city and the and the built to last nonprofit that we can obtain funding from private sources We see in the future particularly with the equity fund That we're going to need not just public investment. We need the public investment from the pump But if we're going to sustain the fund We need private investment um from um Businesses and of an investment Into that fund and we feel that This mem MOU strikes that balance. I want to thank the city staff. They have been incredible in assisting the board um and and getting to this moment and I want to just um give a shout out to um deputy mayor called well to um and to um department Manager Andrew pettigrew. They've been incredible along with um miss Mr. Pettigrew staff um They have really sustained and assisted in standing up the organization Again, thank you so much and and we're very excited and we're looking forward and we um I want to rest assured we will accomplish all goals That we're not we were we are confident that we will achieve our mission and um We're just raring ready to go And so with that I'll say thank you and turn it back Ms. Adams, thank you so much for those comments. We really appreciate it and Ms. Adams, thank you for agreeing to serve on this inaugural board and for the work you all have done to get it going Your work with our staff your work getting the nonprofit incorporated The application for the 501c3 all of those things are crucial and we're grateful to you. Thank you so much and to the other two members as well All right colleagues other questions or comments at this time Okay, I do have just a couple of quick things Mr. Chadwell, thank you for all these uh explanations. I appreciate the questions that my colleagues have asked and appreciate Your comments as well as ms. Adams I'll just say that I agree with my colleagues that this is a crucial Councilmember Middleton started off that way that this is a crucial initiative for our city and We know we we've had to we went through a whole process that got knocked off track with the Pandemic we I thought we did some great work that we can learn from During the pandemic in terms of the funding that we did do of 250 small businesses most of the minority and women led And so I think we got some valuable experience and What seems to me to be the challenge Is they're going to be I'm sure there are multiple challenges but the biggest challenge to me seems to be to raise this equity fund and Ms. Adams spoke to the need for private fundraising and I I just been having been involved in the fundraising for the For the affordable housing loan fund, which is a different animal because it's it's a loan and we're really talking here about equity finance But that was hard We did get some crucial private investors And so I really agree with Ms. Adams I think that it's going to be important to have board members That will have some of those important connections to capital And So I just wanted to urge that I'm sure you all are thinking along those lines And so that that's one one thing I wanted to just observe and and then the other is My question is after and again, this may be something that's developed later I mean, let me just say we had a really good mechanism for just distribution of the funds during the pandemic with with Kevin Dick's organization whose name escapes me at this red hot second Carolina some Carolina small business development Carolina small business development fund. Thank you and We're going to need some sort of organization that works with the nonprofit in order to Wisely invest And so do you envision something like the carolina small business development fund or some other entity? Which will vet the potential investments once we do have the capital Uh, let me respond in this way I think in its purest sense and for what the essence of that kind of development fund is It really is a robust Opportunity for really super high growth businesses and those kinds of things not every business will you know What will qualify it For it if you have one in your market as a transformative kind of thing And it's also national in scope, you know, which would inform some of the necessities that you talk about for the for the Board appointments and so you know the fundraising is not limited to a Durham market per se It's directly attached to opportunities based on what the marketplace yields that our businesses can perform and within the envelope Under which they grow Given that kind of a order of magnitude if you will about the size of the fundraising and ultimately the size of the dollars that If successful to be Achieved And modeling after after other jurisdictions that do this Yeah, a a separate kind of entity under the umbrella of the nonprofit probably exists For the sole purpose of administering the creation of and administering of such a fund Okay, thank you Yeah, I mean it's just it's going to be challenging. I think raising the money will be challenging But I agree with you that it's not just local funds that are available There are national foundations that invest in these kinds of funds And so I'm hoping we'll be able to access those and one of an important dimension to the point you just made We think in terms of fundraising and the philanthropic aspect of it But the creating that that kind of fund really is an exercise in an investment kind of scenario In addition to just a philanthropic one, right? So it has that dimension to and that that's important when you consider the order of magnitude around which We hope it's created. All right. All right. Thank you Colleagues any further questions or comments for mr. Chadwell All right, mr. Chadwell, thank you so much. We appreciate it and we're excited about this We're excited about this opportunity for the city and for our community. So thank you. Thank you Thank you very much. Thanks for miss Adams for being here and for your work miss Adams All right, we'll now move to item 15 and this item was pulled by mayor pro tem johnson, which is debris management contract with drc emergency services, llc Thank you, mr. Mayor. I just had a quick question. Is this a new con like a new initiative that we're doing or is this replacing an existing contract? Good afternoon, madam mayor pro tem mayor shul members of council marvin williams The department of public works. This is not a new contract or a new initiative This is one that the city has been doing since the 90s The last time this contract came before council was in 2015 And it's just one of those contracts that comes up so infrequently. It feels like a new initiative, but it's really not Great. Thank you I think the other thing that might make it feel that way is that we don't spend the money You know, we only spend it if there's a certain kind of disaster which we haven't had. Is that right, mr. Williams? That is correct. We have never activated one of these contracts and hopefully we will never have to Thank you Thank you. That's all. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Any other questions or comments on item 15? All right, I pulled item 16. Uh, mr. Williams What interested me was that this that the that the actual removal of debris is three million dollars of roughly And this is a one million dollars contract to monitor the removal of the debris um, that seemed like an interesting, um What would the word be an interesting proportion there and I was wondering is that Do you feel that's appropriate? All right, mr. Sure. Yes, I do it is appropriate because the amount of documentation that Is required by FEMA for reimbursement during a federally declared emergency It's very intensive and I will note that these are all estimates the actual degree Collection dollar amount may increase substantially as well as the monitoring dollar amount. It really will depend on the event These are just estimates that we prepared based on the FEMA guidelines for city our size with our amount of tree canopy and vegetation that May come out to the roadway for collection by the city and our contractor But these are all estimates those numbers will actually change once an event Happens if it does it ever happen. Thank you, mr. Williams. It strikes me that In trying to be careful in the expenditure of money FEMA is Requiring us to spend a whole lot of money Yeah, it's just I mean if we ever have to spend it but the other thing I wanted to observe about this This is the the the employment statistics for this firm. We're fascinating, especially The local office of this firm does an amazing job hiring minorities, especially African-American women I was Really impressed by that. So wanted to notice it All right colleagues We have now gone through the pulled items and we have two presentations And we will begin with item three madam managers, or would you rather do 17? Right three first. Okay. We're going to do item three the affordable housing implementation committee report And we're looking forward to very much to hearing this report Do we know who's up here first? Mr. Johnson, I bet Hello Matt, can you hear me? Yes, mr. Johnson good to see you uh greetings mayor mayor pro tem and members of the city council reginal johnson director of the department of community development This item before you is the first report from the affordable housing implementation committee That the city council appointed in the wake of the passage of the bond referendum. I will definitely turn it over to uh Co-chairs Diane contatti and tiffani elder But I do want to take this opportunity This since it will be my only time at the at the microphone to thank you On behalf of the department of community development for your service and your leadership On the aspect of affordable housing for our city There's no need to go down the litany and the list of things that you have done And that you serve leader on you those have been well documented But I just want you to know that on behalf of the community development department that we thank you for your service And your leadership and your commitment to housing all of those persons In the city of dormant. You just want to say thank you. Thank you, mr. Johnson. I'm grateful to you for your words. Thank you I believe we have miss elder or miss catati next up Uh, good afternoon everyone it is It's a pleasure to be here with you today to share the first presentation Of the affordable housing implementation committee. We have quite a bit to update you on so diane and I will split the presentation Uh, I am going to attempt to share my screen um Not sharing one moment Take your time. We understand these things just uh, whatever it takes. Um We will dive right in So this first slide, uh, helps to set the stage regard regarding, uh, why the affordable housing plan is so important Uh, this is a market snapshot Uh for durham county as of september of 2021 Uh, a few things of note are Uh, here you see in september 2021 the average home sale price in durham was $397,000 just about also Year over year we've had almost a 25 increase in home median home sale prices in durham Uh, and while a balanced market has six months of inventory We only have 0.8 month 0.8 months, which is approximately three weeks homes are regularly selling above asking It's really hard to compete affordable housing is almost snow. Um, but this is giving you an idea of sort of where the market is right now And that is spilling over as well into rental housing Rental prices in durham increased 20 percent since the start of the COVID pandemic One bedroom rents are now averaging Or at a median of $1140 a month two bedroom Rentals are uh, just over 1,400 a month and if you think about the per capita and household median incomes in durham It this really illustrates how housing affordability Is becoming much more difficult across the board Uh, fortunately, we have the affordable housing bond Uh, and an affordable housing plan in place This slide here illustrates the affordable housing five-year plan, which has been rebranded forever home durham Um, this is a snapshot of the goals from the forever home durham website It, uh, the website is up and running And will serve as a central repository of information for durham's affordable housing plan And as you can see here the goals for meaningful meaningful change for the affordable housing plan are outlined Building or preserving 2,400 affordable rental homes Uh, moving 7 1700 homeless individuals and families in a permanent housing Providing 400 affordable home ownership opportunities for low income home buyers and and you saw from that first slide How important that piece is helping 3,000 low income renters and homeowners remainer or Improving their homes and creating ample opportunities for minority and women-owned contractors So the affordable housing Bond that the affordable housing implementation committees duties and responsibilities are Listed here first is to advise on the administration of the affordable housing investment plan Including the bond that was passed overwhelmingly by voters in november of 2019 To guarantee transparency and accountability in the city's expenditures of bond funds To review expenditures with the focus on housing construction job training and the inclusion of minority and women contractors Uh to provide feedback and guidance on the city's communications to the public about progress on the housing investment program To provide a briefing to council every six months of which this is the first Um, and for clarity, we always reiterate to everyone that the affordable housing implementation committee committee does not Make funding or allocation decisions Uh to get things started There were two committee chairs diane katari and myself put in place and we had 14 members sworn in Our first meeting was held on april 1st 2021 followed by six additional meetings just this year The meetings are streamed on youtube and are uh easily accessible by the public And all of the agendas minutes presentations for past meetings are accessible via forever home durham dot com We have had a number of presentations that the committee's received. This is uh, just a short list But not a comprehensive list First community development reports at each meeting on the status projects Dha as well updates at each meeting. So it's a a great chance to hear about where things are and where they're going Uh, the communications plan and website review by moss and moss and ross and french west bond Those are the consultants who are put in place to put the website and the communications plan in place They've been doing a great job The mwbe contractor introduction, uh, that company is united minority contractors of north carolina And uh, the committee on health care homeless and housing Presented and we also had a snapshot of the market just to get everyone everyone grounded on where we're starting from Good afternoon, everyone I'm going to take over from here and i'm hoping that you can still see the slides that tiffany is sharing It looks like yes. Yes, we can. Yeah great Okay, so I wanted to start by sharing a snapshot of the information that the community development department prepares And shares with us at each meeting So, um in the second to left column, you can see the same goals that tiffany just outlined That are from the five-year implementation plan And then moving from left to right you can see pipeline Under contract units completed the total and the balance remaining So for example for rental units created the goal was 1600 We've completed 82 which is the willard street apartments For rental units preserved the goal is 800 34 have been completed and that's primarily the laurel oaks development And then you can see the other um numbers that are completed for home ownership opportunities Homeless persons in permanent housing and low income house Household stabilized next slide, please Thanks Okay, so from the Durham housing authority we get reports every month and some highlights of what they shared with us include a review of their maintenance and repair record system Including improvements to that We've heard from them about their downtown and neighborhood plan Especially the liberty street 519 east main street and lisbon street projects as well as the jj henderson renovation and new construction of senior housing They've also shared with us their shared prosperity program which reviews mwbe participation and job recruitment programs They've also shared about their fresh start program, which assists assist dha families who are behind on their rent And lastly, we have heard from them about the rfps that they have issued for forest hill heights Fayette place and dha central office properties next slide, please Great other highlights are the new website. They're forever home durham dot com that tiffany showed you a snapshot of and also that the mwbe Contract was awarded to umc nc next slide, please So I wanted to share with you some of the concerns of the committee and things that we um are talking about and watching So these include dha repairs and resident concerns Rising construction prices overall supply chain delays Cost overruns slow production timelines Rising home prices and rents as tiffany just shared gentrification evictions evictions emergency rental assistance Uh program implementation in the pause and thank you for your just um momentary passage of additional funds for legal aid We also are Watching carefully mwbe participation Numbers both in dollars and percentage And lastly we have concerns around bond related employment for durham residents Among others there are others Okay, so things that we're looking forward to next steps include The rfp awards from the housing authority that we hope to see in january next year We're also looking forward to another update on um from umc nc on the mwbe goals We also expect to hear from relocated dha residents We're very much looking forward to robust financial reporting to go with those unit numbers that you saw And uh, lastly, we're looking forward to continued public communication efforts around forever home durham activities um Los ross or French west fawn are updating that website at least quarterly And so we continue to watch progress there And that is the end of our first six months reports. We welcome any questions Thank you Thank you so much um Miss katati and miss elder. We're so grateful to you That you've agreed to chair this and I'm just we could not have two better people to chair this this effort Colleagues questions and comments either for mr. Johnson and I noticed that mr. Johnson was enjoying himself Next to durham's most beautiful new affordable housing on wellard street That was great, but any questions or comments for Mr. Johnson or either of our or or our co-chairs councilmember caballero Thank you just real quick on the the last bullet with the next steps the continued public communication effort I'm curious if we'll be able to add Additional languages besides english on the website. I did not see The ability to do that. I may have missed it Thank you. Uh, did you all were you all able to hear that mr. Johnson? about uh, yes, I was adding additional language on the website and uh, I think that we will we'll be talking with the uh technology Folks um about that. We're actually in the process of transferring the website now Which is a major undertaking, but we will definitely figure out how we can do that Thank you Thank you councilmember Councilmember we got a we got a bunch of hands. We'll start with councilmember freeman We'll go to councilmember rice and then mayor pro tem johnson Thank you, mr. Mayor. I just wanted to share that I had an opportunity to serve on a panel with the apex housing manager and I thought it was phenomenal The system that they put in place to actually cover their housing needs And it would be great if we could um kind of pair up and and have a conversation A discussion at one of our council meetings in the future around or briefing just to say Where we are In general as we try to attack this affordable housing crisis Thank you Thank you very much councilmember just to be clear. You said you were I couldn't hear who you were on the conference panel with Oh, sorry on the panel with the um North Carolina legal municipalities on affordable housing Right with the apex city city town manager. I checked housing town manager. All right Thank you so much and I think that's a great suggestion Councilmember Reese. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I've been I am privileged to serve as the council's liaison To the affordable housing implementation community and I just wanted to thank Uh, the co-chairs former city councilmember diane catati and tiffani elder for their Really outstanding leadership of a group of folks who are really interested in understanding The challenges that we face as a city when it comes to our housing needs and how the The 95 million dollar affordable housing bond and the city's broader Forever home initiative Can make a difference in making our city more affordable and for making the process of doing that impact minority women-owned businesses In in the in the construction of the of new housing. I've just been really really impressed with them And also impressed by the other committee members who have asked really hard questions oftentimes revealing The truth about how hard it is to live in this city for some of our neighbors and A lot of their questions Have been the most challenging And have really revealed for me how How much work we still have to do the affordable housing bond was an extraordinary and unprecedented effort Mr. Mayor you were you led that effort and it won in every precinct of the city But it can't be the last big thing we do on this And I just want to remind my colleagues that these are that these are the kinds of things You have to think about when you sit in these affordable housing implementation committee meetings Because the folks that we've put on this committee have asked such hard questions How are we going to meet all of these needs? What can what more can we do? And that's why I think this that's it's not just about the transparency and accountability that this committee is bringing to us It's about reminding us that we still have so much more to do to meet the very desperate needs in our community So that's what I'm most thankful for about this committee And as I said the leadership of our co-chairs has been outstanding and look forward to continuing to working with them. Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you so much councilmember. Thank you for serving as the liaison to that important committee. We appreciate it Mayor pro town Thank you, mr. Mayor and thanks so much to our co-chairs and to our entire committee for Doing this important work and of course to our staff who have been doing an incredible amount of work on On these priorities for affordable housing and particularly with the covid crisis I was really struck by the slides about the increases in rent and home prices those are really dramatic and It seems that the you know that this has been happening for a long time But it seems that the speed of it is accelerating and that's a huge concern In fact, the the concerns slide gave me like some heartburn when I first read it. I was like, yeah These are really serious concerns They they are very concerning and so I appreciate that that our staff and our our committee members are really digging into And thinking about how we how we deal with all of these intersecting issues and crises Um I have a couple of questions specifically about progress the progress slide was really helpful and It seems like we're making Really good progress to goal and all of the areas except for home ownership opportunities I was hoping somebody could speak to what our plan is for Getting those 400 home ownership opportunities lined up In the next three years Sorry 394 Mayor pro tem, I'll be glad to just jump in and speak to that if you will remember Maybe a month or two ago the city council approved the contract with the organization that's going to Be administering our second mortgages And we've executed that contract But there's some other pieces that need to be in place with legal services before they start the rollout Which we expect to begin at the beginning of the year and so that's where the plan is for Second mortgages, and that's the bulk of the home ownership Great. Thank you. Um, and was there a contractor doing that before was that the one that we approved is that um Are we like just starting that up now? We're just we haven't started it up. We just you just approved the contract I want to say in the last Two three cycles maybe. Okay. It's been very recent. Okay. Thank you Um, we've talked about this a little bit before but particularly with the rapid increase in in prices A priority for for our community Should be education around How predatory some of these Offers can be from folks who you know will Like the folks with the we buy homes signs and will offer, you know lower income or elderly homeowners Really small amounts of money for their houses And then flip them and extract the profit Is there have we done any work to try to educate community members about predatory acquisition practices Or do you know if there are organizations other organizations in Durham that are doing that work? I would say uh, mayor pro tem. I don't know if there are other organizations that are doing the work as the way we envision it with the plan that was pre-covid Uh, that's the reason we put the resources In when we are in the affordable housing investment plan The challenge is that we had just a little thing called kovat. They're coming there has been disruption Just a little thing Yeah that uh, and we had to move some things because kovat is is It's basically one the prying related things for the priorities So we had to shift staffing shift our priorities To be able to accommodate that and we're going to hopefully As we come out of the crisis be able to revisit that and go back to our plan But it is a need it is still a need But our Compatitude to work on all things all the time is is is a bit challenged and so We agree And so I would offer that understood. Thank you. Um, this question might have the same answer another project that we had discussed is um Working with local financial institutions to help people Get capital to build accessory dwelling units. Um, that would then be Provided for affordable housing Is is that still in the works and and also delayed because We are not Uh omniscient and can't do everything at all times Uh, yes, ma'am. I would say that uh is accurate and remember that's a financing piece as well That we have to do some pilots, but we have been I'll be just be honest We have not been able to get that off the ground in terms of uh, uh focus right now Yeah, totally understand. It's it's still on on the list of what we intend to do. Uh, yes, it is. Yes, it is. Okay Great. Thank you. Um, and sorry one last question When we developed the property tax relief program One of our um goals was also to make sure that Residents are aware of all the other prep the state property tax relief programs Um, are we still sending out educational materials for that or now that the county has taken over Um doing a larger tax relief program. Is that gonna is that responsibility going to switch over to the county? I would say I know the county has been sending out promotional materials Information materials about the other programs. We uh talked about that again, uh pre-covid and pre where we are now On the long-term homeowner grant program That's something that we'll have to be reevaluate where our role and our resources need to go Particularly since the county has developed an additional program since we talked about that right, so But I do know for a fact that they have Shared information on the the uh programs. The point was that Were we members of our community really participating as we should and those programs that were offered by the state Where people educated on right and we we have done some education on that as well at the city level Uh, I would say we have not put any brochures out Or anything like that. No, we have none. Okay Thank you Really appreciate all of y'all's work. I know it's an incredible amount of work and y'all are one of the departments that have had to step up So much during covet to to get all these priorities done I just want to say to my colleagues and to our city manager if there's a need for more Investment in our community development department to meet these To meet these critical goals. I would absolutely support and encourage Budget requests from them to expand their capacity And and you know continue to continue to hit to hit our benchmarks I think this is one of our biggest priorities and we need to fund it Fund it as such. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor Thank you very much madam my mayor pro tem council member reese. It's really quick. Mr. Mayor first of all I absolutely agree. I've said before and I'll say it again I don't know that there's another department in city government more critical to what we're trying to do in the community right Now than our community development department because housing is so central to the way that folks live their lives, obviously A couple I wanted to follow up on something the mayor pro tem brought up our route Wholesalers offering low cash prices to longtime homeowners Some of you may recall that back in September there was a piece in the indie that talked about how easy it was for folks to do that um, and The city attorney was kind enough to look into this a little bit And sent me some suggestions that i'm going to forward on to our folks at community development one of them That she found was The state of colorado issues what they call advisories That raise awareness about these kinds of wholesalers that were talked about in that Indy piece who target longtime homeowners And who and those homeowners may not understand the the underlying value of their homes? Um, and they might and they're they're vile vulnerable to the kind of misleading practices that the mayor pro tem was was talking about That's something we should definitely look at and i'll send that along to our friends in community development. The other thing That the city attorney found which was amazing is the city of Atlanta Has what they call a commercial harassment ordinance That's intended to crack down on incessant phone calls and letters and inquiries That too often lead to these kinds of transactions by wholesalers to offer below market Prices to longtime homeowners Um, and so that's another that's another thing that i'm going to ask our city attorney's office to begin looking at Ways we could bring some of those pieces into our regulatory framework to try to protect our homeowners That that's something we could do outside of the community development department because y'all got enough to do Um, just wanted to say that I just wanted to thank our city attorney for doing that great work a little bit ago And happy to bring that up again and and see us move forward. Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you very much council member and I had not heard about that. That's great to know. Thank you, madam attorney council member middleton Thank you, mr. Mayor and thank you colleagues for this really important conversation. I want to thank Sister tiffani for being here sister elder for being here and the legendary council member katati. Always good to see you Uh, and for this charge you're taking up on behalf of the city the um Second to the council itself the ah, h. I see might be the most watched Board that's convened in our city arguably Uh, because we're all uh experienced such anxiety about affordable housing In our city And I think the mayor pro tem uh already intoned this you know When you look at the percentage increase in rent And and home prices in our city and we talk about this issue of affordable housing, you know What ordinance do we pass to stop this? What what mayoral declaration can be issued? To stop the forces of the market. So one of the things i'm grateful for is just a hard Sobering reality of what we face as a city and folk have to remember that I wish we were as powerful Uh, as people think we are as a council whip that said and I think council member reese Uh gave voice to this we have to continue to do big things um The reason why these predatory lenders are successful Is because of the presence of of of vulnerability um lack of resources and desperation And often that triad that those trinity of factors have been Systemically built into our communities which make them vulnerable to predatory lenders if you can't get your Most folk don't want to sell their houses that they've built memories in they don't want to give away the homestead But if you can't if you don't have enough money to fix it Uh, you can't pay taxes or there's gunfire in your neighborhood every night Um folk want to move and folk want to get rid of their home. So folk I I think and I'm glad that we brought up atlanta and one of my You know heroes in my pantheon of political leaders is manor jackson the former A legendary mayor of atlanta and and who's the airport's named after him and Manor jackson although our state legislature won't allow us to do some of the things that atlanta has done to To create that legendary pocket of black wealth that atlanta Represents for so many around the country But you know, he was intentional Uh, and his government was intentional About equity about doing the type of things that that i've talked about a a marshal plan type investment in legacy communities that The united states did for europe after world war two to insulate some of these communities from Predatory lenders if you got the money It's a different conversation when you can fix your house when you can pay the the taxes It's a very different conversation than when you don't have it So i hope that moving forward we will look to do the big things That will protect particularly our legacy black neighborhoods from these predatory type practices But yeah with these price increases and and the in homes and rentals. It's it's a very sobering presentation, but i'm i'm i'm heartened By the the political will that's been summons on this council and In this council and historically To to face this issue head on i do want to ask a question with respect to some of our our wins Thus far and i think i may have touched on this in prior conversations for after you brother reginal And i'm asking this question because folk have put it to me So i'm just i'm i'm the messenger first off i want to say that our wins are real Their will and and they and they should be celebrated, but with respect to the rental units Reginald and the 82 units at willard Some folk have put to me that Those you those units actually predate Even the branding of the forever forever home initiative So i i would ask is and but we should count them i'm i'm their wins and their legitimate wins towards our goals, but Is it is it safe when when folks say to me Reginald that well those units. Yeah, they're they count, but they actually predate Our current iteration and our current crusade towards attacking the affordable housing initiative How should i respond to those folks? Well, uh, thank you Council member So remember we went through an exercise where we defined what is counted and what is not And why it is counted? So richard, i can barely i can barely hear you buddy. I don't know if it's your mic Okay, let me make an adjustment here. Can you hear me now? Bit go ahead Remember that we Shared what will be counted and what will not and starting with uh, I think those things that were in contract after july 1 2019 and so This is is counted and should be counted We had worked beginning before there was a forever home Durham program And before there was a bond referendum as i've shared the work that we're doing an affordable housing Did not start with the bond referendum Remember we had to dedicate a housing fund prior to that we had projects that were underway Uh and definitely before a naming so that doesn't mean that to start But we did go through exercise to define what is counted and what is not but this should be rightfully counted Uh, it is the beginning of uh where we are, but it's a in many respects It's a continuation of work that we've already been uh well underway Excellent, thank you so much and that that's I feel better because that's kind of what I've been saying that this this isn't a new Uh, uh effort on our part because I think some folks see the affordable housing bond is kind of like a hard point of Of commencement and it's not we we've got a A strategic housing plan that that goes back strategic affordable housing plan that goes back years and that Although it may not a fair of a home may be a A new kind of moniker or a recent kind of moniker that the work has been ongoing And will it street is is a manifestation of that ongoing work part of that Narrative that that goes way back. So that's that that that makes me feel better. Thanks for that That's kind of what I've been saying and that's what I'll continue to say But congratulations on the work. This is absolutely the tip of the spear for us and and Absolutely critical It I think it becomes even more Um important Uh with the context you've given us today with the the increase in which we all suspected and knew but to see it Uh in a presentation like this the numbers are just absolutely startling Uh and should should uh make us all want to redouble our efforts and commit ourselves to to doing this important work of Making Durham a Durham for everybody. So thank you so much. Thank you. Mr. Mary yield back Thank you very much councilmember Colleagues any other questions or comments first for staff or for um The co-chairs Councilmember freeman Thank you, mr. Mayor. I just wanted to to appreciate my colleagues comments and just noting how I think the conversation started in 2018 2019 and it has not the housing need hasn't stayed static And so I want to make sure that we're evolving along with the needs Acknowledging that um as we've been talking about a tenants bill of rights There's a lot of safe and healthy decent affordable housing needs that have not been addressed in this city And I want to make sure that we're encompassing all of them And not just limiting it to the bonds initial thoughts around how we should address affordable housing I think when it initially started we were specifically focused on the housing authority And then we expanded from there and so I just want to make sure that we do go back because I do think that apex did a really great job Outlining the actual needs And then attacking it from that aspect forward and I appreciate that we did get the bond moved forward, but we've got a huge housing need And I I want to make sure that we're just not calculating it based on on where we were in 2018 2019 As we go into 2022 that we do actually study where we are And figure out what it's going to take for us to make sure that housing is affordable decent and healthy Thank you Thank you very much council member colleagues, I just have a few comments and I want to appreciate all my colleagues questions and and thoughts which I think were really useful and the I think it would might be good mr. Johnson if you would go ahead and just send a reminder In in response to council member Middleton's question you talked about the date that we kind of count from But I think it might be good if if council colleagues received And just an email to remind everybody of that date We know that so much of the affordable housing work that you all have talked about already colleagues Was done prior to the passage of the bond or the creation of forever home Durham I think about the damara court and marion road apartments which are not Nowhere in these counts We could all mention a lot more And so I think that it would be good to know kind of where we're counting from here Colleagues, I did want to also say and you all know this But I think it's worth thinking about for when we think about a green and equitable infrastructure When I think about how we got to where we are with This housing initiative we started with a penny for housing That was 10 years 10 years ago. We moved a few years after that the two pennies past the bond issue And as everybody here is saying We still know that's not going to be enough, but that's the way we built it So you all have already started with the green and equitable infrastructure. We passed a half penny And I think that That is a great way to kind of build towards these bigger investments And so I just want to complement the council on doing that and I'm excited about what the future might hold for the green and equitable infrastructure Investments with a potential bond along these same lines Everything that everybody has been saying about the fact that this isn't enough is just totally true We we as I say to people all the time what we're doing is we're with all this expenditure and with this tremendous amount of effort We're making a dent in the problem. We're making a dent You look at 7500 different Uh, I uh, if you add up all the numbers on that chart Um And sometimes you all hear me say this but if you include all the numbers on that chart on the goal side That adds up to 7500 units or people Stabilizing the housing I multiply that by two and I say to myself, okay, we're going to house 15 000 people affordably in Durham. That's a lot That's five percent of the people in our community and they tend to be our most vulnerable people The average income of a Durham housing authority family is $12,000 a year plus of course, we're including our homeless residents in this number But we also know that's not enough and all the things that you all are pointing out about this is absolutely right Uh, we have the 400 home ownership opportunities and we know that that's not nearly what we need So I appreciate you all talk about how to even be more ambitious in this area and uh, I'm grateful Um, I also want to second what mayor pro tem johnson said about the community development department's capacity I'm worried about it because we ask so much and I just hope that I know our administration will keep in mind The community development department's capacity needs and let the council know And and I think you heard an invitation About a manager that if there are more needs for capacity in the department to please please let us know or please let my colleagues know and then um We haven't talked much about the minority contracting goal. And so mr. Johnson, let me just ask you a question Uh, we have an ambitious minority contracting goal $130 million And uh, we have now got the contractor, uh, but we we've already got going on some of this work And I'm wondering how you're feeling about our ability to progress towards that goal and meet it So I would say, uh, mr. Meredith. That's an excellent question. Uh, we've talked with just had meetings on it this week with our contractor and equity and inclusion Also, and I would say that we do have the Opportunity to to meet that goal. But we're just in the beginning One of the things that the contractor is going to help us with is not just Securing minority contractors, but also outreach to them and help training them And assisting and supporting them Now that also includes uh, davis bacon and section three Work as well. And so I'm optimistic The the vendor united minority contractors of north carolina has an outstanding reputation They have suggestions for us already and do recall that they are Part of the contractor They'll be working with the housing authority as well Until the housing authority has is on Uh, so it's similar to situated With the firm of this owner in terms of their processes. So we offer in support to them as well And so I think that's important. So I am optimistic That we will be able to do that Thank you, mr. Johnson, and I'm appreciative that we have uh contractors minority on contractors like larrell street or already part of what we're doing and But I know we're gonna our community is going to be closely monitoring that as it should And uh, looking forward to that Mr. Mayor, I do at the appropriate time. I do have another comment to add Say again, mr. Johnson. I do have another comment to add when you please go ahead. Yeah Go ahead. I just do want to uh share in response to mayor pro tem's Question about the uh home ownership. I needed to uh make a clarification the firm community Home trust will be on the uh, we're shooting for a december contract. That's the second mortgage firm What I had in mind was also related to home ownership the habitat for humanity contract that we approved in the last Uh month or so and so I got those kind of interchange But I just wanted to say that we've selected a good great vendor for our Second mortgage program and that'll be underway shortly Thank you. Thank you for that clarification, mr. Johnson Um Just looking at my notes here to see if I have anything else. I think that does it I think we all know that this is this is an existential threat to who we are And we have big big plans. We've got lots of work great work going on and and I agree with my colleagues that say that There's more to be done All right. Thank you all. Uh, mr. Johnson Ms. Elder. Ms. Cattati. We are so grateful to you. Uh, and look forward to hearing more Okay, we'll now move so much. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you We'll now move to item 17, uh, which is our last item today, which is also a presentation and this is the, uh, quarterly Uh, the first quarter financial report and I expect we're probably going to hear from mr. Allure Yes, uh, good afternoon. Actually, it's uh, christina reardon. I'm as reardon. Good to hear from you Good afternoon, mayor mayor pro tem and members of council. Uh, christina reardon budget and management services And I will be here today to present for you the first quarter report And I believe we're going to pull it up on the screen right now so, um as I said, we'll be doing the first, uh, quarter report for this year And um, one of the things that you know is that we come to you four times a year to provide you with an update Uh, the first quarter is often the quarter that we have the least amount of information So the most uncertainty exists. So I say that to say that, um, the information I'll be giving you is our best estimate at this point Uh, but the good news is that we'll be back in february to provide our second quarter financial report So we'll start out with the general fund, which is the fund where most of our departments reside and the majority of our tax revenue, um, is appropriated So the general fund, um, I've talked about uncertainty. I think when we talk about revenues, especially in the general fund, um Uncertainty in the first quarter, um, is one of the things that, um, I'll be talking about And that has to do with there are two major revenue sources in the general fund our property tax Makes up about 51.7 of the general fund revenue and our sales tax makes up about another 33.9% And both of those we don't have a whole lot of information for at this point Uh property tax comes in in december and january when it's due for the most part and then sales tax is about three months behind So we don't even receive our first payment until october I do want to kind of um remind people about um kind of an anomaly that happened in f y 21 Which was the tax bills were mailed out about four to six weeks later than normal So that will affect some of the actuals that we take a look at so Moving on to some information about the revenues. Um, the news is good Um, as I said comparing, um f this year Compared to last year at the same time. Um, all revenue sources are up Property tax is up. Um a significant amount 324 percent, but again a lot of that has to do with The tax bills and the timing of when they were sent out to residents The next one is occupancy tax. Um, this tax is one that's been kind of most affected by covid And so the fact that it is up 60 percent is good news. Although it's not back to pre-pandemic Levels we are seeing kind of a more of a return to normal The power bill is up slightly at three percent Intergovernmental revenues is a lot of the money that we received from Durham county And so that increase is probably mostly due to timing of when revenues are received And then charges for services up probably A lot also to to some of the covid services that we've kind of restored this year as opposed to last year So the next slide will show you kind of a visual of those Revenues in f y 22 compared to f y 21 And obviously, um, the big number is the 15 million dollars in property tax that we received compared to the 3.5 million Last year at this time. Um, and again, um, I really don't think that there's probably a change in property tax more just A timing of receipts So this next slide kind of gives you some of our projections for where we feel like we're going to end the year as when it comes to general fund revenues and we're expecting almost all Revenue sources to come in at budget at this time With the exception of charges for services where At this point we're projecting that it might be slightly under budget at about 63 thousand dollars Moving on to expenditures the We are expecting that all departments will Will that are so excuse me that no departments will exceed their budget Which is good news and we are expecting some savings To the tune of 1.9 million dollars Most of those savings are in personnel costs By 1.4 million and then some operating capital costs at about 540 14 thousand dollars This slide is showing you the actuals in f y 22 compared to f y 21 what you'll notice is that We're Actuals are up by about 3.9 million dollars more than they were last year, which is about 7 percent The majority of that is probably in personnel services Which are trending higher than they were last time at this year But I do want to remind council that We did have a number of one-time bonuses that were paid in the july paycheck And so that is accounting for some of the change between f y 22 and f y 21 Again, this is showing the projection that I talked about for the general fund With us projecting that personnel services will be under budget by 1.4 million dollars Operating expenses under budget by about 500 thousand and capital at about 313 thousand So moving on to the enterprise funds The first fund I want to talk about is our water sewer fund And this fund is a self-sufficient fund, which means that it does not receive any tax support And it is where it should be at this time of year overall revenues are at 29.79 percent of budget And expenses are at about 20.3 percent With personnel personnel expenses making up about 27.4 And right now we're expecting revenues to be at budget So the next slide shows us the revenues Which as I mentioned before we're expecting to come in at budget Moving on to expenditures The the fund is anticipating Some savings in personnel due to some vacancies in the department and that's to the tune of 778 thousand dollars, which is the budget variance for this fund at this point The next fund is the transit fund And this fund does receive tax support at about 3.75 cents which is Accounts for about 13.9 million dollars This fund is at the moment is budgeted Fair free so that we are not charging fares for bus service. And so There is some good news with the transit fund and we are expecting it to operate under budget And coming in around 1.5 million dollars One of the things that the that has Assisted the fund giving a positive impact is some federal funding they're receiving They have been receiving federal coronavirus response and relief supplemental act fund In the amount of 11.3 million dollars, which is impacting the fund to the good and we are And john can move on to the next slide I'll talk a little bit about the revenues. So that operating revenues The top one would be where normally our charges for service would show up And then we have taxes at 13.8 million dollars or almost 13.9 The grant revenue at 11.3 and then miscellaneous revenue is The majority of that is from the germ transit authority the The department is had some service enhancements that they have delayed at the moment And so some of the savings you'll see both on the revenue and expenditure side have to do with the delay of some of those service enhancements and the next one is expenses um, and as I talked about There is the the department is expecting to see some Operating expenditures some savings in um, if there's some service enhancement delays and then The four million dollars that you see under capital outlay are some Buses that were initially encumbered in the fund, but the department has Another revenue source for that so they will be moving and be paid for out of our cip So the overall budget variance for the transit fund is 13 million dollars and they are expected to end the year to the good by about 1.5 million dollars The next fund is the solid waste fund. Um as as with the transit fund. This is a fund that receives tax rate 5.59 cents which is about 20.7 million dollars the rest of the revenue received in the fund Is uh charges for services which makes up about 28.4 percent of the revenue This revenue in this Fund has been up has been impacted by coveted. So um, there has not been a return to normal commercial garbage which which Impacts revenue at the transfer station. And so uh, the fund is anticipated to come in a little under budget in those revenues Uh, but as far as expenditures goes we have good news. So I'll start with the revenues And you can see that um, we're expecting $528,000 to be under that in operating revenues And then um under expenditures Um Personnel is expected to come in under budget in at budget and operating expenditures are expected to come in Under budget by about 2.5 million dollars and that has to do with some contract savings, especially with our Recycling contract is the the main driver of that Recycling markets are doing better than anticipated or than they were at the beginning of the year And so that is kind of accounting for some of that expenditure savings So the next fund is the storm order fund, which is another um self-sufficient fund that receives no tax support Um at quarter one The fund is exactly where it should be with um, 38.2 percent of projected revenues If you're to look at last year's q1, um, this is kind of similar to property tax Bills were sent out later than normal. So um, it looks like we've we have received more revenue than we have at q1 last year But um, again, that's probably uh, a timing issue Um, overall the fund is expected to use a significant amount of fund balance 4.4 million dollars, but that's largely due to some capital improvement projects. They had planned So the first slide shows revenues and where we think that will end the year, which is um, almost exactly on budget And then with expenditures, there is a slight savings in personnel um 900 100 and 95 000 With the overall budget variance for the storm order fund being good at 197 000 And then the parking fund is the next fund. I want to talk about um, the parking fund Does not receive a direct tax allocation. Although debt service the debt service fund does subsidize some of the existing debt in the fund um, and the parking fund is one of those funds that has been Most affected by covet. Um, there has not been a return to normal for parking demand. And so um When we uh, even when we went into budgeting, um, the parking fund this year We knew that operating revenues were not expected to cover operating expenditures But um, the situation is slightly worse. Um, our projection will be slightly worse than it was even At the beginning of the budget. So And these are the operating revenues or the projection I was talking about. Um Operating revenues are expected to come in 471 000 less than we had budgeted And then um, the fund is uh, expected to have a slight personnel savings of 22 000 But there are some one-time costs of um, a contract and some equipment that um, We'll take them over budget in operating expenditures To the tune of 124 000. So the overall budget variance for the parking fund fund will be 513 000 and they are expected to use 2.5 million dollars of fund balance by the end of the year The last one I want to talk about is our inspections fund. Um, this is the fund that Is used to pay for our inspections department and other inspections related activities Currently revenues are at budget and the first quarter The fund has received 28.3 percent of its revenues and 24.2 percent of its expenditures We expect this fund to end the year on At budget and of course as with all funds will be bringing you another update at q2 So not much news in the inspection funds. We're expecting it to come in at budget for both revenues and expenditures And that was um, all the information I have for you today and I'll open it up to any questions anyone might have Ms reared and thank you for an absolutely great presentation and um Really appreciate it. I do have a couple of questions. I think I'll start For the the parking fund You know, first of all, we're doing amazingly well We've come out of the pandemic so much better than I think all of us thought we might But the parking fund continues to be That flying the ointment And I don't have any Real questions about that except to observe it and I know that this is something that Our staff is is thought of thinking about a lot and working on but I do want to just observe for For colleagues that when I look at this thing It's a great report and until I get there And then I don't see good Good options for us, but I know our staff's working on it. So that's just again an observation Uh, if you wouldn't mind Ms. Reardon pulling up slide 16 the transit operation fund revenues Or I can ask you a question about it The operating revenues Could you just remind me and I don't know if you have this at your fingertips. If not, you could email us What was the what were the bus fares providing us? Uh in f y 21 Or I guess more likely to f y 20 would be the the year I guess we'd need to look at I'm trying to remember that So looking at um looking at q1, um Oh, I was going to say I was looking at q1 For the transit fund and I think I have 2.7 millions for operating revenues. I'm just this is for just for the quarter with uh No for the adopted budget, okay But I'm seeing that mr. Lore has pulled up Oh, yeah, great. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, thank you. So looking at revenues On the transit fund I'm trying to find operating here Yeah, and I think if you look at the current services, got you got you so Adopted was 2.7 million. So colleagues. This is the you all may have remembered this number better than I did But this is the amount of money that we're forgoing by not charging Fairs and we're we're covering it now and I think it's great that we're covering it now, but I didn't want to just Make note of that and say good for us The uh the my other question though is around the the same slide uh slide 16 non operating revenues So there's the taxes There is the grant revenue and what is the miscellaneous again? So uh miscellaneous is made up of um vehicle license fees, which is about 2.8 million Um access county merger Funding, okay, which is about 82,000 and then about 10.2 million of that is Durham transit authority Durham transit authority. Where's that? What's that? What's the source of that? I don't understand what that is um and I believe the Sean Egan is here from the transportation department. It could probably provide a little bit more guidance on what exactly that is. Thanks So those are awards from the Durham I lost you mr. Egan. I think you're muted Sorry Those are awards from the Durham county transit plan. They're primarily to enable Offer more frequent services on our routes. Gotcha. Okay Durham county transit plan. So the the current is about Well projected through the year and it's about 9.5 million and Not all of that some of it, uh as Ms. Reardon says as other sources, but looks like maybe in the sort of seven million dollar range might be from the Durham county transit plan That sounds yeah, and then some of those services because of staffing shortages We won't be able to launch those services uh as scheduled this year. So actual We'll come in lower and we only bill the county transit Plan for the services that we provide. Yeah Thanks, mr. Egan We've used different names in the path, but I think what you're accustomed to hearing Mary's the the transit tax Yeah, yeah, yeah Thank you, mr. Lore and thank you, mr. Egan. I got it now and Ms. Reardon. Thank you. I appreciate that Okay colleagues questions or comments for uh Ms. Reardon Council member Reese Thank you, mr. Mayor. I just wanted to first of all thank staff for the great presentation. It's good to know as you said I think we're in much better situation financially than any of us had a right to believe we would be um at this in november of 2021 And I know that a lot of that is because of the hard work our staff has done during the pandemic So I want to thank them for that mr. Mayor. I wanted to follow up on the two things you raised I'll go in the opposite order first of all with respect to um The 2.7 million dollars That we're brought in through bus fares that represents the whole we're going to need to fill if we want to keep our system fare free Um, and I know that i'm committed to working with staff and my colleagues on the council to try to find a way to make that happen Um, but I think the other thing we need to be well aware of is that it's not just 2.7 million dollars That once once any system including go Durham goes fare free More people will begin to use it and our expenses will also increase It's difficult to know what that's going to look like until we Unleash Free fares in Durham uh in a in a non or I guess post COVID context But that's something we that we're going to have to be aware of is that it's not just 2.7 million dollars what I what I should say is 2.7 million dollars is the revenue side of the issue But on the expense side we're going to see more expenses Um because more people are going to be using our service and and we want that we should want that It's critical for our sustainability goals. It helps us reduce greenhouse gases. It makes our roads safer But but it has real world costs that we're going to have to grapple with in addition to the loss of the 2.7 million dollars in revenue With respect to the parking fund mr. Mayor You know, I hate to be the bear of bad tidings, but our parking fund wasn't looking so great before the pandemic as you know We built a brand new parking deck Not very far from this particular location At just exactly the time that a number of other private parking decks went up not too far from here And before the pandemic we were facing um A lack of usage of our new parking deck and many of our parking deck our structured parking facilities as a result of the fact that we went from A professed shortage of parking in downtown a parking crisis as I believe it was referred to in many quarters To now something of a glut of structured parking Whether it's close enough or convenient enough for some people Uh or for a number of our business owners as remains to be seen But that's the reality we face now is that we especially before the pandemic We were getting undercut on home for structured parking prices And folks were voting with their feet and walking a little bit further in parking for a little bit cheaper I don't know what the answers are to that problem But it's one we're also going to have to grapple with And I just wanted to kind of draw a line under that that it's that That the parking situation the situation the parking fund wasn't awesome before the pandemic We've got a shortfall that we're going to deal with but longer term We need to figure out better answers for how we Pay for what we've deployed in the community in terms of structured parking but also But I will say that I like what we are What we have done with the permanent outdoor dining ordinance making On-street parking spaces available for some other use But there again That that is red those are each of those spaces is a revenue source. We no longer have And so we're going to have to figure out how to square that circle somehow It almost certainly means that folks are going to have to start paying more for structured parking and on-street parking How we do that in a way that keeps faith with our values is something that I know our staff is working on And I look forward to working with them and with my colleagues On finding the right answers for Durham on that difficult challenge But otherwise this support looks fantastic. I'm really happy and it unlocks the possibilities to do a lot of things In our next budget, and I hope we can all work together to make that happen. Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you very much council member Other comments and questions colleagues anybody else on the budget report All right, mrs. Reardon. Thank you. We really appreciate you mr. Lore. Thank you for your leadership and Thank you all so much for this excellent report Thank you Thank you. I believe about a manager. We have now we don't have any Appointments today, so I won't as usual accidentally skip them And we will move on to settling the agenda Thank you, mr. Mayor for the agenda Mayor mayor pro tem and council. I have items one through three and items six through 16 for consent and item 18 and 19 on the gba public hearings Thank you very much, madam manager colleagues You have heard the manager's recommendation to settle the agenda and I'll accept a motion for its approval Second moved by council member freeman second by council member reese that we will settle the agenda per the manager's recommendations All in favor, please say aye. Aye Close no The ayes have it the motion passes unanimously colleagues I'm going to hit this gavel for the last time The meeting is adjourned at 3 36 It's been our pleasure