 Good afternoon. I'm gonna call the order of this regular member meeting of the Durham City Council on November the 8th Thursday November the 8th as you all know, this is a very unusual meeting time for us we Let's just say that the electric grid got the best of us On Monday night, and so here we are and we're glad to be here and certainly want to welcome everyone Who is here today to be with us for this meeting? Could you first please join me in a moment of silent meditation? Thank you And now I'm going to ask Councilmember Reese if he will lead us in the pledge. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Good afternoon everyone if it's your practice to do so and if you're able please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance Thank you very much Councilmember Reese and now we will have the roll call Good afternoon Mayor and Council Mayor Schuyl here Mayor Pro Tem Johnson here Councilmember Alston here and Councilmember Reese Here council members Caballero Freeman and Middleton have requested an excused absence. Thank you We will I will now invite a motion to excuse council members Caballero Middleton and Freeman who are at the National League of Cities convention And I would invite a motion to excuse them from both this meeting and the work session is going to follow this meeting So moved. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded that we excused the three council members for this meeting and for the work session And Madam clerk, will you please open the boat? Please close the boat The motion passes for zero. Thank you very much Just to explain a little parliamentary Information here that I appreciate my council colleagues checking on in the and the expertise of the clerk We are there although there are only four of us. That is enough for a quorum for any action that we would wish to take And any majority vote of this for would is enough to pass a motion. So I just wanted to Let everyone know that Madam clerk, I'm gonna ask you a question on the ceremonial items. I know that we do have The bells across Durham proclamation and also now know that the folks from the farmers market week Proclamation are have asked that their their proclamation be held to a Monday night in the spring Which would be able to do are we going to be doing the recognition of the voter photography project and the chapter of the links today? Mr. Mayor counsel. No this afternoon. We are not Okay, those two items. Great. Thank you. So we will have one ceremonial item Which is the bells across Durham proclamation and I'll And I'll ask Eddie Davis our public historian if he would like to come to the microphone and join me And any guests that you might like to bring with you and I believe that we are joined here By Ms. Christine Elmer who I just met who's the deputy deputy director of Veterans Affairs. I got that right Close enough what is what's the what's right? Deputy chief of staff deputy chief of staff. Okay, great. We're really glad to have you as as you all know We had a history lesson From Eddie councilmember Davis a former councilmember Davis a couple of weeks ago About this and and he asked at that time that we issue a proclamation That would encourage people across Durham to ring their bells And and at a certain time and for a certain event and I'm now going to read that proclamation and Present it to you Eddie and then for your remarks and any remarks Ms. Elmer that you would also like great Whereas Sunday November 11th 2018 will mark the annual National Observance of Veterans Day and also mark the 100th anniversary the end of World War one and Whereas a century ago the armed conflict ended with the armistice treaty signed in France between the United States and its allies on one side and With Germany and its supporting nations on the other and whereas the treaty was signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918 and whereas this special time in history is referred to as our midst to stay It's still celebrated in many parts of the world and whereas November 11th is now designated as Veterans Day in the United States And is recognized as a federal holiday Whereas the first monument erected on Durham's courthouse square was dedicated on November 11th 1921 To the local soldiers and sailors who sacrificed their lives during World War one and whereas in commemoration of Veterans Day in the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War one Residents of Durham are asked to initiate a new tradition of peace by participating in a project called bells across Durham and Whereas houses of worship civic and social groups veterans organizations in the entire community are invited to ring bells 11 times simultaneously at 11 a.m. On November 11th now therefore I Steven M. Schulmeyer the city of Durham, North Carolina Do hereby proclaim November 11th 2018 as bells across Durham day in Durham, North Carolina and call upon all citizens to recognize the significance of this event and To encourage all to learn more about the bells across Durham project and participate in the simultaneous bell ringing as a symbolic salute to Durham's military veterans as well as the ongoing commitment to the resolution of Conflict around the world across our nation within our local community Witness my hand the corporate seal the city of Durham, North Carolina this fifth day of November 2018 and so now Eddie if you would come and say a few words to us and Ms. Elmer if you would like to as well Thank You mr. Mad. Thank You counsel. Thank you staff Sunday and Monday both will be Veterans Day actually the calendar Date would be November the 11th that which is Sunday and of course the federal recognition of that day will take place on Monday So we really are pleased that the council has agreed to pass this proclamation and Help to share This word out to the people of Durham We want to make sure that we always honor the people who Give their life and their service for the dedication of democracy and freedom And we have a world war one monument as Steve mentioned and as you all know because we talked about that at our most recent council meeting And that at that monument we will be gathering on Monday at 11 o'clock to follow up on what we are asking people to do on Sunday at 11 o'clock So hopefully we'll be able to have two days of recognition of our veterans and recognition of the idea of peace and peaceful Resolution of conflict I'm pleased to be able to share this moment with dr. Christine Elm Imler I Wanted to say Elmo, but Imler who is on the staff of the Veterans Administration Administration Healthcare system and I had the chance to go over to talk with folks over there in recognition of this program and its activity and I was moved by the care and The concern that is given to our veterans by the staff members at that facility Obviously people who are coming in to seek health care are not always in the best shape But people who were there did reach out and give them the very best that they could give them dr Imler told me just a minute ago that the staff one of the staff Requirements is that they make sure That if they are having if they're not having a good day Then the people that they serve I will know it and that they deserve to have Reaction and receptions that show that we care about their health and their service. So I would like to offer the microphone Dr. Imler Because we want to be able to share a copy of this Resolution with her and to have it in their office so that they can always understand and recognize that Durham Stands for recognition and salute to our veterans Dr. Imler Thank you very much. Mr. Davis and counsel and mayor on behalf of the Durham VA health care center system Excuse me. I would like to thank you Thank you for this honor and thank you to all of the veterans in attendance today At the VA we strive to make every day Veterans Day across the country We serve 20 million men and women who've served this nation's armed forces as many of you know We trace our department's lineage to president Abraham Lincoln's devotion to veterans of the Civil War and his steadfast belief that a grateful Nation must justly recognize their service That we have a commitment to those who have borne the battle over the years since Lincoln's words our VA has undergone many changes and This year commemorates one of those changes as doctor. Excuse me Mayor Schull Read a hundred years ago at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 The war to end all wars ended and our veterans the dough boys started coming home It was the aftermath of that horrific war which forever changed warfare Through the incorporation of machine guns barbed wire tanks airplanes and chemical weapons Which gave rise to better care for veterans in 1921 the VA went through one of its critical changes when Congress established a new system that established Consolidated all of World War one veterans programs into one federal administration The VA and the city of Durham developed along similar lines in the early part of the 20th century This helped create relationships between the deep Durham VA health care system and Institutions in this city and surrounding areas that help us honor our veterans of all eras by providing them exceptional care in In the 1920s practitioners caring for World War one veterans had the wisdom and foresight to understand and Advocate that the VA should include research and teaching Something that has carried through to our vision today Not only for the benefit of tying research to the specific and unique needs of veterans But also as a way to try to attract practitioners Interested in teaching and research Ensuring that the highest quality of care is provided to our veterans to this day Durham VA health care system has partnerships with many of the accept exceptional Institutions here in Durham and across our state Duke NC Central UNC ECU NC State just to name a few Partnerships right here in Durham have led to things like the understanding that aspirin can and should be used in treating cardiac disease Right here. We learned that we developed the nicotine patch We have had a significant improvements in the treatment of hepatitis C and the shingles vaccine was developed here all of this at RVA much of it in partnership with organizations and institutions who chose and choose to grow and prosper here in Durham the city of medicine This year and every day we honor Americans veterans Ordinary men and women who stepped forward to purchase our independence with their service and to help others who have felt the Oppression of tyranny it is an honor and a labor of love for me to serve our veterans at the Durham VA health care system I specifically want to thank you for this Proclamation and for all you do to create a community with an excellent and sustainable quality of life For me and my family for the community for the amazing people I get to work with every day Who are dedicated to serving our veterans and for our veterans themselves. Thank you Dr. Imler, I'm gonna give you this proclamation and just want to appreciate what you said and It was a beautiful statement. One of the things that we're very proud of here in Durham is As you know, we have been certified in Durham as having ended veterans homelessness That doesn't mean that no veteran is ever homeless in Durham But that means if they are homeless in Durham, they can report themselves to the VA to the folks at Yule Hall Have that work on it or to one of our other portals of entry to our homeless Continuum of care system and we will be able to rehouse that veteran within 30 days through the vouchers that that you all have at the VA and that we have and This is something I'm very proud of I wish we were doing the same for everybody here in Durham But I'm glad to work that we are able to do that for our veterans So this is I hope finally I want to say that I hope that our churches who after all have the bells Will be ringing them on November 11th at 11 o'clock and if you are Member of a church or pastor and you're listening to us I hope you'll be able to do that on that day in recognition of this very important occasion So thank you all so much for being here. All right, that concludes our ceremonial items for today and now we will move to the Announcements by council are there announcements by any of my city council colleagues Thank you, Mr. Mayor First of all, I wanted to thank The folks on our staff who worked so hard to get City Hall up and running Monday night and early Tuesday morning. I want to single out our director of general services Stephen Hicks who's here. I thank you Stephen for the work that you did on that and I'm really serious. Hi, Steve and Deputy city manager Beau Ferguson. I know that And a lot of folks who worked very very late in tonight that worked with Duke Energy on getting us a new transformer And then another new transformer All the way from Charlotte, so I know that was a challenging situation And I think we've learned a lot about this building and and what it's going to take to be more resilient in the future And I just want to say how appreciative I think we all are for the hard work that went into getting us back up and running Tuesday morning The other thing I wanted to do is just to thank the people of Durham for coming out to vote on this election cycle This was an unusual election in the state of North Carolina in that there was no Marquis top of the ballot federal race. No US Senate race or presidential race And often those types of elections North Carolina that called a blue moon election are often plagued with low voter turnout and this year in North Carolina That was not the case 52% of all registered voters statewide turned out to vote either an early voting on our election day Durham did a bit better than that at 55% Which is a recent record for a non-presidential year Specifically, I also really like the fact that 36% of Durham's registered voters showed up in early voting Which means that more folks showed up during the two weeks of early voting that actually showed up on election day I'm not sure that's ever happened before that's a fantastic trend because it relieves pressure on day of election And make sure that folks who can only vote on election day have a smoother time at the polls So I just want to thank everybody and hoping that Some of that excitement and voter turnout can rub off on our next municipal elections, which are traditionally plagued with low turnout So thanks again everybody and thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for both of those comments council member Gals, but we're all stood. Thank you. Well, I want to appreciate my colleagues comments Thank you for those council member Reese. I also just wanted to let folks know about the safe place initiative Which was started by our police department recently. It's designed to identify and Encourage businesses and other community partners to Help our work in preventing and reporting LGBTQ hate crime and harassment across the city And so I'm excited for this initiative. It's an important one And if you'd like more information and I encourage you to contact the general police department. Thank you Thank you very much for reminding us of that. That's a great program. Thank you any other announcements All right Now we will turn to prior priority items and I'll ask our deputy city manager. Are there any priority items? Good afternoon, mr. Mayor and members of the Durham City Council We do the administration does have one priority item agenda item number 20 that we would like added to the agenda today And it is an ordinance to establish fair free day on Tuesday, November 6th, 2018 Okay Thank you a day that has passed of course Motion to add that to the agenda I think we do The manager's prior item it's been moved and seconded that we Manager's priority item and madam clerk. Will you please open the vote? Are y'all working on it? There we go, please close the vote Item passes for zero. Thank you very much and we'll get to that item, of course, but it was a great initiative Have some speakers. Thank you So I'll now move to our I'm sorry to our city our city attorney for any priority items. Thank you, mr. Mayor. No priority items Madam clerk Good afternoon, mr. Mayor and council. I have no priority items. Thank you very much And now we'll move to the consent agenda the consent agenda can be approved by a single vote of the council If any council member or member the public's wish wishes to remove an item that item can be removed It will be discussed at the end of the meeting to read the items in the consent agenda item 1 approval of city council minutes Item 2 Durham Bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission appointments item 3 Durham Convention and visitors Bureau reappointment item for year-end 2018 inventory performance audit dated September 2018 Item 5 FY 16 continuum of care COC planning grant project ordinance Item 6 contract for down downtown Durham wayfinding program design TIP number C-5605 H Item 7 and item 8 have both been proved pulled by a resident item 7 is FY 2017 FY 2018 federal transit administration FTA section 5310 grant project ordinance item 8 is interlocal agreement with North Carolina Department Transportation City of Durham and Durham County for the Durham coordinated systems community connectivity plan and we will hear those items at the end of the meeting item 9 bid report for September 2018 item 10 cooperative group purchase contract for five rear-loading refuse trucks Item 11 cooperative group purchase contract for three sewer vacuum-jetter trucks item 12 proposed Condemnation of properties located at 53. I'm sorry 2322 South Austin Avenue partial ID 133777 and 2320 South Austin Avenue parcel ID 133778 for the Austin Avenue sidewalk project Item 13 contract extension of the US geological survey for the study of urban stream nutrient loads Item 15, SELIA Mexico sister city proposal and while we'll be passing this on consent I do want to recognize Brady Searles and members of the SELIA Mexico sister city committee who are here with us today I want to say how much we're looking forward to this relationship It's great that we have it and we're very excited. So thank you all for being here Item 16 this item can be found with the general business agenda public hearings item 19 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD fair housing funding and These are the items on the consent agenda and I will invite a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of items 7 and 8 Moved a second that we approve the consent agenda with the exception of items 7 and 8 and I'll ask madam clerk Will you please open the vote? Please close the vote. The consent agenda passes for zero. Thank you very much We will now move to the general business agenda public hearings item 16 Johnson victory circle street closing Good afternoon city council and deputy city manager and city attorney I'm Grace Smith with the planning department I would like to state for the record that the public hearing for Johnson victory circle has been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law And the affidavit for that is on file in the planning department Robert Schunk on behalf of Stewart Inc. Request to permanently close 1579 linear feet of street known as Johnson victory circle If closed the right-of-way will be combined with the same properties as shown on the associated street closing plat in your packet This closure was also committed on the zoning case Z-170036 known as Park at South Point to the request meets all applicable state and Local ordinance requirements and comments that were raised by review agencies have been addressed Staff is available for questions as well as the applicant thank you very much miss Smith and You have heard the report of staff and I'm going to now declare this public hearing open And I'm going to ask first if there are any questions by members of the council for staff Hearing none. I'll ask if there are any members of the public that wish to speak on this item There any members of the public that wish to speak on this item? If not, I want to declare this public hearing closed and the matters back before the council And then I'll accept an item. I'll accept a motion on the site Looks like we need month one motion to adopt in order permanent closing the 1579 linear foot portion of Johnson victory circle. So moved second It's been moved and seconded that we Approved this motion, and I'll ask madam clerk to open the vote. Please close the vote Motion passes for zero. Thank you I do see mr. Schunk here. I want to say that I saw mr. Schunk on Halloween We had 1500 children come to our house on Halloween without a doubt the best costume Was mr. Schunk son who was there on stilts, and I mean serious stilts going down Club Boulevard Not something you see very often, so It was an awesome. It was an awesome costume All right, we'll now move to our supplemental item item 20 and ordinance to establish fair free day on Tuesday, November the 6th 2018 Believe that this day has already passed We have already done this and I want to congratulate our administration for providing fair free bus service to voters on The on election day Second Yeah, we have to adapt the ordinance. Yes, so we're gonna adopt that ordinance and I'm gonna ask for a motion that we do adopt the ordinance I'll move to adopt that ordinance It's been moved and seconded madam clerk. Will you please open the vote? Oh It's already open great Please close the vote Thank you Motion passes for zero right now We will move to the two items that have been pulled from the consent agenda item 7 and item 8 will begin with item 7 And I'm gonna ask one speaker has signed up to speak on this mr. Chris Tiffany Mr. Tiffany good to see you you have three minutes won't take three minutes Thanks for rescheduling this meeting. Hope you've paid the electric bill Maybe you could all install demonstration rooftop solar power now Regarding consent agenda items has 7 and 8 regarding FTA sections 5 3 10 53 10 and 53 11 Durham and Orange County matching grants and interlocal community connectivity plans about 40 pages plus much more background material Come from work sessions and committee rooms upstairs invisible to the public at large So contrary to claims of transparency We cannot ordinarily see the process behind consent And I've attended meetings up there where audio was edited deleted or unavailable and contempt for bus riders was palpable and Some light rail supporters seem to be drooling so badly. They needed bibs Now I don't know of consent for these two items reminiscent of recent blank check apple pie and motherhood amendments involved audio Video or text references to the hundreds of millions of dollars involved in gentrified public transportation Separate from public buses for us so-called riff-raff bus riders But taking almost all bus stops out of downtown Durham with its expensive parking problems Use federal money to move us out of downtown to the other side of the train tracks Because quote we don't want all those you poor people downtown. We only want beautiful people downtown One bus route through downtown outbound only was made available after a federal ADA lawsuit was prepared To allow the elderly and handicapped access to the post office on the way out To the senior center, but bus stops don't cost over a hundred million dollars each and bus routes are more flexible than the train Even the federally funded so-called transportation hub separates the train station from the bus station that used to be adjacent to the train station Gentrified Durham gentrified public transportation the police and even the DPD Open house all segregate the beautiful people from the so-called riff-raff now You can hold your work sessions right here live stream for the general public You can make the decision-making process behind consent agenda items as visible as its final vote If you hold your decision-making work sessions right here just as visible to the public as after the fact meetings We'll soon know if the process behind city council consent items like these Will be transparent or not Thank You mr. Tiffany council members you've heard the You've heard the speaker on item 7 I'll now ask for a motion to approve item 7 fy 17 and 18 federal transit administration section 53 10 grant project coordinates which allows us to receive $92,598 for the support of our Riders for seniors and individuals with disabilities Second been moved and seconded that we approve this grant or project ordinance madam clerk. We please open the vote Please close the vote the motion passes for zero. Thank you very much The second item is item 8 Mr.. Tiffany has also pulled this item mr. Tiffany you have any further comments? Okay, thank you On item 8. This is the interlocal agreement with North Carolina Department of Transportation City of Durham and Durham County for the door the Durham coordinated systems community connectivity plan Move the item second it's been moved and seconded that we approve this interlocal agreement madam clerk We please open the vote Please close the vote Motion passes for zero. Thank you, and I believe that that takes us through all of our items. We do have Another person who I would like to recognize Cory Williams mr. Williams are you here? Could you come to the podium, please? Thank you so much Mr.. Williams is the public information officer with the US Small Business Administration And he would like to announce that federal assistance is available for people who suffered damage during hurricane Florence and hurricane Michael and Mr.. Williams, we welcome you and I look forward to the to your words Yes, thank you so much mayor and thank you council members My name is Cory Williams, and I'm a public information officer again with the US Small Business Administration's also disaster assistance on October 26 Durham county was added to the declaration for hurricane Florence So one of the things I did mayor council members is hit the ground rolling as soon as we got the declaration because At that time the deadline to apply was actually November the 13th now the deadline has actually been extended to December 13th 2018, but it's incumbent upon any Durham county homeowner renter Business owner or nonprofit to go ahead and register with FEMA because that is the first step In the disaster recovery process if they have had any damage as a result of hurricane Florence Now for the sba program if after they register with FEMA if they are referred to sba We are strongly encouraged in the turn in the application because the state of north carolina And FEMA has a program called other needs assistance But one of the checks and balances of that program is that you if you are referred to sba You are required to turn in that application and get a decision So if we decline that person for a loan Then we were referred that the Durham county resident for further grant assistance Now a lot of people think with sba all we do is help out businesses However in times of disaster we actually help out businesses Homeowners renters and nonprofits So for businesses businesses are able to borrow up to two million dollars To repair replace disaster damage real estate machinery inventory equipment But most important one of the things that i've heard in doing my outreach Is that there were number of events in Durham that were canceled i.e the north carolina central game which was going to bring a great amount of revenue Into the city so a lot of business owners you think from the hotels to the restaurants to the tourism industry Suffered a great economic impact as a result of that game being canceled Also, there were the that was the game with UNC versus central Florida And a lot of those areas would stay in the Durham area even though the game was in Chapel Hill So that was still a significant economic impact to the businesses in that area So we all for economic injury disaster loans which provides that working capital To sustain the business owners who may have had losses as a result of those game weekends Also any kind of loss in sales because anytime you go through a disaster such as hurricane Florence There's always going to be a number of things that are affected You know there may be businesses in Durham that draw a lot of their customers from quarter red county Lenore county onslaught county and with those Those homeowners and those runners kind of starting to build their lives back up They may not be able to buy as much from that Durham county business owner So that has an economic you know at first impact Now the interest rates for the businesses is as low as 3.6 75 Again as these are our federal taxpayer dollars at work. It's a one-year deferment on all of our loans So for that Durham county business owner not having to make that first payment until november december of 2019 is critical Now one of the most important aspects most people don't realize is that we we actually help out homeowners and renters We offer loans up to $200,000 for real for homeowners to repair replace disaster damage real estate And up to $40,000 to repair replace disaster damage personal property Now the interest rates for the home loans again is as low as 2 percent Again, it's the same one-year deferment I'm not sure if I mentioned about the business loan interest rates lowest 3.6 75 percent And renters can borrow up to $40,000 to repair replace their personal property Which would include any vehicles and that interest rate again is as low as 2 percent And non-profits are treated similar to businesses where they can borrow up to $2 million for repair replacement of their disaster damage real estate machinery inventory equipment, but most of all Being able to have working capital as well and a number of festivals, you know, surprisingly I know whenever I was doing outreach in orange county They had a what was called the hog day festival and that was actually held by a non-profit entity So if there were any festivals that were canceled in Durham county as a result of You know hurricane Florence those non-profits are also eligible for our program And the interest rates for non-profits is 2.5 percent. That's fixed across the board Again, the first thing we always encourage everybody to do is make sure to register with femur. There's two ways to register That's by going to www.disasterassistance.gov Or you can call the 800 number which is 800 621 3362 Again, the deadline has been extended But the one thing we want to make sure is that you don't wait until December 13th to decide to Register, you know, now the registration is in place We want to make sure that we are letting every every Durham county resident homeowner business owner Know that there is grant there's assistance available Through FEMA in the form of a grant possibly and also through sba in the form of a low interest disaster assistance loan But I thank you very much for your time today And if there if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to address them at this point Well, mr. Williams, that was a great presentation first of all and uh, I'm sure that we do have some questions Let me ask the first one. Would you mind repeating again the the The url and the phone number for the femur disaster relief. Yes, sir. Mary. It's uh, www.disasterassistance.gov and then the phone number again is 800 621 3362 Thank you. And now I'll ask my council colleagues if they have any questions or comments Council member Reese. Did you uh, want to ask about the I'm just wondering about the Durham arts council about the center? I think I got all the information you need. Okay, great. I'll reach out to sherry this afternoon and talk to her about whether or not we're interested in doing that Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments? Well, thank you. That was much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you to Beverly Thompson for uh I saw here earlier For uh, getting us in contact with you and uh, we appreciate you being in contact with the city. Thank you. Thank you, mayor Thank you council members. Thank you council members. Is there any other info any other business to come before this body? If not, I'm going to declare this meeting adjourned at 137 and uh, we will be meeting uh In the work session And the committee room In uh, why don't we should we say it's it's now 138. Should we make it 10 minutes to 2? So we have we'll see you there and everyone there 12 minutes Thank you. Glad to say that meeting's uh open to the public. It's upstairs. Mr. Tiffany, you're welcome to join us up there. Um I was going to say that our work sessions are upstairs Open available to the public. You're happy. You're welcome to join us there. Thank you. It's not a conversation I'm just letting you know