 Good evening. I want to call this meeting of the Durham City Council to order Certainly want to welcome everyone here tonight both those who are here with us in the council chambers and also those who are watching at television we're glad to see you and Want to warmly welcome you here tonight I'm gonna first ask if everyone would please join me in a moment of silent meditation Thank you. And now we have a I think special tonight Cub Scout pack 451 is with us tonight. Did I get that right guys? Great, and they're there from Westminster Presbyterian Church, and they're gonna lead us in the pledge to the flag So will you all please rise and lead us in the pledge to flag? Thank you Legends to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation under God in the visible with liberty and justice for all Thank you. Well done Good job scouts. We appreciate you all being here tonight You look great in your scout uniforms, and we want to thank your scout leaders who are here with you as well and parents So well done. Good job Madam clerk, would you please call the roll? Mayor shul here mere pro tem Johnson here councilmember Alston here councilmember caballero here councilmember Freeman Councilmember Middleton here councilmember Reese has requested and received a motion for an excused absence Thank you very much madam clerk Before we go to announcements by the council, I believe we have a couple of other excused absence coming up And I think we'll go ahead and take action on those Councilmember Freeman and Councilmember Middleton are going to Need excuse absences for this coming Thursday's work session. Is that correct? Correct sir and councilmember Reese as well And I think he already has his absence So I'll accept a motion to give excuse absences to councilmember Freeman and councilmember Middleton who'll be at conferences This coming Thursday's work session So moved second moved and seconded that we Give these excused absences madam clerk. Will you please open the vote? Please close the vote the motion passes 6-0. Thank you, madam clerk We'll now have announcements by members of the council councilmember Freeman. Oh, thank you. I Thank you for the Just a moment. I Wanted to take a moment and just say that I'm enjoying this week an advanced leadership training with the school of government and swell, which is why I won't be here on Thursday and Also noting that with the Durham youth Internship project program. I wanted to make sure that folks are aware that we have Up to a thousand students. Actually, we're hoping to fill fill slots for the world They'll interview slots for over a thousand students and I want to encourage folks in the community to take part and Actually being a part of the interviews and filling on filling in the slots to interview the students As a part of the work for this community getting our kids prepared For their future careers and work that they did they can do now Well any part that you could play in the work that they do now would be helpful And now there was one more Thank you very much councilman. Thank you Mayor pro tan. Thank you, mr. Mayor said a couple things I wanted to mention on our consent agenda item number three community safety task force bylaws I've been contacted by a few community members who are part of writing the proposal for the community safety task force last Year who would like to give feedback on the bylaws But haven't been able to do it before tonight and would like to request that we postpone that item to our next work session on Thursday and also would just like to appreciate the Community Development Department and the folks at legal aid for the eviction diversion Contract that we will be approving tonight also as part of our consent agenda We've been slowly increasing the amount of funding that we're giving to legal aid over the last couple of years to help them Represent residents in Durham who are facing evictions, but we know that even with This increase in funding that they are only going to be able to represent about 10% of the eligible tenants who are facing eviction in our city so just wanted to both Express my excitement for the fact that we're increasing the funding but also acknowledge that there's still a great need out there And we need to continue to think about ways to To help tenants in our city who are who are facing evictions. Thank you. Thank you madam mayor pro tan Councilmember Middleton. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. Good evening, sir. And good evening call of you and to my colleagues I want to thank my colleagues for the gracious excused absence for this Thursday. I'll be Flying to San Francisco to attend a conference in Silicon Valley and National League of Cities a sponsored trip To Silicon Valley to meet with tech and corporate leaders there and to find out ways we can leverage Some of the incredible innovation in Silicon Valley here locally to fight homelessness using technology to fight homelessness and deal with issues of equity And sustainability, so I look very forward to going out there and milking them for all of that brilliance Out there and seeing if we can bring anything back to our city and use it here and our work I was going to mr. Mayor Introduce a brilliant young political science student today. We onboarded an intern that I've hired to work with me Brilliant young student from North Carolina Center University. Ms. Imani Johnson, so I look forward to introducing her She couldn't be here tonight But I'm excited about that and look forward to introducing her to the city and to this group in the coming days Finally, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to go on record tonight about an issue that has captured the attention of many of us in the city of late Not too long ago. We received some national attention Regarding an op-ed that appeared in USA Today Pinned by my distinguished colleague the mayor pro tem and an elected colleague are from st. Louis In that op-ed a characterization was made about our city Durham, North Carolina is one of the poorest performing cities in the country when it comes to use of force Regarding our police department that characterization was Pursuant to I should say subsequent to the use of a tool Which in my assessment was not very scientific It was basically inviting us to do word searches on some of our policies and if we didn't have precise phrase ology We were dinged by it. I want to go on record strongly repudiating and rejecting that characterization Of this city and of our city's police department as well I do that as one who has worked in tandem with Folk in the city that have worked incredibly hard to usher in Transformation to the culture of our police department. I also want to say I know that many were Fascinated with the response from our city manager To our mayor pro tem you usually don't get to see us talk like that to each other publicly But I do want to say that I think the city manager's response was direct It was forceful. It was factual and it was done in a way that did not cross the line of insubordination So I want to affirm and associate myself with the city manager's comments But I want to go a little further because colleagues. I think it's important that we as the elected leadership of the city Go on record And make clear to the citizenry and residents of the city and our neighbors and friends That we are while we vote 98% of the time the same way we are not a monolithic council I want us to be clear At least I want to be clear that that characterization of our police department does not square I believe with the work that's been done. Let me give you a little bit of intellectual framework For me how I approach this work I don't think that there's any institution in America Particularly when it comes to black people that does not need to be deconstructed Renegotiated or dealt with in some way if everything was left in its original setting in America We'd be in trouble not just with police the police aren't exotic the criminal justice system Baseball football the Declaration of Independence the Constitution and the Statue of Liberty Everything in this country needs to be Renegotiated and deconstructed and dealt with that includes the police and cruise the includes the criminal justice system So I am well aware that we have not Come as far as we need to come in terms of Dealing with policing in America, but some things have happened in this city over the last six to seven years And I think it's important that we point that out. I believe that sitting in these seats up here makes us brand Ambassadors for our city I think that each of us up here ought to be tripping over one another Racing to defend the honor of the city and to defend the honor of this municipal workforce Not gaslight people not lie if there are things that need to be called out. We need to do that but facts matter and truth matters and The fact is that this department's use of force numbers have been trending downward That's the fact The wholesale I believe the wholesale appropriation of nationalized talking points Localizing them without nuance and without context. I believe is irresponsible and I believe it's damaging to the morale of our workforce We've got some work to do but work has been done I believe the op-ed does a couple of things one. I think it mischaracterizes our police department, too I think it does not show the proper deference and respect to the incredible work That activists have done in this city over the years to transform the culture of this police department That work has been real and it's been impactful and it's empirically observable. I don't think the op-ed took that into account I also don't take it takes into account the remarkable and I believe transformative leader that we have in Seryln Davis. What has she been doing the last few years? She's been here She's been making an impact and she's been working to further transform the culture of this department I don't think that op-ed Accurately reflected that work and I think that it's done damage to the morale of our city This department is not the same department. It was 10 years ago Do we have work to do? Of course. Of course we do but facts matter and truth matters This is a nationally accredited police department with a transformative leader And I consider Seryln Davis as transformative a leader as I do Satana DeBerry and Clarence Burkhead all of them are progressive leaders bringing new ideas and fresh innovations to areas That have done damage to us historically in America and need reform and we have leaders that are doing that work And I think we would adequately reflect that so I want to go on record tonight respectfully distancing and and quite honestly repudiating The words in that op-ed about our city and about our police department and also recommit myself Hopefully with thousands of you in the city to continuing to do the work that we need to do and no needs to be done To continue to transform the culture Of this department facts matter. Thank you. Mr. Mayor Thank You councilmember any further announcements Freeman also Want to associate myself with those comments and making sure that it's clear that I also do not appreciate the way in which this meant the Taking an op-ed as the opportunity to kind of highlight the issues when you're on the council is not Healthy and I just want to make sure that we're cognizant of how we do that and make sure that we move forward in a better way So don't I agree with a lot of points around how we need to get there But there are national issues that we have to get to and I think here in Durham We can do a better job than this We can do a better job than just pointing a finger and I know that What has happened in the last two years that I've been here has been unfortunate and really hard to handle I also Can't agree more with councilman councilmember Middleton in that our chief and our city manager have been working really hard to shift the way that things work here and noting that there is such a disproportionality in all of the matters and not just Criminal legal or what have you but also in housing and in economic development and in you know So many other areas We have work to do and I'd like to think that we can come up with solutions and not just be about the problem And so I'm along those lines. I wanted to take a moment and thank staff I know that um, I'm on the Jordan Lake one water alliance and it has been raised a number of times just how great our staff has been as a resource to many other cities or many other communities around us regionally and Supporting the work to move us forward Recognizing that water has no boundaries and I just wanted to make sure I take a moment and thank staff for that I know I have a tendency to be hard on staff in some situations But it's also important to make sure you acknowledge when staff is doing the right thing. Thank you. Thank you Any other announcements by members of the council, all right, if not, we'll move on to Priority items by the city manager. Mr. Manager any priority items tonight. Good evening, Mr. Mayor members of council have no priority items this evening Madam attorney Mr. Mayor members of city council Madam clerk good evening everyone the city clerk's office has no items. Thank you very much Well now move on to the consent agenda This agenda is made up of items that have been previously worked on by the council and can be approved by a single vote of the council tonight Any item can be pulled from the consent agenda by any member of the public or a member of the council And if it is pulled will be held to the end of the meeting for consideration So I'll be reading the consent agenda items item 3 community safety task force bylaws and madam Mayor pro-town you pull this item and it will be to be considered On what day work session this Thursday, but the work session is coming Thursday. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Mayor Item for grant contract with legal aid of North Carolina to provide representation to city of Durham residents facing eviction this item Was pulled from the agenda by someone who I don't see a name But I see an address which is the same as another address here Waldo finner mr. Finner. Are you here? Did you pull that agenda item from the agenda item for sir? Okay, we'll hold that to the end of the meeting. Thank you Item 5 Shared active transportation report in an ordinance revision and this item was also pulled by a resident Mimi Kessler We will hold this to the end of the meeting as well Item 6 bid report December 2019 Item 7 installment financing contract series 2020 fleet item 8 land lease with global sign signal acquisitions LLC 3510 Sandy Creek Drive item 9 amendment to consultant contract for citywide classification and compensation study non-sworn Item 10 grant from Duke University health system. Do you HS office of community and local government relations item 12? Environmental systems research Institute software maintenance agreement item 13 participatory budgeting PB agreement to fund technology for Durham public schools Those are the items on the consent agenda and with the exception of items 3 4 and 5 I will now ask for a motion that we approve the consent agenda Second the move in a second that we approve the consent agenda madam clerk. Please open the vote Please close the vote The motion passes 6-0. Thank you All right, uh, we'll now move on to our next agenda item Which is mcdougal terrace public comments? I have several people signed up to speak And i'm going to call them in the order in which they signed up First will be miss wilma liverpool miss liverpool welcome Please come to the podium and you have three minutes. Thank you for being here Good afternoon to the city council and everyone else here This issue with mcdougal terrace is what I call an issue that must have answers and the answers need to be done now But first of all, I want the residents to understand Who we are Who they are and we have to learn our history and how this has come about And I have what I call a Y factor wh y When you're asking hard questions and someone gives you an answer Just Ask but why is that the answer and continue back until there is no other answer and you see from which it comes My thing is why is mcdougal terrace still viable in 2020? Is it money that's been kept and stolen from our community that hasn't been passed down to the descendants? It's not a new problem This for that community has been going on like 67 years And people are just being put over and over and over again With almost no legal way to get out What psychological intense healing has ever been given to our community in the past Everybody else's community Oh, let's provide some healing for them. But we've never had that as an item As breathing carbon monoxide interfered with academic success of children Is there anyone checking on that or is it we just don't care these are People in poverty Are your and our basic needs being met on a daily basis? Can we live with dignity? When poverty is forced upon you it changes The dynamic of how you're seen Do we have clean air? Do we have healthy food? Do we have safe neighborhoods? And what I really got Really ticked off about was to hear On the news media a reporter who says These people are needy and in need My thing is no they just haven't been given what is theirs to get themselves to where they need to be Where does racism fit in it fits in from the top down You and me We are equal to anyone We're just less financially profitable The bible says love god do justice That means correct What is not right and don't Put charity as a band-aid on it that this is something you did and you're responsible for it Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Liverpool Next we're here from mr. Waldo finner And following mr. Finner will be ashleigh canady And then uh lasagna oramans Welcome mr. Finner. You also have three minutes. All right. Give me ladies and gentlemen Some of you will love me. Some of you will hate me. I don't want to talk about the race issue at mac doogle It's been a problem since i've been here in 1995 Mayor bill was here patrick baker was here Now we have a city manager who's here the very same city manager who wants to do a two percent food tax To build a museum like the ballpark and claim that black folks don't support it Well, black folks can't afford to pay seven dollars for a beer or five dollars for a hot dog We don't have those kind of jobs. So i'm not going to discuss all that stuff there But i do want to point to blame And you are part of the problem You've been here long enough to know better I am sick and tired of black folks being the ones who get the short end of the stick You've given with the 15 million dollars since 2015 Does that include the seven million dollars that you gave beforehand? So now you talk about a total of 21 million dollars Where is our money? You all appointed the commissioners at mac doogle And you allowed them to give this man scott a raise he did jack And now you got the nerve to sit up here and tell us that you're not accountable Yes, you are you are very accountable The op-ed that miss johnson did was right on point I'm a living example of police corruption I've been in the same house since 1995 they knocked on my door talking about drug dealer And I worked hard They called nigga queer faggot the whole damn nine yards To get what i've got You sent neighborhood improvement out there to us But you didn't say neighborhood improvement to mac doogle Now you won't give five hundred thousand dollars To legal aid to fight evictions if you can't pay your rent you can't pay your rent If I got a mortgage five hundred dollars, why would I let somebody say in my praise who can't afford to pay the rent You waste the money that we have given for taxes And you want to give it to legal aid whose art should be funded by the state That five hundred dollars could have gone somewhere To mac doogle lower property tax some of that next year, but yet and still You chose Who was it but at that time the bill of police department 50 million dollars And now you're trying to tell us you don't have no concern of it's not your problem anymore But it is Every last one of you was at that to hear that time should be in jail But what you did was dehumanizing It was to put people's lives in jeopardy why you separate and collect your paycheck Why we have to pay a higher property tax for you to give our money to people who should not have earned that check in the beginning The first thing you should have done what's called mr. Scott be investigated and removed from that position. Thank you, mr. Fenner I Feel from Ashley canady Miss canady welcome. You have three minutes Um, I feel personally like we're still beating a dead horse This situation is not getting no better We're going into almost two months now In a hotel and As you can see mr. Mayor you went with us to the hotels and how Crisis are real at these hotels Our children are not safe at these hotels. You've seen it yourself. You've seen the fights breaking out You've seen people having to be taken out with mental health issues. What else can be done by people This enough is enough Mr. Scott just told us our families might be in hotels to march first That is unacceptable And we already have three hosts hotels saying that they're not renewing Newing nothing else those residents have to go Because they're losing business because our residents are staying there So how many people are going to be willing to open up their homes and start letting residents come stay there I pay good rent from at google. I don't live there for free and I do work every day So what else can the city council do to help mr. Scott make this correct? Can y'all start renting out buildings? I mean something something has to be done because You've seen it yourself how many people have been taken out for what high blood pressure Mental illness all of this stuff because they're cooped up in one room families are being separated residents are losing their jobs Kids are missing school kids are getting up at six o'clock in the morning not getting home to eight and nine o'clock at night Can you imagine doing this for three months? And then y'all wonder why that grays are dropping and why the kids are being suspended from school Yes, kids are being suspended from school that are displaced. I have two kids right out there right now on a 10 day suspension And then they have to go to school and worry about carbon monoxide And gas leaks Come on Durham like the next time I come up here. I'm not going to be as calm because They're telling me in a week that I'm gonna have to be in the hotel too Because they're turning off power for five to seven days and residents are about to lose everything in their refrigerators Residents are told to come back and clean their homes up so they can come in and and bug spray and all the other stuff Like something some all this money's being wasted and the residents are still yet almost seven million dollars later sitting in the same Jacked up situation So the next time I come here i'ma turn it up a couple more notches because y'all already know How i'm moving Thank you, miss Canada Our next speaker will be uh, lasonda ormond Welcome and you also have three minutes. Thank you um Same thing. Ashley just said, um, we're being told to go back and clean the clean out of our clean out the apartments empty our refrigerators They don't No, I don't have a refrigerator fool. Thank god because I would have been upset having to throw food out that I can go and cook at the hotel Um, however, I slept by my apartment when I got off yesterday I couldn't even stay in there to do anything because I was freezing Um, we don't have any heat in there So how they want us to go in there and try to straighten up something or do anything in there? I don't know um But I will say I'll give them a positive mr. Foster miss lisa and mr. Green I will thank them For being over backwards helping me with stuff that I needed last week But other than that I am ready to go home And if they're going to take us out one hotel They need to let us know something instead of waiting until the last minute to tell us something Because I've been hearing from other people that we're having to be out on the 14th Then I'm asking people that work for dha. Nobody have a clue what they're talking about So if they're going to take us out, I need to know something before the last minute I work full time. I can't just drop what I'm doing and call out of work I have three kids to take care of Like I said before I'm almost paying market rate rent there So no, I cannot call out of work anymore. I've missed over 30 hours of work with this stuff going on Then another issue with Durham police department Maybe miss davis needs to talk to some of her officers because yes, it has been issues at the millennium However, there was an issue that transpired the other night And it wasn't a dha resident at the bar area It was another lady that felt That children shouldn't be anywhere near the bar area. They have chairs and everything else They even have the little surely simple drinks for the children She's taken pictures of a lady with her kids in the area and threatened. Oh, she's going to call the police The bartender told her is nothing illegal. You can call if you want She called the police. They pretty much told her the same thing but Before they did that they went and spoke with the bartender And she explained to them that the lady and her children hadn't done anything wrong They sat there in mind their business The police responded with was it a three or four day Stay or were they with dha? What's the difference? If her and her children weren't doing anything wrong What's the difference? This was a Caucasian lady that called the police This was a african-american mother with her three children that weren't doing anything wrong So my question is if they weren't with dha Were they going to have a problem with the lady but by them being with dha? They were just going to give her a pat on the back of her hand and tell her don't do it again So thanks to the millennium hotel They did handle that because had it been left out of the Durham police department Nothing would have been done about it because she was from dha and she didn't do anything wrong Thank you, mr. Orman Next speaker is Rafiq Zayedi. Mr. Zayedi Welcome. You have three minutes. Good evening. May I assure? I'm gonna be straight to the part um I have high respect for chief Davis high respect Because what we had in our chief low pass We caught hell That's why I understand what julian is coming from On one part We have powder files Circling around our hotels like buzzards our young ladies Who are well and all? Have to almost police Through the hotel See asking the sky don't talk about this He'd be on radio talk shows and everything else But he would not talk about the condition that we are living in in these hotels But I'm a damn if I want May I assure? You're part of the board dha boy julian you sat on the board I appeared before the board a week ago Exactly and I told him about palifolia and palafi at our hotel Where our children are And I wonder If one of our children disappeared or be harmed because you Who sat on this council are too weak Too spiny To tell chief Davis to put more security on our families You will have a price to pay also Our children deserve To be able to walk around hotel To go to snack machines To buy cookies To buy stuff To even run up and down the rails of the hotel without men Who are smoking cocaine Without men who are prostituting women in the hotel looking at our doors looking at our young girls backside We deserve better than this We deserve better than this Now you can sit up there and pray like you don't give a damn We are warning you one more time The next person we kept Looking at our young girls You got a price to pay as well as them I'm not going to carry on these hotels I'm not going to carry on these hotels I'm going to repeat it one more time Put some security On our children If one of them be harmed This city will not have any rest You will not have any peace You put them in that condition You brought Anthony Scott in here You knew that Naguga was in that condition for over 60 years But you sat there and you played game with us You played with our lives You're going to tell us that two babies Two young babies is unexplained Under suspicion condition And you want us to go for it No more than thank you tonight You're going to have to arrest me tonight If we find one more pedophile Something in those hotels You sure are going to pay a price Thank you Mr. Zaidi I'll repeat what I said at the work session Mr. Zaidi If you see someone who you think is doing something wrong You need to call 9-1-1 We didn't deal with that Thank you Mr. Zaidi Next we'll hear from David Palletta Mr. Palletta welcome you also have three minutes Good evening my name is David Palletta I would first like to address members of the McDougal Terrace community And I want you to know there are people in the community that care about you And we want to help Your pain is real Your grievances are legitimate And your cause is just Don't give up I also want to say these people are not the problem Members of council I attended last Wednesday's DHA meeting And I wanted to report what I observed There are a lot of very angry people at the meeting This is a humanitarian crisis This is Durham's Katrina You did not cause this crisis It's been in the works for many years But you are the city leaders that must solve it Second DHA approved six million for repairs This is not a reliable number No one knows how many millions it's going to cost However The DHA staff is working hard They're doing their best But they're focused on specific issues like gas and mold No one is looking at the big picture Are there other serious issues that are not being addressed As bad as this situation is it can get much worse For this reason I recommend the city hire an outside expert Who would do a complete safety study of this complex And to assure you and to assure the residents That all the known dangers are present Third, I witnessed a complete breakdown in communication And trust between DHA and the residents I'm not blaming anyone However, the city must address this loss of trust It is complex Fixing the buildings alone are not going to solve the crisis The trust issue must be corrected and restored Thank you Thank you, Mr. Palletta I will now hear from Mary Molina Miss Molina welcome. You also have three minutes Thank you Evacuated residents from McDougal Terrace continue to suffer with their entire families relegated to a single room Without a kitchen and without a play area for children who are essentially on lockdown It's outrageous when you understand that all of Durham's public housing has the same or similar issues Issues requiring the same kinds of maintenance repairs and upgrades To even come close to passing the next inspection There needs to be an investigation to determine the actions taken by the DHA board The CEO and the city council liaison During and since the last two HUD inspections Inspections that have resulted in extremely low and failing grades We need to know exactly what what has occurred to date to correct the problems that have been identified And to know precisely how the 24 life-threatening violations have been corrected Or whether they have been corrected And how much longer repairs and maintenance are really expected to take place Before residents can get back to normal lives There needs to be an auditable system in place for all maintenance requests and records of service for each apartment And it should be available and accessible to each tenant The DHA liaison should be replaced Replaced by someone who advocates and supports the residents And has their confidence in return And who will follow through with and report back to help ensure that the issues identified have been addressed Durham's public housing has been essentially unlivable by any reasonable standards for years Should they not be held to the same standard as other landlords in this city? DHA has waived rent for the residents for January and February How about tenants get refunds for all the rent they've paid? Since the last time their housing passed inspection That would at least be some amount of fairness in a situation that is totally out of their control Thank you, Ms. Molina We'll now hear from Mr. Green Mr. Green Welcome, Mr. Green. You have three minutes. All right. How y'all doing? Okay. My name is green connet green First I want you to see something This is what matt duke terris wanted to do We want to live But there's been a problem Now i'm gonna tell you something i'm a biblical man the bible said It said at nom's god in all thy ways and I shall direct thy path But when there's a problem like this is present and sometimes We do things But sometimes not intentionally, but we have a lot of Hard evil in our hearts because we don't know what we're doing is right or wrong We need understanding And see i've been over there and make matt duke terris for seven years When I moved back to dune I came to dune to look out for my sister and my mom My sister done passed Both two of them. I got one more sister that's living Now y'all got me out here at a hotel where I can't get to dune when I want to check on my last sister And then i'm gonna say just a little just a little bit. See them Matt duke terris to me Leave me to her down Because see the walls I used to do construction And whenever you put up a sheetrock you go you can fix sheetrock you could cut it and fix it and put it in another piece But whenever you're dealing with um With with with molding It don't it don't have the same texture And once you start digging into those walls You can't see the cracks, but the cracks be on the opposite side and they'll be coming up the walls Eventually they're gonna start coming down Once you start digging into the old walls, but they're old They're just like a a old person if you hear the old person right you're gonna fracture something That's just like the walls of the walls in that duke terris. They are old and they need to be new They need to be revived. They need to be new And and so that's all that's all I got to say we're gonna turn this evil right here to liberal To something right we want to live we don't want to die and we don't want to see none out None about our friends and families die either We want to live that new turns want to live. That's why we were here tonight And that's why we're coming back again Because we want to live not die because somebody's idiocy of evil or not doing what they need to do If you want to know what to really do ask somebody Ask somebody That live there ask him not just go up to him and and say oh, how you doing? No Ask somebody ask me Ask the audience ask people that live there Go out. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Green The next we'll hear from jacklyn wagg staff mix wax mix wax staff welcome. You have three minutes Always a pleasure mrs. Mack was always a pleasure mrs. Wagg staff um Always a pleasure to be before you, but uh, I'm not here for you. I'm for your liaison um Like they said everything they said is true And mr. Mayor you were over there last sunday. So you went through some trauma too. I know you did so You probably need some mental health counseling right about now After what you saw But the liaison For me is it's incredible to not see her then and then when we finally see her at a meeting She doesn't open her mouth. She has no questions. We get a presentation We sit there and look at a presentation that talks about what they're gonna do They're gonna stick a pipe in the middle of these people's living room run it up the wall Run it out the ceiling. They're gonna throw a water heater in where you got to put another Tank on it there to keep the water heater from exploding. I mean some of the stuff I saw at this board meeting Your board members should have been asking questions. They just sat there No questions. No nothing and like Mary said We need a new liaison. We need someone that has a compassion for people That understands that those are lives in magnuco turds Not just a campaign pledge when we're running We've tried through there for six months and we play on a few residents And we shower them with all of the acknowledgement and then when it's over we don't see them no more They don't need that Mac nougat turds should not be your campaign ground This is horrible. I go every day. I see these residents every day. They can tell you I see them every day when I don't see them They'll call We'll we'll fight and fire is for dha We're standing we're standing in the gap Because they don't trust the trust was lost 20 years ago Because of the interaction of that that organization with the residents. I've sat in those I've come to down to the housing authority and I've listened to some of the staff how they speak with the residents Residents can come in and ask about their rent and they get treated like they're less than They're being told we'll get back to you and some of the things they say to them makes no sense Now give Anthony scott credit He did put the manager at the millennial After we talked about it for a while We have a manager in the millennial now and that cut back on some of the teenagers who don't get up and go to school They kind of hang out at the hotel It's a lot going on And it would be nice if somebody other than the mayor would trot around and look at what's going on with those residents because We haven't seen any of them now the mayor has come through But it's going to take more than you come through shaking hands And and you know being in their presence because they're star struck when you come It's the mayor, you know, that's just star struck. But what are you going to do? I said you had some years on this council You were the liaison. This is not a problem that happened overnight I've been trotting through there for 20 years and these problems been going on for more than 20 years So we've known about it, but you got to do something more than what we're seeing these residents deserve better Thank you, miss wax staff Miss Laura baddie Welcome miss baddie. You also have three minutes. Thank you. Good evening um, we at the millennium hotel just received the unsettling news that We will be no longer there after the 14th of february now. This is an it is unconscionable To people to children who are already suffering to a large extent from ptsd um A number of residents have expressed expressed grave concerns about going back to make doodles Um, I was just wondering isn't there any possibility That the residents at least a millennium some of the millennium residents could move into other refurbished Communities like deathmark court or Maureen road and if that's not possible, is there a possibility you can Some somehow place the residents In Close by cities where they may have uh relatives and friends Cities they're familiar with because this is really a crisis and it's A mental health crisis that's just growing and it's just not fair to these kids I mean they just Suffered tremendously And and they're not able to fulfill their potential because their education is interrupted So I beg you to do something about it. Thank you Thank you miss baddie All right Those are our speakers and i'll now ask if there are any comments by members of the council members of the council Anyone want to make any comments? If not, I'll make mine, but first I'd like to hear if anyone else has any Mayor pro tem. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, I can just give folks a quick update of the presentation that we heard Last week at the housing authority meeting And kind of where they are in the process. I know a number of the residents who are here Speaking were at that meeting so it's not information for them But for anyone who wasn't there and who would like a little bit more details Um, what we know now from dha. They've completed all of the inspections of the apartments. That's just the inspections that That were done ordered done to check for the carbon monoxide Any gas leaks or issues with the appliances any mold problems and any other problems that they might need to fix They have estimated that The repairs will cost at least six million dollars As we've as they've told us before the total amount of funding that they have in Their fund each year for maintenance is seven million dollars And so they'll be applying for an emergency grant from the federal government from HUD To cover that six million and that's you know that number could go up, but it's at least six million dollars The repairs have already started and they'll continue over the next few weeks The application for emergency assistance will be submitted in the very near future and so we'll care about that Hopefully pretty soon Of course, we know that the funding Resources that HUD has for these sorts of emergency situations are also limited So I want to continue to reiterate that the city has never turned down a request for funding from dha And that we are fully prepared to assist With any funding needs that come up to ensure that these homes can be returned to a habitable habitable condition And that folks can return home if they want to I understand that there are people who may not want to return to mcdougal terrace and the housing authority. I know is Dealing with folks who might request transfers to other communities and I'm hopeful that if folks don't want to return home That there'll be other options for them Um, we are also hearing a lot of folks Comment that given the condition of the buildings that mcdougal terrace needs to be torn down The issue with that though is that we don't have 350 homes to replace mcdougal terrace with right now The long-term plan for all of Durham housing authority properties is for them to be redeveloped For all of the properties to be completely redeveloped over the next couple of decades With Durham housing authority funding city funding And tax credits and other sources of funding loans That will allow this to happen, but it's not going to happen quickly It's a slow process building housing takes a long time And so we the housing authority has already started the process of redoing their communities They renovated damar court and mooring road as folks mentioned before they've renovated laurel oaks apartments They're starting to Work on their their next pieces. They're working on jj henderson tower and we'll be building a new senior housing Building on the side of jj henderson towers And then there are several other communities that are next in line. So long term We do want to redevelop mcdougal terrace entirely But we also need to ensure that for the immediate future That the homes are livable that people can return home to safe community and can live there For the time that it takes to actually redevelop the entire community So again, you know things are things are moving I know that that's not comforting to folks who are still in hotels After over a month and are anticipating being in hotels for another month This is not the situation that any of us would want to be in and it's not the situation that we are You know, it's not a situation that we wish on anyone the dha is going to continue to To repair these homes as quickly as they can and We're hoping that people will be home as soon as possible But the the work has to continue and the work will be done as soon as they can get it done And if they need any assistance from the city, we stand prepared to provide that assistance. Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much madam mayor pro tem. Is there anyone else that has any comments? Anyone else Councilmember meadowton. Thank you, mr. Mayor and thank all of you as always for being here tonight I just want to say to you very directly if in the old days you would have been home already The reason why you would have been home already is because Um, you ever seen your kid to clean their room and it only took them six minutes And you went to the room and it was all clean, but then you opened the closet And everything was stuffed in the closet or underneath the bed Um in the old days you would have been home already but um When mr. Scott came here the first night you came to your chamber Um, I asked him to promise us That he would not let anybody back into those homes knowing that they were not habitable And he promised that and we got that assurance Here's the deal And I said this at a work session to you before the The length of time you're out of your home Is directly proportional to how deep the problem is You were right You were right And this time we're not going to allow people to push the clothes in the closet Or put them under the bed And mayor pro tem said something instructive Because we can't tear it down right now The real price tag of making it habitable Short of tearing it down Is more than we've been spending to just patch it up It takes time And and our kids should be safe Our kids should be able to run around and stretch and if we've got to do some things Uh with Durham parks and recreation and other partners in this city to make the situation as livable as it can be And I know it's not But as livable as it can be But hear me well You were right About how bad it was And the length of time is directly reflective of how bad it was And the amount of work in time is going to take to make it livable What we used to do is not acceptable anymore But you're bearing that now you're bearing the brunt of that so that may not be any any comfort to you But you were right And that's what's happening That when we're poking a hole in the wall and we're seeing how bad it is You can't just throw paint over it not on this watch Can't do it Uh and it takes time to make it livable That's what's happening And in the meantime if we need to do more To let the kids stretch their their legs and and and then then we should be doing it And we need to do it but um But the reality is you were right about how bad it is That's why it's taken so long Thank you Thank you Any other comments any other comments from members of the council have a few comments i'd like to make as well I want to thank everybody for being here tonight and for Your public comment. It's all very important and uh, we're all listening hard and we're taking in what you say um I have been spending time This past couple weeks and as many of the hotels as I can get to to try to hear from people Talk to them about their individual situations listen about their individual situations And what I have seen is something that Uh, doesn't surprise me, but is always important to see face to face and fresh Which is uh the Individual difficult individual situations in which people are living Not only the difficult situations in which they're living in the hotels But just hearing about the difficulties of the lives of so many people in mcdougal terrace who have so many ways Before they were ever of these hotels a month ago So many ways in which they have struggled I've heard people talking about the jobs they get And the wages that they're paid at those jobs I've heard people talking about the transportation challenges that they face And I have seen very close up The several of you all have mentioned the mental health problems And challenges that so many people face And when people go back home in mcdougal terrace People will still be facing many of these same problems And we have to make sure that what we do Doesn't just stop when people go back home, but we're able to serve people in mcdougal terrace In very significant ways that we have not in the past When I was speaking on martin luther king day on several occasions I said What I want to repeat tonight I apologize. I apologize on behalf of myself. I apologize on behalf of previous councils and elected officials We have not done what is necessary To make the lives of the people in mcdougal terrace what they need to be And I recognize that this is a problem that has been 40 years in the making But we're the ones We're the ones that need to make it right That is our responsibility. I know it is my responsibility I also know that our community has looked the other way for far too long Far too long If you've never been in mcdougal terrace before You've driven by it We all bear a very significant responsibility to make this right I appreciated What the mayor pro tem described about the housing authorities plans And the detail around that I I want to say that we don't know when people are going to get back home Simply because the The housing authority doesn't want to predict what people are going to be back home and not really know So as soon as the housing authority knows when people will be back be able to be back home You will know You will know It won't happen all at once when buildings are ready people will be able to move back But as councilmember middleton said and the mayor pro tem no one will be moving back Until their their apartments are safe. We don't want to move people back into situations that aren't safe And a lot of work is being done to make that true The communication and trust issues that have been raised tonight and so many times and so many times as I've heard from people As I have been Speaking to them these last couple weeks are very very true and real And they are very powerful issues that are at the root of a lot of our problems And we have to challenge that we have to change that as well. I have a lot of faith in Mr. Scott I've said before and I will say again He's an excellent director of the Durham housing authority and he has my full confidence He has been transparent. He's operated with a lot of dignity and a lot of transparency And the tremendous hard work that I've seen the Durham housing authority staff do to try to make this Right has been admirable. I also want to say that I Uh, I think jillian has been a very good liaison mayor pro tem johnson has been a very good liaison with Durham housing authority And will continue to be and finally I just want to repeat We all need to be doing everything we can to get these folks home as soon as we can As soon as their apartments are safe Every day their discussions and That go on I've talked to mr. Scott almost every day About the progress the number of apartments that are being repaired. What is the status of those repairs? I know the city manager is on a daily call as well With housing authority county officials people from alliance mental health There's a lot of good work in coordination going on But we all recognize that those folks and and from the Many discussions I've had over the last couple of weeks I personally know the way in which people in these hotels have been suffering in ways that they should not If you're in a hotel for a month with three kids It's hard. It's really hard even if you have a cash card for food And even if you might be one of the people that has transportation, it's hard And I have seen many difficult situations And many traumatic situations And we need to get people as home as soon as we can And after their home we have to keep at it. We have to keep So I appreciate All of you all and I will say again that I consider this my responsibility To get this job done right All of our responsibilities, but I will tell you that I consider it mine And I will work until we have made it right So thank you so much everyone for being here I'm now going to move on to item four on our agenda and I believe mr Mr. Fenner has some comments about that mr. Fenner Mr. Fenner, uh, you're addressing the item Grant contract with legal aid of north carolina provide legal representation city of Durham residents facing eviction. You have three minutes, sir Yeah, I'm confused as to why we are spending money For legal aid that the state should be funding If a person cannot pay their rent Why would you spend taxpayer dollars to have legal aid To go and drag them into court when they got a mortgage to pay If you can't pay the rent you can't pay the rent You should not have legal aid to go in and prolong Or cause that landlord discomfort or or violated constitutional rights to able to have that home to rent out You're wasting five hundred thousand dollars that legal aid's job should be funded through the state Not through this not through the city You just said you spent five hundred thousand dollars A week at the hotel and you can't spend a hundred thousand dollars to put new furnaces and and stoves in madougal So somewhere online you are not being accountable of our taxpayer dollars You ask for a bond affordable housing bond 95 million dollars You ain't paying no salaries You don't even pay your city employees 36 thousand dollars a year So who you're building them for You sit up here and say you're responsible that mr. Scott is an upstanding young man a whole nine yards He'd been a Durham housing authority for almost what five years 10 years He's upstanding and that's what you're backing. You're questionable Your character is questionable For you all to sit up here So you backing a man who has allowed this mess to continue After the collected millions of taxpayers dollars And you sit up here with your arms folded mouths perched up ready to jump on me because i'm telling you what I think You're sad You're even sadder because you're giving these folks a bunch of bull Because you've been on that board for almost three years as liaison And now you want somebody it is your responsibility. It's always been your responsibility My question is where's our money gone? Who has our money? Where's it not an audit done? You sit on the board for gold triangle who spent 160 million dollars taxpayers money And no one has nowhere where it went to about a tunnel. Where's the tunnel at? You were there. I saw you there It is time for you all to be accountable for our taxpayer dollars Private tax goes up means people's rent goes up Thank you, mr. Fenner I'm sure you do. Mr. Fenner Just for the information, uh, mr. Scott's been director of the housing authority for about three years And the money that we're allocating for The eviction diversion I wish it was supplied by the state or the federal government But since it's not our local government is going to step in and provide that funding and we believe that's an important job that we can do We can help prevent the eviction of many many people and that's our plan All right council members. I'll uh accept a motion on item four move approval second Move the second that we approve the eviction diversion funding and item four madam clerk. Please open the vote Please close the vote Six zero Thank you. Well now move to item five shared active transportation report and ordinance revision and this has been pulled by A resident memey kessler miss kessler Welcome miss kessler and you have three minutes. Thank you. My name is memey kessler. I live at 14 18 woodland drive this item Is of concern to a wide variety of people who live and who drive cars in Durham And what I found from looking at the Survey that was out that that went out that on average there were 14 86 um 1486 people who responded to the questions Which when divided into the um population of Durham of 600 Excuse me 200 67,743 143 is less than 1 percent So um 53 percent of the people who responded are between the ages of 25 and 44 65 percent of them are white 25 percent are Earned 50,000 to 100,000 18 percent Earned 100 to 150,000 which together is 43 percent 86 of them say they never wear helmets 100 and 1564 respondents Said that they supported scooters and And the those people there were 40 42 percent whereas the people who disliked And felt that it was a dangerous liability was 41 percent. They don't support the continued program in the cross tabulated area those who support 81 percent have ridden One of these scooters And only 55 percent have not ridden them So I feel like that the focus of the survey was primarily on scooter users And I don't think that the city has taken into account how automobile drivers feel there was some documentation about The scooters being left on the on sidewalks On private property And those are problems But the concerns that I hear From my neighbors and my friends are they're afraid of what their liability will be If somebody on a scooter who has no protective equipment Just runs out in front of their car What is the liability To the automobile driver And we don't feel like that this has been assessed We don't feel like we've actually had an opportunity to weigh in on this This is one of those surveys that you know, yes, you took a survey But less than 1 percent of the population of Durham Responded to it because there was no there was no advertisement And I just think that there needs to be better analysis Thank you, miss kessler. Thank you appreciate your comments and We had a very Comprehensive and robust discussion about many of those same issues at the work session that you've raised You're not the only person to share those concerns. I appreciate them I'm I see that attorney fred lemar is here. Mr. Lamar, you may be able to answer the question about the driver liability I would assume it would be the same liability that you would face if someone was riding a bicycle and you hit them But I may be wrong. Could you comment on that? Fred Lamar with the city attorney's office. No, I was actually gonna Mention skateboard rider or or bicycle rider It would be the similar kind of liability situation with that Right now the state has elected not to to regulate Scooter so hopefully over time the legislature may step in and may decide there there there may be some Financial responsibility on part of scooter riders. They don't do it for bicycle riders But uh, that's that that would be my response. Just what you said, mr. Mayor So if I hit a bicycle rider in my car I guess the liability is mine if I'm at fault That's correct. If I'm not at fault. I have no liability, right Thank you You're welcome. Um, I want to just uh affirm that uh, we we have had miss kessler a discussion In the council where again, we share many of the concerns that you have we recognize that There are safety issues with scooters that are being worked out nationally And so we'll be watching this very carefully. This is not something that We'll stop paying attention to uh, we have I think very Reasonable regulations given our what what we know now And so I'm certainly in favor of this, but I agree that this is something needs to be watched carefully over time and we will be So I appreciate you bringing those issues to us All right, can I have a motion now that we approve item five, which is uh, shared active transportation important ordinance moved Second the movement seconded that we approve the shared active transportation report in ordinance revision. Madam clerk, please open the vote Please close the vote Motion passes six zero. Thank you. There being no other business to come before this body. I'm going to declare this meeting adjourned at 814