 Okay, maybe I'm not so sad, although you got to spend some quality time with Karen Lotto and that's always good. That was good. We had a good time. Very good luck. Hey, friends. Bringing you the call on tonight's Monday night football action, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Anthony Middles. Look at you. One minute to air. Oh my gosh. There you go again, Steven. Where are you, Mayor Pro Tem? You do not look, it does not appear that you're in a location I recognize. I am an undisclosed location, which I will text to you all. Awesome. Awesome. Love it. Y'all, I don't know why, but I'm feeling very frisky today, so you better watch out for me. Oh. I'm coming with the fierceness today. Actually, it's not the agenda for that today. 30 seconds. Yeah. All those were good. Absolutely. Perfect. Perfect. I've loved those before. You can start the meeting. Good evening. Good afternoon, brother. We would like to call the Durham City Council Work Session to order for this beautiful day in the Bull City, which is the 10th day of February 2022 at 1pm. We certainly want to welcome all of you here in this space, hoping you've been having a great day. We are all here with our bright shining faces. I do believe that Councilwoman Williams will be a few minutes late today, but we will now ask our clerk to go ahead and call the world. Mayor O'Neill. I am here. Great. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. I am here. Councilmember Caballero. Here. Councilmember Freeman. I'm here. Councilmember Johnson. Here. Councilmember Reese. Right here. And Councilmember Williams will join us in a little bit. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I would now like to recognize my colleagues for any announcements that they may have today. All right, Councilwoman Caballero. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. I was about to say good morning. Good afternoon, everyone. Good to see all of you. I have several announcements and also an ask of my colleagues for some excused absences. I will ask for those first because then my subsequent asks will align with those. I applied and was accepted into a Latino elected official fellowship. And I have my first round of in-person. I didn't know if we were going to go on Zoom or in-person, but we're going in and would like to ask for excused absences for our next work session and council meeting. So the, I guess it's February. Apologies, I'm pulling up a calendar right now. February 21st and February 24th. And then also for the two budget, the second round of budget meetings in the first week of March, March 3rd and March 4th. Since those are on Zoom, I don't know if we're going to be able to go on Zoom or in-person. I don't know if we're going to be able to go on Zoom or in-person. I hope to attend, but I'd rather go ahead and ask for the excused absences and be able to show up than, you know, if it doesn't work out, not being able to show up. Additionally, I had a great conversation with Mayor O'Neill. I think I'm Tuesday. Around our ARPA funding. And so we had a conversation around prioritizing the first half of that money to date around that. And then setting aside the second half of that money. To go along with kind of the facilitated process we were discussing with the county. I'd like to follow up with each of you individually to have a conversation on the plan that she and I were thinking through. And I would like to have a follow-up conversation around ARPA funding at the work session, our first work session in March, which I believe is March 10th. Finally, my last request is I would also like Cura, this has been in our emails, but I didn't want to bring it here to come and give a presentation on the COVID equity work they've been doing along with the community partners that they've been working with. And so I wanted to hear from my colleagues if folks are interested in hearing a presentation from them at a work session. Those are all my announcements. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, colleagues, can we go ahead and address Councilwoman Caballero's request for the excused absences at this time? I'm prepared to entertain a motion. I'll move that we excuse Councilmember Caballero from the meetings previously stated. So second. It has been moved by Councilwoman Johnson and seconded by Councilwoman Freeman. I'll be ready for the roll call and the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Yes. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. I will die with my congratulations to her on our acceptance of the fellowship. It's awesome. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. And I'm not sure if Councilmember Williams is with us yet, but you will continue. Go ahead. All righty. Then I believe that. That motion passes and we hope you have a great learning experience and congratulations to you. I also like to tell. Tell the public at large is that we have had a great relationship. The two of us, Councilwoman Caballero and myself, we have had great conversations and she's agreed to, she understands and has been on the council for a while. It has been very helpful in my transition and she called me and volunteered to help me in the, in sort of organizing and moving the opera funding along. And so I just want to say publicly how much I appreciate her. She's been a great help in this space and we are committed to working together for our residents and for the improvement in our city. So thank you. Thank you. All right. So I see. Councilwoman Johnson. Her hand is raised. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I also have a request to add something to a future work session agenda. The mayor's council for women would like to bring a resolution in honor of women's history month. And would like to have that resolution on our next work session agenda so that it could be approved at the first meeting in March. So if that's all right with folks, I will, they're writing it now and I'll send it out to everybody as soon as we get it. And it'll be on our, on our next agenda. Thank you. Thanks. I see a hand up from everybody. And also with the request from councilwoman Cabrera's request to have an item placed on the agenda as well. Everybody okay with that as well. So anybody else have any announcements today? All right. Councilwoman Freeman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to make sure that I noted being that it's black history month. I know that we're not entertaining a resolution, but I do know that we normally have a proclamation. And I actually just want to make sure that we're going to have that for the next council meeting. And I just want to note in acknowledging the works of Carter G Woodson and having this acknowledgement of black history, the conversation and context around what's building and the international community around the works of arts that have been stolen from African countries. I think we just need to be supportive and I would like to bring the resolution forward. And so I am offering that to my colleagues. That's all. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Yes. And we plan to have an acknowledgement, a former acknowledgement of black history month. Right. Any other announcements? All right. We will move to our first out of business, which are priority items. And I will recognize our city manager for any priority items that she may have. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. Mr. Mayor pro Tim Milton and members of the Durham City Council. I do have a few priority items for you this afternoon. Agenda item number 22, which is the Durham YouthWorks 2021 program evaluation report will be a presentation and we would like to have about 10 minutes to present that information to you today. Agenda item number 28, Mr. Mayor, Mr. President Robert Desmaris attachment number three was updated with a revised presentation and then agenda item number 29, Ms. Thelma White attachment number three has been added. Those are my priority items for you this afternoon. Now her manager page is priority items. I am ready to entertain a motion for their approval. So moved. It was moved by. All right. Second. I don't know if it's 32nd, did I miss it? I'm sorry. Okay. So it has been moved by Councilwoman Freeman and seconded by Councilwoman Tabiero. We are now ready for the roll call for the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. Thank you. All right. Well, that motion passes unanimously and we now turn to our city attorney and recognize her for any priority items that she may have. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. Hello. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton and members of city council. It's good to see you all. The city attorney's office does have one priority item today and that is for the city council to hold a closed session for attorney client consultation on three matters in litigation. The motion for the closed session is to hold a closed session, pursuant to North Carolina general statute 143-318.118-3 for attorney client consultation concerning the following. City of Durham versus J.E. Booth Farms, LLC at Al. That's 21, CVS 1339, filed in the Durham County Superior Court. The second matter is Oak Charter Academy, Inc. at Al versus City of Durham. And that is 21, CVS 2129, also filed in the Durham County Superior Court. And the final matter is Darryl Howard versus City of Durham at Al. And that is a middle district federal court matter and the citation is 17 CD 477. Right. We'll first entertain a motion for a closed session. I believe that will be first. And then the second motion will be forward to approve for a priority items. Would that be the correct order? You can call for the motion now. You can have the motion at the conclusion of the meeting, whatever your preference is. Madam Mayor. So, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Is there a second? Okay. All right. It has been moved by Councilwoman Freeman and seconded by Councilwoman Caballero. We are now ready for the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. Aye. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. Thank you. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. We now turn our attention to our clerk. And for any prior item matters that she may have today. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton and Councilmembers, the city clerk's office has no priority items today. Thank you so very much. And we will now turn to our second order of business which is our administrative consent items. And I will read those and we will go from there. The first item that we have is the city citizens advisory committee appointment. Second item, Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau discover Durham appointment. Third item, the Durham Cultural Advisory Board appointment. Item number four, Human Relations Commission appointment. Number five, the Mayor's Council for Women appointment. Number six, the Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee appointment. Number seven is the Recreational, I'm sorry, Recreation Advisory Commission appointment. Under the departmental items, we have the Audit Services Department which is item eight, COVID-19 relief, funds performance audit, January 2022. Item nine, Discover Durham Annual Report 2021. Item 10, Raleigh Durham Airport Authority 2021 Annual Report. Madam Mayor, I didn't want to pull it. I just wanted to highlight the notes in the report that RGU is ranked number three in the country for customer service and that's pretty amazing. So I want to just point that out. Thank you. Yes, congratulations. They're doing an excellent job and I will also note, Councilman Williams has now joined our meeting. Hey everybody. Hello. Item 11, we're on the consent agenda. Item 11, the resolution calling upon the federal government to urgently address the student loan crisis and enact a plan to counsel student loan debt and begin the transition to education as a public good. Number 12 is 2021 Board of Adjustment Annual Report. Madam Mayor, just, I'm sorry, on item 11, I don't need to pull it. I just wanted to ask a question. If there was a reason we were leaving the federal House and Senate members off of this, I don't know what was just specifically to the president. I can speak to that. There's not a specific reason. The student loan debt forgiveness demand has been made primarily to President Biden because he is able to do so via executive order. And so I think that's just been, he's been a simpler target for advocates, but there's no reason to not send it to our federal lawmakers as well. And I'm happy to add that to the resolution. Thank you. That's all. Sure. I think number 12, I may have read it, 2021 Board of Adjustment Annual Report. Number 13, 2021 Durham City County Appearance Commission Annual Report, 14. Item 14, 2021 Durham Open Spaces and Trails Commission Annual Report. Item 15, 2021 Historic Preservation Commission Annual Report. Item 16, 2021 Planning Commission Annual Report. Item 17, 2021 Homeless Services Advisory Committee Annual Report. Item 18, 2021 Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Annual Report. Item 19, December 2021 Big Report. Item 20, the Durham Cultural Advisory Board 2021 Annual Report. Item 21, the Durham Environmental Affairs Board 2021 Annual Report. Item 22 will be a presentation, which is the Durham Rewards 2021 Program Evaluation Report. Item 23, 2021 Recreation Advisory Commission Report. Item 24, Contract SW-76 Sidewalk Repairs 2021 Amendment number one. Item eight, would you pull that please? Item is going to be pulled by Councilor Mayor Pro-Kim Middleton. Item 25, Contract SW-87C Request for Qualifications for Inspections and Umbudsman Services for Sidewalk Projects. And Mayor, would you pull that as well? We'll do likewise. We have Pro-Tim Middleton, and I believe we have one additional item, item number 26 on the Consent Agenda. Yo, that's a public hearing, I'm sorry. I think that was the last item on the Consent Agenda. Now, just to double check what I've seen the manager, we have two pulled items, which will be item 24 and 25. Is that what you have? I'll write it. We will now review our pulled items so that we go to public. All right, we are now going to our citizens' matters. And we have number 27, Ms. Brenda Desmaris. I'm sorry if I am mispronouncing your name. I'm just gonna call the lineup as I have it. We also have to have Mr. Robert Desmaris and we also have Ms. Delma White, Glenn White. And I believe those would be all of our citizens' matters. Is that correct? One additional person that signed up. Let's see, and the additional person with me. Ms. Christine Smith as well. And I welcome you all this afternoon and would ask that you will have three minutes for comments and we now will start with Ms. Brenda Desmaris. And I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing your name. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You did a good job. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor O'Neill, council and staff to give a two-year update on Emery with Towns at Courtney Creek impact on Emery Wood estate update. The past two years, the first of three phases almost complete. Next slide. Okay, number three, what will Emery Wood look like when Towns at Courtney Creek is complete? Emery Wood community story. Ms. Desmaris, would you suspend for a minute, please? I'm sorry. No, Madam Mayor, are we supposed to be seeing a presentation on screen? Just about to ask our clerk if we have a presentation. Madam Mayor, I'm having some technical difficulties today with controlling the attendees. I'm not sure if I'm permitted to do that with TS. Let's see. Stand by, we can resolve that. Okay, thank you, Ms. Desmaris. We want to make sure that you have your presentation while we're listening to your comments. So if you'll allow us a few moments to make sure that we have that. Sure. Right, we are ready now. You may proceed. All right. And so Towns at Courtney Creek impact on Emery Wood estate update. The past two years, first of three phases almost complete. What will Emery Wood look like when Towns at Courtney Creek is complete? Next slide. Okay, so Emery Wood communities, stories, video production, Durham Neighborhood Improvement Services. A culturally significant African American community, Durham dating back to the 1960s, one hour video. Next. Meeting today. Durham City Council work session, November, 2019. Pat Young, Director of Durham Planning Department, held the meeting with developer Fred Shekels and community members, December 19, 2019. Petition Durham City Council against August, 2020. Two meetings with developer Josh Dresser, number one, hosted council member Middleton and Reese, number two, hosted by council member Freeman, acknowledgements. Council members, Freeman Middleton, Reese and Durham department, engineering, Rob Joyner, transportation, fire, police, unnamed others. The city staff was very responsive. Months long logging operation over Emery Wood roads versus Highway 55 access. No road. Next. Next. This one? Next. Okay, and acres of, number three, phase number three, Brandon extension, tons more logs will need to be removed. Next. Construction vehicles in Emery Wood roads. Next. Broken promise barricade and signs. Healthy safe, health and safety. Next. Environmental, months and months of smoke, legal but not very healthy for residents. 80 year old widows on Kirby. Health and safety environment. Next. Next. Next. Next. This was a promise made over two years ago by the original development. Next. Second road going into Kirby will directly go into Brandon which does not directly go to the outside and is in really bad shape. Next. Kirby needs curves and drains like every other street in both communities. Next. This is a new problem that staff is still working on. Next. The state of the roads and the community. There was a study done after the forest was removed but we don't have any data before the forest removed as far as the state of the roads in Emery Wood. Next. Self-explanatory. Next. Next. Staff did work on those water truck illegally taken water out of a fire hydrant. The community finds the name of the street helms to be offensive. Next. Prices in towns according to Creek have been steadily going up since the start of this project. Initially started at 250, now it's 400. Next. Next. Lyon Homes is a significant builder throughout the country. And in November they announced a half a billion dollars worth of buyback of their stock. Next. The bottom line is there's funds available to do this project right. Next. What needs to happen? Towns of Courtney Creek needs full access to Highway 35 like every other major development between 147 and I-40 now. Contain and enforce all kind of construction activity. The towns of Courtney Creek and Kirby's to prevent further damage to Emery Wood. Kirby needs to be widened, upgraded with curves and drains like all roads leading into it. Connect sidewalks to Emery Wood Orchard. Next. Rename Helms, the name is an affront to the history and the inhabitants of our community. Do not allow the developer to open any additional streets into Emery Wood Estates. That's the road that goes into Brandon Woods who has fallen apart and everything. Keep curvy and surrounding streets and properties clear of construction and road debris. Next. Emery Wood Roads, Wendell the Roads and Emery Wood, the resurface because of the damage caused by years of heavy towns at Courtney Creek and structuring traffic who pays for it. Next. How can we make a soap verse out of a sause here? Emery Wood residents have suffered enough. Thank you, Mayor O'Neill, council members and staff. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation today and we will now turn to Ms. Delma Glen White. Madam Mayor, I'm having control issues again in the attendee list. So we appear to have two Delma whites in the room so I'm not sure which one is the current one so I will try the one that's labeled as Delma White. Yes, ma'am, good afternoon, Ms. White. I'm sorry. Thank you. We have three minutes. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members. In addition to the letter that I sent to the Mayor and City Council members in conjunction with the Mayor's presentation, I would like to add, Ms. Elaine Hammond was on the Planning and Zoning Board and Mr. Wendell Rogers was on the Board of Adjustment. Both are neighbors and was looking out for our community. They said they never saw a plan for Courtney Creek presented to either Board and when was it passed? Now, if I wasn't I, the President of Emory Woods Estates, my name is listed downtown, contacted about this development. This development has brought crime into our neighborhood. On Easter Monday, 2021, and I'd just like to add Ms. Freeman came out after I called her and Mr. Mark Anthony. For the first time in the history of our community, someone drove in off 55 and murdered someone early in the morning. Students was getting ready to go to school. It was really ugly. January 31, 22. Early in the morning, two months ago, someone came into our community and we felt like they also came off 55 and went through most of the mailboxes and all the mailboxes on the street straight across from the embarrassing Helm Street and the street below it and the street above it. But most of the mailboxes throughout the community, someone went in there. We're not at these problems. Either one of these criminal problems before this development. The developer has no green spaces for the residents and they're already walking in our community. And I know they are because I'm a walker and when I see someone I don't know, I asked and two women were walking last week and I asked them, I'm just myself, was very casual and I asked them, where did they live in the community? And they said, they didn't live here. So I said, why are you walking? They said they live in Courtney Street Creek because they said they have nowhere over there where green spaces are to walk. If the developer would put sidewalks on this side of 55, down to the next community, all the way down 55 to the next community like it is on the other side of 55, it would help keep those residents of his community, out of our community to a certain degree. We are big-time taxpayers. And is this developer a during taxpayer and a voter because we in this community are both? It would be great if all people that are employed in Durham slash Durham County lived in Durham and would fight for their neighborhoods like we're fighting for ours today. It would also be great if developers would have to do road improvements one mile both ways. And if that street doesn't need it, some other place nearby, our streets in Durham are not the best. And also integrate modern to low income homes into their developments. Since so many developments are going up and the cost of living is so high and we're having a crisis with housing in Durham as well as other places. On yesterday when I went walking at the 3 p.m. I was disgusted at what I saw on the upper end of Jerome and Brandon and Kirby Street. I took pictures and sent them to the mayor, city council members and the manager. Thank you, Mayor Freeman for coming out and looking at this situation on Kirby. And just in case if I don't have time to explain everything, Ms. Freeman can. But what I saw was really, really sad. Kirby Street has always been like a connecting street for other streets in this community. And you could not do two ways of traffic on Kirby because they have trucks parked all up and down for Kirby Starks above the house, the first house of the inner Jerome all the way down to about middle way just before you get to a Harrington Place. And then they had, and I sent these pictures to you all you can see the little tow mobile out there in the street and there was mud all in the street. That's why he was on an old country road or either the street was not paved. That is a problem. We have had to continue to endure these type of situations from this developer. He who has no respect for this community has not met with us yet and tried to see what he could do to help improve the community. Instead, he's just continued to wear this community out. We really need your help. Themically and why president was the states, we really need your help. Thank you. And I hope some of the rest of you have come out and thank you, Deetron, for coming out looking at the situation. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. White. We appreciate you today. We now turn to Ms. Christine Smith. Thank you, Ms. Smith. Ms. Christine Smith. Ms. Striber or Ms. Wallace, do you see Ms. Smith in the queue, C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E-N-E Smith? Yes, she's in the queue. She's available to speak. Hi, sorry. Thank you all for your patience. Can you all hear me now? Yes, ma'am. You have three minutes. Okay. Hi, good afternoon, Mayor O'Neill and council members. Thank you all for the opportunity to share my comments. My name is Christine Smith. I'm here today representing the Green New Deal for Durham Coalition. A diverse tapestry of concerned citizens, organizations, and neighbors advocating for Durham's future against climate change. Durham faces increasingly dangerous heatwaves, destructive flooding, and risk of wildfires if we do not continue to build our resilience towards mitigating climate change. Durham County's own 2020 Community Health Report details these risks, stating, Overall, Durham County is projected to experience 60 extreme heat days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit a year by 2030, increasing to 75 days by 2080. And goes on to detail how this will lead to increased heat death risk, particularly among our most marginalized communities. Despite these frightening risks, we come to you not with a message of fear, but of hope. A hope that we as community can come together with you as our leaders to create a livable future for Durham with a focus on increasing renewable energy, public transit, and access to affordable housing. And you can be a driving force for Durham's safety and longevity. These areas of focus can be brought to life through funding from the American Rescue Act, the Transport Tax, the Affordable Housing Bond, and support for the proposed Green and Equitable Infrastructure Bond. We urge you to join our fight for the community we love by centering climate justice at the forefront of all policy decisions. Thank you all again from the Green New Deal for Durham Coalition. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Smith, for your comments today. And thank you to all of our residents today for speaking with us about your concerns. And we will now turn to our third order of business which will be to review all of our pooled items. And I think we have two matters that will pool by Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. The first one will be item number 24, the contract SW76 sidewalk repairs 2020 amendment number one. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. And good afternoon to you and colleagues. Who from the staff is here that can address? Good afternoon, Tasha, Johnson, Public Works. Johnson, good afternoon, good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you so much. So my questions are part educational, part probative, just to help me as a decision maker, make better decisions in these areas now and moving forward. So I'm glad to see the first off the work is going forward and being done my first question is, so these pro-wags of public right of way, accessibility guidelines, but let me tell me if this is a fair characterization. Sometimes the work we do necessitates other work to be done. The curves and the slopes of the curve when we pave roads, are those accessibility guidelines are we are we statutorily required to do those because I saw on a memo just an option if we choose not to extend this contract, which I don't think is gonna happen, but I'm just curious, is there statutory requirements for us to do these pro-wags? So, yes, it is a federal guideline. It is not yet adopted by the Department of Justice, but it is a federal highway administration guideline, which we as a city have adopted and have been using and working under for several years. Right, that's what I saw that was a guideline, but it hadn't been adopted as, but it's best practices for us is we just constrain ourselves as a city to do those type of things when we improve the roads. Yes. Absolutely. I think it's a great thing. So the various locations around the city, are those locations reflective of what was already in our CIP planner? Could you just give us an idea of what some of those locations are? I do apologize for this particular project. I don't know the locations offhand. What we generally do is look at the customer service complaints that we get, and we also assess need these projects or more lengthy projects where our street maintenance crews do the point repairs. And so we work with them and coordinate with them to identify locations I can provide a list if you would like to see where the locations are. Well, you said something actually helpful that kind of kind of illuminates where my question was coming from, whether or not these locations were complaint or need driven or whether it was just, you know, within the, under the aegis of our CIP plan, because I know we've been talking a lot about equity and I know our transportation department has been, we actually had some neighborhoods that were shuffled after we brought an equity lens to the discussion. And I was wondering how much of these locations around the city were impacted by those type of considerations. So I can follow up with the specific locations, you know, via email after the meeting. There are also, I just want to let you know that there is also a resource person here, Mr. Sam Gore, I believe he's from Brown Construction on this matter as well, if you'd like to ask him some questions, okay? Thank you so much, Madam. I appreciate that. It's good to know. There was a line in the memo that talked about the challenge of retaining, or recruiting and retaining engineering talent. And as a decision-maker when we see lines that sometimes visceral and default responses, give them more staff, more FTEs. And I know that that'll be asked for in an upcoming budget cycle if needed. But I wanted you to speak a little bit to the condition of the market, because sometimes when we hear that folk thing, we're starving you of what you need, but in actuality, it's market conditions and other things like that. So just talk a little bit about, do y'all have what you need in terms of FTEs and how should we interpret that line about recruitment and retaining? I see Marvin's popped on as well. Well, since he popped on, I will let him respond. Hey, Marv. Good afternoon, Mayor Neal, Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, members of Council, Marv Williams of the Department of Public Works. So staffing is a challenge for us right now. I'm not like anybody else who's struggling right now to identify potential candidates to bring into the department. We have what we need, but we're also struggling to retain those that are currently working within the department. So it's kind of in and out with staff. We bring them in, we train them, but then unfortunately, because we do train them in a lot of various engineering practices, then they are very sought after by other cities and the private industry. So at this point, we're not looking to add any additional staff beyond what we already have. I think as we continue to evaluate the current positions that we have and the programs that we're responsible for, that ask may be coming at a future date, but at this point, we don't anticipate making that ask. Thank you for that. That's very helpful. As I've already stated, because the tendency sometimes is to automatically think that the department's being starved, it doesn't have enough bandwidth when actually there's some things going on in the market that are impacting these things. Marv, and while you're on, do you have any insight as to some of the locations around the city and whether those locations were reached by to our equity lens or was it just straight CIP determinations for these areas? It's actually a combination of what we get through our maintenance division through calls to Durham, one call, some locations that we identified through our capital improvement process, and some locations that we self-identified as a department in various areas around the city. We develop heat maps, so to speak, where we look at service requests for the cluster, we go out and we have staff evaluate those locations to see if it makes sense to do several hundred feet or several thousand feet of sidewalk repairs at one location just so that it's the most efficient when we get the most bang for our buck. So it's really a combination of sources that drive those requests that end up in this contract that we're requesting today. Got you, got you. And my question's about the public route of way accessibility guideline, I guess perwags is the word or the phrase you guys use in the industry. I think that's it. Yeah, that's it on that one. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, US staff. Appreciate you. Thank you. We will now turn to the second pooled item, item 25, contract SW80-87C request for qualifications for inspections and ombudsman services for sidewalk projects that was pulled by Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. Now also let you know that there are two resource people here for that item as well, sir. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. And again, this item kind of is reflective. Some of my questions are reflective of the previous item on this one as well. First off, let me say I am beyond pleased that Braggtown is getting this attention and the sidewalks in Braggtown. This is a good thing, overdue, not your fault, but overdue. And I'm glad to see that there's some attention, due attention being given to this area. I am, as I was with the previous item, curious, was this complaint driven? Was this a result of our equity efforts in this area? Was this a result of the advocacy from Braggtown residents? Because if it is, I want them to know their impact for this particular item. Neither one of you can address that. Again, Marvin Williams, the Department of Public Works. This was partially by the advocacy by the residents of Braggtown when we met with them last year, we heard them, we went out and did some assessments and we identified not only the areas that they informed us about that needed repairs, but some other areas within the Braggtown area in totality that needed repairs. We also have a separate contract that'll be coming before council in the next one or two agenda cycles that will address road repairs throughout the Braggtown area that we identified. So it is a combination of residents letting us know that they needed repairs, our staff working with the residents and the transportation department to go out and look at other improvements that needed to be done. And also some of the service requests that we received through our maintenance division as well. Yeah, and thank you for that, Director Williams. And I thought that was important for that to be on the record. And I wanna congratulate the residents of Braggtown on their advocacy. I hope this is also a bellwether and a motivation for other residents in our city, particularly those that live in our legacy, Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods that have been disinvested in historically that this wasn't just a government on autopilot. This is reflective of folks actually petitioning their government and engaging in advocacy as many other communities have done for generations in our country and have gotten results. So I didn't want that on record. I do have a question specifically about, I know Summit is the primary driver of this contract, but I had to commentate a question about Bre and associates. And I know they're listed that they're headquartered in Durham, but I know they've got offices around the country. Where is Bre and associates actual corporate headquarters? Is it North Carolina or is it somewhere else? Eric Miller with E&I I think can respond to that question. Yes, good afternoon, Mayor O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, members of the council. Good afternoon everyone. Yes, so Bre and associates is actually headquartered in Raleigh currently, but they do have offices and other locations. And so depending on the service that's gonna be provided, oftentimes that dictates the location that's identified in our report. And so that's what ended up being the driver for the location that was identified in the compliance report. Yeah, actually, and there's no controversy whatsoever, but I always get excited when I see folk that actually have Durham as their actual address. So, but when I did a little dig on those that they're a national firm, which is good for them. So I was just curious about that. Again, I think this is great. I'm very, very pleased that Braggtown is getting this attention. I'm more pleased that it's getting attention, at least in part by virtue of their advocacy and their persistent petitioning of their government. So that's all I had on it. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, colleagues. Good to see y'all. Thank you, Councilman Rees. Thank you, Mayor O'Neill. I just wanted to first of all thank the Mayor Pro Tem for joining the line under that important factor. You know, we've had the folks from Braggtown kind of talked to us many times. They've interacted with staff. They've worked with the city around community engagement and community improvement. And it's great to see some of the fruits of that labor be shown here. And again, thank you to the Mayor Pro Tem for highlighting that for us. It's really important. The other thing I wanted to say and I appreciate you calling on me, Mayor O'Neill. As a council member, I've been here for a little over six years. I've seen a lot of staff members present to the council. Probably the first staff member that ever had a real challenging interaction with was the presenter of this item to Davis, Tasha Johnson. Tasha, I just wanted to tell you that over my time in the council, I have been so impressed with your patience, with your attention to detail and with how you have helped me, especially that all of us really, but I'm talking about me so close to me, helped me understand the ins and outs of some extremely complicated issues. Public words ain't easy. People think it is, it isn't. I learned that on my very first work session with Triangle Paving and Grading, I know you remember. And as it turns out, you helped all of us, both the folks at that contractor and elsewhere throughout the city, helped us understand how that particular provider of services had changed their business practices, really done a 180 on the job safety. And we got there because of the way that you handled that, the way that you handled me that first day. So Tasha, I just wanted to say today, it just occurred to me that I've been seeing a lot of you because this is some complicated stuff, important work to the city. And Tasha, I just wanted to say thank you for everything. You've helped me be a better council member. That's all I had. Thank you, Mayor Neal. Thank you so much. Did I see any other hands on this matter? All right, we will now, I think that concludes the review of all our pulled items. And so now we will turn our attention to our fourth order of business, which is to have our presentations and we have two presentations this afternoon. The first one is item 22, Durham Youth Works 2021. Program Evaluation Report. And the second will be item 26. This is the year 2022-2023 annual action plan. I'm sorry. That's public area. So we don't have a presentation, but we're doing a presentation now. Just a presentation. You know, I'm still getting my help over here. So we do have just the one presentation. All right, and we will turn it over to our resource person, I believe. Ms. Andrea Graham-Scott. Thank you for being here. Turn it in. It's over to you. How you doing? Yes, thank you so much. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. I'm Mr. Mayor Pro Temp and members of the council. My name is Andrea Graham-Scott and I am with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development's Durham Youth Works Program. I'd like to thank you for allowing you to provide this demonstration presentation to you this afternoon. You've previously received from me a report and also an executive summary from RTI to assess our program and they put together the results of a termed exercise by them to assess our program and determine its effectiveness. Today, I'd like to share an overview of those findings with you. And I'm going to present it to you in a video form that is of the slides that you've received, but you will hear the presentations delivered to you by individuals who are actually a part of our program. So at this point, if all is well, I will share my screen with you. My name is Hayden Hill. I go to Northern Tresol and I'm in the 10th grade. So I heard about this from another organization called Grow Your World. She recommended me to sign up. And I was expecting to go into it and I know have fun with my attention and it did. I also learned a lot and also heard other people's opinions going into this program. You can create your own business project on something you would like to see or an invention you wanted to create. And I really liked it. I like hands-on activities and projects. And so my invention was like a community where everyone would have access to a local garden and I would help you. And if you wanted to make plants or vegetables, I would help you and then there would be cooking classes. So that was kind of my idea that everyone had access to an affordable garden. And yeah, it was a shark tank and I was actually pretty nervous, but I had rehearsed a lot. And so I ended up winning and it was really fun. I really liked it. I think if you like small settings where it's like information based and like a small amount of time that would help you with like your career path and also challenge you if you wanted like a big at the end of this session project and this would like be a good program because they did a lot a few amount of time they had. My name is Jacob Dolan and I'm a consultant and I was hired last year to help the team that runs YouthWorks redesign it to be appropriate in the age of COVID. You think back to where we were in January, February, March of 2021 trying to plan this program, completely no clear line that we could do an in-person program as YouthWorks had been in previous iterations. And so real expectation that we're gonna have to be flexible, have to be creative and have to come up with something that work for pieces of the program, the folks who make it happen. The community partners that are funding and putting on the program, those who are delivering content, the youth, the young adults who are participating and then also the employer partner who's come to this for a lot of different reasons, maybe just generosity wanting to help young people succeed all the way up to they are absolutely in need for talent. So we knew my expectations coming in is that we had a really good challenge but that we have really great community-based support to address that challenge appropriately. My name is Sergeant Butler. I am the supervisor of the Police Athletic League Unit within the Durham Police Department. So during the two weeks while the young people were with us, we introduced them to a variety of things that are obviously specific to law enforcement, but the skills that you learn and gain by doing that is transferable to any career field. The other thing that we got out of it, which is maybe more unique than other industries is that we had an opportunity to engage with the young people in a positive way so that young people who otherwise are learning about law enforcement through the media, through Hollywood, they got to see what it really looks like and they got to meet real police officers and work alongside real police officers to help kind of give them a better understanding of the people who make up the law enforcement profession at least in their own community. And they enjoyed it too. Like, and I don't want to get too much into the weeds of what we did all week, but one of the sessions we did was handcuffing. So they got to handcuff each other and who doesn't want to do that? Everybody thinks that's fun. So they really enjoyed that. We try to make our experience a fun experience so that they were learning these skills in practical ways. And we made them fun through like kind of games or activities and exercises so that they could understand it and actually like truly understand the practical application of it. We really did enjoy it. I mean, I had a blast and I can't wait to do it again this year. So as you can see, for the most part, our program content is really, was very strong. And I just wanted to make a comment about Sergeant Butler and the police athletically program. This is the first year that the Youth Works Program has partnered with the Durham Police Department. And it was actually our only in-person placement in this age of COVID. The partnership was important because we really did want to have some option for young people to take an in-person opportunity. But, you know, knowing that they would be able to work with the police department, we felt that they would be in a safe and secure environment. And so that was a new partnership that was formed this past year. And we hope to continue that going forward because as Sergeant Butler indicated, it's a multitude of benefits from that relationship. In addition, in terms of the content, we also really wanted to underscore the fact that the curriculum was age-appropriate. And, you know, if you read the report, you'll see some interesting dynamics. In some instances, the young people who participated felt as if, you know, being in the same age groups worked better. But some appreciated being in next-age groups. So we're taking all of these comments and recommendations back as we're pulling together our program design for this year. We find it all very informative to help us to move forward to the next level. The project-based learning component of it was very intentional. With my staff, the thing I pressed forward on the most was the fact that I wanted this not to be a bunch of talking heads. I wanted it to be an experience-based, learning-type environment where it would almost mimic what you would have in a workplace. You know, if you consider it, if you're in a workplace, you know, you're going to be getting an assignment. You'll have some type of project that you'll have to carry through, everything from filing all the way to actually, you know, bringing forth a project. And I wanted that to sort of be the thing that was moving these forward. And so I felt that the content really did a good job of bringing forward that project-based analysis. Our wellness checks, I wanted to bring that forward to you and underscore it. And that's largely because, you know, I've gotten feedback from a number of the young participants and they expressed to me that it was important to have a safe place that they can express themselves, not only some place that they can express their issues, but also just hearing others who are their peers and recognizing that they weren't alone in this experience. It was a unique experience. And so the wellness checks turned out to be very, very important and essential in our group. Unfortunately, we had some very serious traumatic issues. We were able to cope with them in a way we partnered with DPS and their trauma team. And we will expect to move forward with some training for our providers going forward. Our virtual format, I think was a particular, also a good format for both our employers and for our participants. For our employers, it gave them a full range of opportunities they could engage in their volunteerism. They had a lot of flexibility. So that was actually a positive for them. It gave them that type of flexibility. I just wanna share with you that we've even had, we had a participant out of Georgia. We had a participant out of California that represented one of our businesses that we recently gave a grant incentive to a workforce grant incentive to. And so that flexibility is important and something we'd like to carry forward. The program support team was amazing. We had in-person staff. We had our consultant, but I'd really like to uplift the four program interns that we bought on board. I told them all the time they were the glue. We had two students from dorm tech. We had two students from NCCU. And of those four interns, three of them were student parents. And so we were able to provide some additional support to families even outside of our actual participants. And I felt like that was an important win for us. Some of the pain points and everything is not perfect. So we did have our pain points, our onboarding process. In recognizing again, this was somewhat I told staff, this was a unicorn year for us, but the onboarding process was very clunky. I think it's the probably the best term to use for it. And so we are trying to be very intentional about coming up with ways to help to mitigate some of those onboarding challenges. We're starting enrollment processes early. We're making it less complex. The redundancy was also an issue. We ended up, I think individuals had to fill out six different forms. And so with that experience, it's informing how we should move forward here. So we're again being intentional and aware. Our stipend payment process is a challenge, has been forever. It is not just unique to the COVID experience. However, I really would like to uplift Joyce Cooper and her team with finance. They were a yeoman to help us get these stipends out. And so we'll be working with them again to try to ensure that we can try to streamline that process as best as possible. There's only but so much streamlining we can do together. The fact that we had different virtual platforms, again, I think this was more a function of being in the midst of a COVID pandemic and just trying to pull things together and make it work. But it did cause some pain points there. We had Teams and Zoom and a Sakai. So we're hoping to try to streamline that infrastructure component. Again, just being aware of it will help us to move forward in a more efficient way. And we got some feedback from employers who actually wanted more engagement. So once again, we're using these as our guide posts to help us to structure the program as we move forward. Just to give you a sense of timing, we are in the midst of our program partner engagement. We've already met with a number of our stakeholders. We are also in the midst of our program design. We expect to release our program interest form the week of February 21st. So it's coming up very quickly. And our RFP for our program providers will be released the week of the 28th. In this past iteration, we had 11 different program providers. And so that gave us a lot of flexibility and it gave us a lot of diversity. But it also is important for us to make sure that it has the depth that we want to have in our delivery. And that is it for my presentation for you today. And I'm available for you if you have any questions. Anyone have any questions? That was great. That's the good stuff. That's the good stuff. Yes. We'll start with Councilman Williams. I'll see his hand raised. Yeah, I just wanna extend a congrats for pulling this off. Actually, I was running for office and also serving as an employer participant for this program. And when I say that this was so timely, we were able to learn a lot during this experience. And that comment about, you know, employers were able to see a potential pipeline. I think that was my comment because I kept saying it over and over and over. But this was so timely because this was not only during the pandemic but also doing a severe staffing shortage. And we were able to, you know, just see a direct connection where there's currently a gap and that's from education to employment. And I just, I hope that we can expand on this program. Again, you know, during public safety issue is an economic issue. And this is part of the overall solution as we become more holistic to solidifying that issue. So I just wanted to throw out there, good job, great job. I do hope that we can expand on it. I do want more engagement. And we have to put our money where our mouth is or our mouths are and invest in work like this. It cannot be just symbolic. It cannot be just a one-off. So I'm saying all that to say you have my commitment to, if you put the ask out there, I'll definitely support it. Thank you so much, Mr. Councilman. And just, you know, you touched on something. One of our partners was Discoverdorm. And through Discoverdorm, we were able to reach pretty much a whole range of hospitality industry participants. And so, you know, they rose to the challenge and I appreciate all of your participation and we'll knock on the door. Councilwoman Freedman. Noting Madam Mayor, thank you for acknowledging. Mr. Pettigrew did come on screen and I didn't know if we wanted to add something. Thank you, Councilman. Andre Pettigrew, Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Mayor O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem Meadowton and City Council. Again, I just really wanted to add publicly commend Andrea for her leadership and her team for the work that we have been doing. Clearly this is a priority for our community but also a priority in our department. And again, a lot of challenges but Andrea and her leadership with her team overcame a lot of challenges. And again, it's the sort of commitment that is required to scale this program to impact a greater number of our youth and to better connect with our employers. And again, I have every confidence in Andrea's leadership and the team that's working to get this to the next level. So that's basically the only thing that I wanted to say and be available to answer any questions. Thank you and I appreciate that. I think you may have been anticipating my question and I do want to say a great big thank you. I know as Council Member Williams mentioned he was running and working alongside you as an employer. I can say that working as a Council Member from the Dias and then also from a partner push in the community with their Children's Initiative and just as a parent in general, I know that I put a lot of pressure on making this happen because I know in 2020 we missed the opportunity and our youth not engaging with each other and they're not engaging with employment opportunities. It felt like it would have been a huge loss. And so I do want to thank you both, Andrea, Scott, Graham Scott and Andre Pettigrew for rising to the challenge. And I also want to just make sure that I acknowledge that our great city manager at the time was the interim even just noting like this was important. And it was really, really important to make sure that we didn't just do, I think it would talk about like 200 or 300 and I just want to know what it's going to take to make sure that we do scale up and scale out because I know that with the four interns you were able to do X and with eight you would be able to do Y. And so I'm hoping that in this budget season you're considering those options and really thinking about how to bring that forward to us and make that request because it is going to be really important to make sure that more of our students in our community are having this experience prior to leaving high school. And so I'm really excited. I thank you for rising to the challenge and I will say I will be pushing again and just let us know what you need. But thank you. Thank you ma'am. And I will also add it would probably be your responsibility to say my son had an opportunity to participate in like two days of the experience with Knock Street Studio and he really was engaged, I was surprised and interested. And so I'm hopeful that he will be able to participate this year. So the dates will be out earlier and we can coordinate. So thank you. Any other comments from council? I just want to say that this brings a really big smile to my face. One of my first jobs, well most of my summer jobs as a teenager here growing up in Durham were with the city of Durham. So I think I see councilwoman Johnson's hands being raised. So I'm gonna go to her and then I'll finish it up out there everybody else. Go ahead. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to appreciate staff for the report and this work. This expanding this program is something that we've been talking about for a really long time. And when COVID hit, we were all really concerned about the safety aspect and worried about how this might get off track. And I just want to really appreciate y'all for pulling through and running a really great program even with all the constraints, the constraints that we were facing. I feel like we're well on track to get this where we want it to be and impacting even more more and more students every year. And yeah, it's just, I mean this feels like a really important like critical piece of work for the city and the department is engaging our young people, getting them started off on the right track with jobs and careers that they're interested in. So yeah, I'm just really excited to see, to see this going so well and excited to see what we'll do in the future. Thanks y'all. Councilor McCabear. Thank you. I just wanted to agree with all my colleagues, excellent comments. This was a great presentation update. I look forward to seeing how we continue to expand the program. You know, several kids who participated last summer and I heard only good things. So thank you so much for all of your work. Thank you so much. And I would be remiss if I don't thank publicly my staff, James Dickens and Jennifer Fox as well as our partner, Candace Rashada from Durham Tech who was part of our iteration team with our long and our consultants who you heard from earlier. So it was definitely a team effort and done with love. Anyone else have any comments? Once again, thank you. I am an example of what working for the city of Durham can produce. So thank you for continuing the legacy. Thank you for expanding it. And more importantly, thank you for the leadership in terms of wellness for our kids. I have heard over and over again that during this COVID space, they have needed and wanted extra attention in that arena. So thank you for a job well done. And of course I'll be supporting expansion. Very good. All right, I think that's our only presentation for today. Just as a point of clarification, when it's a public hearing, it's on the agenda for the work session and then it goes to for the actual hearing on the full city council meeting. I'm learning. I am learning. All right, we're gonna turn now to our clerk. We have some board and commission task force nominations as we have concluded all of our presentations for today. Madam clerk. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I do have nominations for the board's committees and commissions. I'll start by reading the board and then the nominee. The Citizens Advisory Committee Appointment, Amy Jones. The Durham Convention Center and Visitors Bureau, Pernay Desai was nominated for the category representing lodging and limited services. The Durham Cultural Advisory Board Appointment, Angelique Stallings. The Human Relations Commission Appointment for category of other person has been determined to re-advertise that position. The Human Relations Commission Appointment for the category of Hispanic Latino person is Javier Alvarez-Hames. The Mayor's Council for Women Appointment for the category of Cultural Recreation and Fine Arts Sector is Waheeba Kartei, at-large resident Akia Umstead and Public Safety Sector Jill E. Surgeson. And for the Recreation Advisory Commission Appointment, Jill S. Thomas. There was no consensus on one of the nominations and that was for a participatory budgeting steering committee, at-large resident. We had three votes for Andrew George, three votes for Paulette Jackson and one vote for Michael M. Bell. And if you could give me a call. I believe the lone vote from Mr. Bell was me, if I'm... You are correct. All right, and who are the other two candidates? Andrew George and Paulette Jackson. I'll yield to any of my colleagues who want to make a case for either one to break the log jam. Councilwoman Caballero. I voted for... Mr. George is the name, I can't remember his first name or last name, but I really appreciated his science background. And a lot of the work that he'd done around climate action and justice, and I found participatory budgeting could lend a unique perspective. Madam Clerk, on the strengths of my colleagues' recommendation, I'll change my vote, Mr. George. Mr. George. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. And that's the end of my report. Thank you, Councilwoman Caballero. Madam Clerk, did we have one that we needed to re-advertise for if you just stated for the record? Yes, ma'am, we need to re-advertise the Human Relations Commission position for the category of other person. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. All right, now we will turn to our next sort of business, which would, and that would be to settle our agenda, and I will turn it over to our city manager for that. Thank you, Madam Mayor. We do have the agenda ready to settle. Items one through 25, I have four consent, and item 26 for the GBA public hearing agenda. Is there a motion? I'm prepared to entertain the motion to settle the agenda. So moved. Second. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, and seconded by Councilwoman Freeman. Madam Clerk, we are now ready for the roll call and the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. I vote aye. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. And Councilmember Williams. Aye. Thank you. That motion passes unanimously. Now, if there are, are there any other items to come before the council, before we move into closed session? Hearing none. I will entertain a motion to move to closed session. So moved. Second. It has been moved by Councilwoman Freeman, and seconded by Councilwoman Caballero, that we move into closed session. We will see you all in a bit. Mayor, we need to make a vote.