Durham City Council Work Session - February 10, 2023
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Durham City Council Work Session - February 10, 2023
This work session of the Durham City Council opened with a moment of reflection following a fatal incident at Hillside High School. The council addressed routine consent items, heard public comments on the redevelopment of Wheels Fun Park, and debated multiple policy items. Key discussions included moving the Youth Mentoring Services Act to the action legislative list, deferring a resolution supporting the LGBTQ+ community for wordsmithing, and presentations on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, the eviction diversion program, Go Durham transit performance, and a proposed 10-cent single-use bag fee. The council committed $10 million in ARPA funds to support four affordable housing projects and formed a subcommittee on the bag fee.
Consent Calendar
- The council unanimously approved the consent agenda comprising items 1 through 44 and item 54 (the 2023 long-session legislative and advocacy agendas) as proposed by the city manager.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Wheels Fun Park (Item 25): Former council member Jacqueline Wagstaff urged that the new park be affordable for low-income families, linking the need for recreational spaces to youth violence prevention. Shanetta Burris expressed support for the redevelopment but criticized the city's lack of community engagement, noting no meetings were held in November 2022, December 2022, or January 2023. Kelsey Monk requested timely completion of the project, noting a one-month delay already.
- Citizen Comments: Several residents spoke on youth mentoring and the recent Hillside tragedy. Pastor A. Woods Sr. shared personal experience with the deceased student and called for tangible action. Tiffany Swoopes asked for resources for youth mentoring, describing challenges at Cornwallis. Stacy Donahue (Strong Her Together) and Atreus Good (Youth Mentoring Collaborative) emphasized the impact of mentoring. Katrina Brown pleaded for guidance for young Black men. All speakers underscored the urgency of addressing youth violence and housing insecurity.
Discussion Items
- Item 54 – Youth Mentoring Services Act (Legislative Agenda): Council member Hosea Hyman moved to move the act from the advocacy list to the action list, citing the need for immediate action. After explanation of the difference between action (directed legislation) and advocacy (opportunity-based), the council unanimously approved the move, increasing the action list from four to five items.
- Item 55 – Resolution Supporting LGBTQ+ Community: Council member Johnson requested suspension of rules to vote immediately on a resolution in response to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Council member Middleton questioned the factual claim about highest hate crime victimization rate, suggesting wordsmithing. Debate ensued about precedent and process. The council voted 5-2 to follow regular order, allowing the resolution to be revised and brought back at the next regular meeting.
- ARPA Funding Presentation (Item 45): Deputy City Manager Bertha Johnson presented the status of $51.8 million in ARPA funds. To date, 34 contracts have been executed, with $22.56 million remaining. She outlined options for remaining funds: joint city-county affordable housing projects (four shovel-ready projects requiring $20.9 million), deferred proposals from the original process, late proposals, and internal department requests (urban forestry and solarize initiatives). The council unanimously agreed to allocate $10 million (with flexibility for inflation) to support the four affordable housing projects, leveraging county funds, and to bring contracts back for final approval.
- Eviction Diversion Program Deep Dive (Item 46): Sarah D’Amato (Legal Aid of North Carolina) presented the program’s history, current operations (courthouse clinic, same-day representation), and outcomes – preserving tenancy in 45%-72% of cases depending on rental assistance availability. Challenges included high rents, limited rental aid, and statutory hurdles. Council members expressed strong support for continued funding and noted the need for a tenant bill of rights and systemic changes.
- Go Durham Annual Report (Item 47): Director Sean Egan reported on performance metrics including safety (zero preventable crashes in September 2021), service restoration (now at 87% of 2020 levels, soon 90%), and fleet reliability. Operator safety concerns were raised and addressed.
- Single-Use Plastic Bag Fee Presentation (Item 53): Don’t Waste Durham and Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic proposed a 10-cent fee on non-reusable bags, with exemptions for SNAP/WIC/Medicaid recipients. Discussion focused on equity, cultural practices, and implementation. The council formed a subcommittee (Council members Hyman, Williams, Caballero) to work with staff on further analysis and a robust education campaign before advancing an ordinance.
Key Outcomes
- Budget Retreat Moved: The budget retreat was rescheduled to March 2-3, 2023, with unanimous consent.
- Closed Session Authorized: The council voted unanimously to hold a closed session for attorney-client consultation regarding a pending lawsuit (Mingo v. City of Durham).
- Youth Mentoring Act Moved to Action List: Unanimous vote to place the Youth Mentoring Services Act on the action legislative agenda.
- LGBTQ+ Resolution Deferred: Resolution referred to the next regular meeting for wordsmithing (vote 5-2).
- ARPA Housing Allocation: Council committed $10 million (potentially more) toward four affordable housing projects, pending cost updates and county commitment.
- Plastic Bag Fee Subcommittee Formed: Council members Hyman, Williams, and Caballero will work with staff to refine the ordinance.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody. We're sorry about a two-minute delay. We had some technical difficulties, but I'm going to call this meeting of the City Council work session to order here in City Council Chambers on Thursday, February ninth. It's about at twenty twenty three, and it's about one oh two PM. As the manager was walking in a few minutes ago, she said that we needed to, I need to check on hillside high. That school is currently in the middle of a situation, and so as we come to this moment, I ask that we just take a moment to think about what happened on yesterday, what is currently happening right now as we begin to conduct today's business here that we have to conduct. My heart is really heavy. Um and just kind of um in your own way, let us get a better world, picture in our mind a better world for our students here in Durham, particularly Hillside High at this moment, and how we can actually realize that Madam Clerk, if you will call the roll. Good afternoon, everyone. Mayor O'Neill. I am here. I'm here. Councilmember Caballero here. Councilmember Freeman. Councilmember Holtzie Hyman. Here. Councilmember Johnson here. And Councilmember Williams. Present. Thank you. Thank you. Um I do have a couple of announcements. One that we need to make fairly quickly, um, as people are counting on us to be efficient and move things along. And this would be in reference to our budget retreat because of a conflict that we missed. We are asking now at this point. I think all of the council has been uh notified that I was gonna make the ask today to move the budget retreat the first day to March 2nd, and we will also have it followed up by another budget retreat meeting on March 3rd. I don't think we need to vote on it, but we do need to have a thumbs up from all those who are in agreement. Thank you all. It's unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Lor. So now I do want to um tell you about we have a very robust um agenda today. All of us up here on the dias will be taking part in how we uh conduct this meeting today. We all have various assignments to carry out portions of this meeting. But I do want to um let you all know that I've I've gotten a couple of phone calls um from folk in the community that have been uh concerned about the uh decorum, I guess, that we are conducting ourselves in or not. And I just want to ask everybody to be conscious that how we think we may be appearing to people in the public's eye, and there are a lot of people watching us on the internet as well as in person, that that perception um being rooted in one's own mind, they may be subject to differences in opinions as to how we appear to the public. I know all of us are hard-working public servants, and this job is by no means an easy job, and I am was not quite used to people talking to me in in such a manner as I have experienced being mayor, but at the same time, I also recognize as my mother used to tell me, Elaine, your your tongue is mighty sharp. You need to watch that, you need to curtail that tongue sometimes. And as a lawyer, you know, you kind of trained to do that in a lot of instances, and it as a judge, it can it can come off as brutal and unemotional because when you have to send us somebody to life in prison, and you need to say that with a straight face and make sure that they understand you, that can almost come off as dismissive or emotionalist. So I've tried to be cognizant and try to put some virtues out there every month for us to kind of think about as to how we interchange as individuals with each other and with the public at large, and to try to make sure that we remember that we are working for you all. We do work for you all, and so with that comes a certain amount of pushback, and it should. That's the beauty of our democracy. That's why I like America. Um, that's why I like the United States. I like my city, I like all of it. So there is there, there's some pushback that comes from people that elect you. Um, and so we have to be cognizant that some of that comes with the job. But I do want to ask my colleagues that we be mindful that how we we may have people who differ with how we think or how we um vote on different things, but let us not make them feel that they're being demeaned by the process of asking and pushing back, and that's a fine line on how you do that. And that's a fine line on how you do that. I just want to raise it as a concern because I've gotten at least three to four phone calls about it, and I want people to, you know, be aware that the public is watching.
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