Durham City Council Work Session - March 24, 2023: Gun Violence Response, SCAD Discussions, and Censure Resolution
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Durham City Council Work Session - March 24, 2023: Gun Violence Response, SCAD Discussions, and Censure Resolution
This work session of the Durham City Council, held on March 24, 2023 (transcript indicates March 23; per instruction, March 24 is used), addressed multiple urgent matters. Council members expressed grief over a March 22 shooting that killed three children and discussed community violence prevention. The council also heard a statement about allegations of a council member seeking a campaign donation in exchange for project support, which was referred to law enforcement. Additional topics included the SCAD (Simplifying Code for Affordable Development) initiative, budget guidelines, and a resolution of censure against Councilmember Moni Holsey-Hyman for alleged ethical violations involving city staff. Public speakers raised concerns about council conduct and development processes.
Consent Calendar
- Items 1 through 13 and item 19 (American Rescue Plan Act project, entrepreneur accelerator plus youth STEM) were approved unanimously via consent. These included board appointments, bid reports, budget ordinances, and several annexations and zoning map changes (items 15–18 designated as public hearings).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Donna Stanback: Stated she is not against growth but wants good plans with strong environmental metrics.
- Mary Molina: Expressed concern that citizens are being targeted by a council member who reportedly took addresses of naysayers to the SCAD amendment; called for the behavior to stop.
- Jackie Wagstaff: Cited a perceived “veiled threat” when a council member referenced knowing where residents live; called for accountability and said some council members have engaged in “unbecoming” behaviors.
- James Chavis: Requested the planning department attend a community meeting. Criticized Councilman Williams for a comment made at a prior meeting, stating it was disrespectful; accused Williams of speaking with developers but not with opposing citizens.
- Pastor A. R. Woods Sr.: Offered to partner with the council on door-knocking initiatives to rebuild community and urged moving from talk to action on gun violence. Mentioned his work providing mental health support and transportation for youth.
Discussion Items
- Response to March 22 Shooting: Several council members (Caballero, Freeman, Holsey-Hyman, Williams, Middleton, and Mayor O’Neill) expressed grief and called for action. Councilwoman Caballero noted that El Futuro offers walk-in bilingual mental health services. Councilwoman Freeman highlighted the need to recognize trauma in children and mentioned a gun violence hackathon. Mayor O’Neill announced a joint city-county-public schools effort to map summer opportunities for youth and a separate initiative with Duke University to coordinate gun violence prevention. A moment of silence was observed.
- SCAD (Simplifying Code for Affordable Development): Mayor O’Neill discussed the importance of civil discourse and asked proponents and opponents to meet before a May work session to find agreement. She noted the public was split about evenly on the issue.
- Grant Announcement: Mayor O’Neill announced a $500,000 matching grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Authority for the CR Wood Pro Park project.
- Allegations Against a Council Member: Mayor O’Neill read a statement prepared by the city attorney detailing that a property developer reported a council member suggested support for a project in exchange for a campaign donation. The council has referred the matter to state law enforcement. Council members were advised not to comment further due to the pending criminal investigation.
- Budget Guidelines Update: Budget Director John Law revised the guidelines to clarify that city council budget requests advanced during the March 23 special work session will be considered. The change was noted and accepted.
- Censure Resolution Against Councilmember Holsey-Hyman: Councilwoman Johnson introduced a draft resolution alleging that Councilmember Holsey-Hyman asked a city staffer to perform campaign-related work in September 2022 and again in January 2023. Holsey-Hyman denied the allegations, stating the staffer volunteered after HR approval and that she was unaware of any inappropriate actions. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton argued censure is about specific acts, not character. Councilwoman Freeman accused other members of dismissing Holsey-Hyman as a woman. Councilman Williams expressed confusion over process. The debate concluded without a final vote; the resolution is expected to be considered at a subsequent meeting.
Key Outcomes
- The council unanimously approved the manager’s priority item (ARPA project for entrepreneur accelerator and youth STEM) and settled the consent agenda.
- The sports commission was given permission to present at the next work session on April 6, 2023.
- The matter of alleged campaign donation solicitation has been referred to state law enforcement for investigation.
- The council took note of the budget guidelines amendment; no vote was needed.
- No final action was taken on the resolution of censure for Councilmember Holsey-Hyman; further discussion is expected.
Note: The transcript indicates the meeting was called to order on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 1 p.m., but the user-provided date is March 24, 2023. This summary uses the user-provided date as instructed.
Meeting Transcript
We are now streaming Women and To Broadcast. Good afternoon. Happy Thursday here in City Call City Hall Chambers. On the first floor of our uh City Hall here in Durham, North Carolina. I'd now like to call our city council work session uh to order on this Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 at 1 p.m. This is our second meeting for today. We've had a full day of the people's business, and we will now start part two, and I'll turn to our clerk and ask her if she will call the role. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mayor O'Neill. I am present. Mayor Pro Tim Middleton. I'm here. Councilmember Caballero. Here. Councilmember Freeman. Present. Councilmember Holsey Hyman. Present. Councilmember Johnson. Here. Councilmember Williams. All right. Thank you. Uh I believe Councilman Williams will be here. He was here uh this morning, so I think you will have a full seven in just the moment we took a break uh for lunch. Um with that being said, I'll now turn to uh any announcements by council. I'm looking to my right first. Uh mayor pro tim, we'll just go down the road. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good afternoon, ma'am, and to my honorable colleagues all in the chamber and uh those watching wherever you may be, our virtual platform. Very quickly, colleagues. I wanted to uh keep fidelity with our process in terms of uh bringing uh folk or things before our work session. Our sports commission has been doing uh a bunch of work of late, and it's been a minute since we've heard from them, and uh I know uh all of us are in agreement that uh sports and our parks and recs, what our parks and rec do are important parts of our strategy and keeping our young people in particular safe, uh, through constructive and and character building initiatives and certainly sports uh provides us with one of those things. So I'm asking for permission for the sports commission to come before us and present uh with some specific uh ask on our next work session. Um which I believe would be March sixth, uh if I'm correct, Madam Clerk. April. Oh, I mean April, my bad. April sixth, yeah. I'm going. So with that, colleagues, that that's my only announcements asking for the uh youth commission. Uh uh the sports, uh youth, the sports commission to have birth before us. Thank you, Councilwoman Caballero, and followed by Councilwoman Freeman. And I won't interrupt again. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I just wanted to um talk about yesterday's uh horrific shootings. I know it was an extremely tragic day for our city, and I know many of us are grieving and many of our families are grieving. Um the victims were all children, and while the sub suspect was legal uh legally inadult, he was also a young person. And uh this violence has rocked our community, but in particular is being felt within our Latino community, and because of where the shootings occurred and where these young people went to school. And uh this violence has rocked our community, but in particular is being felt within our Latino community, and because of where the shootings occurred and where these young people went to school, um it's also really impacted our DPS community, our Durham Public Schools community.
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