Durham City Council Work Session - January 24, 2025
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Durham City Council Work Session - January 24, 2025
The Durham City Council met on January 24, 2025, at 1:00 PM for a work session. The meeting included approvals of the consent agenda, public comments, and presentations on the Algal Flowway project, Participatory Budgeting Cycle 4, and Vision Zero. Councilmembers also made announcements and discussed a request for an HIV funding report.
Consent Calendar
- Items 1–9 and 14 (after being pulled for discussion) were approved on consent. These included:
- Workers' Rights Commission appointments
- Housing Appeals Board appointment
- Approval of council meeting minutes
- Audit Services Oversight Committee report
- First Amendment to interlocal agreement for joint communications plan
- FY2025 capital improvement plan closeout
- Amendments to police and fire compensation plans
- Contract for site evaluation for Algal Flowway (presented later)
- Closing ARPA funds for Western Intake Partnership Projects
- Zoning map change and annexations (items 11–13)
- Contract with Corporate Facts to reconcile CDBG, ESG, and HOPWA allocations (item 14, pulled then returned to consent)
Public Comments & Testimony
- Mary Molina delivered a poem titled "We Are the Homeless," highlighting the humanity of people experiencing homelessness.
- Ken Pugh thanked the council for commitment to the urban growth boundary and warned against "broken window syndrome."
- Louisa Seibel expressed concern about delayed opening of the library as a warming space, urging the city to better protect homeless individuals during cold weather.
- Angela Vick Lewis described seeing elderly homeless people without adequate clothing and challenged the council to experience cold conditions themselves; she called for opening empty buildings as temporary shelters.
- Dennis Garrett spoke about youth violence and asked how he could help, offering to serve as a translator between the streets and government.
Discussion Items
- Request for HIV Funding Report: Councilmember Cook requested a report on all HIV-specific funding (HOPWA, state/federal) received by Durham and how it is spent. The request was supported by colleagues and approved. Councilmember Freeman noted a related citywide federal funding risk assessment being conducted with the African American Mayors Association and Ice Miller.
- Algal Flowway Project (Item 8): Public Works Director John Baker presented a contract (up to $1,203,332) for site evaluation to locate an algal flowway to help meet Falls Lake nutrient reduction rules. The system uses algae to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from water. The consultant, Gradient, will conduct site searches, public outreach, and optional 30% designs, solar evaluation, and multi-site analysis. Councilmembers discussed equity concerns, possible amenities, community engagement costs, and the need to lock down land. The presentation was informational; the contract was approved on consent.
- Participatory Budgeting (PB) Cycle 4 Update: Community Development Manager Carmen Ortiz and Fallon Thompson presented PB's history and plans for Cycle 4, which will launch spring 2025 with a $2.4 million budget. Goals include engaging underserved populations, implementing equitable projects, and building relationships. The steering committee set a goal for 60% of projects to come from high-equity-need areas. Council discussed demographic voting patterns and methodology. The presentation was informational.
- Vision Zero Update: Transportation Director Sean Egan provided an update on the Vision Zero Action Plan. A high-injury network analysis found that 11% of Durham's roads account for 74% of traffic deaths and serious injuries (excluding highways). The draft plan will be presented to council on March 20, 2025. Councilmembers emphasized the need for quick-build safety improvements and noted the parallel need for a similar data-driven approach to gun violence.
Key Outcomes
- Approved consent agenda as modified (items 1–9, 14 on consent; items 11–13 on public hearing).
- Approved city manager's priority items.
- Approved excused absences for Councilmembers Cook and Freeman for the February 3, 2025 meeting.
- Approved Councilmember Cook's request for a staff report on HIV-specific funding.
- Received presentations on Algal Flowway, PB Cycle 4, and Vision Zero; no action taken.
- Set a future meeting date to discuss community engagement practices.
- Adjourned at 3:44 PM.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon, everyone. It is uh one PM. Uh, we have a few more colleagues that are coming in, but we'll go ahead and get started. Um we'll call the meeting to order at one PM. Madam Clark, will you please call it role? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Williams. I'm here. Mayor Pro Tim Middleton. I'm here. Councilmember Baker. Here. Councilmember Caballero. One away. Councilmember Cook. One way. Councilmember Freeman. Councilmember Rust. Announcements. I don't know if you wanted to do it now or if we wanted to do it during other matters at the end. I'll leave this up. Okay. You can you can just I might hold off that at least until our other council members are. Um, and then there's some other funds in there as well. Just a report about how those have been used. Um and um sort of what agencies are involved in the distribution of those funds. So that is my request if I have support from my colleagues. Um I I don't think I don't think it's a big I don't think it's a problem. We also kind of addressed it. We sort of talked about it on Monday night, but uh I don't I mean it's just information uh getting what funding we have coming in, right? Yeah, and how we're spending it. Yeah. Good. Okay. And then my HUP was specifically on is your request, right? Yes, I'm I'm looking for any funding having to do with um that we get specifically having around HIV. Are you looking for I was kind of clear, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think I think if we were to add any of the other pots of money in, it would be just a much bigger conversation. Um so that was HAPA and and other HIV-specific funding, state and federal. And then um I also am gonna need to request uh an excused absence for our next council meeting on the third. Okay. Um you want to go ahead and do that now and just all right. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, all opposed. Good. Uh just to add to your request, I will say that um uh Durham uh uh we are a member of the African American Mayors Association, and uh we received a uh we received support and resources to uh look at a uh a risk assessment as we're moving it to the new uh presidential administration of what uh funding we have coming in from the federal government.
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