I will also say before we go to the next item that uh Mayor Pro Tim Harrison will be out on leave, and our thoughts will be with you as you um uh go through birth, maternity leave, the rest of it, and uh Stormy Fort, our most recent mayor pro tem will be filling in for uh yes, not on the uh parenting duties, but on the official duties.

Yeah, okay, yes, babysitting perhaps.

Maybe um but yes, we'll be thinking of you over the coming weeks.

Uh special awards.

I will hand this over to the city manager.

And happy birthday.

Thank you.

Um, and are we acknowledging any special awards today?

All right, we will have Michelle Millet here to kick this item off for us.

Um precious doggies today.

That's it.

No, the though?

I didn't see the double.

Unfortunately, the dog could not join us, but the wonderful K9 team is right here behind us.

So if you want to recognize them, I think they'd appreciate it.

We will in our consent agenda, we will adopt the resolution authorizing the sitting manager to execute the donation of the police dog for its next chapter.

Um, it'll be part of the consent.

Yeah.

But if you want to move for consent, go ahead.

Yeah.

Second.

All right.

All in favor of the consent agenda.

All opposed, and thatem.

Oh, you did?

Okay.

I'm sorry, I did not get any pulled items.

Okay.

Reminder, you have an item pulled, which is the consent item for uh council contingency pulled by Councilmember Ford.

Second.

She's on the board.

Yeah, so all in favor of removing uh uh Councilor Fort from the Sage item.

Right for voting.

I mean, we just voted on everything, so now we're I'm trying to back up.

All right, all in favor, let's clean this up a little bit.

So if we could, let's go back to the consent agenda for approval of the consent agenda with the exception of that item, which is C for B.

So friendly amendment.

So moved.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

So all in favor of the consent minus the item polled by Councilor Ford.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Okay.

Now we will go to what what is the item?

We will go to Councilmember branch to make the motion to recuse Councilmember Ford from voting on the item.

Okay.

So move.

Second.

All in favor of allowing Councillor Ford to recuse herself from voting on an item because of a conflict of interest.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

All right.

Now we will vote on the item.

Okay.

And just remind me the number.

That is item C4B.

Okay.

Yep.

Second.

All in favor of C4B, aye.

All opposed, nay.

All right.

So that is seven to zero.

You are all mentally on maternity leave or not the dog.

Okay.

So now we go to report and recommendation of the planning commission, and there is no report.

So we move on to special items.

There's no report.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of City Council, Sadia Satar with Budget and Management Services here to talk about a special item related to City Council contingency.

Just as a quick reminder to all of you, as well as our viewing public at home, Council contingency items are different than the funds that are part of the City's annual grants process.

These are items that you are all at your discretion to provide to different organizations and groups in the city that provide services to our residents.

And we are bringing this item back after Mayor Pro Tem Harrison requested that a portion of our fiscal year 25 capital reserves in the amount of 48,000 be added to the existing City Council contingency budget for fiscal year 26.

So your existing budget at the moment is 150,000.

And if we were to authorize the use of these one-time funds, your total budget for council contingency for this fiscal year would be 198,000.

In the next slide, it shows all of you your current balance remaining for City Council contingency and what that potential balance could be if we were to add the 48,000,6,000 for each City Council member in council contingency funds.

So the next slide is recommended action is should you choose to move forward to authorize the use of one-time uh capital reserve funding to add to this year's City Council contingency budget.

Okay.

Thank you.

Questions or discussion?

Yeah, I'll just note again, you know, the reason for bringing this up is there are a lot of nonprofits that serve some of our most vulnerable residents, and can the need has grown in many different ways.

And so this will give us an opportunity to support more of those community-based organizations.

So with that being said, I am prepared to make the motion, and that would be to uh authorize the one-time edition of 48,000 from fiscal year 25 capital reserves for a total budget of one hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars in fiscal year twenty twenty-six.

Okay.

So we have a motion on a second.

Any other discussion?

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Thank you.

That is unanimous.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh report and recommendation of the city manager.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

We have one official item in my report today, and then I would just like to give a special thanks to staff at the conclusion of Mr.

Bunkins' report.

He is going to talk to us about the Belvin Watershed Protection Project and Ed Bunkin from Raleigh Water.

Thank you, Madam Manager and City Council, and I think a birthday wish is in store for you.

So happy birthday.

My wife is tomorrow, so I will remember yours.

So thank you again.

And what I'm going to talk to you today about is the Belvin project, but before I do that, I'm going to provide a little bit of a refresher and update on our watershed protection program.

I am going to start with the vision statement there, the mission statement.

And it is very straightforward.

We want to be able to help fund any sort of project that can help our and protect our water quality and our water supply watersheds.

And for those of you who have been around for quite some time, you may remember this program initially started out with several different names.

Started in 2005 during Mayor Meeker's time here, and it was called the Falls Lake Initiative at that time.

And then it changed over to the Upper Noose Clean Water Initiative.

Councilmember Silver might remember that acronym.

I did not use the acronym.

So um so it has a long history here at the City of Raleigh, and it's been very successful.

And I think it's also been uh it's very unique, not only in North Carolina, but across the country.

You don't see a program like this hardly anywhere.

Um there we go.

And one of the reasons why it is unique is because we are tasked with protecting our water quality basically outside of our jurisdiction.

What you're looking at there is the Falls Lake watershed, as you can see, it's within six counties, only thirteen percent of it is in weight county, and less than one percent of it is in Raleigh's jurisdiction.

And much is uh the same is true for the Swift Creek Basin with Lake Vincent and Lake Wheeler.

Very little of it is in uh within our direct control.

So uh we had to think outside the box.

How are we going to protect uh water quality in Falls Lake?

And I should also mention that this program preceded the establishment of the Falls Lake Nutrient Management Stro uh strategy.

So uh this was a proactive step by the City of Raleigh to protect um arguably the most important natural resource that we have.

So we had to think about how are we going to work with our uh upstream partners uh to help protect Falls Lake.

So as I mentioned, 2005 is when the program was started, and we identified uh the local land trust in this area to be our partners and they kind of act as our proxy because some of the benefits of of local land trusts are they know the lay of the land.

They know the leadership in the counties, they know uh the landowners, the developers, the farmers.

Um it's it's a much more effective communication uh strategy than having someone like me knocking on doors trying to find projects.

So uh we've partnered with several different land trusts over the years, and I think it's been a great success story, and they've um acted very well on our behalf.

And that some of the other benefits is that they are very effective at finding matching grant dollars.

So um they're going to go try to get monies from state grant uh programs, federal grant programs, and also there's um open space uh programs as well that we've partnered with.

And so projects can range from the the usual one will be a land conservation project, but um in 2015 we changed the name the Watershed Protection Program to reflect the fact that we'll also do things like stream restorations.

We've done that with uh Solan Water Districts.

Uh we've fenced cattle out of uh streams in the Falls Lake Basin.

Um we've uh invested in stormwater control measures uh up in the basin.

So it's not always water conservation, or excuse me, land conservation, but it it oftentimes is.

But the other part about this is that the land trust will do all the uh monitoring and and keeping up with the property so that so that we don't have to do that because oftentimes these are in Durham County, Granville County, and we don't really have any ability to own that property.

So the land trust will take care of that for us.

And um we identify projects uh we've had a a system that we use to identify our most uh high priority projects since I think 2010 or thereabouts, where it's uh it's a GIS tool, very similar to IMAPs, if you've used that product where you can zoom in.

So every parcel in our water supply uh watersheds is scored on a matrix, so the land trust and other partners can just zoom in and figure out if that property is something that we want to work with them on.

Um we evaluate things like uh soil type uh topography, so if it's got steep slopes, and uh we also look at um the the uplands as well, because uplands are usually going to be mature forest and um the mature forest are the that's the first water treatment plant ever, and it's still undefeated, and it's the best one.

Um I'm very proud of the water treatment plant work that we do, but um the forest doesn't have to have operators, uh constant preventative maintenance and all of that.

It just does its job every day.

And we're gonna be in the water treatment business for a long time.

So this is really an effective way to protect our water quality.

So these are the projects that are located in the Falls Lake um area, so they're they're scattered all over the place as you can see.

Um we've done a lot of work uh kind of recently in in the Granville County uh through the Tar River Land Conservancy, and you can that green kind of blob in the middle there is um the but uh uh Camp Butner military facility.

And so they they also want um more buffer around their facility.

So a lot of times we've been able to partner with them to to help get projects uh on the table.

So as you can see, they're all over the place.

And if you can, it's kinda hard to see, but um kind of in the middle, there's a red dot.

That's the Belvin project that I'll be talking about here in just a minute.

So this is a bit of a summary of what we've done with this uh program so far.

And I'll just cut to the chase and draw your attention to the bottom line and uh the very last uh one there that has the leverage ratio.

And what I think that's important because that means that for every dollar we spend, we're using getting $7 in matching funds.

So that can be a donation from the property owner.

So if it's a $5,000, $500,000 piece of property, and so that's what it's valued at, they'll sell it to the land trust for $300,000.

So it's a $200,000 uh donation.

So we get that a lot, and that's something that the land trust excel at is really having that uh good faith negotiation.

And also we'll get grant money again from state and federal agencies.

This number, though, the ratio has gone down over time because the state um opportunities, the funding there has drastically been decreased over the years.

But uh so we're having to find other partners.

But um, you know, this is one of the best ones, types of projects you'll ever see is basically a donation.

And that's brings me to the Belvin project.

So the Belvin project is located right off Highway 50 if you're driving north uh out out of Raleigh.

Uh you'll cross over the Wake County line, and not far after that, it's um on your left.

And it's 277 acres, so a really large tract of land.

You don't see that very often.

Usually they've been kind of subdivided.

And this is a special um project in my mind, because uh the Belvin family has uh owned this piece of property for literally hundreds of years.

There's a cemetery on the site that dates back to the early 1800s.

Um so this is um uh a piece of family history here.

And you can see there um there's an old uh farmhouse there, there's a lot of outbuildings uh as well near there.

Um and so you know, my my daughter and I go we go tramping around uh Falls Lake all the time, and you'll find these little areas like this.

This used to be a farming community well before Falls Lake was even envisioned.

So um but now it's it's a forest.

It's uh just a functioning forest and an absolutely beautiful site.

It also uh you can walk down all the way down to um uh the ledge creek arm of Falls Lake.

So it doesn't get any better than this in terms of um high scoring, high value, and um we have a great opportunity to preserve this indefinitely.

And so here's the the project specifics, as I mentioned, 277 acres, uh almost 9,000 feet of stream protected.

But um again, just to cut to the chase here, the the really amazing figure here is uh the money that we're being requested uh from Tar River, which is $132, $850,000.

So you guys deal with with land issues almost every meeting.

You're not gonna see $479.60 per acre, probably ever again.

Um so you know, the value of this property is is close to $1.8 million, at least the last appraisal is probably higher every passing day.

Um in fact, I was initially like, gee whiz, I'd like to buy this.

Um but you know, this is going to be preserved and managed by uh Tar River and a representative, uh their director, Derek Hallberg is here.

Um so they've been really great partners for us, and and they've been able to develop relationships uh with this family, uh families like this over the years to bring these projects forward.

The Bellvans um had a very strong wish to keep this property from being developed.

Um so that's that's uh an incredible um act on their part, and we we certainly appreciate that.

And so we're getting this, we hope to get this project done um for an amazing deal.

So I'll finish with any questions.

Is that your daughter?

Yeah, I was we were hiking around.

She's her favorite thing is the wetlands, so that's where we go.

Okay.

You mentioned uh wonderful project and great presentation uh questions, discussion.

Okay.

This is this is great.

Um protecting our water quality and perpetuity is is really excellent work.

So thank you for your partnership with the land conservancies, all of them, but Tart River in particular this time.

Um the funds that we'll use to participate in this partnership, they come from people's water fees?

Yes, ma'am.

Uh that's a great question.

So um it initially early on in the project, it was a development fee.

And that was hard to keep on going like that.

So we ended up um around 2015, no, excuse me, 2011, uh switching to a volumetric fee.

So it was initially 10 cents per thousand gallons of water used.

Our director at that time simply said everybody benefits from watershed protection, everybody should pay for that.

Um so it's about um 57, 60 cents for the average residential user per month.

Um over the years I've received uh one call about it, and um the person was initially a little upset and and I was asking her more about it, and she it was fifty cents.

And she said she misread it and thought it was five dollars.

So once she heard of 50 cents, she was completely fine.

And I meant to ask, like, well, what's the number where it would really?

But she um so that's the only thing that's the only question we've ever had about it.

And so we in 2015 we raised it to 15 cents since we know we had um Lake Wheeler Lake Benson to protect as well.

And that is where it's been since.

And um, so it's it's been a very effective way to raise that revenue.

And people can see that on their water billing.

The truth and billing.

It's right on there.

Yep.

Cool.

Thank you.

Okay.

Yeah, I just wanted to note um that I work with Ed uh representing the city as the vice chair of the Upper Nees River Basin Association, so we attend those meetings every few months, and that partnership asks jurisdictions surrounding Falls Lake to do just what we're you know being asked to do here today, land preservation and restoration investments to protect our drinking water supply.

So when we talk about leveraging, we're also really, I think being a model to inspire our upstream neighbors like Durham, who they don't drink our water, but they impact us downstream.

So we are really all connected in the watershed.

Um very excited to uh move forward on this.

So I guess with that, I will just motion to authorize the purchase.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second, any other questions, discussion?

All in favor of the motion, aye.

All opposed, nay.

That is unanimous.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And so, as we all know, over the past couple of weeks, we have had some abnormal weather for this area.

And we have had an amazing showing of public service here in the city from every department from facilities to housing and um neighborhood and community development working with Wake County to ensure that there is always a shelter bed somewhere.

We were even called in to come in and help transport folks to other shelters when there were some issues with infrastructure at that particular shelter.

And so I just wanted to acknowledge the amazing men and women that make up Team Raleigh because they have truly stood up in the line of service, never complained, or if they did, we didn't hear it.

Um they never said, I want to go home to my family and make sure my family is okay.

They were truly fully committed to this organization, and particularly to transportation.

We would not be here today if it was not for the work that was done by transportation to cle to clean our primary streets predominantly, but they have even done a really good job on some of our secondary streets as well.

We have made passes on state facilities, not because we are supposed to, but because it is the right thing to do to make sure that the residents in Raleigh get to matriculate in a safe way.

So I just wanted to acknowledge my amazing staff today for the work that they have done over the past couple of weeks.

We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, so we may still be doing it again this weekend, but let's hope not.

Um but in the event that we do, we are ready.

The um EOC has been stood up by emergency management over the last couple of weeks, and it's just been an amazing team effort, and I just wanted to acknowledge that work today.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And that concludes my report.

Okay.

Next, we have the report and recommendation of the Stormwater Management Advisory Commission, and we have Graham Smith, Chair, and Wayne Miles of Engineering Services.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members, appreciate the opportunity to come before you and talk about some proposed policy changes for the rainwater rewards program, um, also known as R3.

I am Wayne Miles, Stormwater Program Manager and Engineering Services, and I have with me today Graham Smith, who is the chair of the Stormwater Management Advisory Commission.

This program is a cost share grant program funded by the City's stormwater utility fee to construct rain gardens and other types of great green stormwater infrastructure on public and private property.

In its current uh form, uh since 2018, we have funded uh nearly 300 projects totaling approximately $3 million.

And as you can see, uh, between the consultations and the actual projects we have done over that period of time, it very uh pretty well covers the city.

In terms of program uh policy changes, the most significant change is we are proposing changing the cost share proportion to 90 percent of project costs citywide.

Under the current policy, the majority of these projects are 75 percent cost share, and some watersheds um we had a current 90 percent cost share based on the State having designated those watersheds as impaired waters.

Now we have uh we have changed our uh interpretation with the Noose River being designated as nutrient sensitive.

Um that the entire city now is somewhat in an impaired waterway.

So as a result of that, we are proposing changing that cost share to 90 percent citywide.

Some other policy changes.

Um we are changing uh the language for for uh clarity.

The old policy refers to this as a reimbursement program, whereas a cost share program is a more appropriate uh language.

We are updating the policy drivers.

The the old policy refers to the city's stormwater permitting and regulatory requirements, but these projects are above and beyond any regulatory requirements.

So we are removing that language related to our policy and um referring to sustainable growth and resiliency.

And then finally, we are adjusting the staff level approval threshold because of inflation and escalation from uh $5,000 to 10,000.

Uh projects over that will still be reviewed and approved by the SMAC, and all projects over $30,000 will still come to City Council for final approval.

We um we do get lots of benefits in terms of community benefit uh involvement from this project as well as water quality.

We have a 100 percent subsidy program that is co-funded by the Climate Action Fund, thanks to the Office of Sustainability, and that program covers that difference of the cost share that is not currently funded by the City, so that we can offer 100 percent funding to nonprofits and other eligible residents based on income.

This program is also closely aligned with a workforce development and rain garden apprenticeship program, where we are partnered with a nonprofit.

That program teaches teachers and high school students green stormwater infrastructure in a STEM-based curriculum.

So it is a really important outreach and education program is as well.

With that, I will turn it over to Graham Smith, the Chair, for the recommendation.

Thank you, Wayne.

Um thank you for your time today.

Um this did come before um our Commission um previously, and we we did uh want to move this forward to you guys for your recommendation.

And this uh proposed recommendation is to approve the updated uh Raleigh Rainwater Rewards policy as recommended by the Stormwater Management Advisory Commission with an effective date of July 1st, 2026.

Well, appreciate the presentation and this great program.

Uh uh Stormy Fort.

Wayne, I have a question.

On the subsidy, you indicated that eligible residents could get the 100 percent subsidy.

What are the eligibility requirements?

Yeah, the eligibility requirements for the 100 percent subsidy is um 80 percent AMI or lower.

And then for rental properties, because we are doing work on private property, the owner has to be the approver.

So for rental properties, we have an equivalent threshold based on the rent that they are charging for that property as to whether it would be eligible for the subsidy program.

Councilor Potton.

Yeah.

Hi, Wayne.

Um, this is a great program, and um one time I had gotten a constituent feedback that I forgot until right this very moment, but I am going to convey it to you.

They work in this resident um works in the landscape architecture industry and thought it might be fruitful if there was a like uh like an education program specifically for the professionals who will be installing these on behalf of the private property owner, just so they can feel a little more fluid with the requirements, because I know like the rain gardens have to meet a certain threshold.

Correct.

Yeah.

And I I may turn this over to Justin Harkham so he can talk about the design criteria that we we require.

Um Justin rents this program day-to-day.

Good afternoon.

Happy to answer any questions about the program.

Um currently we do lean pretty heavily towards the State of North Carolina's Department of Environmental Qualities design requirements.

Um we have so we do have standards for for the installs.

Um interested parties in learning more about how to install these.

We do hold a uh rain garden workshop, I believe it is twice a year for it's more geared towards your homeowners.

But that could be a step in the right direction.

And I know uh Wayne had mentioned the partnership with uh Urban Sustainable Solutions that provides that workforce developments on both the install and the maintenance.

Um one thing we do provide applicants is a list of contractors who have completed projects in the past.

So yeah, if set out said architect um completes a project, navigates that first application successfully, we will be able to add them to the list and share that with interested parties moving forward.

Gotcha.

Cool.

Help them.

Yep, Council Branch.

Um definitely thank you for the information.

Like the program.

To me, the program seems like someone that has a home and they want to add a rain garden or add something.

Do we do anything on the front end where something is being developed?

Are that just part of the overall developmental process as far as stormwater?

Yeah.

Good question.

The majority of these projects are on existing development.

Um there is not an intent here to help development that would occur on these projects.

Um so really we we work with existing property owners to implement implement these projects.

Okay.

I guess um I have got a lot of questions, which may be more just offline, getting more familiar with the program.

But so you are doing 30 to 40 projects a year since 2018.

Is that accelerating?

Or is it steady and you know you have got enough money?

What's what's the obstacle to doing more?

Yeah.

So it is accelerating.

Um, and Justin and team have done a really nice job getting the word out, working with uh community members.

There are a lot of nonprofits that um are getting more and more interest, especially with the subsidy program now.

Um but we see this program um growing and a little foreshadowing.

There are some cost implications to this change, going from 75 percent, 90 percent cost share for some of the projects.

Um we will be bringing uh a budget increase with our proposal for the budget this coming uh fiscal year FY27.

Um you might have noted this policy change is not going to effect until July 1st of 2026.

So that would be next fiscal year.

And then the second question, um, kind of going to Corey branches.

This project that you are showing right here does not look like a retrofit, obviously, of an existing property.

This looks like sidewalks, a city, municipal, a very expensive project.

And is this counted in the 300 projects you have done, or is this just an example of another set of projects that the city is taking under its own project?

Good question.

So this picture right here is an example of the rain garden apprenticeship program with USS Um Urban Sustainability Solutions, and so these are the students of that program that are learning about rain garden maintenance.

This is actually a city project.

Um this is Peterson Street.

Um this is a project down on Peter Street Peterson Street down near near the Walnut Creek Wetland Center.

There was a city GSI project.

And how many city projects have been done since 2018 compared to the 300 private?

Very few, actually.

Um there were more in the beginning of the program.

For example, uh, the green roof on Raleigh Union Station was funded under this program.

However, you you you might recall we have a separate line item now under our GSI plan that funds matching um GSI funding for new city projects.

So that is more commonly now how we are funding greenstormer infrastructure on on city projects.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Um anybody have a motion on this one.

I uh thank you so much for your work, and I do want to say thank you to SMAC for um the continual conversation.

I know last month we talked about it, but it was a holdover because there were some questions, so really appreciate that the work you put into it.

So I would move to X and do I have language, I'm sorry.

Approve the updated rewards policy.

Cool.

So um can I I would like to motion to approve the updated Raleigh rainwater rewards policy as recommended by stormwater management advisory commission with an effective date of July 1st, 2026.

Okay.

All in favor of that motion.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Great work.

Okay.

Next we have a report and recommendation of the Substance Use Advisory Commission, and we have Saul Perada, Chair, and Raquel Gill from Economic and Social Advancement.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Raquel Gill from the Department of Economic and Social Advancement.

I am glad today to introduce Mr.

Saul Parado, the Chair of the Raleigh Substance Use Advisory Commission.

Mr.

Varada will present to you today their annual report for the year 2025 for your information and their annual work plan for fiscal year 2026 for your approval.

I'll turn it over to Mrs.

Soff if you want to do it.

You got it.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Sal Prada, and I serve as the Chair of the Substance Use Advisory Commission.

The Substance Use Advisory Commission exists to advise and support the City of Raleigh in addressing substance use and its related challenges.

Our work is grounded in compassion, reducing stigma, and ensuring people have access to resources.

Our efforts align directly with the city's strategic priorities, community safety, housing quality of life, and organizational excellence.

One of our key accomplishments in 2025 was supporting two medication take back events.

These events provide residents with a safe way to dispose of unused and expired medications.

In October 2024, we collected nearly 150 pounds of medication, and in April 2025, another 96 pounds, both in partnership with local pharmacies and Raleigh Police.

We also hosted two community listening sessions to hear directly from residents, service providers, and people with lived experience.

In addition, we expanded partnerships by attending events like Raleigh Times First Friday and Rally for Recovery.

We were focused on outreach and education.

Looking ahead to 2026, our work will focus on partnership development, listening sessions, outreach to unhoused populations, medication take back events, education, and updating our bylaws.

These focus areas build directly on what we've learned from the community.

We plan to deepen partnerships with the Department of Econom of Economic and Social Advancement, Raleigh Police, and local behavioral health coalitions.

Our goal is improving coordination and access to care, especially from popul for populations most impacted by substance use.

This supports citywide efforts to reduce overdoses and strengthen trust in public health systems.

Listening sessions remain a core tool for us.

They allow us to gather feedback, identify emerging trends, and ensure community voices directly inform our education and outreach efforts.

We will continue working with community organizations to deliver resources to unhoused residents.

Substance use and mental health challenges often overlap with housing instability, and addressing these risk factors help improve overall quality of life.

We will continue supporting biannual prescription take back events.

These events reduce misuse, prevent diversion, and protect the environment.

Their simple but effective public safety tools.

Community outreach, including First Friday events and social media, helps us educate residents, reduce stigma, and share information about treatment and prevention.

These platforms allow us to meet people where they already are.

Education remains a priority.

We support workshops and seminars that address prevention, early intervention, treatment, and harm reduction.

These efforts involve community members, health care providers, educators, and law enforcement.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the members of the Substance Use Advisory Commission and our staff liaison.

This work is truly collaborative.

Thank you for your time, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Great.

Thank you very much for that.

First of all, Mayor Partum Harrison.

Yeah, thank you all for your work.

It's very important.

I recall there was a survey that you all were potentially working on.

Is that still something going on?

I did hear about the listening session, so just uh I'm curious to better understand the trends going on in the city.

Yeah.

This is my second year, and um the surveys are something that we've been really trying to dig into and trying to figure out what really connects to the public.

Um we kind of I feel like we've done more on-site things more than just handing out the the you know those types of um.

I had it.

Sorry, the um it remind me one more time.

Like a survey full of the surveys, yes.

I'm sorry, the survey.

We're wanting to connect more directly with more of the listening parties and actually go out there to the encampments and actually in with the Raleigh Times first Friday, same thing, meaning people where they are.

And um just trying to do it where it's not as threatening to them or they don't feel like they're getting too personal, but wanting to reach out to them with the resources so they at least can reach back out to us.

Is there an opportunity to learn what you all are hearing from those sessions or just the other thing?

Yeah, no, um I would like to we can definitely um answer uh more in detail.

We have our city council meeting coming up this next Wednesday.

And um I'd love to go back and you know be able to you know respond to that a little bit more.

Um but yeah, all these things that we do is a big collaboration with everyone in our group that work in different fields.

Um I'm just really uh blessed to be a part of it.

And um to be the chair, um I'm again it's just the title.

I'm just I'm happy to be here to represent them because they do a lot of the the work and I'm just here to kind of learn and just to be a part of the community.

So um I'm out here every night uh working.

I I book live music and I do a lot of things in the community.

Um I worked with a lot of the bars and restaurants in the community for the past 15 years.

So I have a lot of different perceptions perspectives of the nightlife, and I just love bring coming involved with all the different perspectives of people from different walks of life to kind of figure out what needs to be done.

And I I love the city, so my main goal is to you know just be a light and walk around and let people know where they can go if they have if they need any help for anything.

So we appreciate that.

Yeah.

Thank you guys.

Counselor Jones.

Um just to answer uh a little further on to that question.

When uh a few years ago when I started the there was a big shift into into the board, and so that survey that you're talking about had been inherited from the previous board, and so there was a little bit of confusion as to what is the point of the survey, who gets the results of the survey.

And so we div as a group decided to do more outreach, which is what Saul was talking about.

Um we done some uh on encampment direct encampment work so that we can gather that information, but to your point, I can work with them you know this this month to decide how do we transfer that information because we are not as strong on that survey because we weren't the creators of the survey.

Does that make sense?

But I'll I'll make sure to to work on that.

Thank you so much.

And I just wanted to say thank you so much.

So uh have not been able to come for the last few meetings, but you guys did a wonderful job with your survey or sorry, with the with the work plan.

And I'm really excited to see all of the monthly visitors that you guys are scheduling.

So what I've loved watching you guys do is grow into learning and having all of these different organizations, nonprofits, having the police come in and just educate you as to what's happening so that now we can really take that on and say what do we do with this information?

So uh we'll definitely work on making those connections a little bit stronger, but I'm really proud of the work that you guys have done, and I appreciate being there when I am able to come.

So without any further questions, I'd like to move on to the other.

Well, actually, I was gonna just comment too.

Um, this is really appreciate this work.

It's such an important committee, and I would just echo, I think uh Mayor Protens.

I would love to hear more about what you guys are learning and what we can do better as a council and appreciate all that volunteer work and outreach that you're doing.

Um just impressive to see some of the metrics on the medicines.

I guess a question for staff is do we have do we have dollars allocated in our budget at all for this, or is this just all volunteer work or partnership work?

Are there any dollars for substance abuse uh uh prevention or education in our budget?

They are dedicated uh every they have a budget as a substance use advisory council.

I don't remember the exact total.

I think Nestor is coming down here, but they do have a yearly allotment.

Yeah.

We have a print here a budget of $7,000 that we dedicate to Suec.

And then do we have other dollars?

I know we give money to healing transitions.

Like what's the total amount of money the city spends annually on this topic?

Do we know that?

We don't know it.

Maybe Saudi can kind of pull it, but we fund a lot of nonprofits that move and work in that space, so we can get you that total figure.

That's exactly what I was gonna say.

Yes.

We would be more than happy to find that information and send it in perhaps the city managers update or whatever the manager desires.

And yeah, and then my final question would just be on metrics.

You know, maybe the police department has something around where do we rank?

Like how do we think about this issue in Raleigh as a city?

How do we compare to other cities?

I think we fare fairly well, but I don't really know.

So that would just be another follow-up question.

Um just an important issue.

So now uh I would like to move to a motion to approve substance use advisory commission's 2026 work plan.

Second.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Great.

Uh next we have the different committees, and we have uh nothing outside of transportation and transit with uh uh counselor Patton.

Yeah, we've got one item coming out of Transportation and Transit Committee.

Um full council will recall that several months ago we took into committee the topic of citizen-initiated street closures.

Um this is a great example of being in an environment where we test and learn.

We we tested a sort of exception process for these street closures that were a little bit of an anomaly and didn't quite meet all of our standards.

But after testing it, we have learned that we would not like to have this exception process anymore.

So our motion is to ask staff to reinstate the previous procedure for um street closure petitions.

So moved.

Right.

Any other discussion?

All in favor of that motion.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Great.

Okay.

Uh next we have the report of Mayor and City Council, and I will start with councilmember Ford.

No report.

Um for me, just two good things that we did through the consent agenda today.

We already acknowledged one of them, the retirement of Bandito, the K9.

Um then we also approved a contract to expand our network of rain gauges, which will help to enhance our flood early warning system, which will help keep all of our neighbors safe and you know, rainy Raleigh.

Uh I have no report, but I just do have a question.

Uh in terms of snow removal on sidewalks.

Uh I don't know if this is a question for you to city manager or public works.

Uh, what is the obligation of people in front of their homes to remove snow, which then turns to ice.

I know that we have a team that does a very good job as a city manager, commended all of staff.

But just in terms of just sidewalks, uh I I just went for a walk out of curiosity and I was somewhat surprised that I had to kind of walk in the street because it was the only place that was plowed, but just want to understand the obligation of property owners, places of worship.

Uh is there a requirement to clean a certain part?

Just we need to understand in the city of Raleigh, what is the expectation?

I will phone a friend.

I don't know that we have an actual requirement, but we strongly encourage all of our partners to be good neighbors and to clean up um in their space so that people can traverse on the sidewalks and in the public right-of-ways in a fairly safe.

Yeah, I was struck as I was driving up North Hills and was watching an elderly person on Six Forks near the tall senior center, just north of North Hills.

Delicately walking on ice, and I was very concerned.

Couldn't stop to help, but I was very concerned to see that person navigating.

I think it seemed like they were going toward the bus stop, but it was just very concerning.

Yeah, Paul Calm Transportation Director, great question.

So I would just say it is a combined effort really between property owners and the city.

Technically, the sidewalks fall to the responsibility of the city, the maintenance.

But I will just tell you, just due to the number of lane miles that we are working with, we're actually trying to dive down into neighborhood streets now and try to start clearing some of those.

A lot of our efforts around sidewalks or particularly around downtown, just because we have much more pedestrian movement downtown and we have a dedicated kind of downtown services team that focuses on that.

And just keep in mind right now, we have got half of our staff transition back to leap collection right now.

So we are really honestly stretched thin on what we have with these types of events, but we will slowly try to work on sidewalks, but I'll just tell you that's that is down the priority list.

Bike lanes we do.

We have got some specialized equipment that we're usually on bike lanes, so we do try to put some emphasis on that as well.

Yeah, I I guess my call is that we don't have these snow events and ice events often, but if we can communicate to the public, uh whether you are business owner, place of worship, any establishment, homeowner, it would be helpful if they can pitch in because it was discouraging to and I know some people, this is the South, not everyone owns a shovel, uh, although I saw leap blowers out there busy at work.

Uh but whatever small piece we can do to help in front of our property, I think it would go a long way for those that do have to take a bus or need to use the sidewalk, I think.

Any little bit would help.

Yeah, great feedback.

Thank you.

Yep, and I'm just gonna piggyback on that and uh city managers' comments to say I thought we did well as a city.

Um I know we're a lot of brining and a lot of prep, and then we didn't get quite as much as we thought.

And everybody loves to flash that picture of the woman's car burning, you know, in the middle of uh, you know, and and point out that we don't know what we're doing.

So thought we did great.

And I appreciate all the frontline employees and those neighbors that were out like shoveling and helping other people out with salt.

Um so I saw both that public safety employee, but as well as a lot of neighbors helping each other, so thank you.

Yes, uh echo that uh thanks to staff.

I do have some thoughts that I just wanted to share.

Um I know that things feel you know really unhinged right now.

The world is very, very loud and the headlines are exhausting, and it feels like everything is happening to us instead of with us.

But this right here, right here at this table is where power still lives.

Local government is not background noise.

PTA meetings, citizens' advisory councils, and public comment are not symbolic gestures.

They are the front lines of democracy.

These rooms were built for regular people to speak, to learn, and to shape what happens next.

So if we want accountability, if we want community, if if we want change that actually sticks, it doesn't start online or somewhere far away.

It starts with showing up locally, using your voices and refusing to sit this moment out.

The chaos may be national, but our power is local.

And so with that, I will be reminding you that our next district E community meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 11th from 6 to 8 p.m.

at La Cusina Italian restaurant.

And I really hope to see you there.

Uh and then we also have our decoding democracy book club, which will meet on Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 14th from 9 30 to 11 30 at New World Cafe on Durley Road.

So I really hope you use these moments to exercise your voice because it matters, and we want to make sure to amplify it here.

So thank you.

Just want to say to all the parents out there, I'm hanging in there with you.

We'll be glad when Wake County Schools does open back up and everyone please stay warm.

Yeah, I just want to thank Raleigh residents and my colleagues here for their patience and well-wishes as I do plan to begin a maternity leave this weekend, God willing.

We will not have a district D neighborhood alliance meeting this month.

I won't be there.

Um but I expect to be back with y'all in mid-March.

Um I will need a few babysitters or baby holders to make it to council and community meetings.

Yes.

Um and I'm grateful knowing I can count on y'all.

Um another topic, it has come to my attention that the Wake County uh school board chair has offered partnership to keep the Athens Drive Community Library on the high school campus.

That's not in the school, but it's on the campus grounds, and that could help the library remain in Raleigh.

It's been a vital community asset since 1978.

It serves a socioeconomically diverse community, which the library should be able to serve for years to come.

I also want to note that we do have a property at 4200 Avon Ferry Road, the city does, that's adjacent to the campus, which could provide land and flexibility in design of the new school and library.

I recognize half the site is likely undevelopable because it has a topography and a stream that you know uh isn't gonna allow it to be used.

But it could be used as tree conservation or perhaps as environmental requirements for the school campus redesign.

So I would just want to throw that out there.

And just to support keeping the Athens Drive community library in the community, that is in Southwest Raleigh.

I'd like to make a motion today to authorize the city manager to engage in discussions with the Wake County Commission and Wake County School Board on partnership opportunities to keep Athens Drive community library in Raleigh.

We we have to your motion is to allow our city manager to engage in partnership discussions with them, but it's not specific to any specific action.

Okay, I'll second.

Scott, I know we we've had extensive conversations about this particular topic, and you know, libraries are not within the purview of the city of Raleigh.

I mean, that's just not the business that we're in.

I think the county commissioners and the school board folks have had extensive conversations about keeping it there, but it's not within our our purview and certainly land and things that we've got.

I better use for affordable housing and other initiatives along those lines.

And so I I would object and would oppose the motion.

Other discussion.

All right.

Well, we have uh a motion and a second.

Um all in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

Uh all opposed.

Yeah.

All right.

So one opposed.

And uh I so all right.

Thank you.

Um afternoon.

First is Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, two regular vacancies.

Um Brandon Tucker received eight votes and would be appointed, and that means your remaining vacancy will return on your next agenda.

Design review commission, one alternate vacancy.

John Terzoti's Terzades received eight votes that would be appointed.

Police advisory board, one regular vacancy for your for your LGBT community member slot.

Chase Franklin received eight votes that would be appointed.

Next is police advisory board one regular vacancy mental health provider slot.

Jessica Hayden received eight votes that would be appointed.

Um police advisor board one alternate vacancy, Councilmember Jones nominated Celina Vasquez, so that will be returning on your next ballot.

Lastly, Stormwater Management Advisory Commission Commission, Councilmember Jones nominated Colin McCarville, so that will be coming back.

Um new announcements under nominations today.

That's it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh City Attorney's report.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of council.

I'm going to ask Keenan Conder with my office to come up to help me with this presentation.

Keenan is an attorney in our office and actually is assigned to work with code enforcement.

So with that, I'll get started.

This item is an overview of Raleigh's existing minimum housing code and how it protects renters.

If you'll recall back in the fall, Durham adopted changes to its ordinance, and at that time I committed to take a look at our housing code to determine if we needed to make changes to our code.

Today's presentation walks us through what our code covers, how enforcement works, and the resources that are available to renters in our community.

So beginning first with what our city code covers.

In all actuality, our city code actually addresses about 700 uh different things as it relates to minimum housing.

Um they include and probably the ones that um would tend to be most visible and most concerning, uh, deal with structural hazards like damaged floors or roofs, fire and electrical hazards, severe pest infestation, lack of utilities such as water and heat, particularly during the winter months, unsafe exits and security issues like missing or inoperable locks.

These are some of the types of conditions that were identified as posing some of the most serious risks to tenants, and these provisions are covered in our in our ordinance, as were uh Durham's Durham's ordinance when it was adopted uh back in October.

We looked at as a result, we looked at uh our housing code, and I say we, I mean the city attorney's office working with the housing staff.

We looked at our housing code and felt that it provided sufficient protections for our renters.

And so with that, I want to talk about some of the resources that we have available uh to renters in our community.

First, on our website, we have what we call a tenant resource toolkit.

And that toolkit uh is on our web page, and it provides information on how to report violations and also uh connects tenants to legal assistance organizations that can help them uh navigate housing issues.

We actually, as a part of that uh toolkit also it talks about uh what to consider before renting.

You go too fast, Kitty.

It talks about uh what to consider before renting, how to request repairs from your landlord, uh eviction and foreclosure resources, and also how to report uh concerns.

The tenant uh toolkit was uh developed with input from our fair housing uh advisory board.

It is regularly reviewed and updated, and in fact, the fair housing advisory board is having a conference that is actually scheduled for May the 15th, where they will also focus on tenant rights and fair housing education.

Moving forward, here's how the here are the ways that you can make a complaint.

You can certainly uh as we like to say go old school and call.

Uh but we also have uh you can use our Ash Raleigh portal as well as again on our website.

Moving along, we have a short video that should talk about uh Luke's gonna pull it up here that talks about the housing code housing code enforcement process.

And Luke says stop.

He got it's about a two-minute video.

Hi, I'm Jane Friggs with the City of Raleigh Housing and Neighborhood Code Enforcement Division.

As a code enforcement official, we work to make sure your home is safe, healthy, and that your neighborhood is a great place to live, work, and play.

We inspect renter and owner occupied residences and properties to make sure they meet minimum housing and building standards, as well as addressing public nuisances such as high grass, trash, storing appliances outside, and bushes or grass growing over the sidewalk or street.

Code enforcement also addresses zoning vehicle issues, which is having more than one unlicensed or uninspected vehicle on the property, and public nuisance vehicles, which are wrecked or dismantled vehicles.

There are some basic housing components required for all dwellings.

A few examples are kitchen area, staff tub, shower, toilet, sink, hot and cold running water, working permanent heat source.

One of the most important aspects of our inspection is checking the dwelling for working smoke detectors.

It is incredibly important that you have a working smoke detector in your home.

It can save you and your loved ones from a dangerous situation.

Code enforcement also works with the fire department to make sure that all houses have a reliable fire detection system and accessible exits like doors and windows in case of an emergency.

Be sure to check your home for these important safety measures.

Making changes to increase the safety in your home could save a life.

If you would like to request an inspection of your home or to make a public nuisance complaint, please contact Code Enforcement Division at 919-996-244.

So going to you've we've talked about the resources available to make a complaint.

And this slide shows the general enforcement timeline after a complaint is received, uh, what happens in terms of staff inspecting the property and then working to get the if there are violations working to get those violations repaired.

Only a small number of uh cases actually escalate beyond the administrative enforcement process.

Then moving up moving on.

When we began this endeavor, it not only was about looking at our code to make sure that our we felt that our cup our code uh provided sufficient uh resources available to renters, but also what were the ways that we did that.

And so, in addition to what we have available on our website, there's a housing newsletter that has about 16,000 subscribers.

Uh we engaged in uh increased social media posts, and we had about 15 of those.

We also have an ad in the uh box on the right, is actually one of the ads, it's one of two ads that are currently on our buses.

I don't know if you've seen those yet.

Um and then finally, again, when we talk about the resources that are available, we also have on our website the legal assistance that's available through the Fair Housing Project with the uh legal aid and then the Blanchard Community Law Clinic.

And I actually have with me here today uh Rick Glazier, the clinic's director to talk about the work that they do in the clinic and how they support housing and tenant issues.

And with that, I turn it over to Rick.

Thank you very much, Karen and um uh mayor.

It's good to see you again and all the members of City Council.

Thank you so much.

I want to start off and will try to explain very quickly the work of the clinic.

Some of you know it very, very well.

And I want to begin by thanking the City of Raleigh for being one of the leaders in the country on working with our clinic and others in providing housing assistance, eviction protection and mitigation work.

Really is quite amazing, and I'll go through some of the data very quickly that the City Attorney outlined in the memo that you have.

I also have with me two people from the clinic, Professor Laura Clark, who handles uh supervision of all of the clinic students on the civil side, and Ashley Thompson, who is the office manager of the clinic.

Um the clinic has broken down at Campbell uh into two separate clinics.

We have a civil substantive clinic and a criminal substantive clinic.

We're talking today about the civil work, but I do want to highlight for a minute also what we do on the criminal side, which dramatically affects Raleigh residents as well, just so that you know.

On the civil side, when we deal fundamentally with housing issues, eviction uh protection and homelessness prevention uh work.

We have, as you know, as this city is authorized, uh, the second phase of an ongoing contract uh to do operational work and to provide these services to eligible, income-eligible City of Raleigh residents.

And we also have a $250,000 agreement with the city uh that stems back to originally to ARPA money uh that deals with rental assistance, and we may be one of the few uh rental assistance programs now still available in the City of Raleigh.

I I want to highlight how important this work is.

Um there are really only two groups representing tenants uh in any significant way in the city.

Um Campbell Law School through the Blanchard Community Law Clinic, and then legal aid, as you saw.

Um as you know or may know, legal aid's funding both at a Federal level and a state level has been dramatically cut in the last several years, and particularly this past year.

And then with the elimination for a year of IOLTA money, uh it has generated significant cuts to legal services staff, so that what was once a housing unit that had eight lawyers in it now has three and and hard for them to take anywhere near the capacity of cases, recognizing that the vast majority of tenants don't have counsel at all.

I think one of the questions that City Attorney responded to that we can say is in the magistrates court and district courts in Wake County, um I would say um percent or less of tenants are represented by counsel.

Um that is uh important to note because almost all cases where they are unrepresented by counsel uh result in eviction.

Um the vast majority of cases we represent clients in do not result in eviction.

And I'll highlight two of those for you, but to highlight the importance of having counsel in these cases.

In Wake County, there are four courtrooms operating daily in a morning session and an evening session, an afternoon session.

There are approximately 750 evictions a week in this county.

And we're a rich county, relatively speaking, so you can only imagine how this problem is exponentially a problem statewide.

Um I highlight that because when I came to this job, even though I was, as you know, in the legislature for 13 years, I don't think I had a full understanding of the depth of what we're facing.

There are lots of reasons for that, of course, and economics uh uh right now in our country is a significant part of that.

But I highlight uh that point of what we do, and not only do we represent clients within the system and trying to prevent homelessness from occurring, but we also try to create policy initiatives within the system to help.

For example, there wasn't until last year a notice given to a tenant who is uh evicted by an order of a magistrate that they had a right to appeal within 10 days to the district court.

Now that's given in Charlotte, and it's given in other cities.

But Professor Clark was able to sort of work with the Chief Magistrate and with uh uh Judge Ridgway as well to create that notice capacity, which is really important because for so many tenants, it's not that they're not going to be evicted eventually.

For a lot, it's finding the time to get them stayed in place till we can get them to a future residence so they're not put out on the street.

It's finding a little bit of time in negotiation with the landlord to allow the tenant to come up with the money to pay past a rearage or to work with us to be able to use some of the rental assistance funds that you have so generously donated.

And we have already used in less than uh what, about half a year, somewhere around $60,000 of that $250,000.

We only use it in cases that Professor Clark approves, then I approve, and the dean of the law school approves in order to make sure we meet bar requirements, and also that these people that we're helping are actually going to be able to sustain and stay in the home that they are in rather than just paying a rearage to keep them there for a week and then having to exit them.

On the criminal side of the clinic, I would highlight this as well.

We do mostly driver's license restoration work.

But it's important to note that there are about 1.2 million North Carolinians, adult North Carolinians, without a driver's license.

Not because they have DWIs, but because they didn't pay a traffic ticket 20 years ago.

Our State remains, I think the only State in the country that has an anachronistic law that says if you don't pay your traffic ticket or go parking ticket, I might add, within 30 days of the date it was due or appear in court, you lose your license forever until you get it rectified.

That results in counties, some counties having close to a majority of their adult citizens without a driver's license, which is an economic development issue to say the least.

It is also a security and a finance issue and an insurance issue.

And so we're working with DAs across the state to try to resolve that to get people their licenses back.

And we're working in uh with the Stein Administration and have been for uh since its inception with the division of uh correction to work with adult prisoners who are facing re-entry to get them their driver's license before they exit from prison, so it's one less obstacle to getting employment when they get out.

So that's what the clinic does under the tremendous leadership of Dean Rich Leonard.

Um I'm glad to sort of highlight two things for you, because I think it is helpful, and then answer any questions that you might like.

But but again, I want to say here are two examples of why what you do matters.

Why creating the capacity in this city, whether it's during COVID times or it's during the cold as of the last couple of weeks, why having a roof matters so much to stability and to survival?

This was a case that was uh uh a year ago.

It was a single mother in Raleigh of five children who got slightly behind on her rent and the landlord filed for eviction.

The lights outside this client's second floor apartment did not work, and the landlord refused to fix it, despite a number of requests from work orders to do so.

The client's young daughter, one of her daughters, fell on the stairs and broke her arm.

Additionally, the landlord was charging the tenant $35 a month for a smart lock and never installed it.

The clinic represented this woman, countersued the landlord, alleging breach of implied warranty of habitability and unfair debt collection practices.

The case was resolved via settlement, significantly reduced the amount the client owed.

She was allowed to stay in the residence.

Smart lock charges were removed from her bill, and the eviction case was dismissed.

Otherwise, I guarantee, well, I don't want to say that.

It is more likely than not, substantially, that if she didn't have a lawyer with her in court, she and her five children uh would have been evicted.

And that's the kind of case that your resources pay for to help seriously help the most vulnerable citizens in this community, and I think people should be eternally grateful for the lead work globally that you are doing.

I'm glad to answer any questions.

Okay.

Thank you to Representative Glazer.

Do we have questions?

Yep.

Start with Councillor Patton.

Sure.

Thank you both for bringing this information.

I have a lot of questions, and some of the numbers that you presented here are really staggering in some of the numbers that were given in response to our questions.

I I think City Attorney, you told me casually there's uh there's about up to a thousand evictions a week, and I I was like, that's so staggering.

I must have remembered it wrong.

And then there it was again in the backup.

Like that's correct, um, which is really just wild and shows that we need a lot more capacity, and it sounds like if tenants are able to have their needs met or be you know, beat their evictions so they can relocate on more favorable terms or whatever, then that's the direction we need to be heading in.

And I am wondering about where the bottlenecks are.

Is it is it only funds?

Is it timing, is it number of students, like because any one of those requires a different treatment or response rate?

Certainly from the clinic capacity, uh we're we we have some limitations in that uh the bar regulations of clinics allow us to have eight students per semester on the civil side, eight students on the criminal side.

We have uh work a little magic by creating an advanced clinic course that gives us additional capacity.

Um we're maxing out, but there's only so many cases we can supervise and meet the ABA requirements for uh legal education.

Um as I suggested, uh there used to be certainly far more capacity with legal services, and they have been tragically undercut in that work, and I uh I I think that certainly affects representation capacity here.

I think training of the magistrates and the system to sort of understand that each case is unique and different as opposed to having a more systematic roll through when there's not counsel there is important, and I think uh the chief magistrate and Judge Rudway uh are working on that.

I think the Wake Legal Support Center is a real that we participate with is a very important concept.

I think as well, there are uh timing issues.

The legislature has significantly changed in the last 15 years.

Um sped up dramatically the eviction process from what had been not a long process, but a very moderate, reasonable, temperate process uh relative to states to now being one of the fastest, if not the fastest eviction process in the country.

Uh so I think it's sort of all of the above in in answer to your question, Councilwoman.

Got it.

And I'll pass the mic in just a second.

I have many questions, but I'll pass the mic just one follow-up on that one.

Um it sounds like for legal aid, the primary source of the bottleneck is funding constraints.

It sounds like on y'all's end, it's sort of like the these bar requirements.

But is there our have you?

I'm curious if you've partnered with other law schools, and because if they if we we can't get more out of your students, there are other students elsewhere that we could maybe access.

Well, I'll answer and then if you'll allow Professor Clark may have uh an additional.

Um as an example, I'm gonna switch gears to the criminal side on this.

Uh we are partnering uh with um, as I said, the Department of Correction.

Um the First Lady has taken this on as one of her projects and has been with us at our um uh uh clinic at three prisons.

Um in doing that with the department, uh, because there are 21 prisons in the state releasing at any given time, uh, we can only handle one or two prisons uh semester, uh, because that's hundreds of cases.

Um we're working with training other law schools uh to be involved in that process to get in more of the prison population who is re-entering uh services.

I think almost all the law schools have some tenant uh clinic capacity.

Um, but for Raleigh, um it it's really fairly we're the we are the law school in Raleigh.

Um I I I uh know Duke has a very active clinic uh and works considerably in Durham.

Um I believe Central is now involved in that process in Durham as well.

Can't speak to Carolina.

I know they have a clinic, but I don't know where they operate.

Um I think almost all the law schools are involved.

Uh I will say that the rental assistance money that the city provides was delayed in getting out because there was uh again an old bar regulation that suggested that lawyers couldn't fund their own litigation.

Well, that was meant to stop private lawyers from doing that, but it had the effect of stopping clinics and anti-poverty organizations.

Uh luckily our bar has sort of got a workaround on that as they're revising the rule and allows us to use the rental assistance money, but that was the delay in getting it started if that answers that question.

Good afternoon.

If you can see me over the podium.

Um I'll just add um to what uh Director Glazer mentioned before.

Um, I wanted to go back to the evictions being the quickest here in North Carolina.

It's not leaving our tenants, our clients, with much time to figure out what their next move is.

Um I've had in some cases a tenant be served with an eviction notice on a Friday with the court date that following Monday.

And so you could imagine that's not a lot of time to figure out how to get off of work, um, how to get child care, how to get transportation to the courthouse, um, and that's why you see a lot of the times tenants even don't show up to court, the majority of the time.

Um for uh the tenants who do uh attend court and maybe want to appeal because maybe they have a genuine legal basis or just because they need more time to figure out what their next step is.

If they do come to us, one of the great resources that we have started in the last year, um, which has been tremendous to helping us provide holistic legal services is our social work, um collaboration with NC State University.

Um they have a Masters of Social Work Practicum uh program, and for the last year, year and a half now, we've had a Master of Social Work graduate student working with us at the clinic three days a week, uh 20, 22.

24 hours a week.

Um that student's job is to help us fill in the gaps of where the legal work, where the student, the law student's legal work doesn't cover.

Um so that could look like helping the tenant search for new housing.

It could be helping the tenant with food insecurity, getting signed up for food stamps, or um applying for a daycare voucher.

Um the list is endless.

So that that's what our social work program looks like right now.

It's it's the this what it looks like day to day is the master of social work graduate student is working closely with the law students to help identify needs, maybe even before the law student has identified those, right?

Law students have a certain type of training, and a social work student has a different type of training.

So we found that uh working together as a group really is providing that holistic experience or holistic service for the client, and is it it's impacting outcomes, it's helping us with settlement, it's helping just provide a service to that tenant as a whole as a whole rather than addressing the legal need.

Thank you.

Right.

Uh Mayor Burton.

Yeah, one question.

Um I'm curious if you have followed uh Durham recently, they passed a housing ordinance amendment to protect tenants.

And it seems like the main difference between what we do is that they are now basically you can't making it unlawful to collect rent if there is one of these dangers to health or safety, kind of the list that we saw.

And so can you talk about what that does, what that achieves in your opinion?

I'm just curious if you're following that.

I'll ask Professor Clark to do that, but I also know I think that was uh something I saw in the memo that this the count uh the city attorney had addressed, and I turned to her first if that's all right.

Yeah.

If you'll recall uh when we talked about this, um there's a state statute that talks about uh cities cannot set rates for private rental property.

And so our concern with that would be that we would potentially be in violation of that state statute.

And I guess I would add um my two cents or my one cent worth of thought here.

Um having served in the legislature not for 10 years, but when I did uh the last five years in the minority, um, the preemption of city and county authority was significant as a goal.

Um, and I would think that that's an issue you should consider.

Thank you.

Councilor Brown.

So question of this roughly 700, I guess you said cases a week.

How many of those are Raleigh residents compared to the entire county?

I don't think I don't have data on that off the top of my head.

Um, but I mean we see at the clinic we have um individuals contact us from carrying ideal garner, you know, all over the county, and um you know I hear all types of addresses in the courtroom, so I can't tell you how much are what the differentiation between Raleigh and the rest of the county.

And the reason I ask, I care about all of our Wake County residents, but our dollars are for Raleigh.

Right.

And so I'm trying to understand you know the impact to our immediate Raleigh residents in order for us to figure out a path to address that.

We can't fit the judicial system.

That's not in our lane.

But what we can do, you know, I would definitely like to look at it.

It's a significant number given uh resident location throughout the county and the significant city presence.

Obviously, we can only serve uh under our agreement with the city, city residents.

We do consultative services, but don't represent in court Wake County residents outside the city.

We are in discussions, the preliminary discussions with Wake County, partly uh as a result of uh efforts of some on this council to suggest to your colleagues on the commission that they may want to engage in those discussions.

Uh so I hope we can provide a little bit uh greater capacity in the future for all Wake County residents.

Thank you, and thank you, Counselor, for for your work.

Absolutely.

I was going to point that out that I know there's been some conversations with Dean Leonard and some folks on the county commission about the county actually contributing to cover the other municipalities.

Counselor Silver.

A two-part question.

I mean I agree with my colleagues that 750 a week in Wake County is a shocking number.

It really makes you just pause.

In terms of the eviction, you said one of the fastest in the country.

First question, I am assuming the answer is no.

Is there any mediation before a landlord files to go directly to court so that there is some time for the tenant to explore options?

That's the first question.

The other question is I don't know the eviction process when someone has served a notice or they know they are in trouble before it hits the point of eviction.

So I'm just trying to understand when a tenant starts getting in trouble.

Is there a period of a warning to say within X amount of time something is going to happen?

And then is there a mediation before something is filed to go to court?

Because at that point, sounds like it's if you don't have legal representation, it's a fate of the complete.

Great questions.

And I'm going to answer the first one briefly and then turn it over for reasons that will be apparent to Professor Clark.

No, there is not a mediation, but there isn't now a mediation work group that's been assembled that's had two meetings.

Professor Clark is a member of that work group.

It was called together by uh Chief District Court Judge Eagles.

Um there are uh there is a legal services representative, there's a uh an attorney who represents landlords on the uh panel that's trying to create guidelines as a pilot, voluntary pilot project uh for mediation.

Uh there's already been some discussion about whether that mediation should occur prior to eviction filing or post-eviction filing.

Um it makes more sense in all ways for pre-eviction filing.

Um I'm not sure that that's uh we'll see where we end up.

But I'll let uh Professor Clark talk about that and in the answer in a little more depth your other question.

Yes, I'm really excited to be on that working group because I think it's something that we've needed uh a lot, especially since COVID, we where we're seeing these rents increase, and I think it's uh it's impacting the number of eviction filings, because that's the majority of what we see, the cases um which I didn't mention earlier, nonpayment of rent, breach of lease for nonpayment of rent.

Um but um the reasons why, or would a tenant how would a tenant know that they're in trouble, you ask?

Um typically there's a notice, I would say generally there's a notice that's sent at some point.

Um a lot of leases don't require a notice, but generally we do see some kind of notice being sent to the tenant.

Either you're late, your rent is late, you have until this day to get caught up.

So the tenant typically has some idea.

Um I won't that won't doesn't happen in every case.

Um I've heard many times um that the court papers were the first uh notification that they received uh that they were behind or that you know something was wrong.

Um generally there is some kind of notice.

But once the eviction process is initiated, it's very quick.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Thanks for uh do we have one more?

Yeah.

I may be switching over into code enforcement questions.

No.

I am mostly I am curious about how many of these types of sort of life safety minimum housing standard violations we receive, how frequently do we have uh repeat offenders that recur over and over in the city of Raleigh or repeat areas of the city kind of Ed said I'm just interested in the state of the code enforcement violations.

Good afternoon, Bryce Abernathy, uh Code Enforcement Manager.

Um time to time we do have repeat offenders.

Um a lot of times it's property or landlords that own many homes or maybe apartment complexes.

Um those do show up a little more frequently.

Um as far as uh where those are located, we have inspectors all throughout the city, and it's kind of sporadic where it's going to as far as the really unsafe conditions.

Usually those kind of houses, most of the time folks aren't living in those already.

Um, as we go in and do housing inspections and run across a broken outlet or something's something's wrong in the panel box or there's a leaking pipe, some of those things aren't don't really fall into that unsafe category.

There's more of an unfit situation where we would start a case and go through that process.

Um the worser or the the more severe the violation, that that time constricts also.

So if it's an unified situation, that time frame that was shown on the slide shrinks down.

Right.

Well, yep, Council Jones.

And sticking with that uh under a thousand per week number that we've seen in your assessment over the last few years, is that a high increase?

Are we staying stagnant?

Is it going down?

It's increasing.

Do you have is there and I don't even know if if I'm asking the right question, but who is in who monitors that to make sure that, okay, we're in a red area, we are seeing a lot more evictions than we normally like who whose job is that?

I I would say that it is on it is fundamentally unmonitored from a court perspective.

Um the cases are filed, and the court keeps the track of the data of the cases, but uh from a monitoring perspective, there's really I don't think any organization that does that.

We try to monitor, for example, uh, even when we don't have a case in court, we use students to monitor what's happening in some of the other magistrates' courtrooms so that we get a sense or a flavor of what's occurring and why it may be occurring, and if there's a pattern of change or something that that we need to take notice of.

I'll just add though, in the working group for the mediation program that I'm on, there's uh there's been discussion about trying to collect data because they want to be able to monitor outcomes and monitor how well the the program is doing.

So there's there's talk of collecting data in Way County soon to see how much it's impacting, and then I'm sure we're gonna see if the numbers are rising.

But for the last few years since COVID, I've seen a dramatic increase in the number of filings and related to non-payment or rent specifically.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, just appreciate Campbell University being here at the law school and all three of you for the work that you are doing.

It's uh very impactful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I uh yes.

And this is for our city attorney.

I think your presentation was impactful, and I don't know if you've um talked to the folks at the Fair Housing Affair, Housing Advisory Board.

Trying to make sure I get a name right.

Um but maybe you share this presentation with them, and hopefully they'll include it in the conference in May.

We'll definitely do that.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I believe you have another uh item, right?

Yes, just very quickly.

Um as you know, state law requires that certain actions taken.

We can close the PowerPoint now.

As you know, state law requires uh when we come to you in closed session and receive authorization for settlements that it be formally reflected in the official minutes.

This item, the second item before you is just that.

It's for information only, and no action further action is meet by the council.

That concludes concludes my report for today.

Thank you, Madam Attorney, and we now have the city clerk.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Uh included with your agenda materials were uh draft minutes from your January 20th and your January 24th uh retreat.

Move for approval.

Second.

All in favor of motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that passes.

Thank you.

All right.

Next is a motion in order to enter to closed session pursuant to general statute 14318.11A3 to consult with the city attorney in order to preserve attorney-client privilege and to consider and give instructions regarding the handling and or settlement of a potential claim in the following matters.

The City of Raleigh versus the legacy of TAS Inc.

General Statute 14318.11A6 to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of employment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee, or to hear an investigate investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual public officer or employee.

So moved.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Right.

We are now going into closed session.

So the council met in closed session and has nothing to report out, so we will uh adjourn until seven PM.