Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and thank you all for joining us on this Monday, July 13th, 2026. As noted in the agenda, we had a closed session earlier today and no action was taken and staff was given direction. I will now open us up for our public meeting and I'll start with the public charge. But then, Commissioner Jacobs, would you be open to reading the land acknowledgement? Land acknowledgement? And then, Valentine, would you be open to doing the pledge? All right, so I'll start with our public charge. The Board of Commissioners asks its members and citizens to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the board and fellow citizens. At any time, should any member of the board or any citizen fail to observe the public charge, the chair will ask the offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should decorum fail to be restored, the chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to the public charge is observed. Commissioner Jacobs.

As we convene for the Durham County Commissioners' Meeting, it's crucial to recognize the painful truth of history. We stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Catawba, Eno, Okaneechi, Shakura, and Tuscarora peoples, whose deep connection to this land predates our arrival. We acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred, leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their homelands. Their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit. May we humbly honor the ancestors and elders of these nations. both past and present, by committing ourselves to fostering understanding, healing, and justice for all who inhabit this land. Let us walk forward together with open hearts, acknowledging the past and embracing a future guided by compassion, respect, and unity.

All right, thank you. Commissioner Valentine. all right the next item on our agenda is our agenda adjustments but I will note the use of e-cigarettes or vapes are not allowed on county property and I see I see the use of it so if you continue to use I'm gonna have to ask you to leave are we understood Are we understood? All right. All right, agenda adjustments. Are there any adjustments, or I'll accept a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved.

Second.

All right, it's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the agenda as presented. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. All opposed, please use the same sign. passes unanimously. Next item on our agenda, the announcements.

Good evening, everyone. I'm sorry, I will read the announcements published in tonight's agenda. All Durham County solid waste convenience sites will be closed to the public on Thursday, July 16th for a scheduled staff development day. During the closure, operations at all convenience sites will be suspended. The convenience site locations include Parkwood Convenience Site and Northern Convenience Site. Both sites will reopen with normal operating hours at 7 a.m. on Friday, July 17th. Durham County Government has launched Pay Deco NC, a new digital platform that makes it easier for residents to manage and pay property taxes online. Pay Deco NC is available now at pay.dconc.gov. Pay Deco NC gives residents the flexibility to manage property taxes in a way that works for their schedule and budget. For additional information, there is a link that residents can visit. Sheriff Burkhead will represent Durham County at this week's National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Conference. He is invited to be a featured speaker at a leadership forum to discuss immigration reform and how we in Durham County are handling the balance between local law enforcement and this national policy change. He is scheduled to speak on July 16th and will be joined by the Police Chief of Santa Ana, California, in neighboring Orange County. More information is available at the NALEO website. The Durham County Sheriff's Office is collecting school supplies during the month of July to support students of all ages returning to school for the 26-27 school year. School supplies are being collected in the marked boxes on the first through third floor lobbies of the Sheriff's Office located in the Durham County Courthouse at 510 South Dillard Street. Donations will be distributed at the Back to School and Stop the Violence Community Resource Fair on August 1st. For additional information, you can contact Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator Tamika Gilmer at 919-560-7702 and donations are due by July 24th. And lastly, in the July episode hosted by Deborah Craig Ray, Chief Communications Officer, she welcomed Ellen Beckman, Director of Durham County Transportation in Miles, Spain, Community Engagement Analyst. Beckman highlights ongoing efforts to improve and connect transportation across the region as Durham continues to grow. And Spain discusses how Durham County Community Partnership and Engagement is strengthening relationships, elevating community voices, and connecting residents to resources. You can watch the full episode of In Touch with Durham County at the Durham County Government's YouTube channel, and there is a link. That concludes the announcements published in tonight's agenda.

Thank you, Clerk Wallace. Next item, are there any other announcements that we have from the commissioners, or I go to Vice Chair Lum, and then, oh wait, did you have one, Michelle?

Yeah, I don't have any announcements, but I did want to ask about the data centers, like what's the update from staff with regards to the language, and when we probably will see it on the agenda.

commissioner burton staff is working on the um the moratorium uh language you'll have that on the august 3rd work session for discussion with the board and then from there based on the directions of the board and input we received on the board we hope to bring it back in august if if possible for a public hearing but we'll make that determination once we hear back from the board on august 3rd and then we'll of course announce the public hearing soon thereafter

Thank you for that because we've been getting a lot of emails from residents, so I want to make sure we discussed it on the dais. So thank you for that, thanks.

I was wondering if we could bring back to the dias a continued discussion on the treatment court I know there's some been some developments in moving that forward and so that we can have further discussion so I'm hoping that that can make its way back on the agenda we can certainly do that Commissioner Jacobs

Just two announcements. One is I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that as part of the 250th celebration of the birth of our nation, there is going to be a joint celebration between Durham County Library and also the Duke University, and there is a very rare copy of the Declaration of Independence that is going to be on display at Durham County Main Library from September 8th through 20th, 2026. And a lot of people have been asking me, like, what is going on to recognize the 250th uh, anniversary celebration. So, um, I'm sure there'll be more information to come, but I just wanted to, um, share that. And that is a collaboration with Durham County library system, um, and Duke university and others. Um, the other thing I just want to mention are many of us are going to be headed to new Orleans later this week for the national association of County officials. summer conference and something that I'm really excited about is I was just sharing with ACM Pierce. I've been invited by a county commissioner in New Orleans with some other county commissioners to go to a cafe in New Orleans called Cafe Reconcile, and I'm excited about it because it is a cafe, I did not know about it until the invitation, that is run by youth who are at risk, who have been justice involved, and also people who are formerly justice-involved residents who run this cafe, and so I'm excited to eat there and see how the program works because, frankly, we don't have anything like that in Durham. So I will be excited to share what I learned from visiting there.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. Are there any others? Okay, we'll move forward. The next item on our agenda is the approval of the minutes for the June 22nd, 2026 regular session meeting. So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded and we approve the minutes for our regular session meeting on June 22nd, 2026. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed, please use the same sign. Passes unanimously. Next item on our dinner, ceremonial items. We have a resolution honoring civil rights icon, Dr. Virginia Williams, and Commissioner Valentine will be reading that.

Yes, Chair. If you'll indulge me for just a moment. Sure. June 23rd, 1957. Dr. Virginia Williams entered the Royal Ice Cream Parlor not knowing whether or not she would change the trajectory of history. But in fact, history was in her hands. And because of you, Dr. Williams, many in our community who were treated as second-class citizens put not only Durham County, but the nation on notice. that we were not going to go back. And in fact, because of your actions, we stood up, we stand tall today, because not only your entry into that parlor on that particular day, June 23rd, 1957, but the six others who entered along with you. Durham Board of County Commissioners, resolution, recognition for Dr. Virginia Williams, Whereas Virginia Williams was born in 1937, raised in Seaboard, North Carolina, in a family that emphasized hard work, Sacrifice and moral courage, values that shaped her character throughout her life. And whereas, in 1957, at the age of 20, she participated in a peaceful sit-in protest led by Durham civil rights leader Reverend Douglas Moore at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor as one of the Royal Seven, where they sat in the whites-only section and were subsequently arrested. And whereas, During the now historic encounter with law enforcement, it is widely noted that Virginia Williams demonstrated exceptional courage, clarity, and a steadfast commitment to justice, qualities that would define her lifelong pursuit of fairness and decency. And whereas, years later, in reflecting on her participation, the historic event that predated the Greensboro sit-ins, Williams says, and I quote, it was exciting because we went we went where we dared not go i wasn't frightened or anything of that sort because either way we could have made history if he had served us ice cream he would have made history himself but by refusing to i guess we made history and whereas she continues to share the story of the royal Ice Cream 7 and to educate others about Durham's rich civil rights legacy. And in 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from North Carolina Central University in recognition of her enduring contributions. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Durham Board of County Commissioners hereby recognizes and congratulates Dr. Virginia Williams, Be it further resolved that we extend congratulations as she will be honored at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum's 2026 Sit-In Participant Award at its annual gala on July 18th, 2026. This is the 13th day of July, 2026. Signed, Dr. Mike Lee, Chair. Nida Alam, Vice Chair. Michelle Burton, Commissioner. Wendy Jacobs, Commissioner. And Stephen Valentine, Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Virginia Williams. Please be seated. Dr. Williams has her church family with her this evening. In particular, her pastor and his congregation, the Reverend Dr. Abdu Knox from St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church. If you'll approach the podium. Pastor Knox will introduce Dr. Williams. Before he does that, I do want to note that William A. Billy Marsh Jr., a revered legend and legal titan in our community, served as legal counsel to the Royal Ice Cream Seven. And we have today with us his son. His son, William A. Drew Marsh. The third, we know him as Judge, Judge Marsh. I'm glad he was there for you. And so at this time, Reverend Dr. Abdu Knox, if you'll do the introduction.

Chairman Lee and Vice Chair Alam, members of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, distinguished guests, Commissioner Valentine, thank you for the privilege of being here this evening. I have the distinct honor of serving as the 32nd pastor of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church, the church Dr. Virginia Williams faithfully calls home. It is both a joy and sacred privilege to introduce not only one of our cherished members, but one of Durham's living treasures. Dr. Williams is the last surviving member of the Royal Ice Cream Seven, whose courageous 1957 sit-in challenged segregation here in Durham and helped pave the way for the modern civil rights movement. But those of us at St. Joseph know her for more than the history books. We know her as a faithful woman committed to her God, We know her for her remarkable humility and her quiet strength. She's never sought recognition, yet her life has become a testimony that courage does not have to be loud to change the world. It is a blessing that Durham can still honor a woman who not only witnessed history, but made history. And it is an even greater blessing that on Sundays we have the privilege of worshiping alongside Dr. Virginia Williams. So on behalf of the St. Joseph family, thank you for recognizing one of our own. It is a great honor to present to you our beloved Dr. Virginia Williams.

Good afternoon, everybody. This is another surprise. I didn't expect to see this many people here, but I am always glad to see them, and particularly to see my family, my St. Joseph family, to come and help us celebrate something that happened years ago. Never in my wildest dream did I think it would come to this, but you just never know. You take that one step, and you just keep walking and keep on talking, and eventually things will begin to happen. And so I want to just thank everybody that's here, thank all of my members, my pastor, and all of them show up when there's something going to be said about the Royals Ice Cream City Inn and the Royal Seven. And there's just one more living in East Orange, New Jersey. And I am here to continue to care about him. And that we will do as long as God lets us. So I want to thank each of you. And I say Thank you, Pastor. And to God be the glory for the things he has done. And we'll keep on doing it. He's not through with us yet. He is still working miracles. And that is what it was, a miracle then, a miracle there. And we'll just keep enjoying the miracles that he keeps blessing us with. Thank you.

Thank you.

All righty, let's do one more round of applause for Ms. Williams. All right, we have reached the time on our agenda. Our next agenda item are citizen comments. We have 30 minutes allocated and we have 10 people. So we'll keep it at three minutes, which we generally do. So we have 10 people, like I mentioned. I'll call up three at a time, and you all can line up on the side over here. You'll be speaking at this podium over here, okay? So we have Jessica Saxton is gonna be speaking first, then Jessica Jones, and then um mr rafiq mr rafiq you'll be third okay all right so we have jessica saxton okay okay jessica jones and then um i'm sorry mr rafiq i i can't pronounce your last name so i'll just call you mr murphy Okay. All right. So maybe we'll come back to them. Would you like to go first, Mr. Rafiq? And then we'll just have them file in after you. You have three minutes.

Before I start, could I just say a few words on behalf of my sister, Ms. Virginia Williams?

Sure.

That's fine. We thank you, J.J. Henderson. Because we was in the dark about three years ago. And when I came to you, you said you know what to do. And I took your advice. And we got everything back on. And all the so-called handicapped, physically challenged people in the building, we thank you. We thank you for your continued service. We thank you. My name is Rafiq Zaidi. I'm the president of the Black Men and Women with Boots on the Ground, Durham, North Carolina. I'm here tonight on behalf of the stolen children in Durham. According to the statistics, we have, as of November the 26th, or May the 26th, 178 children in custody, that's DSS. 148 of those children are black. Some have been in custody, 187 has been in custody for over two years. Where are the Durham children being placed? Two of the children are in homes with their parents. 66 are in unlicensed homes. Some are in homes with licensed relatives. Some are in homes with non-court audit relatives. Some are in traditional foster homes, 49. Therapeutic foster homes, 33. Children in group homes or off facilities, which we don't know which one, 12. Children in jail or detention, six. And two runaways. Runaway child running wild. Where are these children? I want to know that ran away. Have they been apprehended, rounded up? Are they the two children that we seen a young Caucasian male with near I-47 with a sign saying him and his children were homeless and they had no place to stay in Durham? Were they the two children that ran away? I'm here tonight to tell you that the buck stops with this commission. We are sick and tired. of our children being kidnapped, and no one seemed to want to respond to our call for justice. So as of tonight, I probably won't be dealing with you no more, because I am demanding revolutionary action for every child that goes into your system, and you cannot tell us where that child is at at any given time, we are carrying you to court. Let me make this statement clear. You didn't respond to our request before when DSS Billing had a carbon monoxide scare.

Thank you, Mr. Rafiq. Thank you.

yeah you're gonna have to press the button it looks like a person yeah good evening commissioners my name is Jessica Saxon I'm a civil rights advocate and litigator as well dr. Williams reminded us of a very important thing tonight and that is that injustice does not correct itself And in 1957, she along with six other individuals stood in violation of orders, in violation of our government, in violation of laws, and they were arrested. And that wasn't right. And now we have parents that are coming here speaking, begging for you, asking you, petitioning our government, using our First Amendment right to petition our government for redress of grievances about the children that are being kidnapped and trafficked and stolen and pushed through our system in exchange for money. I served all of you with a notice last year. I served you with affidavits of criminal conspiracy naming judges in this county, and I have seen nothing, nothing on your agenda to address it. What are you doing? Do we even have a government to petition? Ma'am, I appreciate the fact that you brought up the Declaration of Independence. I'm gonna read from the Declaration of Independence and I hope that when people go and look at that, at the library that is on display, that you'll read it and you'll read it and you'll memorize it and you'll know it. For the people that are here, it is time for the people to stand up against the tyrannical government, against an oppressive government, just like Dr. Williams said, because this is not the time to sit on your pew or sit on your couch or sit behind social media and not do anything when we have children that are in foster care. These children that are being removed from their parents, they're being put into foster care. They have an increase of being raped, an increased odds of being molested, an increased odds of being lost, being killed, while they're in our government's custody. That is not a government that we want in 20 years from now. So I will remind everyone. The Declaration of Independence, it says that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is not only the right, but it is the duty of the people to abolish it, to overturn a tyrannical government. And ladies and gentlemen, it is time for all of you to stand up. It is time for all of you to speak, to use your voice, your First Amendment right, learn your constitutional rights, and exercise them to the fullest extent that our foundational government laid in place for just such a time as this. Now is not the time to be silent when we have hundreds of thousands of children that are missing. Go on to the government website. Go on to the Child Bureau website. Look it up for yourself. You will find that we have hundreds of thousands of children that are unaccounted for in this country while we're worried about seatbelt tickets, and we're worried about taxes, and we're worried about paying our government to collect our children and use them against them and separate our families. It is time for us to stand together. And it's time for you guys to do something.

good evening thank you for having me my name is jessica jones and i'm a civil rights advocate and a mom i'm here to speak about cps and judicial overreach i've been battling beaufort county north carolina for about 30 months now i was told some of the same issues are happening here in durham county we are requesting oversight we are insisting on audits And once again, our children are not for sale. Thank you.

Okay. The next three will be Amashanda Curtsy. Then we have Amanda Wallace. And then Pete Eisenman. Sorry. Sorry.

Good evening chair, commissioners, elected officials, and members of our community. I am a mom who is going through this system for no apparent reason. My name is Omishanda Kirksey, and I'm the founder of Treasure Your Dreams Incorporated and the Golden Child Initiative. For the last five years, I've been fighting, not just for myself, but for children, families, survivors, seniors, and people who believe the voices no longer matter. I have attended meeting after meeting. I have spoken with elected officials. I have asked for help. I have watched families to continue to struggle. Tonight, I'm not asking you to just listen. I'm asking you to act. Act because another child is suffering today. Act because another family has been torn apart. Act because another parent is wondering if anyone in power truly cares. Children are carrying trauma they never chose. I'm one of those. Families are struggling with homelessness, domestic violence, mental health challenges, incarceration, and overwhelming hardships to the families. Too many people feel invisible. Too many people have lost the faith that anyone would stand with them. We cannot continue accepting this as a normal. I am calling on every elected official and every public agency to renew its commitment to transparency, accountability, and service to the people. Where this is credible evidence that the public trust has been broken on people's rights or people's rights have been respected, not been respected, those concerns deserve independent review and appropriate action. Our communities deserve systems that people can trust. Our children deserve safe, stable, and loving environments. Our families deserve dignity and respect. This movement I created is bigger than me. It is bigger than politics. It is about protecting our children, strengthening our families, and restoring people's hope. Our pain became our purpose. Our purpose became a movement, and my movement is gonna change lives.

Thank you.

Okay, so my name is Amanda Wallace and I'm the founder of Operation Stop CPS and our mission is to abolish the family policing system which some people call Child Protective Services. And before the meeting started I gave each of you a packet of information and hopefully you can look along with it so that you guys can stop saying you don't know what's going on in your system. And so from the last fiscal year, in July of 2025, like Mr. Rafiq said, Durham County started with 178 children in the system, in foster care, separated and stolen from their families. And in May of 2026, there was 178 children in your foster care system. And if you look at the numbers in July, there was 149 of those children were black. And I want that to sit in because as we're sitting here today and we're honoring the legacy of resistance in this county, we have to understand where we still are today. It gotta be more than words. And it's there right here in black and white. And if you look at the amount of time children are spending in your system, over in July of 2025, yeah 2025, 102 children in custody over 25 months, over two years. And I need that to sit in with you. That means children, because that's what we're talking about. We're talking about human lives. We're talking about people. who are separated from not just their parents, but their grandparents, their aunties, their uncles, everything that they know, they are separated from. And then if you look at where Durham County is taking, stealing kids and then placing them, you had two children currently placed with their parents. And if we understand how reunification works, you gotta go home first before they will leave you alone. And so if you only have two children currently placed with their parents, Not a lot of kids ready to go home, according to your system. And then you got 12 children in group homes or facilities, which is locked down. Locked down facilities. So you take children from their families and then you lock them down into facilities. You got six children in jail. And like Mr. Rafiq said, two children has ran away. Don't even know where they are. And then if you look at the cost of foster care, because that's what we're talking about. All of this is the investment that you guys are making. You fund this system. You fund it. $2.3 million was spent simply on room and board. That means paying strangers, what they call foster parents, to take care of other people's children. $2.3 million. What could that have done to families out here that don't have housing? And then you take their child forward. Or don't have child care. That could have went to that. I feel like there's not been three minutes.

That's been three minutes. Thank you, Ms. Wallace.

To Valentine's Point, I'm just giving you 30 seconds.

We had, we had, that doesn't matter.

We had, all right, thank you, Ms. Wallace. Mr. Eisenman, thank you so very much. Thank you, Ms. Wallace.

This is called institutional muzzling. When you take an issue like this and you give people three minutes to talk about it, it's unconscionable. Family policing is a state child seizure apparatus. It uses the language of protection to conceal kidnapping, surveillance, coercion, and legal family destruction. Its roots are in chattel slavery, indigenous child removal, and colonial governance. Its present-day mechanism is the conversion of poverty into neglect Its courtroom weapon is retroactive legitimacy. Its final violence is termination of parental rights. Reunification may return a child, but it does not undo the terror of forced separation. The system is not broken. It is doing exactly what domestic war systems do. They isolate, they intimidate, they punish, and they fracture targeted families while calling violence care. Are you listening to me? This is supposed to be progressive Durham with progressive leadership. We are not progressing. We are containing. You don't need to come over here. Kidnapping is a word the system fears because you sanitize it with words like removal, placement, safety plan, custody, petition, non-secure custody, foster care. The live reality is this. armed or state-backed entry into homes, threats, coercion, children taken from beds, hospitals, schools, relatives, porches, cars, homes, parents told to comply or lose everything, children moved into strangers' homes, court paperwork produced after the seizure to make it look lawful. This is why DSS does not want the word kidnapping. It removes the periodic costume. The state took a child, the state uses power The state converts family love into evidence, and then the state demands that the parent prove they deserve the return of their own child. That is hostage logic. That is structural destruction of a family. It is genocidal violence. And we have dead children all over this country from foster care, from child protective services. I'm going to say one more thing. When DSS tries to suppress the word kidnapping, it reveals the system's fear. It is not afraid because the word is inaccurate. It is afraid because the word is legible. Because people understand kidnapping. People understand state intimidation. People understand a child being taken without meaningful consent. People understand paperwork being created after the fact. And people understand that if an ordinary person entered a home, took a child, and later tried to justify it with a story about concern, that person would be treated as a criminal. but when the state does it, it's called protected. It's disgusting.

Thank you, Mr. Heisman. All right, our next speaker is going to be Walidon Burns, then Reverend Lisa Cole, then Antoinette Halls, and then the fourth one here, which will be the last, would be Temple Monday.

Hey, you guys. So it's point out to me at one moment that you was talking about me to not smoke my vape. I'm glad you had the naked eye to see that. I'm Waleeda Burns, GIOI's mother. My child has been in the system for two years. And while I'm done everything that the court asked me to do, my family is still not reunified. They, these parties, are using my mental health to validate means of necessary to motion these areas. It still does not give them proper cause for them to complete this action. Also, Judge Gordon has placed her beliefs upon my family, saying that I'm not credible enough to be a fit parent. What I need from you guys is to communicate to Judge Gordon to motion reunification. It is sad how you all are able to say the Pledge of Allegiance and not uphold your testimony or address yourself accordingly. Children all over the nation are being placed in foster care and the efforts that y'all take to reunify families are misleading. You celebrate yourself and only do a little amount of work. I don't have to ask y'all for anything. Instead, I'm telling you to give me, my children, children back. This is not just one motion you should make, but to claim how you guys represent yourself and not do your part in so many of these lives. Do you all get it? You guys say under God's preaching the works of the Lord, but behaving as hypocrites. You should all go to hell for the many lives that you are not taking accountability for. Do something, stand up, do something.

We have Reverend Lisa Cole, then Antoinette Halls, then Temple Monday.

Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm Reverend Lisa Brown Cole, pastor in the United Methodist Church for 41 years, and in the last 21 years served as the manager of the chaplain department at Duke Regional. I've been a Durham resident for 28 years. Along with caring for people in my work, I'm also very, very passionate about our care for our animals. Certainly, as we know and hear, there are many, many concerns in our Durham County that are being addressed and need to be addressed. And I'm here to advocate that this need for our beloved animals also be addressed. As each of you have seen through all of my emails to you and my strong support for the building of our new shelter for Durham County and its new location. When many of you visited our only animal shelter in all of Durham County over a year ago, some of you for the first time, we all were shocked and overwhelmed as we had an up-close look at the condition of this very old shelter. The inadequate size of it for the many, many needs of so many animals is only one of the difficult challenges the staff and the animals face every day there. but there is inadequate and unsafe airflow quality issues, a lack of the type of space and equipment for the many medical interventions that are needed. There's no real welcoming space for those coming to adopt or separate space when there needs to be a surrender. And the list goes on and on, as you know. You all know of all the concerns and needs, and there are many. This project, although there are many needs, has been on the table for many years now. And I'm here to plead with you all, our commissioners, to please approve all the hard work and planning that is being brought to you tonight so that this project will not be delayed any longer. This is too important for all of our community. This new building and its new site will not... not only provide the space, the better care for the animals, the safer health environment for the staff, animals and volunteers, but will increase adoptions, I believe, for the animals needing a home. Durham County needs this new shelter. Yes, we all want to have one that we are very proud of, but much more important, this is what we must do to care for the many animals who are hurting, who are in need, who are lost, who are scared, who are indeed counting on us to do the right thing for them as well. So I ask you to please vote in favor tonight to keep this very important project moving as quickly as we can get it. Thank you so much for your attention to this.

Thank you, Reverend.

Hello, my name is Antoinette Hawes. I live in Durham all my life, and it is a matter of fact that the animals get better treatment than the children. It is well documented that PETA is a great legal representative of animals. But where's the support for the children? I wager that if you would invest in your community and invest in a marginalized community that you say that you care about, that you make homage to at the beginning of every meeting, if you consider supporting the current marginalized community, you would need an animal shelter. because children like pets and the families could afford pets. When you have a family, you have parents and you have children and you have pets. Your focus is skewed and you are misappropriating funds. It's about appropriation. You have sufficient amount of money. You do. It's about how you're spending it, like giving Maggie the money for this drug court. She can't even pass a state audit. She's still not on track to meet the state's goals. But nobody wants to talk about Maggie's failures because everybody loves Maggie. She brings money to Durham County. And that's what we want. We want Durham County to have more money, not stable families, not happy animals, not safe communities. You're a failure. You're the failure. And I hope I never see y'all sit on this board after the next election. I hope every last one of y'all are replaced. because you will have earned it. You will have earned it based on the decisions that you have made this year alone. And it's just July. Just a complete failure. And I'm not sorry. I'm convicted. I am committed to replacing every single one of you. I promise.

You're good.

Hi, my name is Temple Rose Monday. I am a family court advocate for parents across the state of North Carolina, men and women. What I've seen in the courts are definitely patterns. You can't help but recognize it after you go to court multiple, multiple times. This is an epidemic. It is a disgrace. to our families, to our community. And I want to say that I'm here because I believe our family court system needs serious public scrutiny. I came into family court already carrying trauma. Instead of finding a system that understood trauma and worked to protect the parent-child bond whenever safely possible, I experienced a process that compounded that trauma. The longer the process continued, the more disconnected my children became from me. I was ordered into supervised visitation and reunification services that prolonged separation instead of repairing it. I spent years fighting to maintain a relationship with my children while paying for services that I believe made the situation worse instead of better. I was also subjected to stipulations that I believe silenced me from speaking publicly about what was happening to my family. Parents should not feel that they have to choose between protecting their children and using their voice to advocate for them. We talk about being trauma informed in healthcare, education, and child welfare. Why shouldn't we expect the same in family court? If children and parents are already experiencing trauma, the system should be designed to reduce it. not deepen it. I believe we need to ask difficult questions. Are supervised visitation and reunification programs being independently evaluated? Are professionals receiving meaningful trauma-informed training? What outcomes are being measured? Are these services strengthening families or are they prolonging separation and increasing trauma? I am asking for an independent review of supervised visitation, reunification therapy, trauma-informed practices, and the financial incentives surrounding these court-ordered services. Families deserve to know whether these programs are truly healing families or whether they are prolonging the separation and increasing the trauma. The decisions made in family court shaped children's life for decades. We owe them a system that heals instead of one that leaves family believing they were harmed by the very institutions meant to protect them. This is not just about my family. It's about all of us that are in here that are telling y'all to pay attention. Pay attention.

Thank you, Ms. Fonda. All right.

The next item on our agenda is a consent agenda.

there's 20 items on our consent agenda are there any uh comments about consent we haven't seen these before so maybe okay if you want to do i don't know if you were you just want to take questions okay i yeah we can do it that way take questions yeah okay

Yeah, so let's do questions about it. So the question here was, since this is our only meeting that is in July, generally we have a work session to have these, to kind of go through the consent agenda. We usually go through each one. Well, we're just going to ask questions about it. If you have questions about it and so forth, we'll

we'll have staff come up as as needed if that's okay so do you want to um i just want to first make a comment about item 26-0359 about the um transit work program q1 amendment i just wanted to request that we have the ceo from go triangle come and present to our board sometime in the fall we actually have never he's never come to our board we haven't officially been introduced to the new ceo and i think that would be a good opportunity just to have a general presentation from go triangle and also for our board to be able to meet the ceo so that was just something i wanted to request related to that item my next my actual question is related to 26-0363 very excited to see us appropriating funding for the design of the of the animal shelter um i just had a few follow-up questions related to that item one was um And I don't know if there are any staff here who could answer that. Oh, great, okay. One was, I noticed that there was some changes in the floor plan that was in the information that we got, and it looked like the interior space may be reduced, exterior increased. Just would love to hear a little bit more about that. And the other question I had was, Great to see Animal Arts as a consultant on that, somebody who has expertise in that field. I'm wondering, is the building being designed for what time period as the horizon? Are we looking at capacity for the next 50 years, or what is our criteria related to this investment? And then my third question related to that is I see that the estimates with the budget for that there um but i looked at the proposed budget uh for the actual full construction with escalation it was like 39 million i believe and i was wondering is that do we have that how much money do we have allocated right now in the cip for the animal shelter so those are my main follow-up questions on that item

Do we want to come answer what you can?

Hello, I'm Charles Nicholson, principal with R&D Architects. So your first question, I'm not real good on remembering things, so can you update me on that?

Yes, sorry. The first question was related to just what was in the information we had. It looked like there may be some changes to the floor plan.

Yeah, we reduced the floor plan to reduce the overall cost. So the original programming session that we put together on it was done in 2019. prior to the pandemic. So animal care changed drastically through the pandemic as we saw a big switch from all these dogs being adopted during the pandemic. And then once people went back to the work, they dropped their dogs off again and they picked up a cat because cats go in apartments are a lot easier to care.

There we go.

Okay. Um, and so we re we revised the numbers to reflect that, which tends to be so from animal arts who are, um, they do this worldwide, uh, animal shelters. So they, uh, are very familiar with the trends that are going on with animal care and Durham is no different than most communities when it comes to, uh, their shelter needs. And so there was revision in the square footage because it's a few less dogs, which take a lot of square feet, for cats that take less square feet. So that was the main change there. We tightened up a few areas, just made it a little more efficient. And your second question was?

What is the horizon? What are you looking at how long this building is being built for? so like it's it's i've since i've been on the board for 14 years like it's take by the time this gets built it's going to be like 20 30 16 years projects so like it takes a long time to do these big capital projects i just want to make sure that like we're building it to last for a long time and as durham's population is growing people more people means more pets and

So the building is designed, A, it's an institutional building of that quality, such as a government would build. So it's going to have a 50-year lifespan, similar to most county projects. The building is also designed that it can be expanded if need be. There's wings for the dogs and the cat housing, so it can be expanded. And then it's also through animal arts and their experiences with how changes are happening with pet care. It's more of a focus on the human side of pet care. If you're having issues with your pet and you need to bring it in to have it surrendered, the first question is, what are the problems you're having? How can we help you with that? Is it with food? Feeding assistance, is it with veterinary care? Trying to get animals to be able to stay with their families rather than be surrendered.

And the last question was just about how much are we allocated in the CIP for this?

I'll turn that over to Christy.

Good evening, commissioners. Stephanie, deputy county manager. Christy Raleigh, senior real estate officer, but I'm interim project manager for the animal shelter. If your question is what do we have encumbered so far for this project, we don't have anything because this is the item that creates the capital project. But I feel like that's probably not what you're asking.

I thought that we had allocated funding in our CIP for this project.

so that's what i was wondering how much we have been kind of earmarked i believe the project is in the cip the long-term cip i'm not sure how much is actually allocated for it just yet but we can find that information out okay all right okay thank you any other questions about the consent agenda go ahead commissioner valentine

Yes, I have a question about 260352, approval of purchase through the Savick Cooperative for six ambulances in the Office of Emergency Services for a total not to exceed over $2 million. Director Lockhart, so we had a brief conversation about the contract as written in the information that we received. Maybe you can clarify that for us. And also, as everyone in our community knows, we're running behind with respect to keeping up with our infrastructure needs. And so this procurement of these six ambulances is important. Could you tell us how long it's gonna take for those to actually get to the field?

Yes, sir. So the ambulance agreement that I believe we were discussing earlier has a 2023 date on it. That's when that agreement was executed by SAVIC. That agreement runs through September 12th of this year. So that was just the original or the origin date for that agreement. Those ambulances are a different platform than what we have ordered in the past that has taken 36 months for a build. These new ambulances are expected to take 16 to 18 months. And so we've got about half the wait time also with an expected savings of about $50,000 per unit.

And just so that we have an idea with respect to the growth in our county, how helpful is it going to be to have these six additional ambulances?

Five of these units are actually fleet replacement, so they'll be replacing units that are currently on the street now. One is the expansion unit that came with the 10 additional FTEs that were approved with the FY27 budget. It will make a small dent in what we need. Thank you. Yes, sir.

commissioner vice chair along thank you truly um a first item is zero three seven one i'd like to pull that item because i have to yeah i was gonna pull i was gonna pull that off and then the other item i had i just wanted to make a quick comment about um zero three six zero uh the grant for uh for the first year of a four-year North Carolina Division of Social Services Welcome Baby program grant for family support program services. I'm going to give a shout out to Ms. Patience and Donna Riewoldt. I think this is an amazing initiative. Thank you so much for applying and going through this grant opportunity that is going to have $150,000 per fiscal year for four years, totaling $600,000 to provide training and support to families of children between the ages of zero to five. in caretaking of how to take care of your kids after school, how to limit screen time, all of these things that are vital. And it's just another way that this program of Welcome Baby and our cooperative extension is such a vital resource for our community and to be able to provide our families something that we often take for granted as a resource, as a learning initiative. And so thank you so much to your whole team for seeking out this funding so that we can provide this resource to our community. and one last one i had was um yes the approval of 0369 just wondering and this doesn't have to be today if it can be provided to us i can't remember if it was in the budget process for aps how much money does the county actually since this is a contracted out service but If the county were to have fully be running APS and animal shelter on its own, like other counties do, that it's a fully a county institute instead of, you know, this is a nonprofit entity running, how much we save essentially a year from APS running our animal shelter for us instead of the county having to run our own?

Thank you. We can provide that information to you.

any other questions okay so we're going to oh go ahead go ahead commissioner i don't i don't have a question i just had another comment we have a number of contracts that are a part of that are related to economic development and also the urban ministries contract i just wanted to request that we sometimes we go over this during the budget work sessions we didn't this year but In the future, if we could get the quarterly reports when we're approving the new contract and the budget, if we could get those attached. And I did want to request, related to the MAID and Durham Workforce Development Services contract, I'm really excited to read about a lot of the changes that are happening with Made in Durham. I see we have our president, Durham Tech President J.B. Buxton with us tonight, but there was discussion in that report around the Bulls playbook being shifted to Durham Tech. There was discussion about the preferred employer pipeline program that's being rolled out with some key employers for the bio life sciences jobs. There was discussion about Duke's homegrown initiative and economic mobility council and how Made in Durham is working with that and also about the sector analysis expansion and evaluating whether clean energy is the way to go or maybe not. And I just, I would love to, I know the county manager discussed during our budget work sessions that we would have some themed work sessions in the future and if, I'm assuming there's gonna be one around economic development But I would love to have one that is focused on economic mobility and economic, you know, some of our talent, homegrown talent pipeline and economic mobility and hear from Durham Tech, Made in Durham, and also this new program at Duke. and whoever else would be relevant to bring in for that, at least part of that conversation. So I just want to request that. Thank you.

We can make that happen. Thank you.

uh chair i just want to go back to highlight 260360 that was brought to the bear here this evening by commissioner alam with regards to the welcome baby program grant and i just wanted to highlight because there's been a lot uh during public comments tonight about child protective services this actual grant um is brought to my attention from previous discussions that we had actually was sought to help with the issue around preventing child abuse And so we're always looking for ways to support our community, particularly around these very sensitive issues that we have. And so I think everyone at this dais has a concern about unifying families and supporting families. And this is one of our efforts. I just wanted to highlight that.

Okay, very good. All right, here and none else, we are going to remove, we're going to vote separately on item 260371. we're gonna vote that separately so we'll move that off and the reason for that is vice chair alum that sits on the board of DDI and so she has to recuse herself from it recuse herself from that vote so I'll accept a motion to approve the consent agenda except for 260371 so moved second It's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the consent agenda absent 260371. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed please use the same sign. Now I'll accept a separate motion with Vice Chair Lum recused to approve item number 260371. So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded that we approve item number 260371. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, please use the same sign. It passes.

Abstain.

Passes with a four zero and an abstention. All right, next item on our agenda are the is a public hearing. This public hearing is to consider a performance-based award for Project Glass with AbbVie. Do we have any, before we start, do we have any public comment? There's no public comment, so we'll leave it to staff to present. So I'll open the public meeting for this.

Good evening, Dr. Lee, members of the County Board Management. My name is Matt Filter. I'm the Economic Development Manager for Durham County. Tonight, we are very excited to present to you an impressive project for Durham, Project Glass. From a high level, this project will create 734 great paying jobs, invest nearly $1.3 billion in our community, and generate $58 million in new tax revenue over a stabilized 10-year period. Tonight, the board's requested to hold a public hearing consider a performance based award for project glass with AbbVie Inc in a not to exceed amount of fifteen point four five million dollars and to authorize the county manager to negotiate and execute a performance agreement for the award this performance based award is funded by the new tax revenue generated by the project the award pays for itself and would not exist but for project glass payments for the project will adhere to our Durham County business recruitment and expansion policy and will only occur following annual performance verification that the company has met its job creation investment and community partnership commitments this also includes maintaining that property taxes are paid annually twice the amount of the scheduled payment this is a B's first major investment in North Carolina the site was selected for the strength of the region's local workforce and its ability to support future expansion. When completed, this campus will serve as AbbVie's U.S. Center for Excellence for SVP Manufacturing and deliver next-generation medicines to patients in the U.S. and across the globe. Entry-level manufacturing is a priority for Durham County and this board. Approximately 65 percent, so two-thirds of the jobs, are going to be open to those with high school two-year or four-year degree, and approximately 87% will be open to those with a two-year or four-year degree. Additionally, with the approval of this award, the company has agreed to make good faith efforts to support the local talent pipeline through internships and apprenticeships and to participate in Durham Public Schools CTE programs. They also offer robust benefits to their employees, including things like parental leave, family caregiver leave, financial reimbursement for expenses related to surrogacy an incredible team of abbey staff and local and educational partners have helped bring this project to durham we're lucky to have some of them here tonight to talk a little bit more about this transformative investment uh shirley if it's okay with you i'm happy to let them speak now absolutely okay um they are and i'll just introduce them uh helen kim fitzpatrick she's the vice president State Government Affairs for AbbVie. We have President JB Buxton here with Durham Tech Community College. We have Dr. Kuldeep Rawat. Yep, there he is. With the Bright Center at Central. He's the Vice Chancellor of Transformative Partnerships and Economic Development. We have Mr. Darien Harris, the director of CTE at Durham Public Schools. And we have Matt Gladick, the vice president of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce. So I might invite Helen to speak first, if that's okay, and make a few remarks, and we can take it from there.

Thanks, Helen.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Dr. Mike Lee, Vice Chair Nita Alam, and the Board of Commissioners for Durham County for welcoming AbbVie to this state and to your county. AbbVie is proud to announce our, Matt had mentioned $1.3 billion, we announced $1.4 billion to Durham. Our largest ever capital investment in a single campus outside of our home state of Illinois where we are headquartered. We are an American company. Our Durham investment is part of our broader commitment by AbbVie to invest more than $100 billion in new research and development and manufacturing here in the United States over the next decade. This is AbbVie's first major capital investment in North Carolina, and it's a very significant one. As Matt had shared, when complete, this Durham site is expected to serve as AbbVie's U.S. center of excellence for small volume parental manufacturing, helping to deliver important new innovative medicines to patients here in our country and all around the world. It will create 734 high quality jobs and support more than 2,000 construction jobs as the site is developed. This new state of the art campus will integrate advanced manufacturing, next generation laboratories, and artificial intelligence enabled technologies to help support the development of future medical innovations. It will also support current production of medicines in our immunology, neuroscience, and oncology portfolios, areas where patients and families are counting on this continued innovation. For AbbVie, this is more than a new site. It's the beginning of a long-term partnership with Durham and the state of North Carolina, and with the people and institutions that make this region such a powerhouse and a center for innovation. I was asked to speak about why we chose North Carolina. This was a very competitive process to build our first largest capital investment outside our home state. We chose North Carolina because this region brings together what matters most for a long-term investment in advanced manufacturing, a strong and growing life science ecosystem, exceptional talent, leading research institutions, and as Vice President of State Government Affairs for AbbVie, a strong public policy environment that supports our industry and AbbVie's ability to develop and bring new medicines to patients today and the long term. Let's start with first location. We are so excited about our new campus's location here in Durham. which is in the Research Triangle Park area, which places us in the most respected research and biopharmaceutical hub in the country. Second, workforce. This region offers the kind of workforce that AbbVie needs to build for the future, our future. Engineers, scientists, manufacturing operators, lab professionals, and more. And with the skills we believe that are here in the current workforce and are excited about the strong educational institutions that are building the workforce for what we will need tomorrow and the future. North Carolina's collaborative spirit stood out to AbbVie. Throughout the site selection process, North Carolina and the county stood out to us because of the collaboration across the state, the county, the city, the higher education and community college partners, workforce partners and utility partners and more. There was a clear commitment to us that there was a strong alignment and drive across all of these important partners to support the success of the life science industry and the advancement of biopharmaceutical manufacturing here at every level across every partner. We are grateful for the partnership across many of these partners, and if I had all night, I would run through all of them, but I'll run through a few that really stood out to us. Every time we came to visit and our executives came to visit, We met many of you on all of these visits. Thank you for taking the time to come to get to know us. And we are so excited for you to know us more and to get to know you more. But just to start, the state of North Carolina, of course. We started this journey with the first meeting with Secretary Lee Lilly in the Department of Commerce. everyone on his staff Durham County everyone within the county Commissioner alum alum we've we've been able to meet several times Commissioner Lee and many others who welcomed us and took your time out of your busy days there were many days that we came not with a lot of notice and for you all to make us a priority on your schedules We thank you and are grateful for that. Organizations across this great state and Durham County itself, including Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Duke University, Durham Technical Community College, North Carolina Central University, and so many others. And I would be remiss not to mention the Durham Chamber of Commerce. and including Matt Gladick, who I don't know how many times I had to call and reach out to throughout this entire process, and was always working with a sense of urgency to help AbbVie make this important announcement for our company. And finally, but not least, we very much looked for a state in the states that had a strong public policy environment and partnership that wants to not just continue to support but grow and strengthen the life science industry. We want to work with everyone across all levels at the federal level, state level, and local level, including all of you here. to continue to ensure that North Carolina is the place that's going to drive the future of innovative medicines here in our country and around the world. We believe that kind of partnership is essential not only to launching this new campus for AbbVie and for Durham, but to sustain it and build new future opportunities together over time. Beyond North Carolina and Durham's location, workforce, leading educational institutions, and more, we, AbbVie, want to be part of this community. We don't want to just be in the community. At AbbVie, we believe being part of the community means more than just building facilities and hiring jobs. Of course, that's an important part. But it also means showing up every day and for the long term. AbbVie and the AbbVie Foundation has a history of doing that in the communities where our employees live and work. We emphasize advancing health equity, strengthening communities and supporting educational opportunities across the board. Since 2013, the AbbVie Foundation has provided substantial grant funding to hundreds of community organizations across the globe with a focus on stronger health care systems, effective educational programs, and resilient communities. In Lake County, Illinois, where we are headquartered, AVI has partnered with those community-based organizations across the county, throughout the Chicagoland area, and across the state of Illinois. And here in North Carolina, AVI is looking forward to supporting North Carolina, Durham, and other organizations here across the community to advance health equity, education, and community resilience, including support connected to UNCF, local educational initiatives, and community-based partners in Durham County and across the RTP area. Furthermore, community engagement at AbbVie is not limited to just charitable giving. It also includes direct employee engagement. Week of Possibilities is AbbVie's annual global volunteer initiative focused on supporting our local communities. Now, mind you, we are encouraged as employees at AbbVie, and we hear about it every single day, about the importance of being out in our communities and giving back. But we dedicate a full week every year wherein the employees take time off of work, and we go out into the communities where we are and we volunteer at those community organizations. Through Week of Possibilities, thousands of AbbVie employees volunteer each year to strengthen our local communities, reflecting our belief that community engagement should be part of how we work. Each year, more than 15,000 AbbVie employees participate in Week of Possibilities, so we have really strong participation across the globe. While the employees are giving back to their communities throughout the year, just to give you a sense of how many employee hours we volunteer in that just one week alone, last year our employees volunteered more than 40,000 hours. to our community partners where we live and work. My hope is that I've provided some more insight into who AbbVie is and our values. While our Durham campus is new, our values are not. Across the communities where AbbVie operates, we aim to contribute through jobs, volunteerism, educational partnerships, community partnerships that promote healthier, stronger communities. We look forward to bringing that same spirit here in North Carolina, listening first, building and tailoring what our community giving will be here in Durham and across the state, building the relationships, strong relationships, but here locally in Durham is a priority for us. And being a constructive partner, not just today and for this new site, but over the long term. We are investing here for the long term. Our goal is not simply to be located in Durham, but we want to be part of Durham. In closing, we are honored that Durham County and the state of North Carolina have welcomed AbbVie. This investment reflects our confidence in the state's workforce, educational institutions, and innovative ecosystem. We are really excited about what we all can build together to serve the tens of thousands of patients who depend on AbbVie's life-saving drugs every single day around the globe, in our country, in the state of North Carolina, and here in Durham County. And I look forward to getting to know all of you as well as our executives all the way down across our company to be a part of this community. We have started to post jobs. You can go to avi.com slash manufacturing and see that we are starting to hire and look forward to meeting the commitment that we have made here in Durham through our capital investment. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Chair Lee, Commissioner Lum, members of the County Commission, it's great to be with you tonight and great to be here on behalf of this great project. If you come to campus, you'll see a building, the Life Sciences Building, that's about nine months from opening. And with that building, $30 million project, about 30,000 square feet of biopharmaceutical training spaces, what you see is a reflection of what you as commissioners and the people of this county have allowed Durham Tech to do in sending two very clear messages to two very clear communities. One is that this county is committed to ensuring the opportunities to prepare for great jobs like the ones that AbbVie just mentioned, are available to all Durhamites and in this region. It's a clear message in that facility. The second is to new, prospective, existing employers that this county is committed to supporting their growth and their prosperity in this area. We are excited particularly about Advi because this is a company that is committed to good jobs. So when you hear a number like 65% of those jobs being available to individuals with a high school diploma, a short-term workforce credential, or a two-year associate degree, 87% to a two- or four-year, we're not just talking about jobs, we're talking about good jobs. We're talking about process technicians in the $80,000 range. We're talking about jobs where people can take care of themselves and their families, build generational wealth, make a commitment to this community. We're also talking about jobs in that 87% number. We're talking about close to 650 of the 734 jobs, that individuals can come out of Durham Public Schools, out of Durham Tech, and then an innovative transfer partnership we have with NC Central to open up a lot of life science related programming as transfer programs to come to Durham Central. So you can have homegrown talent moving up through the public systems straight into AbbVie. The last thing I want to impress upon you is the clear commitment this company made in round after round of conversations to being a strong community participant and a strong community leader. They were really clear about workforce, and I think I got drilled at many meetings about workforce and how we were gonna build this workforce and this talent pipeline, but they were just as clear about the commitment they make to their community back home and the commitment they wanna make to the community here. And so I think we are fortunate as residents and potential employees at Abbey, but also as a larger community to have a company of this magnitude, this importance to our global economy, but also to life-enhancing and life-saving medication to be right in our backyard. Thank you.

Good evening, Chairman Lee and the Board of Commissioners. As Matt said, my name is Kuldeep Rawat. I joined NCCU just two weeks ago, so I'm new at the job. I joined as Vice Chancellor for Transformative Partnerships and Economic Development, but I've been living in North Carolina for 22 years, so I'm not new to North Carolina. Even though I am new to Central and I'm new to this project, I can say that NCCU was at the table since the beginning through our Bright Center, our Director of Development, Mr. William Smith, who recently retired, was part of several meetings with Abbey, as Abbey was considering Durham for the major investment. As we all know that Abbey has a great track record of investing in the communities, and we are looking forward to the opportunities this investment is going to bring to our students. both current students and graduates right here in their backyard. So as Abbey starts building a laying foundation for its 185-acre campus, we are going to assure that through our bright center that we will be providing you the workforce that you need. So again, thank you very much. On behalf of Chancellor Dixon, I would like to thank you all for the collaboration and partnership. Thank you.

good evening chair lee members of the board again my name is darian harris and i serve as director of cte for durham public schools and i'm here tonight to speak in strong support of add these investment and to share what the announcement means for our students abby's commitment to partner participate in durham public schools ct programs annually is a significant workforce partnership commitment and i want the board to understand why ABB will hire engineers, scientists, manufacturing operators, lab techs. We've heard about approximately 87% of the jobs of those 734 positions will be open to candidates with two-year or four-year degrees, and 65% will be accessible to those who hold any level of credential beyond high school. That means the vast majority of these jobs are within reach of students on a post-secondary track and or CT pathway and are designed to get them there. Our programs exist precisely for moments like this. We connect students with industry credentials, work-based learning opportunities, and technical skills employers say they can't find enough of. When AbbVie says Durham's workforce is why they chose us, that workforce is being built right here in our schools every day. The partnership commitment AbbVie made opens doors we've been working towards. Students in our biotechnology and health science pathways, for example, can begin earning credentials in high school, continue through Durham Tech's associate programs and step directly into the kinds of manufacturing and laboratory roles so Abby is bringing to the county teachers can update their skills alongside industry professionals a young person in Durham regardless of the zip code can see a credential a credible and fully mapped path for CT from a CT classroom to a career at a fortune 100 pharmaceutical company This will not happen overnight. Of course, the campus is expected to be open in the end of 2028, which gives us time to do this right. We are already coordinated with Durham Tech's programs, aligning our pipelines with what AbbVie will need when those doors open. Again, I ask the board to support this investment. With the future in mind, Durham Public Schools is ready to be a true partner in every step of the way. Thank you.

must sneak a comment in real quick we have one more speaker um matt gladick but i just wanted to just share to the board and other county staff members just how hard matt worked this project you know these projects are always complicated and it's an incredible team effort but you know Matt just really went above and beyond on this one snowstorms nights weekends all of the above so before he speak I just spoke I just wanted to acknowledge the incredible work that he he did to help support AbbVie support County staff in landing this project thanks

Thank you for that, Matt. Chairman Lee, Commissioners, Commissioner Lum, I just want to thank everyone here. I think what you can see with all these people that have come up is that AbbVie has engaged with everyone across the community. Duke University couldn't be here tonight, but Duke has been involved in these conversations as well. This is a team sport. I am really grateful for that shout out from Matt, but I could not have done this without the work of Andy and Matt with the people here. with the people on water and wastewater and sewer and the planning department that answered countless detailed questions for the work that duke power did to be able to move power lines for this ncdot speeding up train train track crossing projects and people in the transportation department at the city and the county that answered these questions. Thank you all for this. I'm very excited for the opportunity this provides for these jobs. This is exactly the type of program and project that we want here. Thank you again.

thank you all right so this part of the public hearing is for questions directly from these are just straight up questions from the commissioners to anyone that we have up there are there any questions that we would like to present commissioner burton yes thank you so much chair lee thank you all for this wonderful presentation i'm really am glad that we have all the

partners, Durham Tech, Durham Public Schools, NCCU, Duke, being involved with this project. As a former educator, the question I have, and it's around CTE, like how is AbbVie going to partner with DPS to make sure the students are, you know, can be ready to take on jobs in this type of industry, so I just wanted to hear how are you partnering with them, so yeah.

um so many ways guest speakers job shouting opportunities internships um they mentioned how involved they are in the community so but i think it's going to start with being in being in the schools students need to see we talk about these careers they have to see folks in those careers so the guest speaking piece eventually the job shouting internships are kind of the obviously the big three um but students really have to see to believe they can have these type of opportunities when they leave high school

And that will be something that I will be interested in following up on because we wanna make sure our young people who graduate from Durham Public Schools are ready for these careers and they know about these careers. So I appreciate you, thank you so much.

You're welcome, thank you.

Commissioner Jacobs.

Thank you so much. I think you all standing there against the wall. I know with minus Duke, I think says it all really the collaboration that is represented here really for, for team Durham. I have some comments. I will wait for those. But one of my questions is where is this project going to be? I am actually not sure where the final, I know there was some discussion about where it was going to be located. Have you all figured that out?

Yes, it's going to be at the Palmer Edge site, which is kind of where 885 and 147 meet. It's approximately, how many acres? 185-acre site. It's currently mostly undeveloped. I think there's an old farmhouse or two on the site, but beyond that, undeveloped.

Okay, awesome. And that is within... Is that within RTP or not?

It's within both the City of Durham and Durham County. Okay. It's not formally in the RTP boundaries, but I think to kind of the layperson in the industry, they'd consider it RTP adjacent.

Right. Okay. Awesome. And then also, I believe, and maybe Andy, you know this, but I believe, is this the largest economic development project that we have ever had in Durham County? yes okay yes it's the largest certainly since the passage of the policy in 2020 so so this is historic um this is uh the 1.3 billion dollar investment in durham county and i also believe that this is and correct this is a question that this is the first time the city and the county are also partnering on, or maybe some of the, some of the redevelopment projects in downtown Durham outside of that. There we go. Instead of the actual building renovations, but it wants something that's completely

focused on workforce development that that's correct about 10 years ago so there were a number of projects public-private partnerships that occurred downtown we did have one project maybe four or five years ago which was Clorox where the city did participate as well but this is the the first time for a project of this significance so we're certainly welcoming the city's participation

that's also fantastic I was gonna ask about your following up on Commissioner Burton's question I'm also really interested in like how do we actually make you know the talent pipeline work the nuts and bolts of that and you so in the in our information it talks about

your operations development program could you tell us a little bit about that program because I'm not in the HR department if I could have somebody follow up on those specific operations programs that we have but what I can say though that I know is that we have a lot of existing partnerships with the local educational institutions like the I had mentioned we're in Lake County. We have a strong partnership with Lake County Community College there with different programs that we have for AbbVie's workforce. We also do a lot with HBCUs and others. I will just turn to that real quick. I'll give you an example. And this is not on the script. I'll just share something. Government Affairs, we're part of the legal department at AbbVie, and one of the things that we do is, and we're really excited to talk to NCCU about this, is that we will, of course we support these organizations and build workforce programs with our HBCUs, but we on our own, just volunteering, we have something called these academies, these legal academies where we go in and we'll do a mock court with the students at the HBCU. We're starting to build one on government affairs where we can go in and help folks at the HBCUs see what types of careers are available at life science companies beyond just even manufacturing or R&D, but within even if you have an interest in the legal department or other areas in corporate affairs. So we do these academies. These academies are completely employee volunteerism. These are not part of our day jobs. This is not necessarily something But we do this on our own. It was organically created out of the legal department, but now has grown into other different academies that we just do with our HBCU partnerships. But when it comes to HBCUs, we recognize the importance of broadening pathways into healthcare and science careers. And AbbVie has supported these pathways. by connecting with HBCUs around the country through investment with UNCF to help expand opportunities and strengthen the future healthcare workforce. That commitment aligns naturally with North Carolina's strong educational ecosystem, including, as I shared, our excitement to work with the North Carolina Central University students as well.

Well, thank you for giving that example. I think that it's really critical that we expose our students to the opportunities. And I know that when we've heard from graduates, from our Bulls building up local life sciences, our academy to create a pipeline for life science jobs, I've heard graduates say that they didn't know, you know, the opportunities that existed right in Durham. And so getting students onto your campus and things like that, I think, will be really important.

Yes, I will tell you, you know, I work at AbbVie headquarters. It is the land of summer interns right now. So I'm pretty sure that that spirit will follow here in North Carolina as well.

Awesome. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay. So with that, oh, go ahead, Buxton.

First, I want to make sure she's saying Lake County, Illinois, not Wake County. I want to be real clear. It's not Wake. Yeah. The second is just put a fine point on it. You're going to have students from Durham Public Schools, for instance, in the Biowork program at Southern High School, who are going to be able to come right into employment at Advi. You're going to have dual-enrolled students coming into our associates programs who could finish while they're in high school, coming to us later, who can go directly into that associate degree in biotechnology into Advi. You're going to have customized training that we provide to some of the workers they bring in who don't come through our system. You're gonna have people coming straight out of our biowork, our clinical trials, our associate science with access. And then you're also gonna have, in what I mentioned before with NC Central, NC Central has broadened access to their biotechnology-related programs to our transfer students. It's usually kind of a one-to-one. You're in this program, you can go to their four-year. They have done so that many of our associate science students, we're talking now thousands of students, have access to their biotechnology related. So the pipeline that we can create here is pretty broad, pretty full. And we can do it from K-12 through NC Central, never mind Duke.

All right. So we've exhausted the questions. I will now close the public meeting. and I will open the floor for commissioners for comments. Comments. We're just doing comments so you all can take your seats if you want. Go ahead. Vice Chair Lum, then I'll go to Commissioner Burton.

just wanted to you know start off by saying thank you to Matt Gladick our County Matt as well as Andy for bringing this initiative to us for our board to consider and all the time and effort y'all put into educating us into all the pieces but also the time you took since this is I know Commissioner Jacobs mentioned you know the partnership with the city not only is it our first partnership with city but it's the first the city's first economic development incentive ever on its own so I know the work that y'all did not just with our board but also with the City Council to educate them to teach them you know why the county does this process and how it benefits You know folks when we're creating jobs, so thank you all for that entire process but also wanted to give a shout out to Some of the staff and community members and partners who are here that we didn't recognize yet. We have ramsey also from the durham chamber We have miss angelique stallings formerly durham chamber now nccu and All of these folks have come together to make this project come to life and i'm really grateful for choosing Durham County, but also the commitment and interest you took in us when we had our meetings, myself and Chair Lee joined, the first questions that we were asked was what makes Durham special? Beyond just the typical business insider headlines of like, NC State, UNC, Duke, Durham Tech, the NGKPs that we all know are amazing and it makes us, but at a personal level of why we choose Durham to be our home. That showed a level of commitment that when we've had these conversations with companies that haven't heard I think a lot of these companies care and want to be part of Durham in the community but this showed a different level so I'm really grateful for that and excited to see the partnerships that will come out of it and grow because I think right now we had one of our toughest budget cycles we're seeing folks struggling because we've had a lot of job losses, we've had a lot of changes in the economy, and so to be able to bring this level of job creation to the area and at such different education levels to make them accessible so that our students in high school, middle school can see themselves having a future in biotech, in the pharma industry, it's going to have impacts for generations to come. And also on that note, to not just have those job creations, but also the level of investment that you're making with DPS, with Durham Tech, to make sure that we have continued education opportunities, that we have folks who never even heard of the pharma industry, but see that AbbVie's coming, start Googling it, and seeing that there are pathways for me to enter. into this career path. And I think that's really great for Durham and also for the entire state of North Carolina. I'm grateful for Governor Stein and his partnership on this and the resources that he's going to be bringing in. And just welcome to Durham. We know we've given you a warm welcome, and we hope to continue to build that partnership with not just us, but other nonprofits and community spaces and resources that we have. We know that they're going to be excited to have you all here. because it's going to uplift everyone in Durham to have this level of job creation. And I didn't have one more comment. It's slipping my mind. So, Chair Lee, I'll ask you to come back to me in the end when it comes back to me.

Sure enough, Commissioner Burton.

Thank you, Chair Lee. And I don't have too much to add to what Vice Chair Long said. Thank you for wanting to come to Durham County. You know, a lot of times we get questions from our residents, constituents about why do we do these incentive packages? And, you know, when I first got elected, I didn't fully understand the reasons why either. But now I understand that it's because, you know, we want to make sure that we are keeping our economy thriving and that we are making this area attractive to so many people and companies. And so I'm just really excited that Abby chose to come here. Thank you again to our economic development team. I'm really looking forward to how you support Durham County. That's one thing that's very important to me and I know to the rest of my colleagues here, how you can really be within the community to help our people and to really help Durham County continue to thrive.

just looking forward to it thank you for wanting to be here and i'm looking for this really great partnership with all of us so mr valentine yes thank you chair so welcome to durham county and thank you again it's already been stated but we can never be uh stated enough thank you to our economic development staff uh andy matt from the very beginning, pushing this project. I wanna say thank you to our city partners. I wanna go on record. I think that the city and the county work like this, hand in glove, more often. Oh man, Durham County, watch out. It is my hope that we have a long-lasting and enduring relationship with AVI, one that survives long past my tenure, here in Durham County, your commitment to local talent and the jobs that you're bringing here and the team that you assembled here today. I tell you, you get me every time when you get Durham Tech and NCCU standing together. You get me every time. And welcome to North Carolina Central University, one of the pillars of our community. I think that you'll find that that's a great place to work. You've also talked about commitments generally to HBCUs and this vast pipeline. It's my hope that the makeup of the workforce at Abbey is reflective of that. You also talked about construction jobs that could be available. And so we have a lot of small business out there looking for work. We have businesses that are owned by women, and we have minority businesses out there, all being competitive in the marketplace. And so I'm hoping that they'll get some considerations, and I'm sure that they will. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say that I'm looking forward to some of those property taxes coming here to the county, right? So you said you wanted to be a part of our community? Ooh, that will go a long way. in helping us provide the types of services that our residents demand from their leadership. So again, welcome to Durham County. I think that you will find that you made the right choice. Thank you.

Commissioner Jacob.

Thank you. I just wanna echo the comments of my colleagues. This is a really exciting moment for Durham County. This is a transformational project that we hope will bear its fruits many, many years to come. Not only Abbey being a company that is saving people's lives with the drugs that will be manufactured here in Durham, but my hope is that also we will be saving lives in Durham. by creating great jobs for our young people here in Durham County. And so all the discussion about the talent pipeline, to me that is the most important thing. My hope is that every single one of those 734 jobs be held by a Durham County resident. That would be a dream, really, because these are incredible jobs that will be accessible to people from coming from many different education levels but we hope that we can do our part in this partnership because it is it does take collaboration and it does take our whole community which we see reflected here to make sure that we are delivering you the talented employees. And I also wanted to say that I, thinking back to this moment, I just want to give credit to everyone for really creating the foundation for this. Because we have been investing for, since we've been doing economic development incentives, in Durham County since I've been on this board, we have been investing in life science jobs and we have been trying to create the ecosystem where a company like you would want to come here. And at the same time, we've been creating, we've been trying to create a system of economic mobility with programs like our Bowls Academy with Made in Durham and making sure that our most disconnected vulnerable marginalized youth are going to be able to be at the table and to benefit from these jobs so i want to give credit to durham tech and made in durham the fact that this board has been supporting that program since day one and the way that we invest in durham tech and thank you jb for your leadership and for delivering on what's happening at durham tech and then durham public schools Um, because you are, I mean, you are really the heart of it all, uh, for our community. And so, um, again, thank you for you. You're, you're the beginning of the pipeline right there. So, um, anyway, this is a great moment for our community and, um, also appreciate the foundation. We look forward to Abby really leading. in our community and being a model because all the things that were talked about today, you can be a model for the rest of our, our other corporate partners, um, of how to be involved and engaged. Um, so really exciting things ahead. Um, and.

congratulations to everyone okay and i'll just make very brief uh comments you know thank you of course matt matt andy everyone here um you all have made already made tremendous progress in bringing people together and that just shows us how committed you are to making our community your home. You also, I do wanna call out that you also have a resource that's sitting right behind you with C.J. Broderick at the Black Chamber of Commerce to support your hiring, support your needs, support your talent. He is a person that you would really wanna connect to meet your goals as well. As we talked about when we met for lunch or dinner or one of the meals, something like that, Durham is not just a place to live or call home. Durham is a mindset. Durham, you don't just move to Durham, you join Durham. And at the meetings, we were talking about the Bull City sign, right? You all are all gonna have to learn that. You don't see many places around here where people walk around with Durham, with their cities on their chest, like Durham. Durham is a mindset. And we welcome you to our place that we call home. You are going to be members here, and you are going to be what helps to contribute for Durham to continue to be the place we love and call home. And we believe, I believe, that you all are going to love it so much, you're going to move from Illinois. You're going to move your headquarters from Illinois to right down here. We've got plenty of companies that do it. Plenty of companies that come here and they say, yeah, this is a nice place. Oh, we love it. Let's move everybody down here.

That's going to happen.

But I'm really excited about saying this, but I'm really excited for the partnership between the Durham community and AbbVie. We welcome you. We thank you for choosing Durham. You made the right decision, no question asked, no matter where you looked. you made the right decision, and if you can't tell, we're really excited about you all being here, so welcome. And with that, oh, go ahead. Okay, go ahead, Commissioner Lum.

Sorry, I remembered my previous, the comment that I was gonna make. I just wanted to note also that I know, Matt, you had highlighted the $58 million revenue projections for the next 10 years, but highlighting, Also, more specifically, that that is only the projected property tax revenue that will be generated. That doesn't take into consideration the money that's going to be coming into our community from people getting these jobs and being able to buy homes, go to the grocery stores, shopping local. That is an additional contribution that's going to be coming into our community that's going to help our small businesses It's going to help families get up on their feet and grow and build themselves. And then also with the $1.4 billion investment in building this facility, all of those construction jobs, all of that investment that's going to be made into building your facility, utilities connections, the roadways, all of that is going to bring in additional revenue to the county, but also just to the workforce. So we say $58 million in revenue growth for the county over 10 years, but it's actually far beyond that. I know I've asked Matt and Andy, but there's not really even a calculation out there yet that shows how these type of investments and growth have long-term impact.

beyond just the numbers we share impact on families and community members all right so now we will um we didn't have a motion written in here so i'm going to make one up all right so we i'll accept the motion to authorize the county manager to negotiate and execute a performance agreement for the award to AbbVie, the incentive award to AbbVie. Is that the advice?

So moved.

That's the advice, yeah. Okay, it has been moved and properly seconded that we, that we authorize the county manager to negotiate and execute a performance agreement with AbbVie. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, please use the same sign.

I think in the actual wording there was, it says not to exceed amount. Do we need to include that? It's on page... Yeah. I just didn't know if we need to include that specific language.

Well, we're including this item.

That is written in the item. I think that's, I mean, I'll leave it up to the Deputy County Attorney. We could do it, and I think make sure we've got our bases covered. So I would recommend we do that.

that we approve it approved okay with the okay yeah take another second with the 15 million in there do we need to so it already passed do we need to reconsider do a reconsider motion the amendments come before vote so okay um so according to robert's rules

The majority can make a motion to reconsider.

Yeah, so.

I make a motion to amend. No, it's not an amendment.

So I'll make a motion. I'll accept a motion to reconsider the previous motion that has been voted on to authorize the county manager to negotiate and execute a performance agreement with AbbVie not to exceed the amount of $15,450,000. So moved. All right. Second. Yeah, there's been a motion and it was improperly seconded. On the floor, any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All in favor please use the same sign. Motion passes unanimously, thank you. And welcome, thank you so much.

Dr. Lee, would it be possible to just grab folks for a quick photo before you move on to the rest of your business? Absolutely.

Absolutely.

all right all right let's go on and wrap this thing up here so the last item on our agenda is board and commissions thank you mr chairman by vote of the commissioners you have appointed to the alcoholic beverage control board karen clarence butler to the department of social services board dr monique hosley hyman to the Durham Convention Center Authority, Kamala Uzell. And there are four appointees to the Durham County Women's Commission. Y'all have appointed Finesse Couch, Kayla Keels, Valerie Parham-Thompson, and Roberta Price. And four appointees to the Library Board of Trustees, Aquarius Anderson, Tracy Jackson, Carl Newman, and Tal Matalon.

Okay, thank you very much. Congratulations to those who were appointed and those who were not. Please continue to apply. We need your advocacy. Thank you for putting yourselves out there. There were no items pulled out from the agenda, but I'll accept the motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded that we adjourn. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, please use the same sign. Passes unanimously. We are adjourned. Thank you all for watching.