City Council - workshop

Good afternoon. I'm going to go ahead and call us to order at 1 p.m. Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll?

Thank you. Next up, I have announcements by council. Does any council member? And Madam Clerk, when I chair, it's two minutes. Good afternoon. Council Member Kopach, go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. Great to have you here. Just want to give a couple boards and committee updates. As the EAB liaison, just want to highlight a really robust discussion around street lighting with implications for public safety, health, carbon emissions reductions, and resilience in the face of power outages. I'M EXCITED TO SEE MEMBERS OF THAT BOARD STEP FORWARD TO SPEARHEAD, INTERESTED IN AND APPRECIATE STAFF SUPPORT AND INTEREST IN IT, AND LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MORE. THE EAB ALSO HAS A COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT US ON DATA CENTER REGULATIONS, SO LOOKING FORWARD

Thank you. Good afternoon. Excited to be with all of you today. We see each other every day this week, so really excited about that. Just wanted to highlight, I actually did meet with some neighbors from the Fayetteville Street Corridor last week to discuss the issue around safety and what's happening at Pilot Street. And so, Mr. City Manager, they have requested that you come out and walk and tour with them, hopefully within the next week or so. Also, aside from the cultural roadmap, I have sat as an honorary member of the committee, the mayor. So I'm excited to hear those things and how we c

Thank you. Any other announcements? Go ahead. Council member wrist.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Yeah, I just want to announce or highlight a big announcement today. So last spring, Durham hosted, in partnership with Garmin, the Garmin Marathon Series. I think there was a marathon race and maybe a 10K. It's a big event. Only a few cities a year host the Garmin Marathon Series. And Discover Durham has been really involved in that. So we just got an announcement today at 8.30 from the Durham Sports Commission. Thanks to them for announcing that the Garmin Marathon Series will again be in Durham next year on May the 1st. So I encourage all folks in the room and in t

I just want to say I love hearing Steve Shore run in a sentence.

Thank you. Mayor Williams has asked me to – he did not ask for an excused absence for September 17th, and so he's asking for an excused absence for our next council meeting. It's the one that's a little off because it's on Thursday, September 17th instead of the following Monday. So if I could get a motion for Mayor Williams for an excused absence. I moved. Second. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Thank you so much. I think that is all. So I'm going to go ahead and move us on to priority items by our city manager. Good afternoon, Manager Ferguson.

Thank you, Manager Ferguson. Madam Acting City Attorney Hernandez.

Okay. I guess a question on that. Were there other votes? Yes. What were the other votes?

Thank you so much. Next, we have public comment. And I have three virtual speakers today and then one in-person speaker today. First, I have Ms. Jacqueline Wagstaff. Good afternoon, Ms. Wagstaff.

Thank you, Ms. Wagstaff. Next up, I have Michelle Sharp. Madam Clerk, is she in the queue? Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Yes, can you hear me? Good afternoon. Yes, we can hear you. There we are. Yep. Thank you.

I'm so sorry. That is actually a public hearing, which is at our next meeting. Oh. I just have you for general public comment. Public hearing items, we take them up during our public hearing time. And our public hearing for that item is actually, excuse me, it is Thursday, September 17th. I was incorrect. We usually have our meetings on Monday. We will be having a public meeting, sorry, a public hearing on that item on Thursday, September 17th at 7 p.m.

Next up, I have Ideal Ortiz under general public comment.

Thank you, Miss Ortiz. Those are those are all the virtual in person speakers I have. I have one more public speaker today, and that is Miss Victoria Peterson. She's here in person.

Those are all the folks I have registered for public comment this afternoon. Next up, under administrative consent items, under city clerk's office, I have item number one, mayor's Hispanic Latino committee appointments. Item number two, Durham Housing Authority Board of Commissioners appointments. Item number three, Durham Workers' Rights Commission appointments. Item number four, Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission appointments. Under departmental items, under emergency communications department, item number five, priority dispatch corporation extended service plan agreement. U

I do not want- Don't want to pull you out. I just want to say thanks to Durham County Transit Plan for funding that. It's great stuff.

Exciting to see that item. Item number 13, preliminary guaranteed maximum price amendment to the construction manager at risk, CMAR contract with LeChase Construction Services LLC for the City Hall and HVAC project. Item number 14, preliminary guaranteed maximum price amendment to the construction manager at risk, CMAR contract with Balfour Beatty Construction slash Holt Brothers Construction, a joint venture for the East End Longmeadow Parks Project.

Did you want to pull that? Yes. Okay, item number 14 has been pulled by Councilmember Kopach. Item number 15, construction manager at risk, CMARG pre-construction services contract with the Christman Company for the Junction Road.

Okay, thank you. Sorry, I thought I got thrown there. Paratransit facility and face street transportation renovations project. Item number 16, 700 Colfax Street, REID read, number 119184 and 119185, public sale. Number 17, eminent domain action to obtain one temporary construction easement and one area in fee simple at 2538 South Roxborough Street for the SW-45 bike and sidewalk project. Item number 18, contract for public art at Durham Aquatic Center. Item number 19, Durham Cultural Roadmap. That is a presentation we'll take up at the end. Item number 20, acquisition for four temporary constr

Thank you. Item number 22, design build services contract with CDM Constructors Inc. for the Jordan Lake Water Supply Program Durham Water Treatment Plant Project.

That's a big one, so I just wanted to make sure we read it.

Item number 24, construction award to Carolina Civil Works Inc. for the Audubon and Glenview lift station improvements project. And then under presentation, under the city manager's office, we have item number 25, 2026, federal legislative update. And we will take that after our cultural roadmap. And then under public hearing, which we'll take up on Thursday, September 17th, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, item number 26, capital investment and job creation incentive agreement with AbbVie Inc. Manager Ferguson, I have items number five, eight, nine, and 14 pulled, and then presen

Yes, thanks so much. I just wanted to inquire with staff as we pursue this extended service agreement plan, what the current conversations are with the county about alignment of our 911 dispatch efforts.

i believe it was councilman yes all right thank you um and this and i'm not sure if you have folks here from dpd some of these questions might be more specific to them but i'm curious um is this a a replacement or is this an addition to fleet right these are all replacements they're all replacements uh one car you know 32 cars are going off the street 32 new ones are coming on uh that are

And so how often are we replacing? I know you said that we did a bulk last year.

Okay, do you all have like a mileage marker that you start looking at?

And then are they, what kind of vehicles are included in this?

Okay. I mean, my next question, and you talked about it a little bit with the hybrid, which was are we looking at this in an environmental friendly light? Are we thinking about Obviously, these cars are going to be driven quite a lot. Are we thinking about the impact and the carbon footprint that we're having with the purchases?

Thank you. Can you talk about the state contract exemption and the way that y'all are utilizing that?

Okay. That was actually going to be my next question. And this is I don't really know much about this and is why I'm asking this question. But we've got the cost at almost about 51,000 per vehicle. We've got the upfitting then at an additional 16.7. So we've got 67,000. per vehicle, which seems expensive per vehicle to me as a like average consumer, especially given that we're sort of like sounds like we're buying in bulk and we're sort of utilizing some of these exemptions to get cheaper prices. I was just wondering if you could speak a little to that.

cities and counties across the state also utilize the contract okay so this is just it's so specified because of the the needs um and then we also just signed a pretty massive contract to upfit and part of the um the axon contract included dash cams, and is that a separate expense from the upfitting that we're talking about here? Okay, and so can you just talk a little bit about what this upfitting, what's included in the $17,000-ish?

Okay, thank you so much. Those are my questions.

Those are your questions for item number nine, too, correct? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Last pulled item I have is item number 14. Council Member Cooper.

Yep. Thank you, Mr. Liska. So I just wanted to ask about the connection of this project with what's mentioned in the packet details waiting for deq to come back with their determination uh on the state of the contaminated soil before moving forward i know that your team has been partnering with a third-party consultant to try and move things along faster and so i just wondered how that fit in here and if you could comment on um kind of how yeah that that contaminated parks piece fits into this item

Thank you. Next is our presentation. I do have a public speaker on that. They are virtual, Marilu Flowers. Good afternoon. Can you hear us?

Thank you. Those are all the speakers I have. So if staff want to come on up.

Thank you, Mayor Schewel. I'm now gonna open it up for questions from colleagues or comments. Council Member Baker, go ahead and kick us off.

Sure, I don't have any questions. I wanna say thank you so much to, I know this has been a long process, a long time coming. A lot of work has been put in. I wanna say thank you to the champions, the people who have spearheaded all of this and brought it through and also all of the participants, folks who participated in the engagement process. There are a few things that stood out to me and a few things that I wanna lift up in my comments. I think one of the themes is A plan that makes art greater than the sum of its parts and investments into art greater than the sum of its parts and fosters

30 more seconds. Thank you. All right. Funding is a struggle, so I think that we need to concentrate on revenue so that we can fund great things like this and all of the other priorities that we have. The last thing I'll say is the best plans are the ones that tee up implementation, that can hit the ground running, and so I was pleased to hear about the work that is already getting kicked off and I think this is an actionable plan. It's visionary and actionable, and I think those are two really important parts of a really good plan. So again, thank you to all who championed this work.

Thank you. Anyone else? Do you want to go around? Okay. So we'll just go around and I'll make final comments. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much. Ms. Ritchie, Ms. Reese, Ms. Fields, Ms. Holmes, Mayor Schewel, and all of DCAB and everyone who participated in this process. The plan definitely is visionary and ambitious in its breadth and depth. Everything from the robust 10-point plan all the way down to specific recommendations for salaries and job descriptions, which I also love that bureaucratic element to it that really makes it actionable. So I just want to congratulate everybody who has been a part of this process. Uh, and yes, miss Reese, you can and should still say diversity and equity and it's so critica

All right, good afternoon. So I'll be brief in my remarks. I didn't write a script because I'm genuinely excited about this project. I just think about last year when we were campaigning, and one of my favorite forms was the Arts and Councils Forum. Because I did not think about how much art had impacted my life and showed up in so many different ways. And so when you start to think about like, oh, that's actually art? Like, okay, like just some of the things. I'm very creative and expressive in my own right. So I'm always excited to hear about more investments in that because I think about th

Thank you, Council Member Burst. Council Member Burst.

Thank you, Mayor Pertem. Yeah, this is a big deal. And I've also been hearing about this since I ran for office three years ago, including from Mayor Shule in the very beginning. So it's good to see this proposal really come to fruition finally with the roadmap. So I love the vision, the high-level vision and the purpose. I understand this is really the people's plan, right? This is for all of Durhamites. Not just cultural institutions, not just some folks, but for the whole city. I really appreciate that. So I want to thank all the consultants, the staff, the volunteers, former mayors, everyo

That's a rough sort of like kind of rough benchmarks. There's maybe like maybe a third or so. Exactly. Yeah. That's very helpful. Thank you. Yeah, exciting. I know that we've got obviously a lot of plans that we're developing. And during we talked about this at the night, our violence reduction plan, our homeless framework, affordable housing, economic development are all plans. This is a key part of that. And I think it's going to be a challenge on the council just to sort of as we face those demands and sort of you know, are doing budgets. Mr. Manager, I think left to like balance all this s

Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Cook.

I just want to echo what a lot of folks up here said, the sheer gratitude for the just absolute number of hours and energy and passion that everyone has brought to this plan. I think it's really apparent in how it's presented and what we're seeing in front of us now. A big thank you to everyone, both folks that have led this, but also everyone who's engaged with this process over the past couple of years. And also, I know leading up to that as well, it didn't just start two years ago. There's been conversations happening from before that time. i think that everyone has kind of stated a lot of

Thank you. Thank you so much for the presentation. As somebody who's been involved from the beginning of this work and many years ago now, it seems like, and definitely remember the artists coming. I think, if I'm not mistaken, in our budget, our 2020-2021 budget pre-pandemic, we had an arts grant program, not a ton of money, but a little bit of money funded in that budget that we had to then put on hold because of the pandemic. So this is a long time coming. Thank you to all the residents. Thank you to the DCAB members. I know you all have worked diligently on this, and I look forward to our

Thank you. And then as we stand up a table of sorts, thank you so much. That was my only question. Thank you. As we stand up a table of sorts, I hope that we make sure to include folks from Cultural Affairs Board and also Durham Next. I do also want to just thank staff and Durham Next folks for really aligning that festival process. That's something that we've heard a lot of quite frankly, complaints about for many years. And so I know that this cycle seems like it was much smoother, very well aligned. When money's going out the door, all of those really hard pieces for festivals, I know that

Yeah, just one other question for the consultant staff. So I'm going back to the comparison structures, the comparison to other cities. And so you referenced that Durham has not dedicated staff. I thought the staff in Rebecca Holmes leading, I thought their staff is dedicated to COVID.

I want to make sure we clarify that. Yeah.

No, I appreciate the clarification, but we have dedicated staff that's good enough. Yes. And if I can make one final comment, I really appreciate all the pictures from the from the from Wheels, the Derek Holter art that she developed there that is so beautiful there. That's really kind of just made that facility such a great place in Durham. So thanks for including that art.

Thank you. No, you're fine. I just I'm just too excited.

It's it's fine. We're just I wanted to get clarity from staff that this is fantastic. I know we have to pass a resolution on September 17th, and is this going to be GBA or is this going to be on consent? Okay, so colleagues, that is the direction we do need to provide staff today is if we would like it on GBA or if we would like it on consent. Consent, okay. This is actually a, well, let me ask, Ms. Ritchie, do you know if any DCAB members are planning on coming on the 17th? Okay, so I would actually say we should probably put it on GBA if we do have speakers planned because then we're going t

So will you circulate that with the council? I don't think I've seen that.

Please do, yeah. And if you could also confirm, so the build now production incentives are not only for cities that in the future increase supply, but also is for cities that have already been increasing supply. Is that not correct?

And I don't know whether the sort of like how the feds will measure that, but it would be good to know. I'm sure that they're working through the details of sort of like rulemaking.

We have a question real quickly. Oh, sure. Just on that last slide, Ms. Anderson, or either one. So on this issue of transportation funding, so I know that the continuing resolution, it was that plus the Service Transportation Authorization Extension Act, whatever they called it. And so as I understand that cut funding for public transit, like 20% and funding for rail, like by 80%. So I'm sure you share those concerns with our representative, just any, any, is there any sort of like,

So in the base budget, it wasn't cut. Correct. So what's actually like appropriated is still the same?

So there's less funding for rail and public transit then?

So does that mean for our MPO, do we have less money for public transit and rail, or is it the same?

Thank you. Before I open it up for questions really quickly, when is, you know, as with our state lobbyists, we have opportunities as a first starting with legislative committee, drafting our priorities as a council, ensuring that all council members are aware of the timelines, that they have items that they want to bring forward. So I just want to hear what that process is from Ms. Wallace first, and then I'll open it up. Thanks, colleagues, for that.

a proposed legislative federal and state legislative agendas to the full council for consideration which will be an agenda item that's publicly available um thank you for that uh we have to decide we had had a standing legislative committee meeting at noon with the state lobbyists but that has been put on pause because they're not really meeting right now so we'll have to go back and decide when we can meet as a legislative committee

Again, what's the timeline? So like, do you have like a period in time in which you anticipate having this meeting done is what I'm asking.

I mean, the election is in November. And so I think that depends. I think the at least what we've heard from the state lobbyists is your strategy depends on what happens in the election.

Um, I think actually, I think I've asked my questions along the way, so I'm good. Thank you. I really appreciate the detailed explanation, both of like implications for Durham, but also some of the actual dollars. It's really obviously impactful for the city. So appreciate that work and look forward to developing the agenda for next year. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Cook. Council Member Burris?

No, thank you. It's been very helpful. Nice to meet you. That's my first. I'm new on council, so I haven't been for like 10 years. So nice to meet you all. And as you've been in flex, which I'm learning the process, I appreciate that. I'm super excited about a lot of things around housing. So I look forward to it. And I also look forward to just being transparent. So whenever the drafts are shared about what the legislative priorities are, making sure all seven of us get that. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Council Member Kowak. Yeah, just very nice to get introduced to you and your work. I'm also new on council. Thanks for this overview and look forward to working with you. Thank you.

They got money for war and not for the feeding the poor. It's Who can we declare war on? How can we get appropriations? If Congress changes, if we get a potentially Democratic senator, all big, big questions, what can we do now and between now and the election to best prepare ourselves for potentially advocating for appropriations?

But, like, if we got, for example, I mean, if, big if, we got a Democratic senator, is that someone who we could approach for earmarks and potentially be more successful?

Okay, well, I just thank you so much for for this work and for the presentation. And let's just make sure on our end that we are best preparing ourselves in the case that a big if that things in Congress change after the election, so that we can potentially hit the ground running.

Thank you. Anyone else have anything? OK. Thank you so much for the presentation. This was really helpful. And I look forward to working with you all on drafting an agenda. This will be a little different for us. We have, as a council, historically done a state agenda every year. But this will be new. We have not drafted a federal legislative agenda. So colleagues, look for emails and information. We'll be working with Ms. Wallace on how that goes. It'll start in legislative committee, but it'll probably mirror similar to what we do at the state, which is we ask all colleagues what are things

Thank you. Can I get a motion to settle?

Any opposed? OK, motion carries. And that is all the business we have in front of us today. We are adjourned at 3.47 PM.