We're at a minute 30 seconds. Good evening. I want to call this meeting of the Durham City Council to order It's 7 o'clock p.m. On Monday, June the 15th, 2020 And I want to certainly welcome everyone who is with us here tonight Before I Go into our agenda I do want to let people know that we had an electrical surge in the TV studio at City Hall tonight and As a result the meeting tonight will be available to stream on YouTube Facebook Twitter Roku Roku Apple TV and Amazon TV, but not on DTN 8 So I just wanted to let everyone know that there's still plenty of ways that you can access our council meeting colleagues as We get started tonight. I Do want to mention that at last count The last count that I saw we had 55 of our Friends and neighbors here in Durham They've died as a result of COVID-19 and I want us to think about them tonight as we have a moment of silence And I also want us to think continue to think About the difficult time that we have been through as a result of the racial injustice in our country and the struggle that we are going through as a nation And the people who are suffering under the yoke of systemic racism There's a lot to think about tonight. We have an important meeting ahead of us and I Hope we'll think about all those things now and I ask you to join me in a moment of silence. Thank you It's good to see you colleagues Now ask councilmember Reese if he will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Thank You mr. Mayor. Good evening colleagues. I'll now say the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Thank you very much councilmember Madam clerk, will you please call the roll? Certainly mayor shul here your pro tem Johnson here councilmember Caballero Councilmember Freeman Present that's member Middleton here and some member Reese here. Thank you Thank you very much And now I'll ask if there are any announcements by members of the council. I see councilmember Reese and councilmember Caballero Okay, councilmember Reese. Thank you mr. Mayor I'd like to announce what I hope is obvious to everyone who is listening and watching our meeting tonight And that is that the COVID-19 global pandemic is not over Despite what you might see in your neighborhood in your local stores Your neighbors having parties This is not over right now in the state of North Carolina Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at or near all-time highs As are the number of folks in the state with COVID-19 So I just wanted to take a moment at this top of our meeting to remind everyone who can hear me that this is not done It's worse than it's ever been And just encourage everyone to do the things that we know will reduce the spread of this disease Maintain your social distancing from folks when you're out and about Try to stay home as much as possible and for goodness sakes, please wear a mask or face covering When you're out of your house, it is the single most important thing we can do to reduce the spread of this disease With all of the statistics coming out especially as it relates to infection rates in our latinx community right here in Durham It's so important that all of us do everything we can to try to reduce the spread of this disease And so that was my announcement tonight. Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you council member council member Caballero Yes, I just wanted to acknowledge the historic ruling today by our Supreme Court Protecting our LGBTQ neighbors and friends and trans friends From discrimination. We were all I know I was anxiously awaiting that ruling and I think we were all I Was quite frankly kind of shocked in a positive way to get some good news today. So thinking about all of our Community out in Durham and across our country and then just to also acknowledge that I know a lot of a lot of us parents who are Parenting teens right now are struggling Especially when it comes to this issue Whose kids are questioning or starting to come out and it's really hard and so just thinking about all of you lifting you all up Thank you. Thank you very much council member Caballero Are there any other announcements Council member Freeman. Thank you. I Just wanted to share that there were a couple of items And tonight's meeting I wanted to just highlight I didn't know if there would be polled or not, but uh, there was a resolution Honoring the late Andrea Lynette Harris who was a powerful leader who served Durham and the state of North Carolina and HBCUs across the country very well and Just a note to share that through a competitive process that Durham is joining the Cities and counties for fines and fee justice Nationals sir leadership network of municipalities committed to meaningful fines and fees reforms established by policy link and Then also noting that the county recently passed the resolution declaring racism as a public health crisis and the resolution will be coming forth during I believe the June 24th council meeting and I believe we have a resolution for the HB 40 and SB 1083 Know it's noted that Mayor Schuyl is the resource person. I was going to note that it did work very hard with Dr. Darity and his wife Kirsten Mullins to make sure that that came forward and Also, this Friday is Juneteenth celebrating the national freedom day for black people and I'll discuss that a little bit later in our resolutions Thank you Thank you very much council member Any other announcements? All right Hearing none then I'll ask our do we have any priority items by the city manager? Thank you, mr. Mayor. Good evening. Good evening members of council a few priority items this evening from the city manager's office Wanted to bring to your attention agenda item number 12, which is the fiscal year 2020 2021 budget and fiscal year 2021 2026 capital improvement plan attachment 46 has been added to that agenda item Agenda item number 50 the proposed water and sewer rates for fiscal year 2020 and 2021 Is a supplemental item and mr. Mayor we need to confirm whether you want that on the consent agenda since council has already heard that or Or leave it on a GBA item at your discretion Agenda item number 51 Resolution and supportive national action on reparations is a supplemental item that's been added an Agenda item number 52 is the Juneteenth resolution, which also is a supplemental item that has been added. Those are my priority items Thank you very much mr. Manager Colleagues, I'm going to ask the manager has asked about whether or not we want to put the water and sewer rates on consent I am happy to do so. We have had a good discussion of it, but certainly that's up to you colleagues And if anyone does not want it on consent, we will simply keep it on GBA Nicole Le Diana you're not muted Mr. Mayer, I'm comfortable with moving it to consent All right, let me just I see a thumbs up for Mark Anthony Councilmember Freeman and council member Caballero. Are you all okay with moving it to consent? I think any is this day on GBA and GBA. Okay. We'll keep it on GBA then. Thank you Mr. Mayor if it does stay on GBA we just requested you take that up before you take the budget up since it would be Need need to be completed before you adopt the budget will do. Thank you. Thank you All right I'm now going to Go to the turn to the city attorney madam attorney. Are there any? Priority items Good evening. Mr. Mayor madam mayor pro tem members of city council. It's good to be with you all this evening The city attorney's office has no priority items tonight Thank You madam attorney Good evening mayor and council the city clerk's office has no items. Thank you madam clerk All right, we will now move to our consent agenda the consent agenda is made up of items that have been previously considered by the council And can be approved in a single vote items can be removed from the consent agenda by Any council member or resident in which case it will be taken up at the end of the meeting Our consent agenda, I'm going to read the items item one approval of city council minutes item three citizens advisory committee appointments item four Durham city county environmental affairs board reappointment item Excuse me item five Durham homeless services advisory committee reappointment item six Durham open space and trails commission reappointments Item seven Durham planning commission reappointment item eight Durham sports commission reappointment Item nine housing appeals board reappointment item ten human relations commission reappointments. Sorry appointments Item 11 mayors council for women appointments item 13 resolution Honoring Andrea Harris and thank you for the council member Freeman for calling out this important Item 14 rules and procedures for the affordable housing bonus I do see that there is a resident who has signed up to speak on this and so I'm going to pull this item and We'll consider it After we do finish consent Item 15 first amendment to the North Carolina Coalition and homelessness and CCH Contract to provide services for homelessness coordinated entry and homeless management information HMIS planning and administration I am 16 operational assistance contract with a housing authority the city of Durham DHA for the DHA downtown and neighborhood plan I am 17 relocation assistance contract with a housing authority the city of Durham I am 18 transfer of ownership of 2017 light transit vehicles from the city of Durham to the town of Chapel Hill Item 19 brownwater treatment plan electric service agreement between Duke Energy Carolina's Galaxy in the city of Durham Item 20 Western Union payment service agreement Item 21 interlocal cooperation agreement for the collection of taxes between County of Lake and city of Durham I am 22 city of Durham and Southeast Sustainable Communities program grant amended grant budget ordinance Item 23 Contract with GDS associate saying for the development of carbon neutrality and renewable energy action plan Item 24 contract with rebuilding together the contract with rebuilding together the triangle ink for the Southeast Sustainable Communities Fund grant project Item 25 design-build services contract with environmental air systems LLC for the Durham Performing Arts Center I am 26 restrictive covenants for 505 West Chapel Hill Street Mr. Mayor I'm 26 Yes, okay I'm 27 broker for benefits. I am 28 fiscal year 2020 21 contract of fund economic development programs and services operated by downtown Durham Inc Using City of Durham grant funds. I'm a 29 fiscal year 2020 21 amendment to contract for city services and programs The downtown Durham Municipal Service District Item 30 contract amendment number one for st 288 a bridge engineering services for city-maintained structures Item 31 resolution to support the upper-news river basin association un rba f y 2021 budget Item 32 contract with atlas organics LLC for management of the city-owned composting facilities Item 33 contract with echo flowing for the operation the household hazardous waste facility Item 36 f y 1920 downtown Durham Municipal Service District presentation an annual report And those are the items on the consent agenda and with the exceptions of item 14 and 26 I will accept a motion to approve that agenda Those approval Move by madame pro tem seconded by councilmember freeman Uh, madame clerk, will you please call the roll mayor shul? I near pro tem johnson Hi, it's a member caballero. Hi, it's a member freeman Hi member middleton. I vote yay. It's a member east. Hi Thank you madame clerk the eyes have it and the motion passes unanimously We'll now move to item 14 and this item was Pulled by a resident who would like to speak on the item memey kessler Adam clerk, do you know Mr. Mayor memey kessler is not here at the moment Okay, then, um I think I will hold that item For a little while longer to see if miss kessler does. Uh, I wrap up to me And so we'll now move to item 26, uh, mr. Mayor Mayor pretend. Um, I believe miss kessler is here She's got her phone raised on the list of attendees Sorry, her hand raised. Okay She's messaging us Madam clerk. Do you see her? She says she raised her hand. Yes, I do see her and I will unmute her. Thank you. Thank you, madam clerk Thank you, madam. May pretend Miss kessler when you were unmuted Uh Miss kessler, are you uh, you can unmute yourself or uh, I believe the clerk may have to unmute you. She is unmuted right Miss kessler. Are you unmuted? Uh, have you Because I still see the mute button on that you may have to unmute yourself also Okay, can you hear me now? Yes, miss kessler. Well, excellent. Okay. Thank you very much And you you have three minutes I I asked for this to be pulled because I uh, had not got confirmation from the affordable housing coalition Uh, and I did get confirmation from them and they thanked that the city council members for Helping them with this item. And so I apologize for interrupting things, but I did want to Have the chance to speak in case that they had not Approved this item It would be helpful. However, if When the attachment To the item had if if it had been in the format where we could see what had changed That would have been helpful, but thank you very much. I apologize for the interference No problem is kessler. Thank you very much for being here And for those words I will now accept a a motion to to adopt the rules and procedures for the affordable housing bonus on item 14 Move approval. Okay Move for approval by madden mayor pro tem seconded by council member caballero Madam clerk, will you please call the vote? Mayor schul. Hi your pro tem johnson. Hi. That's a member caballero. Hi. That's a member freeman Hi, it's a member middleton. How about I it's member ease. Hi Thank you very much. Madam clerk and the eyes have it the motion passes six to zero I'm gonna go ahead and do item 26 now that was pulled by council member freeman rather than waiting to the end of the meeting We have a long meeting and I want our staff that can go home to be able to go home Or to they're probably home now But to enjoy their evenings So uh council member freeman Thank you. Mr. Mayor. I just had two um questions just trying to make sure that I can explain to uh community members how to How to lean in on the feedback side of this conversation with the restrictive covenants acknowledging that we're doing monitoring by the city And just if they could be spelled out because it's not in the document How monitoring would happen On I guess the business side of this conversation because I know that the workforce negative developments not included this community development Specific and so I just wanted to note If it was included with this restrictive covenant, and if not, how would it be monitored? Good evening members of city council. Mayor shul. This is stacey poston from the general services department And thank you for that question the monitoring um that is required under tax credit projects Happens um essentially at the state level uh where they do not do site visits So what you will see in the mda that comes to council in the fall is that um the community development department Will be doing annual site visits on site inspecting the units And so we feel like that is something that will allow us to get our eyeballs on the units on an annual basis and ensure compliance And then how how would that impact the side of the conversation we had around Making sure that small businesses of color were included in The way that the businesses were rolled into the vis to the location once it was completed So what you will see um when this item comes forward in the fall Is a a ube plan that the fallen company will bring to us which illuminates for council The specifics and the goals around their project priorities And so we intend to bring that to you in a in a written format so that council can be informed on that matter Thank you Thank you councilmember. Are there any more questions for miss poston? Thank you miss poston Uh colleagues, uh if there are no more questions or comments, uh, we'll move to vote on item 26 We need to declare the restrictive confidence applicable and to authorize the city manager to execute and record any necessary documents Councilmember just a comment mr. Mayor just to note that the community has expressed a sincere Concern around how valin is moving forward And just making sure that they spell out as much as possible upfront because people are asking questions and there's no Way for the folks in the community who weren't with valin to see what that looks like without us Asking the question and so I just want to make sure that it's clear To mr. Wen and to miss poston that it's incumbent upon the two of you to make sure that there's a it's clearly labeled in transparent process and Making sure it's clear like each step what we're doing how we're doing it and how it applies to exactly what we agreed to In the initial conversation in the vote um earlier this year And I appreciate that and I'd like to make the motion the mayor asked for to move this forward Thank you. Is there a second Motion by councilmember freeman Seconded by mayor pro tem johnson. Madam clerk. Will you please call the roll? Mayor shul. Hi your pro tem johnson. Hi Mr. Member caballero Mr. Member freeman Hi, member middleton. I vote aye Mr. Member east. Hi Thank you, madam clerk the eyes have it and the motion passes unanimously Uh at the request of the city manager, we're now going to move to item 50 supplemental items that propose water and sewer rates for f y 2021 And I see mr. Greeley is here Mr. Greeley you're you're muted mayor pro tem members of council Before you is the 2000 or f y 2021 water and sewer rates for consideration Thank you, mr. Greeley Councilmember freeman you had pulled this item. Do you have um Concerns or questions you'd like to raise for mr. Greeley or just a comment That I understand that you know the the rates um rate increases agreed upon Around the majority of the council. I just don't agree with it And so I just wanted to note that I would not be voting in support of the rate increase Thank you councilmember any other comments or questions for mr. Greeley All right. Thank you. Mr. Greeley We need a motion to receive a presentation regarding the water and sewer rates. We've already received the presentation And to adopt the ordinance to change the water the rates for water and sewer service Can I have such a motion? No, mr. May you just need a motion to adopt the rates? Yes, I move we adopt the rates okay The move by mayor pro tem johnson and seconded by councilmember cabriotto that we adopt these water and sewer rates for f y 2021 Madam clerk, will you please call the roll mere shul? I mere pro tem johnson. Hi Councilmember caballero. Hi Councilmember freeman Nice Councilmember middleton vote aye Councilmember east Thank you Thank you Madam clerk and the eyes have it the motion passes five one um We will now move to Back on our gba general business agenda to item 12 And this is the fiscal year 2021 budget in f y 21 to 26 capital improvement improvement plan. Yeah I see miss johnson here with us Good evening mayor members of council bertha johnson director of budget and management services The city manager presented to propose fiscal year 20 21 budget and capital improvement plan To city council on may 18th The city council held work sessions on the proposed budget and cip on may 27th may 28th and june 4th A virtual public hearings to receive comments from the public on the proposed budget was held on june monday june 1st So the administration's point recommends that council Approved the proposed budget And cip ordinance and other related ordinances and resolutions Thank you very much miss johnson colleagues. Let me tell you how i'm planning to proceed with this The um, we have had people who have signed up in advance who would like to speak on this item This is not a public hearing item and normally we would not allow that However, I think that given the fact that lots of people are confused over the process with our with our virtual meetings um, I think that I think it's Fairest to go ahead and let those people who signed up early Uh, go ahead and speak Uh, there are a number of people who have signed up and we have an extremely long meeting So what i'm going to do is i'm going to let those people and only those people who signed up in advance Speak for one minute each After which, uh, we will be taking up the budget. I will talk something about Uh, the statement which has been some that I Sent to all of you all as a recommendation, which I have Which has been attached by the staff as an attachment to this item And we will consider that in the context the entire budget So that's my plan for proceeding and Madam clerk, uh, i'm going to ask you to Help me with these With this public comment we are going to I'm going to ask everyone to please hold your comment to one minute and then if if if Once the minute is over I'll ask the clerk to go ahead and put Folks on mute because we really have an extremely long meeting and Are not and and where this is out of the ordinary We wouldn't do this where we not in the situation with these virtual meetings And I think there is confusion over the process But I do want to get everyone who signed up in advance a chance to be heard Madam clerk, how does that sound in terms of the are you able to um, are you ready to do that? I'm going to call the people that you sent me on the list earlier and we'll go through that list Mr. Mayor Yes, ma'am with all due respect. Um, not everyone on the list is in the waiting area And I have everyone in order by their first name Understood Madam clerk, what I'm going to do is I'm going to call on people and if they're not present then obviously they won't be able to speak Okay And we will start right at the very beginning So do you want me to go through the list that I have that you sent me? Or do you want to go through the list on item 12? Or do you want to go through the list as you have it? I'll either one is fine with me Let's go through the list according to zoom The first person would be beth clifford All right Ms. Clifford, are you present if you are can you please? Let's see. We should be able to see her. Should we not Madam clerk? Yes Ms. Clifford welcome Ms. Clifford, are you can you speak up so we can hear you? Oh, hi. Do you hear me now? Yes, we do Okay, Ms. Clifford welcome you have one minute I just hope that all council members are open to Having Durham lead the way for what public safe true public safety can look like and Listening to our residents. It's been overwhelming how many people support calls to defund the police And reinvest in our communities and I've been sick To drive around Durham as a resident of downtown and see other hidden parts of Durham hidden communities It's disgusting frankly and I just hope that Mayor shul you can you can lead with the progressive vision that you ran with to have Durham Create a new vision for the country on what public safe safety can look like it's our opportunity to lead and This is what I moved to Durham to to be a part of Thank you Thank you very much. Ms. Clifford Madam clerk, will you call the next name The next name is mark sephir Mr. Sphere, I see is in the room mr. Sphere welcome. You also have one minute Hi, Durham city council. My name is mark spear and I'm a Durham resident Do not support the current budget proposal which provides roughly 70 million to the police department In my view it will inflict great harm to invest a third of our allotted public funds in police When so many school teachers are still forced to buy some of their own supplies Police are still tasked with arresting from marijuana the criminalization of which targets black people And are ineffective at fighting some of our most severe crimes like sexual abuse and white collar crimes All of this amid being bloated with dangerous needless Right suppressing equipment which we see being used across the nation to suppress free speech and brutalize Our city will be healthier for diverting this money to education efforts COVID-19 testing hazard pay personal protective equipment for health care and other essential workers In view of the systemic racism and policing and beyond in our government Growing our police department is not in line with the values of the people of Durham And we need to accordingly rewrite the budget plan for the 20 time I yield my time The next person is dick ford Can you hear me? Yes, we hear you Okay, I will go ahead mr. Mayor and council persons Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight some six years ago I had the privilege of serving on the dorm human relations commission when we were tasked by then mayor bell to undertake a review of concerns of dorm citizens that the police department was engaging in racial bias and profiling particularly In traffic stops. I will omit the details on what we did, but I thought it was a very successful program Which is still being reported on quarterly by the city manager sometime after that process was completed dorm engaged in in a search for a nationwide search for a new police chief and this Our new chief chief davis has been the recipient of much praise by elected officials and citizens And as you know, she's now the president of the national black police executive association Mr. Mayor, I believe you attended her swearing in as as president so With these two examples and others this demonstrates Driven by the dorm experience and citizens By the way the mr. Ford your time is up. Thank you all right Madam clerk, let me just be clear about one thing. Uh, we're only Having the speakers who signed up prior to the meeting, correct The ones that I've called so far had signed up. Yes. Yeah, that's that's what we're doing That's the list. Okay That's the list we're using is the people had prior signed up. All right, correct. Thank you All right, madam clerk folks just before the clerk says you have one minute So, uh, please make sure you're ready to have concise remarks madam clerk Don stanger Mr. Stanger, I believe his name is are you here mr. Stanger Is mr. Stanger present All right, madam clerk. I don't hear from him. Uh, we'll now move on to you the next name He's unmuted just one moment. Okay. Good. Mr. Stanger is here. Good. Mr. Stanger. Welcome. You have one minute He's unmuted Mr. Stanger, can you speak up? All right. Well, we may have to try him later. Can you move to the next name madam clerk? Just one moment The next speaker is donald hues Thank you, madam clerk. Mr. Hughes welcome. You have one minute Good afternoon. Let me first start off by expressing my displeasure at only being allowed one Minute to address you all but in the interest of time We are facing unprecedented times and these unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership in action We're too long the economic prosperity experienced by some in Durham has not made its way to our black and brown communities The Durham renewal project is a coalition of community members born out of a community's pain and anger at what is a never-ending It's all on black lives So tonight we're asking you mr. Mayor and council members to vote no on the budget While covet 19 is a pandemic that we are in the midst of and it's only a couple of months old We know that the black experience in this country is also a pandemic which some refer to as covet 16 19 And we've experienced this since this country's founding. I have a lot of Comments that I want to address but I know mr. Mayor that you responded to the comments And the request from the Durham renewal project, but I'll leave you with this Your responses to the request by the Durham renewal project make it clear that you don't understand what dr Martin Luther king joined your term the fierce urgency of now, so I'll leave you with those words We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now and this unfolding conundrum of life and history Thank you, mr. Hughes Madam clerk the next speaker, please Susan noblett Miss noblett welcome Hi there. Can you hear me? Hi miss noblett. Yes. Welcome. You have one minute Thank you very much I just want to express to the city council that I am really disappointed With your lack of courage in this time to stand with other police department to stand with other city governments around the country Uh to take bold action I'm grateful for what we were able to accomplish together last year And I think that that was a just a very small step forward that we continue to build on And that this moment has called for even more standing courage. And so Um, I'm very disappointed with the statement that was put out earlier today It feel like placation that doesn't make sense and that isn't actually standing up to the moment that we're facing And I think that we can do so much more together and I wish that you would Um be willing to consider to vote no tonight so that we can go back to the drawing board and come together as a community to talk about what we really need a million dollars for a task force that we were promised a year ago is not enough and especially when Most of that won't even I mean it's 170th of the total police department budget, which is one third of our city budget. I believe Elizabeth errant Thank you, miss noblet now we'll hear from elizabeth errant miss errant Thank you. I'm gonna yield my time Thank you miss errant Madam clark who's the next speaker Herman spelling spurling All right, mr. Sperling welcome. You have one minute. Mr. Sperling. Can you make yourself heard? Here we go Thank you, mr. Mayor and uh council members first. I'd like to just congratulate chief davis and the citizenry Of durham for the measured delivery of a critical message over the past several weeks There are I have two related questions for tonight's meeting There are I have two related questions for tonight's meeting Recent events have highlighted the need to consider our social services City and county and how those relate to our policing structure and policies first question I had requested a seat on the task force so they understand as being chaired by miss johnson To three council members on or about june 4th. I've not received a response How do I as a citizen become involved in the considerations and plans for the durham police It would seem that the council would benefit from a represent representative sampling of the citizenry second question Since miss johnson's position on defunding the durham police is a matter of public record Is a task force with a different point of view being stood up It would seem that the council will benefit from having a balance of perspectives Please vote yes and commit the time to consider the opportunities over the next year Thank you, mr. Spurling Madam clerk, could you give us the next name sure madeline miller Mr. Mayor Can I ask you to clarify um elizabeth erin I yielded her time earlier It may be helpful for her to clarify to whom she is yielding her time Because ma'am ma'am ma'am attorney. We don't yield time at the duration council. All right. I appreciate miss erin's Statement. Um, but we don't as you know, we don't yield time Thank you. Um The next speaker madam clerk Madeline madeline miller Yes, hello. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can this miller Okay, thank you So it's hard to know where to begin and what to say in this meeting So I'm going to focus on the words that came from mr. Schull at the beginning of march 2020 a time when yoshi soto morales was still A happy healthy young girl in the city of Durham And she is not no longer today Having died on june 1st from coronavirus the first child in north carolina at the beginning of march You said we were faced with two crises in the city the crisis of the racist wealth gap and the crisis Of housing particularly the inhumane conditions at mcdougal terrace. You have turned your back on those two crises As we are faced with a third global Biological pandemic that is only exacerbated by the first two crises that you named We are depending on you our lives are depending on you Changing and rebudgeting this budget for the fiscal year that is upcoming Thank you. I yield my time Thank you, miss miller Madam clerk, could you please call the next speaker? michelle metzler Miss metzler. Are you able to be heard? Yes, hello Welcome miss metzler. You have one minute. Thank you. I'm michelle metzler. I'm here to represent the duke students for national health program We vote no on the five percent increase to the police force I submitted a question in regards to We believe that racism is a public health crisis too and we're wondering if the city council believes it is a crisis And if so, why or why not and if you believe it is what are you doing to address this crisis? also We believe in the funding the police And I will include a list of all the reasons or some of the reasons for health disparities and inequities in our Black community. I will post that to the chat. Thank you for your time Thank you very much miss metzler Madam clerk, do we have the next speaker? page polk Miss polk I believe page may page polk Hello, thank you. Welcome miss polk and you have one minute. Thank you. Mr. Mayor and city council persons I would like to speak on From the perspective of a recent Durham resident. I've been here for about two years now and The reason that I came here is because I saw a progressive vision for the south and originally from texas and Uh, I saw a community of folks who were dedicated to thinking about the ways that we care for one another as a community While also being an incredible space for education and and tech and really what the future means in every sense and We're seeing on the streets around the country around the world people Advocating for what organizers has been thinking about for black and poc folks in need of support in need of community and In need of financial resources and things that are not really about the police They're about things like mental health advocacy and public Thank you very much miss paul Thank you If anyone wants to add to your comments, please feel free to put them in the chat as well Madam clerk, uh, could you please call the next speaker? Victoria kareese Miss kareese if you were present, can you make yourself heard? Miss kareese All right, can we move to our next speaker madam clerk? Shaliyah huggins Say again Shaliyah huggins feel a huggins Good evening, um Mayor mayor pro tem and city council members shila huggins share of the friends of Durham First of all, I wish to thank the city manager and employees, especially those in the department of budget and management services for their tireless work that they've put In putting to this budget budget together when I attended the council budget retreat earlier this year I could not have anticipated how drastically our world and our lives were about to be changed And none of you probably could have either Since then we've watched businesses close people lose jobs and friends and family members lose lives Over the last 21 days, we've been further shaken by the loss of black lives at the hands of law enforcement But this has also brought us together We know that there is a lot of work to be done regarding police brutality Community policing and crisis intervention We are asking that you approve the budget and the ordinances as presented And that you commit to working with the residents and with our community partners to develop a comprehensive plan on community policy Community policing and crisis intervention. Thank you Thank you, miss huggins Madam clerk, could you please call the next speaker? Miss miss madham clerk. Could you please call the next speaker? I was told to unmute myself. Does that mean it's me? gutman I'm not sure madham clerk. Could you please tell me who the next speaker is it is it's mr. Gutman Okay Thank you. Dr. Gutman. Welcome. You have one minute As you know, i'm robert gutman a resident of durham and I support the submitted budget I hear and recognize the need to greatly curtail the use of deadly force and harassment Especially that that has been directed against the black community Training not defunding is the key chief davis has proven herself expert in this realm And clearly intends to pursue that sort of leadership So substituting well-trained professionals to take the place of Or a company uniform police in areas of police work Where special sensitivity and avoidance of violence is a highly praiseworthy idea But it is not praiseworthy to consider a separate city source of funding For activities that must be coordinated with policing Nor should such people be hired by separate NGOs That will result in waste Confusion and an opportunity for a few to gain financial advantage over the many And what about the count they hire people for similar roles great care must be taken to avoid conflict Time I got I got a lot of interference there Robert gutman that's herman's friend Just No, I'm we're just showing this they wanted me to unmute Can you please Mr. Stanger, are you present? I am can you hear me? Yes. Welcome. Mr. Stanger. You have one minute. Thanks for the opportunity I have five points the Durham police department's vital important factor in maintaining the safety and quality of Life for every citizen our community and needs to be adequately funded and staff Every police department of the country has room for improvement in the Durham police. There's no exception The dpb is under continuing review and constantly improving Durham's community policing strategies. They're long-standing of improvement to be effective means of fostering effective communications and enabling healthy relationships with the community I also want to say that the Durham police department is led by a very capable chief of great executive team and they ought to Their requests ought to be granted the city manager's request ought to be granted. They're competent. They're proven They know how to lead and they can make whatever improvements are necessary in the Durham police department Thank you, mr. Stanger Madam clerk, could you please call the next speaker? Yes, mr. Merritt stella adams Miss adams welcome you have one minute Is miss adams able to make herself heard miss adams Okay Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome miss adams. You have one minute Thank you. I signed up for the public hearing on the con plan Um, and so I want to speak about south side. There are three points Or I should have more than one minute We'll put you on that that'll be a different agenda item and we will put you on that item as adam That yeah, this is just for uh item 12. Yeah, thank you. We'll we'll get you for that that item that's on the um Are you did you mean to be speaking on? the item 47 I believe it is um, the consolidated plan annual plan That's the item I signed up for yes, man. We'll get you on that item. Thank you sure Madam clerk, could you please call the next speaker mr. Mayor? I think we've addressed all the speakers All right Um, let me check that yeah, we had a longer list this morning I'll read some of the names that we had and let's see Then see if they're present Uh, I feel like we've we need to offer them an opportunity One is destiny adams is miss adams present all right Claire casselman. I don't believe we've called on her. Do we met him clerk? No, mayor Miss casselman. Are you present? All right Serena seabring miss seabring. Are you present? Serena seabring is she present? She's not listed in the attendee list. All right. Joanna parkman They said they signed up in the chat. Check it out Is miss parkman present Andrew wine coop Let them speak Excuse me Please don't yell out in the meeting Is mr. Winecoupe present Andrew winecoupe Mr. Mayor, I don't see him listed. Thank you um, okay We've heard from beth clifford erin karson erin karson There's no erin karson Listing all right Myra snider Snyd er Yes. Myra is here Miss snider. Would you please make yourself heard and you have one minute? miss I'm sorry. Mr. Mayor erin karson said she doesn't have the ability to unmute herself Okay, we'll get her in in just a minute. All right. Thank you Let's let's um Let me I'm looking at the chat here for a minute There's lots of folks in there her saying they can't unmute themselves Right, but erin karson it let me unmute myself now. I got a um A message from the screen All right. Thank you miss karson. Welcome miss karson and you have one minute Thanks, I feel like other people probably are having a similar issue So I'm hoping someone is working on it on that end Um, you pride yourselves on being a progressive and representative board of the people How dare you at a time like this give 70 million dollars a five percent increase to cops When cities are burning in rage and mourning across the country Thousands of people have taken to our streets to demand to fund them defunding the police because we know We face more than one danger in this city during the global pandemic still taking to the streets because our lives are at risk Black people are being murdered in the streets with impunity and that is everyone's problem not just ours How come we have to wish nurses and cna's and child care teachers and grocery store workers had ppe And wages and supplies they need but the police who kill and terrorize us never have to wish for anything Our city workers wages and our vital programs are frozen But the police never miss a cent while delivering nothing Literally anyone else could do the job that they claim to do far better far cheaper and without going armed to the terror of the public The terror of the black public specifically. Thank you Myra snider Miss snider hi, can you all hear me? Yes, we can miss snider and welcome you have one minute Great. Thank you I just wanted to say that i'm also in favor of defunding the police department and at least reducing their funding The police department has proven that they are not competent in responding to many situations To domestic violence to interacting with homeless people where other groups are more competent And of course they have not been competent Interacting with people of color. They have murdered many many people of color across our nation and specifically in Durham So for that reason, I believe the funding would Be much better to go to other groups to communities of color instead of going to placement Where all that's going to happen is they're just going to get weapons to Continue to kill people of color. Thank you Thank you miss snider Katie more is Katie more present madam clerk And we have andrew wincoupe Okay Mr. Wincoupe or mr. Winecoupe. Are you present right? Thank you Are you present mr. Winecoupe? He's there. He's still muted though. Yeah I've put on mute They have to unmute themselves too. Oh, he has to unmute you. Yeah, mr. Winecoupe. You also have to unmute I know we're all learning the technology. We're doing the best we can appreciate the clerk Um, mr. Winecoupe, can you unmute yourself? Right? Well, we'll move on then and when mr. Mr. Winecoupe comes back then perhaps he can get in um Meg stein Is meg stein present tonight? Mr. Mayor, I don't see a meg stein I see I see a whole wincoupe though Um, well andrew winecoupe or isn't a paul winecoupe. Is that what you said? There is a paul winecoupe. Yes, maybe that's him. Can you let him in? Sure Okay Mr. Winecoupe, are you able to be heard mr. Winecoupe? Can you unmute yourself, please? All right, uh, who's after mr. Winecoupe? We're going with adam villman Adam villman v i l m i n mr. Villman. Are you present and clerk if you present? I don't see an adam all right Sheila amir Miss madame clerk is miss amir here. She'll amir am i are That's mr. Winecoupe. All right mr. Winecoupe. Miss You have one minute sir. Welcome. Okay. Thanks. Yeah My name's paul winecoupe. I'm speaking on behalf of andrew because he couldn't speak here tonight Um, I just want to point out that the audacity of you all to give one minute to speak It's ridiculous and to have the arrogance to sit here and think that you can only listen for one minute without considering the concerns of your constituents is Concerning ridiculous and apathetic and I want to urge you all to listen with open ears and listen to the voices of You all got voted in for a reason You're not here to just go through meetings all day and to make a decision based on your own gut feelings You're here to listen to your constituents and if you can't do that then you won't be reelected You said you all say black lives matter and it's time to put your money where your mouth is Thank you mr. Winecoupe um Sheila amir madame clerk is she present here Hi miss amir welcome. You have one minute Hi, I think between the national recognition of what is going on with our systemic racism that has spread to Across the nation and we are in a deep state of trauma and grieving As well as the fact that we have a historic precedent that what we're doing is not working We need to pause Listen to our constituents and take a deep moment here to see what derms places and all of this I'm in support of defending the police But I think we need to do it with a conscious effort of listening to derms public because when derm makes a move the united states listens And I think we need to understand our role and what we do here sets the tone Thank you Thank you very much miss amir I See the serena serena sebring is here miss sebring. Are you here? This is listed as jamila martin. I'm not sure exactly what's going on with that Madam clerk. Do you see either serena sebring or jamila martin presby jamila martin? All right. Can you unmute jamila martin? I expect I think that sounds like that serena sebring I'm not sure exactly what's going on there. She's signed up Miss sebring are you able to hear I'm not miss um sebring, but I was asked to unmute myself. Can I also make a comment because I signed up ahead of time? Yes, you may Thank you, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak I am would also like to air my grievance that i'm only being given one minute to talk about this very important issue Um defunding the police is something that has to be done in derm like many of my fellow citizens have said derm is a progressive city um and the nation you know listens to derm and We have a chance to do some good and there is really no reason why we should ever increase the police budget when teachers are paying out of pocket for supplies and buying clothes for the kids in school And buying food for them to take home on the weekends because we have so much poverty in derm So there's no reason why we should give more money to the police force When we can't even take care of the basic needs of our citizens We need to fund education We need to fund health care And community organizations to make sure that people are safe in this city And you have the opportunity to do so so I urge you to not pass this budget. Thank you Thank you Madam clerk next we have alice sharp Not on the list, sir All right, miss sharp is not present all right, um Next we have Jeremy board Jeremy board and blr d en Is mr. Boarding present mr. Boarding is here. Can you unmute mr. Boarding? Yes Thank you, mr. Boarding if you're present you have one minute. Welcome Uh, thanks for allowing me to speak. I really appreciate it. So I did write a letter To the city that I hope that that you'll consider Um, look one minute isn't a lot of time to say everything that needs to be said But I think you guys really have a layup in front of you in terms of rejecting At least the increase in the police budget. I think there are a lot of hard decisions ahead This is really one of the easier ones violent crime is down Most community members say they feel safe according to the city's own survey Um, also the the budget is supposed to go toward Um, a new gang unit and I think that every study that you look at Shows that gang units are the most problematic part of police departments. This is a failed 90s experiment I really hope you all um reject at least the increase in the budget and use those a portion of those funds For the community safety and wellness task force I think there are a lot of hard decisions that you all Are gonna have to make in the coming weeks and months. This is one of the easier ones because The facts are on your side here Thank you, mr. Boarding Madam clerk, can we go back to katie? Can you all please blink if you are being held hostage by your police force because there's no reason at all Why anyone should be This is jamila Martin martin olapaz All right. I believe this is supposed to be serena sebring I don't see serena. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes Wonderful. Thank you. Uh, I just want to say that this process is really a problem One minute is not enough and it took me about 30 tries to get on Which tells me that there's something there's a big problem with our representation in this city What I know after years of working on this is that the city of durham The people of durham are ready for change have been ready for change And that we deserve for our leaders to listen to us thousands of emails were sent to you all Just this week saying defund the police We believe in community solutions to public safety and we need our elected officials to listen and this budget does not reflect that This budget reflects a A re-entrenchment of the same conditions that lead to deaths like george floyd Like hasis wertha in durham like matthew mccain I we are here in all of their names. We know these people. These are our neighbors And we deserve a budget that reflects the morality and the values of this community And the people of durham have been very clear. They want a reinvestment in community They want a divestment from the Thank you, miss sebring katie moore Madam clerk i've seen the chat that katie moore is here. Can you please uh, see if you can unmute katie moore Okay Hi, I think i'm unmuted. Can you all hear me? Yes, we can miss moore. Welcome. You have one minute great I'm from durham and a current resident. I love durham with all of my heart And i'm asking you all even though I know that it's a late hour and it might be inconvenient for you to Act on the four demands Put forward to you by durham beyond policing. We need to act in this moment. Um, and you know Three days ago, minneapolis city council acted boldly and durham needs to follow their lead We need to defund policing in this city and we need to reinvest in our own communities um, and I I just really urge you to to pause and to To listen to what all of your constituents are saying in this moment. Thank you Thank you, miss moore Madam clerk the next speaker is john jackson Is mr. Jackson present and if so, could you unmute him? Hello This this is our But Madam clerk, can you please unmute? john jackson That's just a moment Okay Mr. Jackson, are you present? Yes, I am Thank you. You have one minute. Mr. Jackson. Yes I think that we are seeing across the nation that Uh, people are ready for something new and I think we need to take this opportunity as durham to lead The nation and thinking beyond What we've always done and thinking that we can continue to throw money at the police And that will somehow make things safer for our communities that we have to start being bold in taking what we want and Funding our communities and funding the problems that people have as opposed to waiting until they explode into our streets Thank you very much. Mr. Jackson Madam clerk, uh, could you please call? Al rigs if mr. Riggs is present Yes, he's right here All right, mr. Riggs. Are you present? If so, uh, welcome and you have one minute Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome great, uh Members of city council. My name is al rigs. I'm a musician who's been living in Durham for three years now Just want to say this is the strongest community of people. I've found myself living with They're strong folks quick to reason quicker to action Uh, I think we can self govern Self govern ourselves stronger as a community without the influence of the police on our city The proposed increase of 70 million dollars for the police budget is money wasted Or it'd be better off being put into homeless shelters or centers for people struggling with addiction and or sickness Point blank.  I yield my time Thank you, sir Uh jessemen stanley. I don't believe miss stanley has spoken jessemen stanley is she present madam clerk? I don't see her on the list All right Oh, just a moment. There's a jamila No, she spoke No, I'm sorry. Uh, somebody else was speaking through my account. I'm jamilia and did sign up earlier Would also like to speak Go ahead Hi, yes, I'm a resident of Durham and decided to make Durham my home because of its rich community activism history Um, I was really hopeful that in this moment of national momentum that Durham would be a leader In reimagining public safety and public health and the statement that was released earlier was really disappointing to me the fact that it praised our police chief for Uh, not brutalizing its citizens Was really horrifying. Um, and I just really urge that You all listen to your your residents as they tell you this is not what they want And this is not what they need and that they know how to care for themselves. Thank you Thank you very much Madam clerk. The next name I have is rachel katz She's right here Miss katz, uh, welcome and you have one minute Hi, um, my name is rachel katz. I'm a resident of Durham I would like to say that from personal firsthand experience I do know that sending the police is not always the right decision It can often escalate situations that are require mental health attention and a two-day training course as police officers May take on it is not sufficient like actual mental health or social work training beyond that I think it's important to consider that we're currently living through a pandemic Durham's numbers are actually still rising in new cases and it just seems incredibly fiscally irresponsible to fund One third of our budget to police when we're living in such a severe public health crisis If you don't have the problem with the morality of spending all of our money on it Think about it like a simple budgeting thing What is our priority? What is our priority? Is it the health of our citizens or arresting them if it's health then you need to vote? No, a five percent increase is frankly unacceptable and we should defund the police entirely. Thank you for your time Thank you Caitlyn Strauss, madam clerk k a i t l i n strauss. I see on my list Hello. Yes, I see her. Miss strauss in present This I was told to this is stella again and I was told to unmute Stella um, no not till item 47. I think that was a mistake Caitlyn Strauss Yes, I'm here. Can you all hear me? Yes, you have one minute miss strauss. Welcome. Thank you so much I appreciate this i'm a longtime Durham resident and a mom and a nurse and I understand Especially because I have a budget myself at work that this is late in the process I'm very frustrating to be asked to make a big change so late But I really don't think that you can look around at the current situation and decide that what we need to do is increase the Police budget. I think we do have a chance to continue to be a progressive leader In our both our state and our country and I hope that you all will at least choose to keep the police budget the same If not choose to decrease it some. Thank you so much Thank you very much And uh, the next name I have is julie maris. Is miss maris present madam court julie maris I don't see a julie maris all right Dustin britt The rite Yes, he's here. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can mr. Britt Okay, um Durham citizens proved over the last two weeks that we do not require intervention by the police department to behave ourselves Um, in fact, we saw uh in the last two weeks that the fewer police involved in Durham the more peaceful the city has been Um, I want to echo sentiments made by mayor pro tempore johnson very wisely recently Saying the police are being asked to complete tasks that is beyond their expertise We did not need to call police when what we need is a psychologist a therapist a substance abuse counselor or a social worker We needed individuals trained in de-escalation and serving the community to be coming into homes and not just calling someone with a gun Because we have no other Systems in place to support the people The suggestion that any of this can be fixed with police training sessions Is frankly offensive to those of us who spent decades in school learning how to do this properly So not only is it unfair to the people of the state It's unfair to the police to continue to ask them to intervene in ways that They're not best trained to do I also would suggest that we put a provision in the budget so you can hire an it person Thank you, mr. Britt Defunding the police means that a hundred percent Um, madam clerk the next person I have on my list is gracing harvey gracing harvey Okay, I don't see a gracing All right Sarah austin Yes, sarah's here. Hello. Yes. Austin. Welcome. You have one minute Hi, first, I just want to say that I think that this could have been handled much better And I think that in future meetings you guys should work towards that Um, I read your proposed budget for the year 2019 2020 and your goals directly rely on building of the community You say you want to see shared economic prosperity a connected diverse and safe community And equity for all house of five percent policing budget increase help that by allowing over policing to continue in neighborhoods Most they made up a Uh-oh, I think we have lost, um miss austin miss austin.  I see charlene ye why I Yes charlene is here Miss ye welcome and you have one minute Hi, um in Durham the cops were called to de-escalate love on big suicide You know what doesn't save a man's life 23 officers showing up and shooting that man to death None of which who have been charged is just common sense. It doesn't even need to be a training Anyone would know that to prevent a suicide you do not shoot that man And um, you know as we debate like these stats and talk about politics the simplified debate is Are you willing to invest on the living? And if so, can you please do that because I I see People saying that they want to do this, but they're not it's like everyone's like a psychopath who has no feelings And it's like if you actually care why don't you do something because otherwise I don't know how anyone could sleep at night knowing they have the power to Save people's lives instead of an invest in our oppressor and abusers That's it Thank you miss ye Madam clerk, uh, I see hayley garvis g a r v is Is miss garvis present madam clerk? I'm searching right now. I don't see uh miss garvis. All right Uh, and then I say I see Hello, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, we can and welcome you have one minute Hi, my name is hayley jarvis as a resident of durham and a teacher in durham I want to urge the council members to vote no on the city budget as it stands due to the 5 increase in funding to To the police department which already receives one third of the city budget To wait on this issue and review or evaluate the police over the next 90 days directly ignores What marginalized and black communities have asked of the council members police reform does not work It has not worked for the past 20 years and it will not now As a teacher who's worked in durham public schools have seen firsthand how the lack of funding in our schools directly affects our black students and students of color the most Where school nurses and social workers are there one day out of five a week There's no school psychologists to serve students. The food is not good enough for our students and more teachers are needed Um, do not increase funding to the police department use the funding in our schools who are in great need for example Ensuring that all of our students have hot spots wi-fi and devices in their homes for possible remote learning next year would be a place Thank you very much Um, madam. Clark. The next name. I have is a e E e y i oon o o n do we see They're here Alrighty, can you unmute unmute them, please just in hello. Uh, this is e oon Welcome miss oon and you have one minute um I am a duramite since 2001. I've been I went to high school here um The time for police reforms that we have been trying in durham is long past One third of the city's entire budget is certainly far more than adequate instead Let us defund the police redirect the funds to invest in the safety of government public school students with mental health professionals and invest in the community safety task force and invest in aid for essential workers All of these options could keep us safer for so much less We know from the teacher strikes last year the teachers counselors social workers and other staff Want to help the students but they are underpaid and overworked We do not need police to respond to mental health crises and we do not need police in schools We do not we do not need this increase in the budget Our students and our people deserve so much more. Thank you so much Thank you, miss oon The last name I have madam clerk is friend swaz hayden h e y d e n this miss hayden present I'm checking I do not see a friend swaz hayden, but there is a grayson harvey All right. Yes. He's on the list. Can you unmute him? Yes Hello Hi, is this grayson? Is this grayson harvey? This is grayson harvey. Um, I just real quick. Um, Well, first of all, thank you to y'all for being here and to listening to people I bet it is a lot to have all these comments coming in and like Hello, like We like we love you. Thank you for doing this. There's a bunch of people in the comments who have been trying to speak But haven't been able to speak we got um Um tomorrow churk run who's been trying to speak for a while We've got steve hopkins soul peterson um There might be let's see I mean, there's there's a bunch of people that maybe for some reason zoom is not identifying as the name that They really have is their name. Um But yeah, there's like there's a lot of folks who are who are speaking in the chat looking to get heard um And we've been typing their names and a lot of people said that they did um sign up beforehand Um, so I I'm thinking it's kind of a zoom error like zoom is really messing up here But yeah, I'm just going to try to shout out some more of the people that Said that they registered to speak. It's just you can't copy and paste from the chat either um Thank you for your patience on this Let's see i'm saw Thank you miss hayden all right, um Madam clerk, do you have any other names of people that have signed up ahead of time? I'm comparing my list. There's a toby lippen That she signed up ahead of time I'm checking No, I don't see a toby all right Alrighty, here's what I'm going to do. Um, I'm going to ask now If anyone is on the participants list and is not spoken If you will now type your name into the chat just your name Uh, I will let uh folks continue to speak So if you are on the list now, I'm sorry if you're not on if you haven't spoken Please put your name in now You have To do it right immediately Okay Okay, I see a few people have put in thank you All right, I know that uh, this is a long process, but I'm going to Go ahead and hear from those folks and I'm going to take it from the top of that list People have put their name in You can get this to happen There's a stef hopkins. I'm going to begin with stef hopkins. Thank you Mr. Mayor to marsha croon was the first person who put their name in before that All right, we'll get him after thank you Uh, we're sure I'm not sure but um stef hopkins. Are you present? Hello, yes, my name is stef and I am deeply saddened by the city council I ask who do you serve? Do you represent the black and brown working and unemployed people in Durham? No, you have an opportunity to take a strong stance in this moment of heightened civic engagement And instead you give the community crumbs one million arbitrary money towards the community task force verse 70 million I mean 70 a 70 million towards the police department This breaks my heart and shows us who you really are you promise raises for city workers And I was told that it's not happening Do you know how many people in Durham face health issues before the pandemic due to income food and housing insecurities? And one third of our money is going towards dpd No, we demand that you vote no on this budget because it is not too late to defund the police We demand that you give a minimum 200 000 for the research and time that it will take To ensure that the success of this community task force We demand that you defund the police from 70 million dollars to zero dollars because we believe that it is possible Again as a Durham resident, you know, someone who deeply loves people who have spent their lives in Durham. I ask Thank you, miss hopkins tomorrow chukran or chukran Are you present? Madam clerk, can you unmute tomorrow chukran? I'm looking for the name CH UK RUN is the last name first name is dama. Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome you have one minute Hi, I'm a duke medical student representing root causes where a duke student group Improving the health of our community root causes stands with our black patients to advocate against racism and to express our dismay at the newly proposed increase to the Durham police budget We have seen time and time again how our patients health is damaged by interactions with police Patients who struggle with addiction and mental health disorders who are jailed and imprisoned instead of getting access to life saving Substance use treatment Our patients need more affordable housing giving wages Eviction diversion expanded Medicaid. I could go on but unfortunately you only gave me one minute And your statement on june 1st you stated that we cannot tolerate this kind of police violence rooted in systemic racism These are your words. Well, look around you. Look at our community. Look in the mirror Police racist violence is a pandemic and Durham is not immune You wrote that you pledged to make every effort within our power to fight systemic racism with Thank you. Ms. Chikrin Uh, Danielle purifoy Madam clerk, can you please unmute Danielle purifoy? Yes, she's Yes, we can Great. Um, I'm Danielle purifoy. I'm with Durham beyond policing Um, I've been before you many times and I am back. Um I'm really thrilled to see right the groundswell of folks who are speaking today against the increase in the budget in support of Defunding the police and what I want to say is that this is something that we've been talking to y'all about For years, right and before 2016 when Durham beyond policing was founded There have been several organizations that have done it and last year the The message all sent right to Durham was that we wanted to work on alternatives to policing that centered community safety and wellness That's what the community safety and wellness task force does you had an opportunity to lead a year ago And now you're regressing you're back peddling and what I want y'all to do is like stand up, right? People are looking at Durham internationally at this point. We are getting media calls Internationally talking about how we are going to leave the Thank you, miss purifoy Brian vana v a n n a h madam clerk Yes, he's unmeeted All right, they're in council. Uh, no matter training the reformer system that is designed to repress The american police system began to patrol to look for escaping and insubordinate slaves The bottom version of slavery continues to be enforced by policing the form of over placing and massive frustration You may have had more support for this budget in may But because of ability to be unprecedented national and local outrage I encourage you to vote no more postponement on this budget There are so many people living in your city Do you want a chance to speak and have their voices heard for more than a minute? I think that as being shown by the length of the meeting and the number of people want to speak I really believe you should give them more time to talk in the future before you come to vote on this budget Thank you The next speaker I see is I think i'm going through the chat here trying to find the Colleagues, who do you all see as another speaker on the that I haven't called you mr. Mayor? I saw a sol peterson has he spoken yet? No, thank you sol peterson. Thank you councilmember Yes, sir. P. E. D. E. R. S. O. N. Sol peterson Madam clerk is he present? Yes, he's muted. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes Hi, yes as a former Durham public school staff member I join with dps students and staff and calling for the removal of school resource officers from our school buildings And as a Durham resident I joined with Durham beyond policing's call to vote no on the proposed budget to give 70 million dollars to the Durham police department the dps elementary school I worked at was predominantly poor black and brown students with majority white staff I continually saw the needs of poor black and brown students being ignored the administrator solutions to their obvious trauma inflicted by racism economic marginalization and police and ice violence Was to take them on field trips to the county jail To show them where they might end up if they didn't act in compliance with the behavior standards of a largely white staff Meanwhile, we did not have a full-time nurse social worker school psychologist interpreter or therapist to actually provide trauma informed And culturally responsive support to students that desperately needed it I am sick of it being so difficult to connect children with food mental health support and housing and economic security But meanwhile so easy for the police and ice to take their parents away from them These are the atrocities that happen every day when we prioritize funding police over funding community wellness I'm grateful to the work of Durham beyond policing and hope that you will heed their call today Thank you I have Sarah my mye madame clerk. Do you see her? Hi, this is Sarah. My can you hear me? Yes, we can miss my welcome. You have one minute Thank you so much. Um, I wanted to start off by saying that I have been serving on the participatory budgeting steering committee for the past two years and I've been really impressed with our goals to Address past and current harm and to look at inequities And I feel like defunding the police is one of the best ways we can address past and current harm and so I would urge The council to please listen to Durham beyond policing and b y p 100 and all of these other great activist organizations that are here in Durham and to vote no on the current budget and to look into divesting from the police And reinvesting in our community and serving the people of Durham. Thank you so much for your time Thank you very much The next I have madame clerk is kenton yates y e a t e s Okay, I don't see a kenton All right, do you see anyone with the last name yates y e a t e s now All right, thank you I'm just reviewing the names now to make sure I haven't missed anyone who's signed up kenton yates is here according to the chat There's a couple more people in the chat. It's just hard to see the names because there's so many other comments Yes, exactly. That's why I'm trying to I'm trying to surf through all the comments Hello, can you hear me? Yes Thank you You have one minute Myself and my partner who are Durham residents do not agree with the budget increase for the police Racism is a public health crisis that is exacerbated by the police Instead that should go toward a program similar to the community led safety and wellness task force proposed by Durham beyond policing And the proposed budget and officers highlighted for his actions responding to a mental health crisis Why are we funding officers to do this work instead of mental health professionals? It appears that there is training for this team But I believe that money would be better spent on social work and other community services That will uplift our community The police should not be involved in handling mental health crises unless there's a crime being committed as their law enforcement Not social workers in conclusion. We should not increase the police budget unless it's going towards non officer social workers. Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much Colleagues, is there anyone else that you see in the chat that is set up to speak? Mr. Mayor, I see it. Is it a toby lippen or illpin? Yep toby lippen. I see heather jackson as well and then I see We've already tried toby lippen. Can you name the next name that you see? I see heather jackson Hang on a second I'm sorry. I thought we'd already tried toby lippen, but we haven't I see that uh toby lippen is here and Unmute her Okay, she's on the welcome this lippen. You have one minute. Hello. Can people hear me? Yes, we can. Okay I'm a long time germ resident and waiting all this time. I figured out it's 45 years and Dermas changed a lot in that time Racism was here when I got here and it's still here and um, I think You have an opportunity now to Take a step Given what's going on in the world and what has been going on in Durham To pause what your budget was before the recent uprisings and I think it's time to Not increase the police budget and as a matter of fact, I think it where other departments are taking a hit So should the police department. I think you need to follow through and pay All employees including part-time employees the $15 an hour that you promise them And I think it's time to take fund the well Health and wellness task force proposed by Durham beyond policing and I think not letting people talk for more than a minute Is appalling and I'm really disappointed in you all letting this go on, you know, we've all Thank you, miss lippen um, the next Let's see. Do we you all see others that would like to speak Mr. Mayor, there's a hather Jackson I am here All right, hather Jackson welcome. You have one minute Yes, thank you. Um, I Teach english online to children in china I have neighbors who are hispanic and african-american I have an apartment complex behind me when I hear gunshots I do not call the police because I do not have faith that the police will Deescalate the situation when I saw a police officer outside of my hispanic neighbors home I was not willing to help them figure out what was going on because I had no faith That they were not there to drag parents away from their children And my students in china that I see every day Have sent me more supplies to do more good To the hospitals here locally and have actually asked me to move to china where I will be safer I am a white woman And I have privilege because I am a white woman We need to listen We need to listen To what is Thank you, miss jackson Is there anyone else Colleagues that you see on the list Mr. Mayor, I see a wendell bullard Wendell bullard. Okay. Thank you Madam clerk Can you please unmute wendell bullard? Is he here? Do you see him? Yes? I'm here. I'm here. I'll meet him Thank you. Mr. Bullard Welcome. Good evening, mr. Mayor. Thank you mayor pro tem and council members I'll speak there's a Durham native and Durham realtor But also as a former air force trained secret police And when I get stopped in a traffic stop the law enforcement officer sees a black man Irrespective of my past as a long-term Durham native How do we balance both? Chief davis and her team And the sheriffs have a tremendous job in front of us The safe Durham residents of housing is critical But we have to find a way to do both. I am not supportive the funding police But find a way to reallocate our asked resources to allow all citizens to benefit from the leadership of chief davis And I would like this council to do its best work to provide the resources to our county for mental health and other services. Thank you Thank you, mr. Bullard I also see mcganna gearie gi r.i Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome and you have one minute Hi, thank you for this opportunity to speak I'm a Durham resident and I also oppose the budget increase in police departments and instead support the rerouting of these funds Into crucial public services like education and health care in the midst of covet 19 As others have eloquently said racism is not only a public health issue But also a human rights issue and by increasing police budgets rather than other services There are no actual steps being taken to combat the structural racism that is embedded in our police departments and social structures Making statements about combating racism and standing in solidarity with our black and brown citizens But not actually taking the steps to reduce the structural racism Is no better than performative activism and the residents of Durham demand action Please do not increase the police funding and use that money for services that will reduce the blatant inequities Our black and brown communities have endured for hundreds of years. Thank you Thank you very much Colleagues, I don't see any other people that have signed up. But are there any others that you all have identified? Mr. Mayor, there's a Mabel Seagrest All right, Mab Seagrest is Mab are you present? Could you unmute her please? She's unmuted Um, thank you very much for giving me a little spot. I'm also um in favor of uh looking seriously at reallocating the 70 million dollars in the uh in the Durham budget for police Over my 30 and 40 years of adult life I've seen the budgets for health and human needs stripped and the budgets for police and the military Bloated and say defund the police. We're just saying I think give the people back our money And that's what we're asking for now some kind of broader discussion About how to take this very big amount of police money and and put it towards human needs. Thank you very much Thank you very much. Are there any other comments? Is there anyone else that we see colleagues ask again? Who do you serve? All right Thank you. All right, uh, I believe that's everyone I've seen on the list. I've looked through the chat But I believe we've given everyone their opportunity um, I Appreciate hearing from everyone as I say these are Is an unusual procedure for us. It's not being a public hearing, but I did want to hear from everyone I understand that people are frustrated with only having a minute um and um But I do think that you were certainly able to make your points and I much appreciate hearing that my know my colleagues do as well All right, um, we have now heard uh from the speakers and um I'm going to now, uh talk to you all a little about the statement That I have circulated And the commitment that I think that it entails And I'm working on getting that up hang on a second And I believe there's an attachment here somewhere that I can find it. If not, I'll have to go elsewhere for it And Just give me one second and I'll have to find it elsewhere Mr. Mayor, I believe it's the last attachment on item 12 Thank you council member. Let me try that Because that's how it appears in my agenda Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I'm sorry. I'm struggling to find it here It's been known to happen once or twice Yes, thank you Um, I want to say to my colleagues and I appreciate um All of you all thinking through these very difficult issues and the things that folks raised tonight are incredibly important Um, I was really grateful to hear everyone um I want to just try to put a few things In perspective from the way I see it And first of all There are certain things that have been said Tonight that I just want to factually correct them for example about not paying $15 an hour We pay all of our employees that and we actually pay higher than that. I can't remember what our minimum wage is, but I believe it's $15 and 50 cents or above That's the lowest pay in the city of Durham. I believe people might have been referring to Durham public schools employees The county I had an issue about that that last week, but we have had Our livable wage ordinance in place for a couple of years Uh, including our part-time employees In terms of the percentage of our budget that goes for policing. It's a lot 70 million dollars is a lot It's it's actually closer to about 14 percent of our budget Um, still a lot of money, but I do want to make that clear as well The thing I want to say about our budget this year our police budget is this we are Increasing our police budget a total of about 1.2 million dollars and We're not adding any positions We're not adding any programs Our police officers are not getting a pay increase just like everybody else in the city In city government because of the ravages on our budget Of COVID-19 and the lost revenue that we've experienced which has been extreme We have We are our budget is going up for our police a little bit as I said about 1.2 million dollars And this is primarily for two things One is state mandated pension increases and the other is the fact that officers who received a mid-year increase Officers get a mid-year in get an increase on the on the anniversary of when they've been hired And so that kicks over every year into a little bit of an increase, but let me just be clear We are not increasing the pay Of our any of our city employees. I wish that we were And we're not hiring. We're not increasing any of our our police numbers either sworn or non sworn And we're not introducing any new programs But I just want to be clear about that I am like all of us really shaken up by the racism That we witnessed In the death of george floyd And by the systemic racism that it represents We know it's not an isolated incident and we know there's police violence in our country I am very supportive of chief davis our current chief of police in durham. She is doing a great job And I want to be really clear about that The fact that our police We're non confrontational over the last few weeks is not an accident. It's a choice It's a choice that our police chief made And it was the right choice And it has helped to keep our city safer and I'm really grateful for that I'm gonna now that we've also introduced a whole lot of police reforms in durham and some of those are listed in the statement that I'm about to read I'm going to read a statement that I'm recommending to my colleagues that we passed on Which includes Some funding Which I want to read and then we'll discuss And this is durham city council statement on community health and safety Yeah, before I read it, I think I'll say one more thing Folks have referenced the fact that we established a community health and safety task force and we did We voted to establish that task force we wrote the bylaws we passed them And we asked our colleagues in the county and the school board to Join us in that Um So far they have not joined us in that and you'll see in this call that we renew that all them It's very important because the schools and the social services and public health and Are all in the purview of the county and the schools not the city and we really need them to join us in this So this is Work that we've been working on and it's super important work And we know that So let me read the statement Over the past 10 days, we've received over 4 000 emails calling on us to radically reimagine community safety in durham This outpouring of community concern is part of the larger movement against police brutality that sparked national and international protests The murder of george floyd in minneapolis, minnesota was the most public and recent example of a long history of brutality and racism in police departments in the united states This must stop We share the outrage of the people who have written us and the people Who have taken their outrage to durham streets and we are committed to going our part The movement to transform policing may be new to some communities, but it's not new to durham In recent years community advocates have worked with elected officials to implement numerous reforms to our police department Including requiring written consent for vehicle searches Expanded misdemeanor diversion Expanded access to uv visas Deprioritizing misdemeanor marijuana arrests And expanding crisis intervention racial equity and and deescalation training Under the stellar leadership of durham police chief cj davis and in response to significant community demand We've dramatically changed how our police respond to public demonstrations They want to commend chief davis and her staff for the superb work that they've done over the last two weeks During the many demonstrations that have been held in durham to stand against police brutality Their non-confront confrontational approach has been an example to the nation We also want to thank the many organizers who helped create this new kind of response to demonstrations in durham And we want to thank the demonstrators themselves Who have spoken forcefully against the systemic racism that plagued our community and our nation We stand with you For the last year our city council has been actively working With community members to develop a plan to create community safety institutions that don't involve police We anticipate that these new institutions will be able to prevent violence And usefully intervene and stop ongoing violence And be able to take on work that is currently performed by police Including responding to crisis calls After a robust conversation last year about whether to expand the durham police department We approve the creation of a community safety and wellness task force This task force will explore Research and recommend initiatives to the council that will make our community safer We're all committed to seeing this work move forward into increasing investments in community safety In this watershed moment for public safety transformation in this country We find it necessary to take concrete and immediate action towards achieving these goals Power police budget this year includes no new positions and no new programs or initiatives We are also making the following commitments tonight to this critical work one We are earmarking an initial investment of one million dollars of funding for community safety A small portion of this funding may be used to support work by the task force and city staff But the great bulk of this funding will go to the implementation of task force recommendations This is an initial investment and we fully anticipate the need for additional and ongoing funding to ensure the success of this work Number two We will continue to urge the county and the school district to join the community safety task force If the city council is already proposed and approved Mental health public health and social services are primarily functions of city government And the school board oversees our public schools. We want them at the table This joint task force is the best way to bring our community together around a shared set of concrete proposals for reimagining public safety in Durham But if we are unable to secure The participation of the county and the school district by the end of august of this year We will move the task force forward as a city only body item three We will direct our city manager to begin an evaluation of the police department operations And an audit of our 911 calls in order to identify areas of responsibility Currently assigned to the police department that could be reassigned to other existing or new departments in city or county governments These areas of responsibility could potentially include responding to mental health crises And assisting with minor traffic incidents among others Four We joined Mayor Schultz's pledge to review and reform our city's use of force policies within the next 90 days And we are appreciative of chief davis's and city manager bondfield's commitment to this as well We also commit to ensuring that the Durham police department adopt and adhere to best practices and all use of force policies and practices We believe that the city of Durham should be safe for all people and we are ready to work with our community to achieve that vision The colleagues this was the statement that I had sent to you previously and I will I'd like us to discuss this And make some decisions on this before proceeding to the rest of our budget And I'll now ask if there are any comments Colleagues that any of you may have as mayor I'm sorry. I'm sorry councilmember millison I thank you, mr. Mayor. Yeah, I appreciate you mr. Mayor. Thank you so much Good evening colleagues and good evening to all of you that are watching us this evening I want to thank you and I know you uh worked closely with mayor for tim johnson On this as well. So I want to thank her for her work as well.  Mayor as the As the only black man on this council Um, I wish that I had had more participation in crafting of this statement um And it's a wonderful statement and and and I affirm the spirit of it I know I made some some comments and sent some things Uh during the conversation uh yesterday and to today Uh, but I wish I had more contact um when It doesn't matter who you are when those blue lights Go on behind you There's this kind of combination of nausea And dizziness that starts to well up in you Um those of you that know what i'm talking about know what i'm talking about um, you can hear your heartbeat in your ears And you pull over And you start focusing on your breathing more. I don't care how cool you are. You can be a grown man um Nausea it's almost like your car is moving back and forth. You start thinking about what did I do and you didn't do anything um When the door opens and you see the person get out of the car police officer get out of the car and walk towards you um You start thinking things like Should I tell them that I went to century?  Should I tell them I work at rtp? Should I tell them i'm your boss's boss's boss? and then You leave that because you're fiddling with your cell phone because a lot of us practice how to turn on our camera real quick Our recording function real quick and you're trying to decide whether you should hold the camera Or whether you should put it somewhere discreetly so you can record And I know a lot of folks listening to me tonight are saying it does not take all that for a routine traffic stop And for so many of us in this country, there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop um A lot of folks wonder am I going to get more points on my license? It's my insurance going to go up And then a group of us wonder are we going to be the next hashtag? um, that's my experience as a prominent black man in this city um Doesn't matter Doesn't matter when that happens And from that depth of experience. I really wish that I had had more opportunity to participate In the crafting of the statement That depth of experience and this platform that god has blessed me with I don't know how long I'm going to have it But I feel uh compelled to go as hard as I can A particularly given where we are as a nation so so with that, um With great deference to to you mayor and to mayor pro tem personally, I raised issue with the the million dollars I don't know how much this is going to cost and and to Say a million dollars tonight for me Is challenging It's challenging one of the it's interesting when during beyond policing Issued their proposal. They had quotes from each of us the quote that they chose from me was something that I ran on I talked about um A setting a goal a budgetary goal where we would spend the equivalent of 10 percent of our policing budget On initiatives and interventions that would make police contact less likely I'm not the best math student, but that would be about seven million dollars of a 70 million dollar budget Not necessarily taking seven million from the police budget, but spending whatever we spend on policing taking a percentage of that Uh, uh and and making that our goal we can scrub our budget some of the things we may already be doing But scrub our budget and look for areas where we can spend money to make sure there's a there's a hard percentage tethered To our policing budget. I I know for a fact that um, we should be Developing teams that can respond police can go to a scene. They can call backup. They can call for swat if they need a More hardware in the area. I think the police should be able to call for mental health teams as well It's going to cause way more than a million dollars to do that And I don't think we need to spend a year or two talking about do we need those type of interventions? So for me a million dollars While it's real money But that's the same amount we we propose to start off the small A business assistance fund a million dollars With all due respect We're talking about the lives of black boys and girls And and black people We spend over two million dollars on a participatory budgeting experiment two million Dollars and we went back and forth and all of us supported it. We just supported it at different funding levels and to juxtapose that level of spending with An initial investment of one million dollars After we witnessed all that's going on in this country and the inflection point that we're at in this country um Is is challenging to me is is is troublesome to me now I think that This should be a magna karta ish moment for us This is a time. I think where we should start preparing our staff in the city For a revolution in our budgetary culture. So if we want to keep the a million, that's fine But I think we should talk about How do we start looking at our budget culturally and philosophically To make sure that whatever we spend on policing. We're doing a significant amount on the things that will Prevent contact with police for example I think it's time for us as a municipality to talk about a municipal experiment with with universal basic income Whenever we talk about crime, we always talk about root causes root causes well Let's spend some real money on root causes If we say that if folk have have housing and have money in their pocket, they won't commit crime Then then then let's put some real money Uh in those root cause kind of thing. I think it's time for us to talk about universal basic income I think it's time for us to talk about a percentage of our budget being tethered to our police Uh, uh budget whatever we spend on police um and and and and that kind of Grand kind of revolutionary state in the rubber lot. We're not going to do it this year fine But I this isn't this is a period uh a time when I think that that that we should go big We should go revolutionary. We should go Uh out of the box. I hate to use that term but out of the box. Um, secondly, um, I the statement, um I I don't know if I'm if I'm comfortable with Using this particular statement to further prod Our colleagues are further elect our fellow elected colleagues on the county commission and um TPS One, I don't know how much urging we've been doing Uh beyond when we passed our Our bylaws and I argued then that Why don't we before we place the imprimatur of the city on those bylaws? Let's let's give our friends an opportunity to respond or not respond I know in the statement says well, we'll go it alone If you don't respond and I just think you know, there are black mothers On on the DPS board and there are black mothers on the county commission. Um, I just don't think that I want to be Taking swipes at them or sniping at them in this document. I think this document should be transcended I think it should be majestic Of paying fuel majesty Because one the the energy that activists Showed us they focused on the council I'm not sure that that there was a sustained campaign aimed at the county commission And the and the school board when when when during beyond policing was pushing their proposal and correct me if i'm wrong I don't recall uh major, uh, um displays before the county And and at DPS. So the question is did they even get the same treatment we did on this program? For this proposal. So I I I don't want to Use this You know and appear shady that you know, well join us and if you don't we're going to go it alone Um, I know that there are people on the county commission and people on the school board that are just concerned about these issues um Who have black sons? and daughters Who are concerned about this issue? So so I don't think we need to mention them Um in the statement Again, I think this is a magna carta ish moment for us and it should be devoid of even the appearance of sniping or throwing shade at someone else and I I I think it's very important And counsel caviera wrote in the email something that struck me. She said that she hopes this vote is unanimous This vote should be unanimous This is a moment where this city this country, uh, this county needs to see us speak with one voice. Um I this this is a wonderful framework that the statement provides us. Um I don't think it will be unanimous though for me unless if i'm forced to vote tonight on it Because I'd like to talk about some more stuff and and and some more Um areas and again, this is not Uh an aspersion on anyone. Uh, we just saw it yesterday and in its totality And uh, I'd like some more time to live with it and engage my colleagues who to a person Uh believes that black lives matter and want to get this right I just think that history In circumstance have converged at this moment We are at an inflection point in this country and I think we have an opportunity to literally transform The budgetary culture of our city Um and be a beacon uh for the rest of the world And I want Durham beyond policing I want them to hold me to the quote that they pulled from my campaign materials I want them to hold me and I think they should hold us To to declaring that we will set a goal that x percentage of 10 percent is too hard We can decide on the number 10 percent of our budget Um is tethered to whatever we've been on policing. We ought to be able to identify At least 10 percent of the of equivalent spending in our budget um Towards the things that Uh less than police contact. I think universal basic income is one of the things we need to look at and If we if we can find two million dollars for participatory budgeting I think it's a non-starter for me to talk about anything less than that Relative to saving literally saving the lives of black and brown people in our city and ultimately our country Um, thank you. I'm mayor pro tem. Thank you. Mr. Mayor for the work. I look forward to listening to my colleagues. I yield Thank you very much council member um I'll now ask if there are other council members who have comments Any other council member have comment at this time? I do mr. Mayor councilman freeman. Thank you. I um, I really appreciate council member middleton um Highlighting I guess the uneasiness that I did have I I appreciate the the letter as well And I appreciate you trying to speak the both of you trying to speak to the council as a whole but it's um I mean when it's a matter of the heart in all fairness The issues that lie Beneath just the context of just logic Have to be addressed as well. And so I recognize that I think you covered the logical aspects of the conversation in a very calculated way that um Hit a lot of notes, but I feel like there was some Real misses that could be um improved And I'm not sure what they are which is why I couldn't Formerly like share some grand planned around what it looked like, but um I know that the letter it didn't speak to me in a way that I I I felt comfortable enough to move forward I I know when we spoke I I mentioned that the million dollars was a low amount as well And I wasn't sure in what direction we were going to but I know that where we are right now And the sentiment I would like to share with the community is Is a little bit more Based in my in my gut of like of what my values are And how I operate and knowing that racism is at the core of it And trying to end racism and being anti-racist Has to be essential in the conversation Without even the word black mentioned in the statement it doesn't Doesn't say much to me and and that and that way and so I I think I'm at the same point and recognizing like tonight You know saying That this statement represented what I wanted to say doesn't feel honest And I'll leave it at that Thank you councilmember Other council members like to comment at this time Mr. Mayor Councilmember Reese I guess I'm As the person who's put in the statement before us Based on what you've heard from our colleagues already Um, I just wanted to kind of get a sense of what your take on it was at this point uh for my part, um, I think the The the earmarking of a million dollars is clearly an initial investment not the certainly not the sum total of what we're going to spend on transforming what it means To build a community that's safer um outside of the criminal justice context Um, and so I don't really have necessarily have a problem with it. Although I agree. It's not going to be a million dollars um And I guess with respect to the county in the school district I guess I don't really read it as sniping necessarily although obviously different Eyes can look at it different ways. I mean My my take on it is we're eager to get started The community is demanding that we start moving on this And we should do that. Um, and so that's how I took the second paragraph So anyway, that's my take on it, but I've been Mr. Mayor. I'm interested to hear where you are right now. Thank you Thank you councilmember Well, sure. I'll make some comments and then we may have other comments from other colleagues I'm not wedded to the statement I am wedded to the actions I think that we would be badly mistaken if we did not allocate funds now And a million dollars is a down payment On the work that we need to do to be transforming community safety in Durham I am You know, I don't I'm not I don't the rhetoric is The least important part of this Uh, but I think that The actions that are identified in the statement are where I am. I where is what I am very very committed to What they do is they do Four things They they allocate the million dollars for the work of the community safety task force that As I say as a down payment on that work And that this you know, we know that this will not be the only money we'll be spending We will need to spend a lot more than that to transform community safety in Durham But we need to take an important concrete step The second thing it'll do is it does ask our county and school board colleagues to join us and I will say that I got a message from Natalie Byer that says the school board actually has taken this up and that has decided to join which is great And then the we also Ask we take another concrete step, which is we ask We direct our city manager to and city staff To begin to evaluate The work of the police department to see which things can be and should be Move to other parts of government including auditing and 911 calls to figure out what those are and then finally The council endorses the pledge that I've made the chief davis has supported as well as the city manager To reform To review and reform our use of force policies over the next 90 days So those actions seem very important to me the rhetoric I'm I'm You know that I really appreciate the comments of councilmember middleton and councilmember freeman I think those are very important comments and I don't have a response to them except to say You know, those are very good points well taken. Um, and so I think that's where I am councilmember reese Do you have any further comments council memories? Just be interested in hearing what my other colleagues said All right other colleagues this point Mayor pro tem Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, I think I feel Similarly, I want us to do the four things that are listed in the statement I would vote to To sign it I don't Want us to Go forward from tonight without making those four commitments. So if someone has Alternative language, then I'd be happy to consider it. But yeah, the the commitments in the in the statement are what's important to me Thank you All right colleagues any further comments Curious to know where my if either councilmember freeman or middleton have any I think I hear the intent behind your statements and I think that I know I certainly don't think it's going to cost a million dollars to Shift reallocate or defund our police I just Similarly would like to know if if if these are not the four steps you would like to do in the now. This does not mean Moving forward just for To to move us forward in some way What would you suggest? Thank you, mr. Mayor and thank you councilor caviar and thank you mayor pro tem and charlie um, I you know, I um I think I I was I think I was pretty clear that I I think The million even as an initial down payment the pure power of the symbolism of it is just not enough I mean I relative to to what we I mean we we fought hard Even against staff recommendations at our initial funding level participatory budgeting And and I keep talking about it and let let me be clear for those watching. I I support participatory budgeting I just supported it at a lower threshold with an intention of ratcheting it up Here were the results of participatory budgeting 10,000 people voted 60 of them were white That was not our goal That was not our intention for participatory budgeting that which means we have some more work to do and all I'm saying is if we got two million to Basically wind up with a supplemental white voter initiative Then we certainly have two million to begin the work of saving black lives And I for me it's just and this is a moment where I think I think Leadership is important and the statements we make Matter and I think one million is real money. I'm not pulling on one million But I just don't know how what what what equation did we use to come up with it? um, also to counsel caviaros question. I'm specifically asking Uh, uh for us to consider what darm beyond policing pulled out of my A quoted me on I think that we should have a a a percentage Or or establish a budgetary culture where a percentage of our policing budget We have a goal of spending of the equivalent um If not taking from the police budget the equivalent on the things that we say Actually diminish police contact with where's our two million dollar? A job for two million dollars is enough to to fund An experiment with universal basic income. We say folk Commit crime because they don't have enough money. Let's let's try and experiment With ubi at the municipal level. I'm just I just I just think that for us for who we are as darm and what we represent to the country um that um a million is is Is a real money again. I think that The symbolic power of it though uh falls short. Um as far as the the the The county and and dps. I just I just want to be fair to my colleagues on those boards I mean we can speak for durham. We're let we're the darm city council Um, I thought it was an overreach for us to pass bylaws that literally named another organization That had not even taken up the matter and gave no indication that they were going to it We we we built where we are right now talking back to talking to dps and county again We built this into our action when we approved the bylaws Naming them without getting their assent at that point So I just don't want to get into the optics of people saying that well Uh dps didn't get one of them. I guess they don't care about black lives Of course they didn't the county didn't get with them So I guess you know, they're not interested in doing it. Let's go it alone. I'm just not comfortable Um with that type of dynamic, uh, there are black people on both of those boards Who I don't care about these issues. Uh, there are white people on those boards that I don't care about these issues I just don't think that's the message. I want to send. I don't even want to give people an opportunity Um, uh to to deduce that uh from we don't have to mention them in this statement We can continue to reach out and make overtures towards them to join us this statement I think needs to be soaring. It needs to be transcendent. It needs to be firmly about what we're going to do as a city Without giving any uh consideration to boards. We have no control over. We have no votes on Um, um, and let's continue to work, you know, uh through channels to get them with us So to answer your question directly house cabillero, uh, I'd like I'd like at least two million Uh, uh as our initial commitment, I'd also like us to consider language that says we will look at our budgetary culture Uh and set a goal that a percentage Of whatever we whatever we spend on policing on any given year We will look at our budget and be able to say to residents We are spending this percentage the equivalent of this percentage on the things that will Put police out of business. You want to put police out of business? Let's start spending real money on those things that will put them out of business I think a universal basic income is a good place to start Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you councilmember Are the comments Yes, councilmember freeman. Mm-hmm. Thank you. I think um, just specific to councilmember cabillero's question I with the one two three Um, is where i'm having trouble as well to state that the statement aside The four actions that you're asking for tonight I'd agree with um councilmember middleton that one million is really low and I I mean if i'm being honest I'm i'm i'm leaning more towards the 11 million that skip gates suggested And acknowledging that we could work towards that It just doesn't seem It's almost like we're saying that these black lives are worth A million dollars and it just doesn't feel right and I don't and I don't feel comfortable saying what the millions should be But I do know that the one million feels It just feels wrong. Um And then on the The city county board, I I mean, I just have to be honest and saying like And in the initial conversations around the community health and um safety task force I I expressed it when we had the conversation initially and I continue to say I think that the community was asking for community led task force and what we're proposing is a elected official Led task force and it doesn't feel like it marries with what the community asks for and so I mean the 400,000 or 200,000 that they were asking for to do that. I mean If that's not a part of this conversation you know Pointing at the county and the school district to to come along doesn't feel right if we're not asking the community first Or we're not putting the community first in the conversation because the people have to come first For for the third one where we're asking the city manager to begin the evaluation I mean No offense to the city manager, but I'm not sure that he's He's the right person to do that Or I mean our staffs in general is the right institution to do that. I think that um There are built-in biases that I acknowledge and others may not and I don't know how that addresses racism It doesn't it doesn't come across to me in a way that That's going to actually address it So I hear you with responding to mental health crisis is insisting when made minor traffic incidents Those are a couple of items that could be done elsewhere but determining How that happens who does it like all of that? I feel like there should be an independent kind of community and um Community staff and maybe other like independent third party. That's a part that's kind of working through what that looks like um I'm on fine on the number four um With the pledge that's not a problem at all but um Those are the things that I have on one two and three that I'm just sitting here like pulling apart Thank you councilmember for the comments Mr. Mayor, I have a question Sure Thanks. So was it your intention that this this vote would be coupled with the budget vote the statement Or will there be a freestanding vote on this statement? So this would be a freestanding vote as my concept Okay, that we would this this million dollars is a commitment of Future funds We this does not earmark where they come from. It's just a commitment that we will be spending it um, and the We don't know the source yet and But it would be money that would be forthcoming as soon as needed and um I don't want to You know belabor this too much, but I just want to say again. I consider this a down payment The question is where is the where's the money? What's that? What's the formula that came up with this number? There's not a form It is a substantial amount of money that can do a lot of good as a down payment Clearly if you start providing services like this, you've got to continue them You know, if you're if you're having a different kind of crisis response, so Continuing budgeting will be necessary for sure In terms of the city, you know, I just Since I'm sitting here. I'm getting other messages. I got a message just now from county commissioner wendy jackins the chair that says they're On their genuine on their june 22nd agenda. They're also taking up the community safety task force So it looks like That call may not be necessary or it looks like it's already being heated, which is good Those are my comments for now anxious to hear any other thoughts that anyone else has councilmember reese Thank you, mr. Mayor I feel like a lot of the issues that folks are raising tonight are going to be uh addressed and talked about By the task force. I mean, that's why my understanding. That's why we were creating the task force. That's why we were asked to create the task force Does universal basic income make sense in the local level? That's something that the task force would want to talk about and not just amongst themselves But to go into the community and ask folks In parts of the city where that would be desperately needed Is this something that could be helpful and then work with Experts in finance and national philanthropic organizations to figure out how that works So if ubi if universal basic income is something that folks think is important that would come out of the work of the task force how do you decide what Uh services the police department now provides that can be transferred to other Um organizations be they government entities nonprofit work Uh, you know, I certainly have ideas, but I think that's the work of the task force itself You know, how will the task force could the task force be given the data on 911 calls? On the kind of the laundry list of things the many things we ask our police officers to do And find out does it make sense to have an armed police officer respond to every fender bender in the city of durham? Does it make sense? Um to handle other types of situations in different ways. I think it does but that again would be the work of the task force. I think um given What we know About the nature of community safety in durham and how much we need to transform that I think the the task force was at least in my mind and others may have a different view the task force in my mind was kind of the wellspring of not only great ideas, but significant community engagement That to me was the where the 200 000 dollars. It's going to be spent That durham beyond policing asked for And I think what the million dollars does is it gets us that far and then into trying to fund some of this work And obviously it's going to take more than a million dollars. Everybody around this virtual table understands that And you know the is there a Councilman Milton raised an excellent point Is there some formula that we could use to determine how much money should be put into Those kinds of community safety efforts separate and apart from the police department I think the community safety task force is an excellent body to answer that question for us Or at least to ask enough folks in durham to get a sense of what the people of durham want to do And so that's kind of my take on it. I given what you've told us on the call. Mr. Mayor I'm agnostic on whether or not bullet two needs to stay in there If it sounds like our colleagues are taking it up And if it's a significant problem for other for some of our members are happy to Get that out of there And but I think that's kind of where I'm at right now. Thank you, Mr. Thank you councilmember Any more comments at this point Mr. Mayor I do have one other thing I forgot to say I just want to be clear that We've already passed the bylaws for the task force. This task force is Not to be a task force of elected officials. It's made up of Community members. So I just wanted to be clear, you know, that's that's what the when we were debating it That's what was asked for and That's where all our commissions operate and that's that's what we'll be doing Little councilmember melton Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, thank you. Thank you, mr. Mayor, and I appreciate council reese's comments I You know, I there's some stuff we already know we need We need to have other Experts that are able to respond to mental health crises. I don't need a task force to tell me that We we we jack 700,000 up to two million dollars on participatory budgeting with no task force because When we decide we want to do something we do it We didn't we didn't impanel a blue ribbon commission for that Uh, we we went ahead and did it so so I the and and with all the respect when the when the task force was first Recommended to us. We didn't fund it We didn't move on it And and when we did start talking about it again It was because a spike in violence was occurring and some dramatic things that happened in our city that revived to talk about The task force that's how we got back on the task force Because violence was still going on in our city and some things came up. So I don't think having the task force funded to answer questions Um and and moving forward uh with some of the things that we we were elected to to do things People with representative government representative democracy We're empowered to to do some things now and and I think that now With all that's going on in the country the inflection point of the country's at We see bold action being taken in new york, uh in minneapolis In new york Six billion dollar police budget. They're diverting 150 to 200 million To community programs and you know, there are people I talk to people in the community all the time as I know Everybody on this council does there are folk who don't show up at community Who don't show up at the city council chamber who aren't who don't have the organization That some of these organizations have and present to us proposals bound proposals, but they're talking all the time Uh the community folk been talking about gunfire in a community. I don't need a task force to tell me about that Um, I don't need a task force to tell me that mentally ill people don't need people with guns being the primary respond And we can move on that now and we can start preparing Uh of the groundwork now for a budgetary revolution Cultural budgetary revolution the way we spend money I have heard from experts to to just brothers on the street saying you want to reduce crime Jobs money housing. Well Let's spend some money on it. Let's let's put some real money behind it this task force and with all due respect Awesome during the task force Already kind of telegraph the kind of things they want I mean some folks say defund the police So so we and put the money and stuff that will benefit the community So so a lot of the end results for me at least have already been telegraphed The fact that we wanted to include The county for health and human services and the schools Telegraph that we know we've got to do some things in education. We've got to do some things with mental health And in areas that that it's not our barely with a wheelhouse, but we've got to include those folks So i'm not against the task force. I'm not against Them coming back to us with recommendations, but people are dying right now Somebody just got killed in Atlanta the other day It's going on right now And we know some of the things that we can be moving on right now that do not require a task force Because folk been talking about it for decades particularly in Durham so For whatever that's worth Again, I think we have to be very careful with the message we send the black people right now Some of us fought like hell for two million dollars for participatory budgeting 60 percent of the voters were white We need to fight like hell now to send the right message for folk that are dying right now That that's what I feel and I think symbolically for me Uh as a member of this council as a black dude who lives in Durham Explaining to the folk who talk to me about what they're going through why This initiative over here participatory budgeting is worth two million and our initial down payment on this is one million I have a hard time explaining that and coming up with explanations. So so that's where I am On that but I appreciate the comments. I'm not against the task force But I am against just punting to the task force and not starting to work on the things that we can work on that This is going to cause way more than a million dollars. We know that so we might as well say that now that we're going to start Preparing a budgetary culture where we're getting ready to spend that kind of money on the ground shaking Root causes that we always talk about anytime, you know, black folks show up in city hall ask for something We tell them get a job. You got you know, we'll solve gunfire get a job. You need job You know, we'll solve crime You need more money you need to paycheck, right? That's what we always tell them Well, it's time to start spending the money right now because the job programs. When will those jobs get here? So I It's just it's time for us to act. Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you Council member racy then mayor pro tem johnson As we were middle tonight. I am inspired by your call to action What amendment to the budget before us tonight? Do you propose to start acting? We're not talking about the budget We're talking about the statement and the amendment to the statement. I'll say for the third time I think that we should identify A willingness on the part of the council to dedicate a percentage the equivalent of a percentage of spending We determine whether it is of our budget towards those things that will Make police contact less likely. I also think that we should strike number two And I know what i'm talking about. We're not talking about amending the budget We're talking about amending the statement. That's what we've been talking about for the last 45 minutes Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you Mayor pro tem Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, just a couple of comments in the interest of urgency and acting now I would like us to act On commitments that are laid out before us right now in this statement number one The million dollars of funding is yet again, and I'll say what others have said again Is that it is an initial investment not the entire investment that we anticipate making into community safety um Our other spending on important community needs and programs that we of course all support not with standing this is a million dollars that can do a lot of good towards creating the sort of Investment programs and initiatives that we need to see not just to Fund those in in addition to police and I wanted I want to be clear that my intention Is intention with council member middleton's proposal to set aside a portion of the police budget Towards these community safety goals My intention is to move funding that we currently spend on policing Towards community safety goals by by pegging a percentage of the police budget That allows the police budget to continue to go up and my intention is for the police budget to go down by moving Work and responsibilities from the police department to other city employees Who are able to do that work more effectively who are able to do it without being armed and who are able to Move in communities in ways that our police department cannot so I would not support that addition to the statement I support an initial million dollars of funding to support the task force. They had asked for 200 000 I think that supporting an initial amount for the task force as well as funding some of the Some of the proposals having funding available for some of the proposals that will come out of the task force is important um I think the important part of item two. It's not just that we're asking the county and the school district to join The safety task force. It's also that we are committing to moving forward with this work In the next couple of months whether they do or not We have we have spent a long time thinking about and debating The task force this work and how we're going to move forward on it I want there to be a clear commitment on the on behalf of this body that we will move this work forward Regardless of the timeline of our other boards of the other government bodies in our community That's not to throw shade at them. That's not to say that they aren't on board with what we're doing The county is still recovering from an incredibly difficult malware attack and the school board just had an election County just had an election lots of folks have lots of stuff going on. COVID is you know thrown a wrench into everybody's Everything it's not judgment. It's just saying to the community that we are willing to move forward on this We would like the other boards and you know the other boards in our community to move forward on it with us But we are also willing to move forward with it on our own if we need to Point three I think speaks directly to the question of things that we know we can do without a task force We know that if we're going to move resources from the police department to other to other Existing or potential city departments that we need to know what kind of 911 calls we're getting And what kind of staff we need to respond to those calls an initial audit of our 911 calls. We'll do that Figuring and also doing an evaluation of the police department operations to see all the things that they do that Don't necessarily need to be performed by someone who's armed with an authorization to use deadly force again in addition to a number of the emails that we got around Moving reallocating resources from the police department to serve other needs. We also got a significant number of emails Regarding use of force policies and people asking us to review those In line with the eight can't wait guidelines. And so I think the The fourth point in this statement is Speaks to that issue um We're never gonna like this is a start, right? I don't think any of us are saying This is a perfect commitment that this is a perfect Representation of all of the things that we want to say But I think in the interest of urgency in the interest of acting Now and doing something and making a concrete not a symbolic commitment to the community that we are interested in moving That we are interested in finding ways of moving resources from policing to more holistic and restorative Forms of community safety that it is important to do something now And these com