Good evening. We'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order at 7 o'clock p.m. Today, Monday, the 7th of March, and certainly want to welcome all of you that are here for us this evening. If we just take a moment for solid meditation, please. Thank you. I would ask Councilman Davis if he would lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please? Mayor Bell? President. Mayor Pro Tem Cole McFadden? President. Councilmember Davis? Here. Councilmember Johnson? Here. Councilmember Moffitt? Here. Councilmember Reese? Here. And Councilmember Schuhl? Here. We have several proclamations that we would like to present this evening. The first is related to sister cities, recognition of sister cities, Toyoma College of Foreign Languages. I would ask Brady Searles if he would join me, please, and Brady, anyone else that you want to bring forth. Thank you, Mayor Bell and members of the City Council. Toyoma College of Foreign Languages from Toyoma, Japan is here for several weeks in Durham. The students are studying English as a second language in partnership with the Toyoma City Committee of our sister cities, which is chaired by Mavis Mayor and Chris Boyer. Sunshine Scoville is the Durham coordinator of the trip. Students are studying at Durham Technical Community College and experiencing American life with their host families. This is their fourth annual visit by the college. We have three representatives of the college who are here with us to share a few thoughts. If they would please stand. The faculty visiting with them are Josh Dacey and Yuki Noto, and he will introduce the students. Okay, hello. I'd like to introduce the students. First we have Kyoka Ike, next, Kahori Sugahara, and lastly Yuka Honda. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Kyoka. Thank you for inviting us tonight. We came from your sister city, Toyoma, and have been spending a good time with our host family here. I live in the middle of the city in Toyoma, so I was impressed by a beautiful nature here. Last weekend my family took me to their parents' house and I had a great time. I met many animals such as deer, swans, and so on. As a night, I could see beautiful starry sky. That was so exciting. My host family always thinks about what makes me feel more comfortable and try to do whatever I want, so I'm very happy and I appreciate them. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Kahori Sugahara. Thank you for inviting us to this meeting. I'm glad to speak in front of you. I came to Darlam to change myself. Now, I don't know what I want to do in my future. I feel like I have changed a lot of things coming here. I came to US, load a horse, do ice skating, stay with host family, and go to potluck. Everything is new to me. I love Darlam. I love my host family very much. My host family always makes me smile. I can learn many things in here. I want to try a lot of things and I want to see many things. Finally, after I go back to Toyama, I want to tell friends and family that Darlam is an awesome place. If you have the opportunity, please come to Toyama at that time. I will introduce Toyama to you. Thank you for listening. I'm Yuka Honda. I'll speak a reason why I came here. I wanted to improve my English speaking skills, so I decided to participate in this school trip. I can read and write, but I can't speak English. I have learned English from elementary school, but I didn't learn speaking, so I'm not used to speak English. I thought I could notice the importance of English skills, not only English and writing, but also speaking skills. That's why I think this trip is beneficial for me. Thank you for listening. I would like to introduce the host families. I believe some of them are here. The family of Arlie Harris and Angus Hucknell. They stand. The family of Sunshine Schofield and David Farrell, if they will stand, please. And the family of Kelly and Chris Tavares, please stand. The mayor now has a proclamation. Mayor Bell tells me he has a proclamation to present, and I'll let him present that to the students. First of all, let me thank the students. You've done a great job. Your English is great. Your writing is great. And most importantly, you really honor us by choosing to come to Durham. And the comments that you made are very, very pleasing to our ear, that you love Durham. We love Durham, so it's good to hear that other people love Durham also. And I want to say also to the host family for taking the time to have these young people in your homes. Sissises is a very important part of what happens in the city of Durham in terms of being able to establish the relationships from other countries. And certainly our relationship with the Sissises is very important. The proclamation is not here, but we'll make sure that you get it before you leave. And again, thank you and welcome to Durham. And if at all possible, don't make this your last trip. Okay, thank you. Next is recognized as Durham Crop Hunger Walkday Proclamation. I asked Karen Johansson if she would join me. She's the coordinator of Durham Crop Hunger Walk and anyone else that you choose to bring with you. Hello, I'm Karen Johansson. I'm the coordinator of the Durham Crop Walk. And I also want to recognize Alice Sharp, who's a longtime member of our committee, who will be assisting me today. First of all, Mayor Bell and Council members, I want to thank you all for on behalf of the Crop Walk Steering Committee and on behalf of the probably 1800 people or so that walk in the Durham Crop Walk, I want to thank you for recognizing the walk and for supporting it as you always have. And the Crop Walk to me is just a real example of Durham at its best at its finest. It's the whole community coming together. It's an extremely diverse group of people that come together to make a difference. The Crop Walk raises money to feed hungry people here locally and internationally. And this is a big year for us this year. We I know last year I was talking about almost there at the $4 million mark. We almost made it. But this year we're going to top the $4 million having been raised by the Crop Walk in Durham for hunger relief. And 25% of the money we raise stays right here in Durham. So that will be $1 million that we have through the Crop Walk put back into feeding hungry people here in Durham and supporting our local agencies. And I want to invite everyone here to come and also especially our elected officials. And we will be giving you shirts and a little story about the show. We have a lot of partnerships in Durham. And the NCCU class, one of the graphic arts classes, part of their class assignment every year is to design logos for our shirts. So we have a great logo to choose from every year and we're presenting each of you with a shirt. And we hope that you will wear the shirt and come to the walk wear it proudly. And thank you for your support. We have a proclamation and I'm not going to read all of the proclamations, but the net of it is that Durham Crop Hunger Walk Day in Durham is declared for March to 20th, 2016. And again, we'll present this on behalf of the City Council, but more importantly, the citizens of Durham. And thank you for the work that you do. Thank you. The next proclamation recognizes epilepsy awareness. And I would ask Mr. Mita White of the Warriors for epilepsy organization and pearly Yuleturn if they would join me. And again, if you choose to bring some others, that's fine. Also, I won't read all the proclamation, but it speaks to the fact that epilepsy is a neurological disorder producing brief disturbances in the normal electrical functions of the brain that temporarily affect a person's consciousness, bodily movements and our cessation are creating long term effects on the lifestyles of individuals with epilepsy is a complex disorder that requires further research to find and cure and prevention speaks to the fact that the Warriors for Epilepsy and the Durham Epilepsy support team proposes to do all that we can to spread awareness in order for the world to focus on global acceptance. And it's our goal to teach all students, parents, teachers, first responders and et cetera about acceptance and understanding of everyone that may be different, not just someone that has epilepsy. Whereas our mission to educate people in order to eradicate the stigma so that we can empower those affected by disorder so that the world can embrace epilepsy. Now, therefore, I, William V. Bill Bell, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hip hop proclaiming March 26, 2016 as Global Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness in Durham and hip hop is our civic, scientific, medical, educational, voluntary, governmental, healthcare organizations and professionals to take special note of this observance by recognizing the importance of epilepsy awareness with education and information programs and activities for the citizens. Which is my hand, Corporate City of Durham, North Carolina, this is the 7th day of March, 2016.  Thank you, Governor Mayor Bell. On behalf of the Durham Epilepsy Support Team and the Global Awareness Day, we thank you for this proclamation and we accepted and with great admiration. And we ask that you will continue to work with us and we do thank you for all that you have done with us. And we know that this will continue to help us to continue to spread awareness. And we know with the support that we have from all of you, that each one of us will reach one. My name is Demita White and I'm the leader of the Warriors for Epilepsy, but I'm also a member of the Durham Epilepsy Support Team. And I met Miss Pearlie, because my brother, Danny White, so come to Epilepsy on July 4, 2011. And one of the triggers for Epilepsy are concussions, which is something that seems to be a popular topic these days. And a lot of our veterans are now coming back from the wars, at least 100,000 of our veterans that have been in the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflict, they came back with PTE, which is Post Traumatic Epilepsy. So a lot of awareness. There are a lot of stigmas behind Epilepsy. Anyone can get Epilepsy. There are no barriers.  And so there are 65 million people worldwide with this disorder, 80,000 people here in North Carolina have Epilepsy. And so it is our mission to, you know, to spread awareness. And a lot of people have been denied the privilege to attend prom. And so on March 19th, we're hosting a free event, which is a prom for persons with Epilepsy. And you can go on Warriors, the number 4 Epilepsy.com to get that information. And my mom, this is my mother, Albertina Marillo, and this is my daughter, Leilani White, who is also a warrior for Epilepsy. And we thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. Thank you. You probably recognize we have some young people in the audience, and I'm going to ask Kim Cameron, Brownie troupe, 998 troupe leaders who've come forth and bring your brownie. Kim, I appreciate the fact that you're bringing these young ladies before us and the work that you do with them. The proclamation speaks to the fact that whereas March the 12th marks the 114th anniversary of Girl Scouts of the USA, founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, whereas throughout its distinguished history, Girl Scouting has inspired millions of girls and women, the highest ideals of courage, confidence and character. Whereas through the Girl Scouts leadership experience, girls gain knowledge and develop skills that will serve them a lifetime. So they may contribute to their communities. And whereas Girl Scouting takes an active role in increasing girls' awareness of the opportunity available to them today in science, technology, engineering, math, and the arts, as well as other fields that can expand their horizons. Whereas Girl Scouts have shaped the lives of 53% of female senior executives and business owners, 60% of women in Congress and virtually every female astronaut, according to Girl Scouts, whereas more than 2.7 million current Girl Scout members nationwide will be celebrating 104 years of this American tradition with nearly 50 million women who are former Girl Scouts and live and prove for the impact of this amazing movement, whereas in partnership with over 9,000 adult volunteers, Girl Scouts North Carolina Coastal Pines serves nearly 26,000 girls members in 41 Central and Eastern North Carolina counties, including 2,265 of adult and girl members in Durham County. Now, therefore, I will be billed by the old mayor of the state of Durham. Do hereby applaud the commitment Girl Scouting has made to support the life and leadership development of girls and proudly proclaim March 6 through March 12, 2016 as Girl Scout Weekend Durham and urge all the citizens to take special note of this observance. And with my hand the court facility of Durham, North Carolina, this is the seventh day of March, 2016. I'm going to present this to you, Ken, for any comments that you may have. Thank you, Mayor Bell, for this proclamation. Just want to thank everyone for this experience for the girls. We are a girl led organization and Girl Scout Cookie season has ended. Thank you. This next proclamation recognizes International Women's Day. And I'd like to ask Ms. Gloria Delos Santos, the Durham Director of Action, North Carolina, if she would join me, if you don't mind. And of course, in the other situation, Ms. Oh, please. Didn't see you up there. Thank you, Mayor Bell and the City of Durham. On behalf of Action and C and NC Women United, NC Women United, we want to thank the City of Durham for signing this proclamation recognizing International Women's Day. We will ask for you to read a small tidbit of it. I know you don't have that much time, but just a small tidbit of it to explain exactly what International Women's Day is. And thank you, the City of Durham, because you are the first in North Carolina to actually sign this. So we are very proud of you. And we're taking it. We're going to let everybody know that you guys were the first. I read more than just a tidbit. Whereas in 1909, the first National Women's Day was observed across the United States and continued to be celebrated on the last Sunday of February through 1913. Whereas this movement for women's rights, including universal suffrage for women gradually spread throughout the world. Whereas in 1948, in the first year of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council established this commission on the status of women as the principal global policymaking body, dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Whereas the Declaration adopted by the General Assembly that same year reaffirms that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, birth or any other status. Whereas this feminist movement began to gain momentum and therefore the United Nations declared in 1975, the International Women's Year and since then March 8th has been the occasion and marked by women's group around the world. About a UN to commemorate encouraged the world to work in the community of millennium, development goals number three and number five. Whereas every citizen must take action to promote gender equality and power women and help the world reduce the maternal mortality rate. And now, therefore, I'm William V. Bill Bell, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, due by reclaiming March 8th, 2016 as International Women's Day and that this day is set aside to encourage our community to work on accelerating progress and achieving gender equality and women's empowerment. And with my hand, Corporate City of Durham, North Carolina, this is the 7th of March, 2016. And I will present this to you. Thank you. I'm going to ask Councilman Davis, if you would join me please. This is a proclamation recognizing one of our Durham natives, a young man that I've known since he was in high school.  Charles Belk. This proclamation is to Charles Belk and the justified auto erasure day on March 10th, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. Whereas Charles Belk, a Durham native and Hillside high school graduate now now lives in California and works in the motion picture and television industry. And whereas on August 22nd, 2014, while casually walking to his car after leaving a Beverly Hills restaurant, Charles Belk was stopped, detained, handcuffed and arrested. He was then denied a phone call, initially denied access to his attorney and held for six hours under a $100,000 bail, all because he broadly fit the description of a tall, bald and black armed accomplice to a to a to the bank robber who was being sought by the police. And whereas in addition to being a graduate of Hillside high school, Charles Belk completed his bachelor of science degree in an agricultural engineering at the University of Southern California, his master's degree from Indiana University and an executive management certificate from the Harvard University School of Business. And whereas Charles Belk has worked as an engineer for IBM, a Wall Street bond broker, a consultant for the NAACP and the Atlanta Hawks and as the deputy director of the Olympic Village operations for the 1996 Atlanta Atlanta Olympic Games, and whereas wrongfully and erroneously arrested, Charles Belk became an accused criminal with an arrest record, a mugshot and fingerprints entered into a national database. And whereas while dealing with the humiliation, the shock and the horror of being arrested was difficult, Charles Belk soon discovered that clearing his name has proven to be a more frustrating, costly and time consuming hurdle. And whereas turning a negative experience into a learning opportunity, Charles Belk was motivated to establish a national nonprofit program called Fitting the Description, which seeks to bring about racial sensitivity and the automatic erasure or expungement of certain records of a person when a charge or several charges against a person are dismissed as a result of identity theft or mistaken identity. And whereas based on state legislation introduced by Senator Floyd McKissick on March to 10th, 2015, passed both houses of the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Pat McCurry, North Carolina has advanced the concept that a mistaken arrest should not damage the life, the record and the well-being of law abiding citizens. Now, therefore, I, William V. Bill Bale, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hear by proclaim Thursday, March to 10th, 2010, 2016, as Charles Belk and justified auto erasure day in Durham and encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate the protection of the good name of innocent people. Witness my hand and the corporate seal of the City of Durham, North Carolina on this day, this seventh day of March, 2016, and is signed by our honorable Mayor of Durham. Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate this. You know, this means a great, great deal to me being from Durham. And this is not only signed in North Carolina. Thank you so much, Senator McKissick, for ushering this legislation through. It's also now a law in Illinois as well. And it is pending legislation in 10 other states right now. So we're trying to get all 50 states. The interesting thing is is that when this happened to me on August 22nd and I was held down on the curve and handcuffed for 45 minutes and then held in a jail cell for six hours, not knowing what was going on. It was one of those situations where I realized that when life throws you a lemon, at least you still have your life, right? Because a lot of folks don't end up in that situation as pleasantly as I did. And it at that point becomes an opportunity and obligation, a mission that you got to do something with your life. And that's what I've tried to do to make a difference. It has been a really, really interesting role. I just recently got named to the Ford Unsung Hero finalist list. But I say that only to say that the nine of the folks on that list are really doing something every day as a lot of folks are. The difference is they chose to do that. I didn't land on this Plymouth Rock. It landed on me. And you know, but at some point you just got to realize you got to step out of a way that it's much bigger than you. It is not your mission. This battle is totally the Lord's and he has led me through this whole effort. And for me, I want to thank my family and my friends and all my high school classmates for coming out tonight. Thank you so much for Mayor Bale. Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Council. Thank you all. I really appreciate the support. Mayor Bill, I'd like to recognize Mr. Belk's mom, Johnny May, before you leave. Just want to recognize you. I knew Charles when he was here in Durham, but one of my nephews in the attendance school out in California together and became friends and always spoke very, very highly of Charles as an individual. Let me ask if there are announcements by any of the council members. Councilwoman Johnson. Councilor Reese. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. There are a number of folks in the audience today who told me that they would like to bring to us some concerns about treatment of folks here in the Durham County Jail. There is not an item on the agenda and I wanted to ask if you would grant permission for them to share their thoughts with us after the regular agenda for the meeting. What do you have? I'm going to have to limit that discussion. So if you can find out who they are so we can figure out how much time we want to. Yeah, could y'all just raise your hands how many people want to speak? Let me say this. I'd rather have one spokesman for this. It's not an agenda item. So if you don't mind if you can choose who the spokesman would be, I'd appreciate that. I recognize Councilman Reese. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Since I was sworn into this office three months ago, it's been my practice periodically to lift up the instances of our city employees going above and beyond the call of duty and tonight I want to single out some really outstanding service by members of Squad 4C of the Durham Police Department. Eight days ago, on February 28, officers responded to an assist person call at a local hotel here in Durham. Officer R. M. Cohn responded to the call and learned that a disabled man who'd been staying at the hotel could no longer afford to stay there. He had nowhere to go. He'd recently been forced out of his home due to a dispute. The temperatures were near freezing that night and the man needed a walker to get around. Officer Cohn went to his fellow officers on Squad 4C and together they collected amongst themselves $250 of their own money to enable this man to stay at the hotel for five additional nights and he had time to get himself together. When officer R. D. Trice, also Squad 4C, learned that the man had not eaten since the previous morning, he went to a local McDonald's, bought the man a meal, then he went to a nearby pizza restaurant and placed an advance order so that a pizza would be delivered to the man's hotel room at lunchtime for the next five days. Officers Cohn and Trice and the rest of the officers of Squad 4C went above and beyond the call of duty to gather resources to help another human being in need that day. And if it is our obligation, as I believe it is, to point out instances where our law enforcement officers can live up to a higher standard, it is also our obligation to lift them up when they show the very best and brightest that our community has to offer.  Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilor Reece and I. It's very appropriate and I'm sorry. Councilor. I have, they didn't know this and I want to thank Sergeant Butler and her squad as well. A group of churches known as the Durham Ministers in Prayer knew about this. They contacted me and they want to reimburse this squad for what they did. So I have the money here for them. So I want to present it to them and say thank you. Well, again, I want to thank Councilor Reece for bringing that to our attention and certainly thank the officers that were involved. Very appropriate recognition. I'd like to, is anyone else to make a comment before I recognize the gentleman from what's the organization? Who's speaking? Councilor Jones. I'm sorry, I don't know who is speaking. They're going to decide, I think, among themselves who's going to take on. If you've decided who the spokesperson is, if you could come to the podium to the right and you have three minutes and just identify yourself when you come forth, please. You have three minutes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of Council. First of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I understand it's a very busy agenda, but we are here to address a crisis. Mr. President, pardon me, could you search a name and address, please? Sure, my apologies. Gregory Williams, 904 West Murray Avenue, Durham, North Carolina. And I'm sorry about that. I'd like to recognize that a number of people are here from the Durham County Jail investigation team as well as a number of friends and family members of people incarcerated at the Durham County Jail who are here to urge the City Council to become involved in the conversation that has been going on at the county level about abuse and neglect and, yes, murder at the Durham County Jail. And there has been a growing demand from community members for an independent investigation of the jail. And it will be, ultimately, the county commissioners who make the decision as to whether or not that happens, but we do not believe that that means that the City Council has no role, rather as representatives of citizens in the Durham community and as the government that presides over the police department that sends people to the Durham County Jail sometimes to their deaths. We believe that you have a responsibility to become involved in this conversation. And so I would, there will be requests coming from us in the near future about possibly holding some public hearings on this question, possibly hearing more from people. And I would ask that when that comes that you hear that with an open mind and that you hear that and that you get involved because this is all of our community and we need to put a stop to murder by means of medical neglect and abuse at the Durham County Jail. Thank you. Are there other announcements by members of the council? If not, I would like to share this for the public record. As some of you may or may not know the Carolina Theater which is a very prized possession in the city of Durham with long history has come under some difficulties financially. And we met in close session, we've been in the council, met in close session this evening with the city manager and the city attorney and one of the staff people to get sort of an overview in terms of where it appears that Carolina Theater is and what we've directed the city manager to do is to continue to work with the management of the Carolina Theater to ensure their operation over a period of time but to come back with a more detail recommendation for this council to consider. That's the action that we've taken and we'll be waiting for the city manager to come back at the appropriate time for further recommendations. We're going to move now to the agenda. The agenda being prior times first by the city manager followed by the city attorney and city clerk. Thank you Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Good evening everyone. Priority items this evening I have two agenda item number 21 which is the contract for the purchase of body worn cameras for the Durham Police Department. This item is being referred back to the administration. An agenda item number 22 the ordinance revising and establishing certain fees for underground utility installations. There is some supplemental information that has been provided to the council on this item and when we get to it I'll certainly be glad to address that. Thank you. We're at the prior times by the city manager to obtain the motion on those items. It's been properly moved. Second Madam clerk will you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes 7-0. I recognize the city attorney for any prior items. Thank you Mr. Mayor no priority items. Likewise city clerk. No items Mr. Mayor. We move the agenda first being the consent agenda consent agenda Consist of items that may be approved with a single motion as a member of the council a member of the audience chooses to remove one of those items it will be removed and discussed later and the agenda I'll read the heading of each consent agenda item. Item one is Durham Performing Arts Center Hoverside Committee Mayors Appointee Item two is U-3308 NC 55 which is also an avenue widening supplemental transportation improvement program agreement. Item three is an item that can be found on the general business agenda. Item four is Purchase contract for buses for go Durham. Item five is piggyback contract for fire trucks Item six is bid report January 2016 Item seven is FY 2015 2016 second quarter financial report Item eight is Network Hut License Agreement between the city of Durham and Google Fiverr North Carolina LLC Item nine is the resolution supporting the upper new River Basin Association monitoring and modeling for the re-examination of Falls Lake Stage two goals at the proposed funding level Item 10 is an ordinance amending the city code section 70-129 Economic Development District Changes Item 12 items that can be found on the general business agenda items 13 to 14 items that can be found on the general business agenda is public hearings. Item 18 is Durham Sports Commission in a local agreement. Item 19 is a contract amendment with the public parking systems for parking management services. I'm going to pull out items just for comment. 19 19 Item 20 is an ordinance amending city code section 70-17 payment of frontage charges to entertain a motion for the approval of consent agenda items with the exception of item 1 and 19. It's been a part of the movement. Second, Madam Clerk can you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes 7-0. We move to general business agenda Item 3 is massive agreements for transportation and engineering on-call services. Mr. Mayor I recognize. I had some questions on this at the work session. I got my questions answered between now and then and I'm prepared to move the item if there are no other questions or issues. It's been properly moved in second. Madam Clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes 7-0. Item 12 is the 2015 Fourth Court annual crime report presentation. Recognize Interim Police Chief Larry Smith. Mayor Beall Mayor Pro Tem Ladies and gentlemen of the Council Larry Smith Interim Chief of Police with Police Department in Durham. And I'm here to present to you the fourth quarter primarily the annual crime report for 2015. The Police Department's quarterly crime report covers the Department's six performance measures and they are part one index crime which consists of part one violent crime part one property crime and then we also will be covering clearance rates priority one responses and staffing levels. I'll have several slides as we go through that'll get more in detail in many of the crimes including some mapping and some things that'll be a little different this time that we've normally done. If you have any questions about any of those as we go through feel free to stop me and I'll be glad to answer any questions that you have. Index crime is violent plus property crime. Part one index crime was down in Durham by one percent for 2015. That was driven primarily by significant decreases in property crime specifically burglary. Burglary was down significantly and Larson was also down. This slide shows the trending of crime in Durham in the last 15 years as you can see there's been a steady trend down in the last 15 years. Property crime has decreased 40 percent and that's made up of the blue that you see on your screen and violent crime has decreased 10 percent during that same 15 year time period. Violent crime violent crime is up in Durham 18 percent in 2015. Violent crime is made up of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. And the next slide will break those down by the numbers. Homicide increased 68 percent in 2015. There was 37 homicides. You may be used to the number of 42. However, five of those were not criminal homicides. They were ruled self-defense. One was also involved. So for UCR purposes that would be 37 homicides reported for UCR purposes. Rape were unchanged. There was 101 and that's the same it was in 2014. Robbery increased 12 percent, aggravated assault increased 23 percent for a 18 percent increase in violent crime. And I'll have some slides going forward that would map that and we'll also talk about each one of those in a little more detail. Homicide. As I mentioned there were 37 homicides, criminal homicides. We have cleared 26 of those. 26 were domestic related. And in this particular case, 12 of those were what we classify as member based. 10 were domestic. I'm sorry, 10 domestic. 26 cleared, 10 domestic. Thank you. 12 of those cases are what we classify as member based. We classify some crimes as member based and what that is that is either the suspect or the victim is a validated gang member. Of the homicides in 2015 12 of those cases were member based. 13 of those cases were member based in 2014 but we only had 22 homicides. So percentage wise our homicides were less member based this year than they were in 2014. And 11 of the cases are still open. As you can see on the map and you'll see this as a recurring theme as we go through the vast majority of the homicides occur down in in the central part of the city in the inner zones of most of the districts. Rape remained unchanged. There were 26 stranger rapes. We don't have a slide on that. Gang related crime and it has remained pretty pretty constant. Most of the sexual assaults are some type of acquaintance or domestic assault. Robbery. Robberies were up by 12 percent in 2015. 64 percent involved guns. 88 percent were robberies of persons. And 12 percent were commercial robberies. Once again you'll see a trend of most of the robberies occurring down in the inner zones of the city. However if you could look at your map and if you look out into some of the outlying areas you'll see some larger blue circles. Typically what those represent we have an ongoing issue in the city from time to time where Latino and Hispanic victims are targeted and the communities in which they live. A lot of those outlying dots that you see are associated with those communities. Carver Pond Departments 901 Chalk Level Road 311 South LaSalle and Garrett Square. Those are some of the outliers where you see where we have a large amount of robberies that are not concentrated down in the city. We did make several arrests involving those types of robberies during 2015 but it still seems to be a trend that we deal with periodically. The next slide is aggravated assault. Aggravated assaults were up 23 percent primarily due to an increase in multi victim aggravated assaults. The map that you're looking at is not all aggravated assaults in Durham rather it is the multi victim two or more victims involving a firearm. That is something else that we track internally. We would like to keep that percentage down to 30 percent in 2015 they were at 44 percent. So they were quite a bit higher and what that means is that there was two or more victims involving a firearm. Typically what drives that mostly is we have an ongoing problem it's not just in Durham it's in other cities. Similar irons is shooting into occupied dwellings. We seem to get that and we get trends of that we'll have an ongoing dispute till we can figure out what's going on with that we might have four in a in a few day period we might have four or five houses shot multiple victims in there and it does not take long like that to run up your aggravated assault numbers. Chief can I ask you a quick question. Yes sir. So if I understand what you said correctly 44 percent of the 1336 aggravated assaults in 2015 were multi victim firearms. That's correct. Multi victim firearm involved that is correct. January of 15 was the most violent month in Durham since we've been keeping statistics. Many of you on the council will remember we started an operation after that that dealt primarily with the McDougall and Cornwallis housing community. Prior to starting that we partnered with some of our community partners some of our faith partners we've knocked on every door in those communities and went in and was received very well. Wanted to know that we will will be coming into the areas because of some of the violence we've had there. And right after that we started a 90 day operation we made several significant arrests which many of you received an update on and we saw a pretty significant decrease in crime and interestingly enough district four turned out to be the district with the least increase in violent crime for the for the year. So we feel like that operation had some pretty significant impacts in that district. This next slide is kind of an overlay of all the things that you just looked at. That is our homicides aggravated assault with two or more victim and robberies. And you can see once again the clustering down into the central part of the city. I don't have this I have this map with me I'll be glad to email it to you all. I didn't get into late in the afternoon because I was curious at what that actually represented as far as land mass in the city. And I was able to get that map and what it shows is about 13.5% of the land mass of Durham makes up about 48% of the violent crime in Durham. So only 13.5% of the city. 13.5% of the city that you're looking at makes up about 48% of the violent crime. Next we took a look this time at victimization. And as you can see 67%. Now this is all violent crime. This just isn't two or more victims. This is all like assaults all robberies all rapes everything. 67% of all violent crime victims are black 17% or Hispanic 15% of white and 1% were Asian. By gender 62% are male and 38% are female. When we looked at suspect information and once again this is for all crime and this is for this is for all crimes in which the suspect was named or there was an arrest made. So it doesn't include crimes where they just identified their suspect. They named the suspect or we actually made an arrest in it. In that 82% of the suspects were black. 9% were Hispanic 8% were white and 1% was Asian and 83% of that was male and 17% were female. Property crime Property crime is made up of burglary larceny and motor vehicle theft. Property crime was down 4% from 2014 burglary's were the lowest in nine years. This is the numbers that coordinate with that. Burglary was down 13% larceny's down 1% motor vehicle theft up five which led to property crime being down 4% and all that culminated in a 1% decrease in crime for the city of Durham for all index crime. Yes ma'am. Where are house break-ins? What where where are they on this property crime? Yes ma'am. Okay. That would be burglary. Yes ma'am. They would be burglary's. That's correct. And they you know if we put up a map of that they would be all over the city. They occur everywhere. So. This question too. Do you find that alarm systems security systems in the homes are effective? I think so. I think so. I think any time you have something that scares people off or certainly even if it's a dialer where it calls law enforcement I think that's effective. We encourage people to have alarm systems yesterday. Okay. Just want to make sure. Clearance rates. Our clearance rates were above the 2014 FBI clearance rates for cities our size and homicide robbery larceny and motor vehicle theft. However we were below in rape ag assault and burglary. And so what that led to that led to us being below the FBI's average in overall violent crime clearance and in overall property crime clearance. And when we think about what drives that I'm not I can't say for sure. I think there's a lot of factors that go into that. I think caseload is one of them. Our investigators particular property crime and our violent crime investigators carry a pretty large caseload. And then when you think about the increase in aggravated assault and what is increasing is the two or more victim involving a firearm which oftentimes is a home shot. There's very few solvability factors in that. Unless someone saw it there's just not a lot of solvability factors in that. So those are the same. And I will say this that we're having we're not having a lot of success with victim cooperation. A lot of these times especially with this if it's gang related gang involved or some type of acquaintance dispute will get there and the people will tell us I know who did it but I'm not I'll take care of this myself. Which that affects your that affects your clearance rates. Particularly in violent crime. Response times we were unable to meet our target of responding to 57% of priority one calls in under five minutes. We were at 51.5% in under five minutes and we have a goal of 57%. We were also unable to meet our 5.8 minute average response time. We were at 6.3 so rather than being at 5.8 we were at 6.3. However we should note that we had a 23% increase in priority one calls for service in 2015 which is pretty significant increase in priority one calls for service. And our staffing levels have been down a little bit however the manager's office and the budget office has allowed us to use some funding. And we started that in February and we are bringing in six additional officers on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for 10 hours. And they're getting into cars and riding line cars and working out in the city. And that's anecdotally the officers are really really appreciated. It's cleared up some time. We're going to be we're going to be tracking our response times to see what if any impact it has on the response times. And then we've also asked officers as part of that to try to spend a little more time the district commanders are giving their officers directions as to where they would like for them to be out on foot. And particularly in non law enforcement capacities we saw a very significant increase in our foot patrols in February as a result. So seems to be seems to be working well and and the officers do the staffing levels. Now we had just we had just released some some recruits out of the FTO phase as well. So we just put those officers into a car by themselves plus the additional funding for officers. I've seen some staffing levels that I haven't seen in quite some time the last month or two. That we were seeing staffing levels up in the 50% to low 60% range. I was seeing some in upper 80 low 90% range. On those days when we were bringing the officers in plus that that makes a very big difference a very big difference. Staffing levels all 512 sworn positions in the police department of field. However there are 29 operational vacancies. And that was of the date that this was done. I received an email today that one of our officers just left and he's going to carry and another one left for another profession. So that that's two more. Typically our attrition rate has been around three a month. It's been closer to five lately. Which means in a year we'll lose 60 officers for one reason or the other. They either going to other agencies or going on to different positions or they are disciplined and leave or terminated for whatever retiring it runs the gamut. But at a five officer a month attrition rate we're losing 60. And so when you think about this academy that's in right now there's it started out with 26. There's 17 remaining. It'll take a full year for those 17 to get through the academy and get through the training phase out in the field. So during that year while we're trying to get those 17 out into the field as many as 60 officers will leave. So we're always running in operational vacancies. I have an organizational chart up in my office and there's a yellow block anywhere there's not an officer. And there's 26 of those actually 28 of those now. And it's constantly changing. Chief since you've mentioned that maybe you need to come back later and give us a breakdown of the 60 officers and why they left. You don't have to do it now. Yeah I don't have that. I'd have to come back. Yeah and I don't maybe I don't know that that number would be what I'd have to do is look back 12 months. And I try to try to tell you in the last 12 months past. That's fine. Yeah. You've mentioned it. So I think. Yeah sure. I'd be glad to I'd be glad to tell you how many has left in the last 12 months and what we know of the reason they left. Thank you. And then lastly our social media. We've expanded social media quite a bit in 2015. We added Twitter and Nextdoor. Our D.P.T. Facebook followers are up 93 percent since January 15. And we're planning on doing our first Twitter chat. In March. So we've we've really expanded our social footprint. Social media footprint has helped tremendously. It gives us an opportunity to highlight the work that our officers do. Much like what Mr. Reese recognized and also some of the good arrests that the officers make. You know officers are really reluctant to tell us things like 4C did or you may have seen the story recently where the officer bought the lady the heater. But we've actually just gone out and just really because they don't do it for that reason. And at times it can seem disingenuous just I knew one also that something he had done. I knew about it and I went to him. I said can I go and tell our P.I.O. staff about it. Because I'd like to put it out on our Facebook page. And he's like you know chief I don't know. You know but we encourage that that you know get it up to our P.I.O. staff. So we can get it out. And we're and we're seeing more of that because. What 4C did the officer buying the heater and it's in your executive summaries. Our officers do a lot of things just like 4C did. And we and we appreciate it. So that that concludes my report. And I'll be open happy to answer any questions. Chief let me recognize council members first. Let me go to my left here. Councilman Shul. May I approach him. Councilman Rees and Councilman Davis. And let me say these are all of our social media sites for those who are here with the smartphones now. Feel free to like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and go to next door. So shameless plug. Thank you chief. I first of all just want to express my gratitude to you for stepping up into the chief's role. And I think you've done a great job. Thank you Mr. Shul. And I really really do appreciate it. Thank you. I think you have tremendous respect not only in the department but in the community and it's it shows. So thank you. Thank you. I also want to just thank you and chief Marsh for and Tony Smith of the city attorney's office of meeting with myself and Charlie Rees and Jillian Johnson for at least a couple of hours probably more. And as I said then I'll say again I know that you probably felt that was something like Chinese water torture. But we did have a very good meeting concerning the the draft body camera general order. As chief Marsh said he thinks that was the 13th draft that you all have worked on and I know it was difficult but I really appreciated the spirit in which you all had that meeting with us and the give and take and I think that we have come out with some things that are very good and I feel like our aim is to have the best general order for body cameras in the whole country. And that I think we can do that. And I think your patients and chief Marsh's patients and the research that chief Marsh has done and the good thinking and listening is really going to result in something good. And I know we we pull that from the agendas tonight. The city manager wants to and the city attorney want to look at these things again and I understand that we don't want to hurry something beyond what we what we want to do it right. But I think we really moves in some great directions and I'm very confident we'll have some good and I want to just thank you for that. I also want to commend you all on the staff for the way the way in which the you all have been handling demonstrations recently and civil disobedience and I think that that you all have really the department I think has really done have been handling a lot of very difficult crowd actions in the last year and a half. And I think you all have really learned a lot and are doing some things that I think have really improved the way in which you all have done that and the fact that there were no arrests the other night I think was was excellent work. I know that's hard sometimes but I commend the department for that. Thank you. And I do want to say that civil disobedience is a is a I think a very important tool for change and I participated in civil disobedience myself on many occasions but I do want to remind everybody that folks that who commit civil disobedience that it is breaking the law and arrests might follow that the expectation can't always be that police are going to be able to use the kind of level of restraint that you all were fortunately able to use. And so again I want to commend you and appreciate that but also recognize the reality that those of us who do commit civil disobedience need to expect that arrests may follow if the law is broken. I have been arrested a couple of times and I will yes I have and I did spend eight days in the Wake County jail once chief. You did? Yes I did. Well I'm glad it wasn't Durham Mr. Shull. Yeah I was actually sentenced to 10 days but Sheriff Baker wanted us out early. Let me also just mention in terms of the victim cooperation that Professor Phil Cook of Duke University has been in touch with you all. I know on a project that he is working on he's done a lot of research on trust building with victims and victim cooperation and I know you all are planning to meet with him and tomorrow tomorrow great and I think he's a tremendous researcher he's worked with departments and other cities to do this and so I hope that's useful. You already answered my question about the homicide number there that which was different than I had seen and you mentioned the clearance raised. I do want to just mention that I think that's the first time since I've been on the council that we're below the national FBI average on some of these major clearance categories and I appreciate you're addressing that that's obviously something we want to get up but I had some questions on it but I think you gave the do you have any other comments that you wanted to make on that? No. Okay. The 23% increase in priority one calls would you comment on that? Well Durham's growing and you know as Durham grows the demand for all services is going to increase and you know especially priority one calls priority one calls could be an accident with injuries it could be a crime in progress it's those things where people really need a police officer in a hurry and when we see a 23% increase in that that's a that's a big demand on the staff and a lot of those priority one calls a lot of times there can be one of some more of our time consuming calls certainly like a wreck with injuries you may have several cars or at least two cars on that tied up between investigating it and directing traffic and things of that nature so but as Durham grows that's one of the things that's going to be one of the byproducts is that demand for police services is going to increase as well Let me ask you another question about that do you think that those priority calls the increase in priority one calls could be in any way related to gentrification of neighborhoods that is to say I wonder if people who are gentrifying who are moving into a neighborhood who have more wealth say than the people who have been previously living there might feel more empowered to call the police or more likely to I wonder I know that that would be just I know you don't know that but I wondered if you would would think about that and let me know what you think Yeah I wouldn't even know where to begin on that I would think that it was probably more from the growth of Durham more people more traffic more everything would typically tend to lend to more calls for service more business you know unfortunately a lot of times crime follows business so Okay and to mention the 29 vacancies you've already addressed a little bit but I quite didn't quite understand it what does an operational vacancy mean? An operational vacancy means once again I've got an organizational chart up in my board up in my office and it's got 512 slots on it and that's how many sworn officers that we have and if there's not an if it's yellow and there's not an officer's name in there that's an operational vacancy now we're full we're fully staffed but right now 29 positions are in some form of training I see or have just recently resigned or left the department I get so that's that's what an operational that's what an operational vacancy is it can get a little bit confusing but understand we always have people in some level of training whether they're in the academy whether they're in the car with a field training officer and the whole time we're pumping those academies through releasing officers trying to get them trained right now we have on average five officers a month leaving for any number of reasons so we're we've got a lot of officers we we ran for police academies back to back right after public safety split and all those are coming up now so we're seeing a lot of retirements yeah seeing a lot of retirements okay well I want to while we're doing this I want to appreciate your initiative and the city managers initiative to think about these take home cars and I'm really glad that that's on the table and I'm hopeful that that will be something will help us retain some officers one thing that will help us retain in terms of the annual report I really the excellent police work described in the accounts of some of these significant arrests was well it was excellent and often times the officers are putting themselves in danger and on our behalf and I wanted to appreciate that in terms of the recruiting numbers in that report nine of the 39 recruits I believe this is page 13 but I don't have it right in front of me now we're from Durham I just wanted to and then in 14 in and the in Academy 42 of those 14 two were from Durham so I think we still have this issue that we all have been concerned with and I think that partially this is on us the council to try to make it more attractive for people from Durham to apply I know a recruiting is you know is really pushing that hard there's been some talk about some partnerships with Holton Resource Center and some other things to try to increase recruiting out of Durham and actually also through the schools yeah and I you know there's the new fire academy speaking of Holton and so it made me think if there was some other way in which you all might want to try to relate to the schools differently and I know you have the explorer group which at least one of the officers came through one of the new recruits came through which was great I do think that might be worse than thought especially after I saw what the fire department was doing because we do want these Durham officers sure arrests from drug violations were down 25 percent from 2013 to 2015 see if I'm sorry I don't have the page that was on I just yeah I've got it by hand notes and you know I am very interested in us reducing the arrest for marijuana possession and small amounts of drugs and so forth and so when I saw that number I was glad and wondered if you have any comments on that you know we were very committed to the diversion program as you know and I've often said this Mr. Shool is that a Durham police officer typically don't go out looking for low levels of marijuana we stumble over that whether we're serving a warrant whether we make an arrest for something else and it's there and then you've got it and then something has to be done with it and most of the time what happens in those situations like that is a citation is written and the drugs are turned in and court data is set very seldom is there a custodial arrest on a low level amount of marijuana so well I do want to notice this because it wasn't something you highlighted but I just want to say again that that our that our arrest for drug violations are down 25 percent in the last two years this is not insignificant and so I want to appreciate your work and the work of the people and the apartment and the and the people and the misdemeanor diversion program Judge Mori and those others who have have supported that the the number of domestic violence homicides rose from three in 2013 and same number in 2014 to 10 in 2015 and I've always heard and I've heard from Chief Lopez when when when he would talk to us that these are in a lot of ways the hardest for you all to solve and see a way to stop especially but I just want to mention that I really think that this that that that domestic violence and domestic violence homicides or something that really needs a community response that we need safety plans for people who know they're in danger we need family counseling when health or law enforcement officials spot a situation like I'm sure some of your officers do where they can tell that there's something about to happen I think we need media campaigns that do exist but I really when I see that our domestic violence homicides have gone from three to 10 I really think that our community needs to have some sort of community coordinated response from a prevention perspective well you know we have a very active domestic violence unit and they have a very close partnership with CJRC and many outside resources and so when they're investigating a case that clearly has that level of violence in it there are a lot of wrap around resources that are available to potential victims and victims going forward in that so we recognize that and I feel like we have good partnerships in that great I'm sure but I feel like something's not working and so I mean it's not it's in a way it's less the councils bailiwick than the the counties you know with social services and that kind of thing mental health and but I hope we can as a community think about that and like to kind of put that on our plate I love that 213 CIT certified officers now that's fantastic and I know that that's been a commitment of the department of the last few years and that is great and it said that there's a quote on page 20 says it resulted in the reduction of 911 calls for high utilizers of services of almost 74 percent but I couldn't understand exactly what that meant could you talk about that a little bit well there are some people Mr. Schull that call 911 for all kinds of things and they have some mental health issues yeah and so when we recognize that we send out our CIT officers to go and work with them and try to see what it is it's driving that and that has resulted in that decrease of those what they identify those high 911 users I wonder if you knew how many there were I mean is it more like 20 of these high flyers or is it 100 high users I think we know the number but I don't know what right now I'd be curious to know okay I'll check on that thank you but that's this the certification the CIT certification of these officers is I think a very very powerful testimony to y'all's commitment to it and I really appreciate it there was an article in the in the paper I don't know if you saw it but they'd studied Durham CIT program for Cincinnati, Ohio and they told Cincinnati and then quoted that if you wanted to see how it was done go to Durham anyway and see how the CIT program should work great and I see that we're twice the national the state standard which is great the there's so many things at the end of the report the weekend house project the I wanted to commend I guess officer guest I'm not sure that's pronunciation and her colleagues for going way over and above to help this woman suffering from serious illness there's so many other things like that in here Sergeant Butler I believe has also already been commended today and officer Strout for the police athletic league work I really believe in that and love to see the amount of commitment they made to it the so many of their officers were commended in and um I I I finally it just uh Sergeant Glenn Price was was highlighted and I think what he did took tremendous bravery good judgment and skill in a hostage situation saved a woman's life and and I just want to add to the many commendations that he has already received thank you tremendous and finally chief again I just want to say how much I appreciate your leadership I think you've come in here under difficult circumstances and you have advanced the department it hasn't just been a holding action while you've been here I think you've advanced the department in many ways and I just want to appreciate that so thank you well thank you and certainly the credit goes to the men and women who do this job every day and I appreciate what they do and uh on the POW program I want to mention this we're always looking for volunteers so I'll say anybody who's interested in you know and you don't necessarily have to have been a player of whatever uh sport you want to help with but any community member wants to come out help with our POWs programs it's a great way to get involved in young people's lives that really needs some people to help get involved in their lives sure I recognize the mayor Pro Tem just thank you Larry thank you excuse me chief that's all right he's my son's classmate a couple of years ahead of my son I'm really impressed with of course the work that you do with children our children and I see little babies actually interacting with the police officers in Franklin Village because I think there was an event there during the Thanksgiving holidays I couldn't get there and then all the other kinds of things that you're doing to build the lives of the young people that is incredible I thank you for your leadership and I'm so sorry that this is the time for you to bow out of your I understand I was once a city employee in my son sometimes you just have to go yeah thank you so much thank you you recognize Councilman Reese shockingly enough in his detailed exegesis of the 46 page annual report council member Shul asked every single question I was going to ask on us thank you thank Steve but thank you both recognize Councilman Davis thank you Mr. Mayor chief I want to thank you and the members of the department for all the things that you all do the report is disturbing in many ways not that you all are the ones responsible for that but I'm and there are several things and between now and the time we have the crime cabinet report on Friday I'd like to maybe have a chance to chat with you or some people in this in the department about some of the concerns I'm particularly concerned about slide 11 which talks about the violent crime victims and the disproportionate number of African Americans who listed here 1568 of the 2349 victims are African Americans and they actually I think probably come from the mapping that you have here yes sir so somewhere along the line I think we are going to have to have some real discussion about how churches and other members of the African American community in this central city area might be able to make sure that we prevent 2016 from recurring like we saw in 2015 so I hope that we can have some real honest dialogue about how we can prevent crime everywhere by any group of people upon any group of people but we certainly don't want to see these disproportionate numbers as we see them here and if you and other members of your department can give some thought to that we can can work together on that thank you let me ask the other questions about members of the council we do have a few people that sound speak on this item so if there are no further questions by yes they I assume sir you can sit down but I don't have I'm saying to people in the audience okay this question all right we'll have questions for recognize our council I'll just briefly say thank you very much both for the report for your service and for the maps I thought to be very helpful okay I appreciate it thank you you have a comment it's sort of piggybacking on councilman Davis what I found is that when well we adopted Lakeview school and we found that when we pumped resources into that school and we actually showed people the kids that we cared about them things began to improve so it's going to take all of us individual citizens in general to mentor somebody the mayor's been saying that for 10 years so we've got to touch the lives of people if we wanted to see some transformation in this community and we are the church I know I am the walking is the church but the people who go there are really the church is that right that's right that's right thank you amen thank you you said amen yes I did that means I can go down okay chief the manager wanted you to have a seat right just awkward yeah people standing next to each other asking questions I'll leave how have you won Helen let me recognize these four persons that have signed up to speak David Hall Alex Williams this is Alex Williams slash Hila Lee minister Razid Saidi and the Peterson if you come to the podium to my right and if you can limit your comments to three minutes if you don't mind just state your name and address David Hall 306 Gray Avenue Durham North Carolina one I wish we had more than three minutes we certainly have more than three minutes worth of issues to talk about I wish we could have the kind of back and forth that you have with the chief acting chief so that we could address some of these issues in a more substantive way and tonight I wear three hats fade Southern Coalition for Social Justice and my own personal hat I wanted to address first the Mr. Hall before you before you start go back to three minutes so you know if you have written comments please feel free to leave them with the clerk and we'll make sure that those comments are to the police chief and more importantly to the city manager if you don't mind don't have written comments tonight but again that does not allow for us to engage in back and forth conversation we did submit a fade letter at last council meeting so hopefully you're familiar with that but we have a report the city manager's update on recommendations from the HRC and the civilian police review board and wanted to touch on those specifically recommendation nine 10 and 11 we recommend that a written form be required for all consent searches we included this in the fade letter and wanted to touch and reiterate once again that we believe that the police have worked around consent searches and that is evidenced by the fact that probable cause searches have increased by 159 percent HRC recommendation 13 we recommend that the police during police department collaborate with national independent training organizations approved by the city manager and city council to create and implement a racial equity training program for Durham police officers the current status is that this is complete with ongoing monitoring the police never engaged in racial equity training they were proactive and implemented fair and impartial policing is not racial equity training we were told that fade would have a seat at the table when we discussed what training the police would implement we were never invited to that conversation it happened without us fade was the group that brought all of this and was directed to the human relations commission but left but still we were left out of these decisions HRC recommendation number 20 the civilian police review board that it will be addressed by fade coming up shortly there's a lot going on with the review board number 33 and this is where I'm going to put on my fade and southern coalition hat I am the senior attorney at southern coalition for social justice on the criminal justice side I supervise the entire criminal justice side we recommend the city of Durham partner with the human relations commission and outside organizations fade NAACP southern coalition for social justice etc to promote a comprehensive program to educate the citizens of their rights in regards to police stops searches and their avenues of redress current status complete with ongoing monitoring as senior attorney at southern coalition for social justice nobody has contacted me from the NIS PACS structured citizen engagement process nothing nobody has contacted fade yet this status is complete and ongoing with monitoring I call this to say that we need checks and balances and that's why fade keeps coming to the table we're not done you need we need to be heard from and as councilman Davis said that you would invite for dialogue please invite fade to the table we haven't been to the table at all with the chief of police conversations the conversations I've mentioned in here we need to have some back and forth conversation instead of just submitting our written comments for review and never have any back and forth thank you on nexus Alex Williams and it's us together okay my name is Heather Lee I live on 224 Strandy Avenue here in Durham I am a member of spirit house I am also a member of all of us are none North Carolina and the fade coalition all of us are none is a national grassroots civil rights and human rights organization fighting for the rights of formerly and currently incarcerated people we are fighting against the discrimination that people face every day because of arrest or conviction history we have a very active face here in Durham and we have been working as a part of the fade coalition since its beginning we have taken the lead as coalition members and shown up at community meetings and private meetings with the mayor city council and city manager to share the concerns from the community members we are accountable to yet time and again our concerns are ignored and we are shut out of the process that impact our lives two weeks ago the fade coalition delivered a letter to city council entitled then and now a four-year assessment of the Durham police department in it we express our concerns regarding the implementation of the recommendations that Durham police department are reporting to have completed tonight as well as our concerns and recommendations regarding the search for the new police chief since that meeting we've learned that our recommendation that at least two people from our community the community experienced in the most disparate impact in police and be on the police chief interview committee was ignored the people chosen by the city manager to represent us are not us and they do not speak for us tonight we go on record to state that once again we have been excluded from a process that will impact us most of all tonight we go on record to say that all of us are none and the fade coalition are not going away we are Durham residents we have a voice we have a vote and we expect our elected officials to be as accountable to us as they are to any other Durham resident thank you I'm sorry Mr. Peterson Minister Zahid excuse me Minister Zahid good evening city council members my name is Minister Rafiq J.D. I'm the president of the Black Concerned Citizens in Durham I resided 807 South Deuce Creek Durham, North Carolina my theme is always justice or else that all else is a divine intervention nothing that no man or woman have anything to do with people are moved by divine intervention as you've seen at the D-PAC the other night as the citizen of the nation of Islam and I'll be real quick in a follow-up of the Honorable Minister Lewis Farkhan there is no fear here there is no fear about civil disobedience you remember that the case of Levanto Biggs is not in this report a young man who was murdered on the Andrew Avenue there was a conspiracy going on during the time of that invasion I'm talking about those reports that are not on the annual report there was an officer about a name of Detective Burr I'ma call the name who left a search warrant at the apartment after the murder the Honorable Minister Lewis Farkhan has commissioned us those of us with him to warn all forms of local and federal government that we must have a safe and decent place to live for all humanity we will not rest until each state local government and those of you who profess to lead us change these state of our conditions and they must be met very soon just as well in my conclusion what brother Charles Bell explained to you a little while ago is just a wake-up call to us in the black community this is a daily habit around the country not only in California and in these 59 seconds I'ma say this civil disobedience derives from the word civilized it is the duty of a civilized man or woman to represent themselves and their oppressed people and members of the community against any oligarchy be it local or federal systematic, systemic racism and abuse against the people disobedience we will disobey unjust auditions we will disobey laws and racist tactics used to silence those of us who are willing to die let me repeat that again Mr. Sewell we are willing to die to get justice today your police force don't scare us if their laws is wrong we're gonna move forward so I said justice or else damn you better wake up and wake up soon this is the last time that I will warn you Mr. Davis you're my representative I'm just gonna just say this real quick if you look at the city policy the public is entitled to five minutes to speak and the city council has to vote on it to change that and if our new city council members if you want to research that you can my name is Mrs. Peterson I'm one of your political activists I would just like to ask for my five minutes but I also would like for you to turn to page four on the report that the interim police chief gave if you add up the number the numbers on page four your part your page four is basically your part one crime I have a criminal justice background so I want to add something else that the police chief did not speak about because probably he did not have enough time but if you look at on page 14 is your part two crimes and then if you look on page 15 those are your juvenile crimes that have been committed I added up all those numbers again you had over 21,000 crimes committed in this city last year to over 21,000 no community can continue to exist with that kind of crime going on in this community so here's my suggestion in 2002-2003 I brought some suggestions to the city what I felt that they needed to do you have implemented some of those as far as I know Mr. Mayor I'm at least I'm hoping you still have an ex-offender's program going on here at the city what I would like to see happen is a voucher program for young men and women who are caught up in the criminal justice system here in Durham because they have a criminal record they cannot get employment and Ms. Cora Miffan mentioned something earlier that this is a whole community problem and I totally agree the minister alliance the black organizations the white organization there needs to be a pool of monies in this committee excuse me in this community put together that somewhere between a thousand to two to three thousand dollars would be given to persons who promise and they would need to sign something they would need to go into therapy counseling job training that they would receive a voucher each month of somewhere between a thousand to three thousand dollars those dollars would be used for those individuals to help them pay their bills to keep them off the streets to keep them out of our homes I live on I live on excuse me Ridgeway Avenue I heard somebody said that the fourth district is doing fine not on my street we've had several shootings over there I do not know what has happened Mr. Davis or my representative I would like to know what happened to the police guys and gals that was down down in Meduca Terrace several years ago we had and I would like to have some extra time please a several years ago Miss Peterson let me say this I try to be as open on all these meetings and allowing people to speak now you should know that considering items items that people pull and they have an opportunity to speak it's up to the mayor to decide how long general business agenda items which this is is not one of the items that the public speaks on but I've allowed that public hearing matters are open for public discussion so unless the council rules me out of order if I say three minutes it's three minutes and you've had three minutes and I'm going to cut off your discussion now well I'm asking one of the council members to ask me some questions please I'm cutting off but the council members can ask me questions I'm cutting you off Miss Peterson but Mr. Mayer I'm going to move to the next item please I think the council members can ask me questions that they want to write it's up to them well they can do that if somebody wants to ask you a question but if nobody asks you a question I'm going to say you're out of order Mr. Davis would you ask me a question please because I would like to finish my statement here well I didn't write anything no I only need just one more second we're going to move to item 13 Miss Peterson because you're trying to take advantage of me and I don't appreciate it we're going to the general business and public hearings item 13 is public hearing for the fiscal year 2016 2017 budget and fiscal year 2017 fiscal year 2020 capital improvement plan and Mr. Mayer the item that I pulled item 19 I'll discuss that later so you can have the staff believe so we're on the public hearing now for fiscal year 2016 2017 budget good evening Bertha Johnson director of budget and management services the purpose of this public hearing is to receive public comment on the FY 2016-17 budget and 2017-22 capital improvement plan I'm happy to answer any questions again this is a public hearing matter we have one two three four five persons that are trying to speak on this item unless the council has comments before that we're going to recognize Gwen Silver Katie Rose Levin Karen Willis David Fellerow and Peterson it's not a name when someone has put data access drivers inclusion to the living wage but I don't see a name on here okay I'm sorry I could just at the appropriate time can you come up and give us your naming address you will be the last speaker following Ms. Peterson recognize Ms. Silver good evening mayor Mayor Pro Tim and members of the city council Gwen Silver 302 Sapphire Drive and I'm actually speaking on behalf of Ms. Alois Johnson who couldn't be here tonight but for the past six years she has been corresponding with city staff county staff and city and county elected officials regarding the scoop the poop ordinance for Durham and this year the county animal welfare advisory committee has drafted a proposal it has gone to the environment environment advisory board and they have given their support to the ordinance to include six months educational campaign and pending any unforeseen reasons the county commission should adopt that ordinance sometime this month the request to the city is that you fund in the 2016 2017 budget appropriations to aggressively do the educational campaign using the tv station that the city has any other media signs posters newsletters or whatever to inform the public that the ordinance has been adopted and what the penalties will be when the penalties will go into effect although we have educated the public before and we did a nice little postcard a number of years ago we feel it's very important that we do it again and 2010 the city attorney's office asked all packs to include in their newsletters information about the falls lakes nutrient management strategy and proposed rules that I did here earlier tonight that that's going to be addressed again and those rules were to reduce the lakes nitrogen and phosphorus level and the majority of that that imbalance is due to dog poop the little leak creek watershed is again being addressed by the city they're beginning to clean it up again dog poop because of this we want to encourage you to include funding as I said to pay for the ads the television stations and anything else to get the word out to the community that the ordinance is going to go into effect and what the penalties will be thank you very much Katie Rose Levin I am Katie Rose Levin I live at 322 green street in the beautiful Duke Park I really appreciate y'all giving us the citizens a chance to speak on budgetary matters which might be boring to some but are extremely important to us as citizens I would like to link a part of your budgetary matters to a little bit of the social justice we've been talking through in sort of an unusual way you've been hearing from the Durham canopy advocates about the tree issues that we have in Durham and how much trees really contribute to us both as a city and as citizens and as private homeowners one thing we probably haven't talked as much about is how they contribute to economic justice cities clean the air this clean air has been linked to reduce instances of childhood asthma which in turn reduces misdays at school this is essential for people who are living in low income areas or vulnerable populations who already have these aggravated health issues trees also by cleaning the air lower instances of stroke and lower instances of heart attacks two major issues that have to deal with people who are traditionally considered vulnerable cities also directly impact the economics of people who live in areas that have big trees when you have big trees the air is cooler sometimes as much as 10 degrees during the heat of the day this results in less cooling costs for your homes when you're looking at paying the bills AC during the summer is very expensive and heat can aggravate issues with health as well so areas which have a tree canopy that has been taken care of benefit both economically and health wise right now the city urban forestry department is very underfunded we just don't have the money to take care of the trees that we need our trees are geriatric we kind of have the old or almost the retirement home for trees at this point they need a lot of resources and they need a lot of care and they also need the next generation to come up and through right now the city is relying on volunteers to plant these trees that means the neighborhoods that have money and the neighborhoods that have time get the trees and get the benefits of the health and the cooling costs and many other things that we've mentioned to you during the coffees with councils it's not fair to leave citizens who don't have that money and don't have that time out in the cold or in this case out in the heat we really need to ask our city manager and our urban forestry department our facilities department to prioritize this really important infrastructure I know deferred maintenance is a big cost and it's a big issue everywhere trees provide so many direct benefits to citizens that they should be put high up on the docket we're asking for the city council to fund an inventory that was recommended by a report that you requested so we know what we have and we know what we need and we know what we're missing and we're also asking that immediately you fund for more crews and more tree planting so it's not just the people who have the time and money to plant to get the benefits but the people who really need them they get the benefits as well I really appreciate again the time and attention that you've given to something that is such a boon to our city a boon to our families a boon to our children and a boon to us thank you next is Karen Willis good evening I'm Karen Willis I live at 22 23 West Club Boulevard I'm also here to advocate for the care of our city trees I'd like to echo what Katie Rose said about the importance of trees for the community and I know there are areas of Durham that lack trees I'd really like to see more planting of trees in these areas in addition I feel really strongly that we could do a lot more for the large trees we already have it doesn't make sense to me to take down trees that might be able to be preserved and I think one of the things we could look at is how our trees are being pruned it seems to me that extreme cutting occurs beyond what's needed for standard utility line clearance I know it's very important to all of us to have electricity but I think the pruning is extreme and I hear an outcry every time the crews are on the streets and I hope you hear from people about this as well I'd like to see us try to seek an agreement with the utility company about the way we want our trees pruned a small replacement tree cannot provide the same benefits as a large tree that we already have in place I feel that if we can take care of the trees we have it's a sensible investment and I hope you will fund our city employees with the resources they need to manage our canopy and I feel the time is now an extremely important thank you so much not just a minute David Feller David oh yeah I'm just calling the person if you could announce your name please obviously I screwed it up I'm big apart what is your last name oh my last name is Felirath or Felirath okay great yeah sorry I didn't hear my name called earlier and my name is David Felirath and I live in Duke Park at 817 Nancy Street and I am the president of the Durham Soccer Council an advisory group that advocates for greater investment in our soccer facilities I'm also the co-founder of Durham Athletica which is an adult football club and we have about 170 adult players about 30 percent of our players are Latino and we have players from about two dozen countries I commend the city and Parks and Recs efforts so far to improve our soccer spaces the you know I've had a really good we've had a really good relationship with Rhonda Parker and members of the first staff including Annette Smith Tom Dawson and Tammy Brown and others Andre White at WD Hill Rec Center the you know we're very pleased that the city seemed to be making a priority of funding a soccer complex and the work that's been done at Twin Lakes is lovely and I'm delighted to learn that there's been progress in acquiring adjacent land to build more fields however I'd like to offer one observation about the renovated field at Twin Lakes that will lead to my main point here tonight while the new fence and landscaping at the field to accompany the new field turf which is fantastic the new fence and landscaping is very nice and very durable the concrete that was poured on the sideline is much too close to the field it presents a real hazard to players who happen to be playing in a highly competitive contest and I can't help but wonder if this could have been averted a fairly minor problem but I can't help but wonder if it could have been averted if there had been some consultation with soccer groups prior to executing the renovations this leaves me with my you know single main point tonight for Durham to really embrace a progressive soccer culture we need to think holistically about soccer fields where they're located and how they're designed not all fields are the same it matters how they're designed and for whom for example can we find a vacant space in a neighborhood that's along a bicycle path or near a bus stop that could be repurposed for soccer or for foot saw while I commend the city for its continued work on soccer I worry sometimes that there's not enough focused intent a tendency to take the path of least resistance Durham has many public spaces you know parks and rec spaces public school spaces that could be inexpensively overhauled with artificial turf so they could be available year round for example there's a place near my house East End Park has a softball field that's almost never used for organized activity it could easily you know with a modest amount of money be converted into a youth artificial turf soccer field with lights but such micro-planning takes time and expertise and that's why I encourage the city planners to consult with the city's soccer players as it moves forward oh thank you very much welcome Peterson that's the way to sign yes good hello good evening it's late I gotta get up at three o'clock in the morning to go to work but I felt pardon pardon could you state your name again? I'm sorry Marie Hill Fason Marie Hill yes data access Teamsters Local 391 citizen the address 1303 South Falls St. Avenue Durham, North Carolina I'm here to address of the living wage and I was listening about the soccer and I was wondering how much does it cost to play on the team or are the children in the city being are they gonna be able to assess or to be able to join the soccer team we have to think about the people that are are here right now the Dermites the people working their children and this is how we get kids off the street you pay the parents a fair wage while they work and they won't have to work so many hours and they can spend more time with their children and and participate in activities like soccer anyway the purpose of me coming tonight was to engage in the conversation about how do we define access drivers I've been working on this for 14 years I've been an access driver and I think it's an injustice to just label us drivers we are transportation engineers we are we do a lot of things and it's not recognized and it's very disturbing to see people work so hard and not be compensated for the work that they do and if not not only compensated but not included in the conversation of how we can improve the service and at one point I was very interested in the light rail and still am because I believe in public transportation but if we don't do what we do we don't improve our ground transportation I just don't see why we want to expand and just put more transportation and and that be a failure so what I'd like to say is that we need to put more funding into making our transportation more efficient and making the drivers more sufficient so that they can participate in this vision that Durham has of inclusion and if you continue to suppress the drivers and not allow them to have a decent living wage then they won't be able to participate in the soccer and whatever the D-PAC and the Carolina theater all these things are not going to be in the reach of the regular working poor and I asked the council to consider whatever you have to do whether it's talk to me I would be glad to speak to anybody I've invited people to ride in my van when I work my long hours and serve the community because that's what we do we serve the community too and there are all kind of situations that we are up against being outside danger you know and you have to you have to be able to be prepared for that the police aren't around the police aren't not that I don't know how to call 911 and but we need to recognize the work that the access driver does put them where they need to be their drivers CDL drivers just like bus drivers and all the rest of the servicing entities of the city and include us in that don't leave us out of the transportation vision and that's what I'd like to say thank you Marie Hill Fasen thank you Ms. Fasen next we have Peterson and Jim Svalder is it anyone else that would like to speak this being a public hearing that is not spoken if not Jim will be the last speaker on this item thank you I would like to ask the city what is the dollar amount so far for the new police building for the new police headquarters yes I believe what we have in the CIP is 62 between 62 and 65 million okay so we'll just say 65 million I would like to go back in part of my conversation I was having earlier I think the African American community and I live in that community and I'm also African American but we also have Hispanics and Asians if you saw the breakdown of some of the crime those persons who were involved in criminal activity in Durham it's it's crossed the board I would like to see the city develop a program that Stifens would be giving to young men and women in Durham who are caught up in the criminal activity in this community to try to bring them out of that activity if we can find 65 million dollars to build another police building a police headquarters and I'm not trying to beat up on our police officers because when you have crime serious crime thank god that they're out there to help us but year after year not just Durham but across this country in the inner cities our young men are being shot and killed and murdered all of the black folks homes are being broken in robbed it is unbelievable it is off the hook and we need to do something about it in this community and we can but but I do not believe that I think the city needs to hear from other persons besides Victoria Peterson there are other African Americans of the black folk that live in this community besides me and we need to demand demand that this city stop building buildings stop increasing the police force and start putting the monies where the monies need to be and that's to empower our young folk in this community we have to remember what happened to black men and black women in this community years ago we just went through black history month black folks were enslaved in this country for over 200 years and it was just in the 60s when black folks were able to go and vote and go and eat at the same places at white folks we are still in crisis in our community to lure law enforcement over our young black men day in 24-7 is ridiculous and I'm tired of black folks who are in leadership position who refuse to advocate for our people they refuse to advocate for our young black men and they sit around and they have the power to make decisions their thumb the millions of dollars are under their thumb and they refuse to do anything about it and I'm tired of it and we've got to do something in this community about it thank you Jim Savara good evening my name is Jim Savara I live at 1114 Woodburn Road in Durham there has been a lot of attention given in the city in recent weeks and months to the issue of expanding and preserving affordable housing in Durham but so far most of the attention has been given to the expanding part to creating new housing a crucial step to help preserve low and moderate income housing is to address is to help address sudden increase in housing costs that residents of the city in low income neighborhoods are experiencing overall the value of residential property in the county has increased 12% since the the assessment in 2008 in certain parts of the city the perception in the past of of issues of crime and and poor conditions depressed the value of the of houses in those neighborhoods but we are seeing increased revitalization occur in many of these neighborhoods this is a positive development that's bringing in new families it's increasing the the value of property in the neighborhood but it can have serious negative consequences for long-term residents who suddenly see their housing costs increase the these long-term residents have really been the foundation on which these revitalization efforts have built and we look should look carefully at a step that the city and the county can take to keep them from feeling a shock and increased cost which would impair their ability to maintain their homes and in some cases even to remain in their homes the idea of a of a housing stabilization grant or a neighborhood stabilization grant as council member Johnson has proposed is to target long-term residents who've been in their houses since 2008 at least who are low and moderate income low and moderate in income I would suggest 60% of area median and who will be able to stay in their homes keep them up and help contributing to the to the stabilization of the area this idea has been endorsed by the northeast central Durham leadership council by by pack four and by the south side neighborhood association I encourage you to consider these grants the property owners would pay their full taxes but they would receive a grant that would offset the increase in costs which they have experienced as a result of the reevaluation also I would encourage you to look very carefully at whether or not a payback provision should be included in the stabilization grants this will probably not be a long-term program we need to look for a better long-term solution if the city and county move to a four-year reevaluation cycle then we should set up a program that is going to get us through this challenging transition period thank you very much welcome again this is a public hearing let me ask is it anyone else that wants to speak on this item comments before against yes ma'am do you want to speak on this item if you can come forward and just state your name and address please I thought there would be more people wanting to talk about affordable housing I'm Margaret Clemon I live at 3805 West Crest Street in Durham 27707 and I'm just concerned about the issue of the tax rates going up and the land prices going up and people ending up having to leave their homes or not being able to afford to live in neighborhoods that they've been in before and so I'd like to just second the previous speaker and I don't know if I could even see my last two minutes to him or one minute to him if he has anything else to say no you've got three minutes if you want to finish your comments no we don't we don't you don't I can't do that okay okay well I just think it's very an important issue for us all to be dealing with as our city improves we need to make sure all boats are coming up with it thank you again is it anyone else who wants to speak this being a public hearing that's a record reflect no one else has to speak on this item I'll declare a public hearing to be closed as a matter of fact before the council well for the record we we take public hearings very seriously we take comments people make very seriously and we try to factor those in when we ultimately make a decision and certainly you can arrest this year this council will do that as they prepare us to adopt a budget based along the lines that you've heard discussions here this evening I would entertain a motion accept the public hearing remarks it's been proud to move in the second madam clerk will you open the vote you close the vote it passes seven and zero all right next item is item 14 amendment to the economic and community development agreement between lost Austin Lawrence partners east LLC and the city of Durham good evening Mr. Mayor city council members staff Kevin Dick with the office of economic and workforce development and I am here this evening to propose an amendment to the economic and community development incentive agreement between the city and Austin Lawrence partners east LLC specifically this amendment would contain a provision to extend the completion date from July 1st 2017 to July 1st 2018 and there would be no financial implications associated with this proposed amendment we believe that this project with a minimum capital investment of $65 million would have transformational impacts on downtown and specifically the city center both from the standpoints of new construction as well as the redevelopment of blighted buildings and I'm happy to answer any questions again this is a public hearing I would ask first other questions of the council and the staff report is anyone in the audience who wants to speak on this item this item being a public hearing matter let the record reflect that no one in the audience has to speak on this item I would put a public hearing to be closed as a matter of fact before the council been a proper move and second Madam Clerk we open the vote and close the vote it passes seven is even that concludes the public hearing items we'll go to the supplemental item item 22 item 21 has been referred back to the administration item 22 is ordinance revising and establishing certain fees for underground utility installations Mr. Mayor I'm going to try to handle this also is a public hearing item that was continued from the February 15th city council meeting and it pertains to a proposed ordinance to revise and establish certain fees for the inspections of underground utility installations as you know for several months the staff has been providing a series of updates and reports and reviewing the costs that the staff is incurring associated with the work by the private utility companies in the rights of way the staff presented a report that identified those costs and over the same period of time there has been considerable discussion between the staff and the utility companies as to what those costs are and what would be you know potentially opportunities for receiving some reimbursements or cost sharing for the work associated with these inspections following the public hearing on the 15th that was continued to this evening I had the opportunity to further review the information that the staff had provided as well as meet on several occasions with the utility companies to hear their questions and concerns and tonight I am making recommendations associated with the establishment or the modification of a certain inspection fees associated with the this utility work earlier this afternoon I sent you a summary of those recommendations as well as a a recap of I don't know a spreadsheet if you want to call that graphic of what those changes would be and I did want to to read those into the record if I could before answering any other questions or taking public comment so it's my recommendations that the current inspection fees for internal staff work related to infrastructure inspections of 5000 infrastructure of 5,280 feet or less that those inspection fees remain in place that effective March the first 2016 I've had staff begin logging actual time associated with their work for permits on infrastructure of 5,280 feet or less after three months or toward the end of May the staff will calculate the average actual cost associated with this work and update the tiered inspection rate schedule that was previously proposed as you know this was a point of significant disagreeing between the utility company and staff as to what those actual costs are so this will give a staff the some time to provide actual costs associated with this work then effective July 1, 2016 as a part of the 2016-2017 budget process will be recommending a new fee structure to commence on July 1, 2016 and base these inspection fees on cost calculations with a 50% cost recovery I'm recommending that effective immediately the permit fee rates associated with contract contracted inspection services for infrastructure greater than 5,280 linear feet be as reflected in the attached fee schedule and that will be based on a 50% cost recovery we have the costs associated with these fees calculated currently because they're contracted services so there's not really any question about what those costs are also recommending that effective immediately the city established reinspection fees for all private utility inspections and that being for $325 per inspection effective immediately failure to obtain a permit prior to non-emergency work of utilities the utility work commencing will result in a three times fee penalty and then in June 2016 again the actual costs over the prior 90 days associated with all permitting and inspections of private utility work will be reviewed with interested private utility companies and permanent inspection fee schedules will be updated to reflect a 50% cost recovery effective July 1, 2016 in the memorandum I did report to you a an alternate proposal that the utility companies had proposed which basically referenced a 20% permit fee increase for inspection of infrastructure of less than 5,280 feet and a 25% increase for inspection of infrastructure greater than 5,280 feet but my recommendations are slightly different are different from that and that I don't recommend any current change in the inspection fees for the infrastructure of 5,280 feet or less and that we move immediately to the 50% cost recovery for the inspection of infrastructure construction over the 5,280 feet and I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have okay this is a public hearing continued public hearing and you've heard the managers recommendations let me ask first other questions by members of the council recognize councilman reese thank you Mr. Mayor a question for the city manager the utility counter proposal recommended a 25% increase on the top of the current permitting fees for permits over one mile is that correct yeah yes sir Mr. East 20% for under a mile 25% for over a mile under the current rate structure I understand that an increase over current rate structure in percentage terms is an apple and the 50% cost recovery that you're proposing for those over one mile lengths is more like an orange but can you help me understand how those two particular items compare right my staff to Bo or Marvin if you would please provide the difference in methodologies explanation can I just clarify Mr. Manager can I just clarify really quickly Mr. Manager I think I understand what the increases represent I'd just like to know sort of what how much more than the current rate structure is 50% cost recovery for those over one mile lengths Bo Ferguson deputy city manager for operations we don't feel confident we can answer your question accurately because when we have had discussions about cost recovery of the existing model that is compared against internal costs the rate structure compared against the contract is not a cost recovery calculation we've even done so accepting the 25% proposal we'd have to do a little bit of math and I'm not confident we could do that for you this evening and have a strong answer and it's based on a completely different methodology of work is that just just that I'm clear there's no way to know tonight whether the proposal that you're you've got on the table for links over one mile would cost the utilities more or less than the proposal they've put on the table for links of greater than a mile no I can say with confidence that the manager's proposal would would recover at a higher rate than the 25% increase over existing we know that the internal costs are substantially lower than the external costs we were we had some estimates of cost recovery of internal costs at times varying between 20 and 25% in the past so a 25% increase on internal alone would would only get you into the high 20s and then with the differential to the external it would be substantially higher at the manager's proposal thank you I appreciate are the other questions of the manager his proposal again this is a public hearing and I'd like to ask is anyone in the public that wants to comment on this item that's being proposed I'd like to recollect that no one else asked to comment I would try to put them and be closed and that's back before the council Mr. Mayor I recognize the council and the market yes sir a couple comments first one of the things that we I just happened to regularly drive by a work utility work that's done for aerial where a pole replacement and it's because it's aerial work it's work that we don't inspect and don't require the quality of work and I can see the result of that for weeks the the pole that was taken down is lying has been lying in in the right of way the ground is eroded was not well put back and so I really want to appreciate the city staff for the work that they do and ensuring that the utility work that they do inspect is done properly so that's first second while I can support the I would prefer 100% recovery rate while I can support this until July 1 when we can find out a better idea what our rates are I would like to see a higher recovery rate starting July 1 so in the paragraph under as of July 1 2016 I would prefer to see for example a recovery rate for it says for permits to install 5,280 linear feet or less the the word fee is missing the fee will be calculated to achieve I'd like to see perhaps 75% cost for your recovery rate that's my two cents all right I guess I'll state my comments earlier I still think we've got to be mindful of the work that's being done why it's being done and what if it weren't done what would be the impact to this city in terms of access to broadband communications at the speed they were speaking about I appreciate the fact that we should recover something but I think we also need to take in consideration how we got to this place point in time we're the ones to a certain extent that invited these utilities in and as I indicated earlier I can recall a big push that we had to to win Google to come into this community we failed at it but we still wanted it in so I just think at this point in time the manager's recommendation is something we should support and I think what's more important is to really get to the point where we can really figure out what is it actually costing us to go out and do these inspections which I'm glad to see that the managers is having administration to start tracking it and I think we have been in a much better position to talk about what we want to change with what the manager's recommending it's just we're all new to this to a certain extent especially in this area and by and large while the focus is on broadband obviously it touches the other utilities gas, electric, etc but the real focus is on what's happening with the broadband communications piece and I just feel personally that to talk about trying to recover 100% or 75% beyond 50% that the manager at this point in time I just think it's it's not reasonable we have an opportunity to come back and make that change but the recommendation is how do we move forward and I'm comfortable with where the manager is soon the utility companies are comfortable where they are they haven't come up and said anything I don't want to speak for the utility companies they're aware of my recommendation but I wouldn't want to make any comment well I'm saying it because this is a public hearing and they have an opportunity to speak if they want to speak and I have heard anybody speak so I'm accepting that I recognize some faces that I'm in the community that represent some of the utility companies but so that's and I don't I appreciate your comments and I put a support recognize Councilor Reese thank you thank you Mr. Mayor I think the most interesting part of the city manager's proposal in my view is the collection the data collection period of 90 days through through the end I guess through the end of May 2016 I think so much of the this process until now has been really a factual dispute between our staff and the representatives from the various utilities who have disagreed with the estimates put forward by city staff about the time required to perform the various tasks involved in this process so I'm very excited to see this 90 day period where city staff will again log their time and then we'll have an opportunity as a city to sit down with the utility folks and open our books to them in a very transparent way to talk about what these items what these tasks actually cost the city to perform as it relates to the cost recovery frankly I'm more or less agnostic on the number but I do think that the 50% cost recovery number provides us with an opportunity to to get on a much more stable footing as these costs and the intensity of the activity continues to escalate especially in light of the fact that so many communities in North Carolina and surrounding areas charge much less than Durham does I believe that a 50 cost number as it relates to these items is probably a reasonable number and I tend to support the city manager's proposal I'm entertaining the motion on the matter recognize the county school well we're going to speak on we have nobody's made the motion yet so it's open for discussion that I was merely going to support the manager's recommendation okay well and the cooperative spirit that we have now we need to grasp it and thank you Tom for your work and staff and whoever well I recognize county school thank you mr mayor I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with my colleagues I appreciate the the fact that you're right mr mayor we certainly had a role in inviting these utilities in and we want the benefit of their services I see mr deroke here and I appreciated meeting with him but I am I believe that the percentage rate of total cost ought to be 75 percent I believe that we ought to be able to recover 100 percent of our total cost but on the other hand I I by your argument mr mayor that we want them here and that to some extent that we did invite them in and so I can come back down from that but I'll be voting against this recommendation because I believe the percentage rate of total cost recovery ought to be 75 or thereabouts thank you any other discussion entertain a motion on the item please learn properly moving second in the further discussion here and I'm going to call a question Madam clerk will you open the vote and close the vote pass this five to two with council member moffitt voting no and council member shul voting no all right thank you let's move to the item that was pool and that was item 19 that I pulled and I indicated to the manager that I'm I'm prepared to vote on on the recommendation that we have before us but I do want to make some comments after we've voted so entertain the motion on 19 it's been properly moved to second that's I team I'm 19 contract amendment with republic parking systems for parking management services Madam clerk can you open the vote and close the vote it passes seven to zero what what I wanted to just comment on and I shared this with colleagues through an email recently about the recent incident that occurred in the parking garage on Concern Street and we're all aware what happened et cetera and I appreciate very much the comments that were made by Mr. Leathers at our budget retreat in terms of what what they were doing but I guess having received the letter from the individuals are see we all received a letter from I really think we need to be a bit more specific in terms of what are our plans for trying to deal with that issue particularly in trying to address some of the questions that they raise and even some of the recommendations that are raised and that to me is almost analogous to where we were when we were trying to discuss the issue about our parks and recreation department and at that time the question was do we build more facilities or do we really try to take care of what we have before we do that and the net of it is that we adopted to have some sales tax have some property tax to begin more maintenance on the facilities and we've seen the results of that where the analogy is that we at our budget retreat we were presented with a proposal to build another parking garage on Morgan street and I think by and large the consensus was that we wanted to perceive administration's recommendation my sense is that and that parking garage is needed there's no question about that but I still think we have an obligation to those parking garages that we all already have in existence to try to make sure they are maintained as best that we can and to try to alleviate some of the issues that have rolled such as what happened at car industry and it's not just that particular incident I mean I didn't want to ask the police chief today but I'll try to get that information the number of cars that are being broken in I don't know what that number is but it obviously is an issue and I like to understand where we are so what I'm asking is if the administration could come back with some very specific responses to the questions that were raised by those firsts all of us got a copy of it as I indicated some of those are short-term issues some of them may be long-term issues but to just leave it without any specificity I think we don't do ourselves an obligation no we do not just the people who wrote the letter but people that are using parking garages in a downtown area so that was the reason for pulling that item I'm sorry if I held the staff up that's fine Mr. Mayor certainly in that actually that work is already underway and we'll have a report back to the council in the near future okay thank you we had another item that was pulled and that was pulled by Victoria Peterson item one yes I would like to speak a little bit and since the person's name is on here I will just let the public know it looks like the mayor wants to appoint Ms. Mary Ann Black to the Durham Performance Arts Center I just have some concerns about Ms. Black she is already she's the chairman or the chairperson of the Durham Tech I attend Durham Tech I am I am working on some classes have a desire eventually to go to law school I have come up over the last several years with some disabilities and one is visual went to the Durham Tech folks and talked to them Brenda Howerton also represents us on the county side Ms. Howerton told me to put my concerns in a writing in a letter and I did that took that letter to her and the board members and to make the long story short received a terrible terrible letter from their attorneys Durham Tech has several problems going on over there the facility is not kept up I've complained about it I spoke into some of the instructors about it they my understanding from one one instructor he says he's been complaining about it for about six years I believe that they have a drug problem over there on that campus you go into the classroom Mr. Davis and the marijuana hits you in the face because students are coming there on that campus smoking drugs and then going into the classroom I believe that they are in violation of the Americans with disability act all this is going on with Mary Ann Black being in charge they she's in charge of that board she's in charge of that facility of that school the problem that I have when I'm seeing here that's going on here in Durham City and Durham County it seems like a lot of black folks only a few are run through a circle you see the same ones on the board the school board or the or these various companies organizations we have other we have other minorities and other African Americans in our community that can represent the black community besides just a few and the same few also my understanding Mary Ann Black unless she's quit she works for Duke sitting on these boards take time and you need to be more than just having something on your resume you really need to be involved if you're going to be sitting on these boards making sure that things are being run right in Durham Tech I believe and I'll say it again I believe that they are in violation of the Americans with Disability Act I've called the feds on it and I've spoken to some folks about it so I am asking that this city council please find another individual for this position besides Mary Ann Black and thank you very much you're welcome Mr. Peterson are there any questions I can ask the mayor pro term I was just going to move the item as presented yeah okay if he needs our support yeah we'll have to confront him do it it's been proper to move second round click we open the vote we open the vote close the vote he passed a seven to zero are the other items to come before the council at 9 31 p.m it's not council's adjourn at 9 31 p.m thank you thank you sir it's to make joint city county committee in the morning at 9 a.m in the committee room and it's here okay y'all feet having breakfast and all of that I don't think I'm going to make it I'm not making it what's that is anybody that's not going to be there I'm not on it oh okay I'm not on it