Regular Session

But before we begin, I just want to I need to note that the board does not have a quorum this evening. And under North Carolina law, that means that we can't call the meeting to order or conduct any official business. However, we do want to thank everyone for coming out. Um, and any remarks or acknowledgements that we'll make tonight for the ceremonial items will be informal and not part of an official board meeting. and everything that's on the agenda for tonight. We will still read uh and recognize the resolutions for the individuals who are here, but they'll be officially voted on at our next work session. Um we will suspend the rules and make sure that the items that we have for today to be voted on will be moved to that work session and the formal yeah recognition will be rescheduled for a later date when the full board or majority of the board is present. Okay. So, I will do I still need to read the public charge or anything?

No. Okay.

Madam Chair, can I

do we need to to give official excused?

We don't have to even vote on that.

So, we can vote on their excused absences.

Okay. The next

retroactively. Okay.

Yes. Next time.

Okay. And so, I go. So, sorry. Okay. Do you want to still do announcements? No. We No, we can't do announcements either. Okay. So, we have um there are resolution for Operation Greenlight and Veterans Day that I know we have some of our Durham County staff who are here to speak on this resolution. So we want to truly say from really the bottom of our heart how grateful we are for this opportunity

annually um to come before the board just to say thank you. It seems so simple but it really means so much. So, uh, to our chair and county commissioners, to our county manager, uh, our assistant county manager, we get tremendous support year round from our county and our community because one of the things as important to our veterans as benefits is being feeling like they're appreciated. And that's what we get to do every year with tremendous support from the county is to have our annual this will be our 14th annual Veterans Day program to to show recognition. And I just really want to say on behalf of our staff, thank you one and all. Thank you so much. I'm going to introduce Jonathan KS who uh has a new title as well as I thank you so much for this is my first meeting as director of Durham County Veteran Services. And Jonathan Krooms, thank you. appreciate it. I'm I'm enjoying the the work, but I miss Lois tremendously. She brought so much more. Uh but we miss her. And but Jonathan Kum is now our veteran service officer supervisor, so he will come with his remark and he would introduce his staff.

Uh thank you commissioners and staff. Just to echo Lindsay's comments of of gratitude, we are grateful each year to come before you and uh and ask for this proclamation in honor of Veterans Day and Operation Greenlight. But before I go into that, um let me introduce to you uh my staff. We have VSO Halen Warz Ruiz and senior VSO Shauna Fuller. We have several other staff. Unfortunately, they they couldn't be with us tonight. This is an exciting time of year for us. Uh we have um Operation Greenlight

getting ready to start. It runs annually between November 4th and November 11th. And it's an a joint initiative with the National Association of Counties and the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers to um help shine a light on the challenges that our veterans and their families still face in obtaining benefits. We are honored to be part of the process of helping our veterans and their families get their benefits and we're grateful that the county participates in this every year. In fact, um when this concludes and you walk out, you'll see that several of our buildings are already lit up with a green light. As we approach Operation Green light, we ask that you take one green light bulb and switch out either at home or in your office uh one of your light bulbs and shine it for that week. If uh these can be purchased at the the local hardware store um or online. If you don't have any, we uh we have a limited supply in our office um and you're welcome to come by and and pick them up. Also want to share a little bit about our uh Veterans Day program. that's going to take place on Monday, November 10th at 11:00 a.m. Um, we have a couple really wonderful highlights to share with you. Um, one, uh, Dr. Rod Rodney Jenkins is going to be our keynote speaker. Um, you may or may not know that he himself is a graduate of the Citadel, the military, uh, University of South Carolina, and an Army veteran. And so, we are honored to have him, uh, give our remarks of, um, of gratitude and and hope for this Veterans Day. Another thing I'd like to share is that we um have a special presentation by the Hillside High School Junior ROC. They are going to present post and retire um the colors. And um these young people are absolutely wonderful and we're excited to have them part of our uh program. So um in closing uh you know we ask

three things. One, share the news about our event about Veterans Day Operation Greenlight. Uh, two, come and be part of um of our event on Veterans Day. And three, make sure you shine your green light bulb. Thank you all very much.

Hello everybody. I just want to say thank you again as a veteran and a constituent of Durham County. I really do appreciate the support. Thank you. Good evening everybody. Um I just want to say thank you to the board of county commissioners and the county manager and our assistant manager um for your continued support of veteran services and the veterans in Durham County as well as their families. Thank you all so much for the work that you do every single day to one of our populations that doesn't get a lot of attention and support. um and they make such a huge sacrifice in serving our country. Uh and so thank you so much for this service that you provide and also all the ways that you connect our veteran neighbors to different resources. So really appreciate it and I think it's amazing that we can have a small way a small gesture to recognize our veterans and thank them for their service. Speaking of our veterans, Commissioner Valentine.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And so, Lindsay, uh, you and your team, you do great work, uh, here in Dorm County. And first, let me just say thank you to the 12,000 plus veterans that live in our community who served in the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and also the the Coast Guard. and uh the hard Yemen's work that your office does in sec in securing the benefits that those who have served our uni our country in

uniform have earned and deserve. I mean I couldn't thank you much. Uh thank you enough for the work that that's done in that space and largely unappreciated um in a lot of uh uh in a lot of areas. But I want to say thank you and again say thank you to uh all of our veterans here in Durham County and happy Veterans Day. Whoa.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you all so much.

Do I get to take this or I have to leave to

No, you can hit. Yes. Wonderful. Thank you. And our next resolution is recognizing the 100th anniversary of Durham's interdenominational ushers union. And we have Miss Augustus Thompson, Dolly Burroughs, and Wanda Bernett Robinson who are here to receive this resolution or this proclamation resolution. And oh, and it's on Good evening. I am part of the I am the co-chairman of the program committed that's sponsoring our 100 centennial anniversary on November the 8th and we really appreciate the county commission giving us a resolution for this activity and we have over 18 [clears throat] churches and 18 churches that's involved. So if you want to come out and enjoy the food, we uh it is a charge. Um so if you would like, we'll be at uh Emmanuel Baptist Church on Main Street from 1 to 4 and we'll be celebrating this activity. Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Augustus Thompson. and I'm the first vice president of the Durham International Union. Um we're celebrating um this year the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the union. The union is a member of the interdenominational ministerial alliance which is composed of churches in Durham County, Wade County and Guilford County. Um, we were established basically to give ushers um, who don't really get a lot of notice a chance to to be seen and to be heard. We have training sessions where we pass on best practices of the issues. So there is some uniformity in the way that the ushers usher and provide the services and we also are have first aid so people who may have issues and we've also um have had some training in what to do if there is an emergency during a service of the church. So, there's a lot more that we do than just stand there and pass out the programs. And also, I'd like to thank you because in order to get to the next hundth celebration, we're going to need to get the younger people involved in ushering and let them know that they are being noticed. And for that, we thank you.

Thank you all so much for coming and giving us the opportunity to recognize your work and service. I look forward to attending and we'll have a framed copy of the resolution for you on November 8th.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Vonte.

Uh yes. Thank you, Chair. And uh as as you walk to your seat, I I just want to say thank you. As a proud usher at St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church, I couldn't be prouder uh to celebrate this 100 years with you. And I guess uh I represent the the next generation of ushers and I take very pride very much pride in that. Thank you.

That that concludes our ceremonial items for today. So I we can't make a motion to adjourn. We didn't even call the meeting to order. So we will just see you at our work session next Monday. Thank you all so much and sorry about the changes.