Regular Session

The board of commissioners met in close session. No action was taken. Um we'll get us started with the public charge. The board of commissioners asks its members and neighbors to conduct themselves in a respectful and courteous manner both with the board and fellow neighbors. At any time should any member of the board or any neighbor fail to observe this public charge, the chair will ask the offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should decorum fail to be restored, the chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to the public charge is observed. Commissioner Valentine, would you like to read the land acknowledgement? As we convene for the Dorm County Commissioners meeting, it's crucial to recognize the painful truth of history. We stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Kataba, the Eno, the Okinichi, the Shakori, and the Tuscerora peoples whose deep connection to this land predates our arrival. We acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their homelands. Their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit. May we humbly honor the ancestors and elders of these nations, both past and present, by committing ourselves to fostering understanding, healing, and justice for all who inhabit this land. Let us walk forward together with open hearts, acknowledging the past and embracing a future guided by compassion, respect, and unity.

Thank you, Commissioner Valentine. Commissioner Burton, would you like to lead us in the pledge

to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Commissioner Burton. and I'll pass it to uh actually no. Are there any adjustments to the agenda?

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Commissioner Burn, second by Commissioner Valentine. Any debate? Okay. All in favor say I.

I.

Any opposed? Agenda is approved unanimously. I'll now pass Clallace for announcements.

Good evening everyone. I will read the announcements published in tonight's agenda. Early voting for the 2025 municipal general election runs from Thursday, October 16th through Saturday, November 1st. There are five early voting locations, North Regional, East Regional, South Regional, NCCU Turner Law Building in the Durham County Board of Elections main office, which is located at 3825 South Roxboro Street. Election day is Tuesday, November 7th. You can visit decoes.com for additional information or you can call 919-560700. Ever wonder what Durham would look like if youth under 18 had a voice? Or how much more engaging and interesting a candidate forum would be if it was run entirely by young people. Uh, find out by coming to the All Youthled Kids Voting Durham Youth Candidate Forum on Thursday, October 16th from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Hillside High School. Meet the candidates that want to be Durham's mayor and city council and find out how fun and interesting a candidate form can be. You can register at kidsvotingdurham.org. Durham County is developing a bus rapid

transit BRT vision plan to examine corridor improvements and service investments for a network of highcapacity transit services in Durham County. The transportation department is looking for community input to ensure it reflects local priorities. There is a survey that you can take and you can also be on the lookout for uh details on upcoming in-person events at the end of October and early November. You can visit durhambrtvision.com for additional information. Join Code Studios, the technical consultant team for the new UDO project and Durham planning and development department staff for a presentation of the proposed model 3 uh content on environmental protection subdivision and infrastructure. There will be a Q&A virtual event on Tuesday, October 21st from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. There is a link for registration. An in-person event is Thursday, November 13th from 6:00 to 7:30 uh at the Durham County Admin 2 building located at room 126. The address is 201 East Main Street. And there is a link to RSVP. The Durham County Sheriff's Office has launched an online survey to allow Durham County residents to provide constructive feedback to the office. The completion of the survey will help the Sheriff's Office meet the advanced law enforcement standard of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The survey is available. There is a link until Wednesday, October 22nd. Overdose response uh webinar hosted by the Durham by the Department of Public Health will be held on Thursday, October 16th from 7 to 7:45 for youth ages 12 through 18 and their parents or caregivers. This webinar will introduce strategies for keeping teens safe when they encounter drugs and learn how to

respond if someone overdoses. Uh you can visit there is a link um for additional information or you can email lfc scofield dc.gov. And lastly, the Durham County Public Information Office invites everyone to tune into the latest InTouch with Durham County show for October. It's featuring discussions with Durham County Food Security Coordinator Raina Golding Bung. I think I pronounced that correctly. Excuse me if I did not. And Durham uh Crisis Response Center um executive director Shaina Carden. And you can watch it on our county YouTube page. That concludes the announcements in tonight's agenda.

Thank you, Clerk Wallace. Are there any additional announcements from the board? Commissioner Jacobs.

I had um two announcements. Um, one I wanted to um acknowledge thanks to Eddie Davis who never fails to remind me. Um, October 10th was the 113th birthday of Mrs. Katherine Frell. Absolutely amazing. So, on behalf of our board, I called Mrs. Frell today um and left her message uh wishing her a happy birthday on behalf of our board and just want to share with everyone um that she is the oldest living person in North Carolina and the 21 oldest living person in the entire world which is incredible truly incredible and I'll just share personally I first met Miss Frell when I first ran for office, which was 13 years ago. And at 100 years old, I was amazed seeing her out and

about going to the library, going to events, going to church. So, um, may we all live, uh, to be happy and healthy and engaged in in our community like Mrs. Katherine Frell. So I just wanted to share happy birthday from our board. Um I also want to share today was the celebration of the life um of Dewan Langley. I know our vice chair was there um as well. I don't know if anyone else from our board but a life that was cut too short. Um Dwarm was 41 years old. Uh but he packed a lot into those um years and made incredible impact on our community. And actually tomorrow night it was announced during the celebration that at 5:00 and remind me at the CCB Plaza at the Bull

the Bull statue. Yes.

Yeah. there's going to be a gathering for the entire community um to especially organizations who support and mentor um uh youth in our community. So, just wanted to share that opportunity with everyone for tomorrow. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. and our board is uh reading a resolution in honor of uh Doran Langley's legacy and his life on at our next regular session meeting on the 27th and maybe um I didn't know about this ven thank you for telling us McWallace if we could maybe have it and then also present it if to his family there as well. Yeah, thank you. Uh are there any additional announcements? Seeing none, then we will move to our ceremonial items. First with Dr. Director Dr. Jenkins will come up with his team members to introduce us to their new additions to Durham County government.

Good evening Sher Long and Vice Chair Lee, members of the board, Manager Hager and County Executive Team, Attorney Williamson, and Durham Community. It is an honor for me to introduce to you two public health professionals that are dynamic and they hold two key positions that this great board has afforded funds for. I want to personally thank this board for its continued support of public health, especially in times such as these. First, our HIV navigator, Brad Kase, with years of experience in health promotion, program management, and community engagement. Brad facilitates our FastTrack City's Durham initiative, which is grounded in achieving the targets. He has been with us for a little over a year. So, please ap extended apology for bringing him on now. However, we wanted to make sure that he stayed with us. But I will say he has made our mark, his mark in the Durham community. Brad,

good evening, Bory. Um, firstly, I just want to say uh that this year has been an amazing year to become familiar with the Durham community. Um, I am a North Carolina born resident, although I'm not from Durham. Um, however, I spent much of my youth here in Durham and during my graduate program at UNCC and um quickly fell in love with the community and to be able to be afforded this opportunity to serve in a subject area that is what brought me to the field of public health in the first place has been um nothing short of amazing. So, I'm thankful for that opportunity and I'm thankful for your continued commitment to the goals in which um FastTrack Cities is aligned

with as well as the goals that our community um expects us to be aligned with in terms of the vision and mission of Durham itself. So, um I thank you for that and I welcome the opportunity for any questions um as it relates to my work or um anything else. I don't have any questions. I just want to highlight and elevate. I've been really grateful to see I have been seeing on social media, on our county websites, everything the HIV testing events that you guys have been doing across the community. I feel like I've definitely been seeing it pop up for me a lot and lot more. So that means that like the community outreach is really out there. So, I just appreciate the way that you're making sure our Durham County residents know the resources that we have because so many folks don't know that that exists. So, really appreciate that.

Absolutely. And I I want to highlight my team as well because I'm a part of an amazing community testing team that um we have now five community testers that meet people where they are and um don't just serve people in traditional 9-to-f5 health department settings, but in parking lots and health fairs and behind closed doors where people might be more comfortable seeking those services. So, um, I definitely find comfort in being supported by people that also have values that align with mine on my team. So, I'm very thankful. Thank you.

And I know, um, Dr. um, Jenkins, we're expanding other services within the library with the, um, vending machines, the Nox, what is Naren of um, vending machines that are coming in. are is there potential for us to do like say expand it into other spaces the HIV testing like maybe at main library having if that's already happening or if it's

Yeah, absolutely. Um I we don't test at main library but we test at community

showers and um new seasons treatment center. And I I can tell you uh if there's a place that has a flat surface that we can clean and sterilize, I can test you there. So um we're happy to meet people where they are. But yes, we're also very excited about the Nlloxxone expansion and distribution efforts which also sit on the communicable disease and harm reduction team. So I'm lucky to work with a lot of amazing people.

Thank you.

We're excited to have you on your one-y year anniversary.

Thank you. Yes. Happy to be here. And last but not least, Bridget Nelson is our new adverse childhood experiences and resilience coordinator. Bridget comes to us with six years of public health experience, including working as a training specialist, project coordinator, program evaluator, community liaison, gender and sexuality liaison, and data analyst. They will all organize and facilitate activities for the Durham Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Task Force, a cross- sector collaborative created by community stakeholders and the board of county commissioners to focus on addressing ACEs and promoting resilience across the county. I introduce you to Bridget.

Thank you, uh, county commissioners. I am so grateful to be in this space and be given this opportunity um and this position. Uh similar to what Brad was saying, this was a dream role for me in many ways. um adverse childhood experiences is a topic very near and dear to my heart that I'm very passionate about and I am excited to support Durham County in becoming more trauma informed, more trauma aare and more resilient and supporting children and families throughout Durham County. And I am open to any questions that you

may have for me.

Any questions? I hope Commissioner Jacobs, you go first.

I don't have a question. I just want to say welcome to both of you. Um Brad, I got to meet you probably about a year ago when you had just come. But um uh but so glad um to have both of you here. You're both doing really really important work. And just to share with our board, um it's we don't create a lot of positions Durham County Commissioners, but this board has created some very key positions over time to address s issues in a systemic way. So, the HIV navigator position, the TR um trauma resilience coordinator, um the food security coordinator, and the um refugee coordinator, and then the early childhood coordinator. Those are have been positions that our board has created again to address change in a systemic way. And so, you all are fulfilling very important roles. Um, and again, thank you, uh, Broad for bringing them to us so we can meet them.

Again, I'd be remiss if I not thank you, uh, for your commitment to these key positions and to the community through your investments in these key positions. Uh, it goes without saying that these commissioners of mine are the best and you all are appreciated. you and I want to just echo Commissioner Jacob's comments and just highlighting I think all of us know that times can be very bleak right now, but it's really great to meet y'all and hear your passion for this work. Um, and thank you Dr. Jenkins for building such an amazing team of folks who care and love Durham residents. um when things seem very very dark outside and nationally. I'm glad to

see Bridget, you and Brad stepping into roles to make Durham a brighter place. Thank you.

I continue to check and see make sure that they're good.

Feel free to keep Director Jenkins also in check.

Absolutely.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you. Next, we have a um a proclamation uh highlighting domestic violence awareness month which has been uh shared with the executive director and founder of shining lights in darkness. Um and they are receiving that they're not joining us in the meeting today. And then are there any comments on that one? No. Then we have our minutes for our September 22nd regular session that need to be approved. Do I hear any adjustments for those minutes?

Move for approval.

I'll second.

Moved by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Vice Chair Lee. All in favor say I.

I.

Any opposed?

Okay, minutes are approved. We now move to our consent agenda. Are there any items that commissioners uh would like to pull? Okay, seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Commissioner Burton, second by Commissioner Jacobs. Uh, all any debate? All in favor say I.

I. I.

I.

Any opposed? We have approved the consent agenda. That now moves us to close session. Thank you all so much for joining us. We will move into close session for general statute 143-318.11a4. Do I hear a motion?

So move.

Second.

Okay. Moved by vice chair Dr. Lee. Second by Commissioner Valentine. Any debate? All in favor say I.

I. I.

Any opposed? We are in close session. Thank you all for joining us.

session. No action was taken. Direction was given to staff. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Vice Chair Dr. Lee, second by Commissioner Burton. Any debate? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? We are adjourned.