Summer break is officially over for the Durham City Council.
On Monday, the seven members of council will return to City Hall equipped with a fully-funded budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Many of the same challenges, such as housing, remain top-of-mind for city leadership, but the city council also faces unique, more pressing issues as they move into the second half of the year.
Here is a quick look at what is on the horizon for the council in the coming months.
The City Council Needs to Hire a New City Manager
City manager Wanda Page announced on July 1 that she is retiring at the end of the calendar year after 36 years of service with the City of Durham. Mayor Leo Williams says a search for Page’s successor is already underway and that whoever takes the helm will need to understand the complex dynamics of Durham’s community and how to balance the needs of many different groups.
“Durham is a city where, unfortunately, we think that the government can solve everything,” Williams says. “But, you gotta have a city manager that knows what’s coming and can manage it.”
Strong financial acumen also is an important skill as the city looks to remain fiscally responsible while taking into account the salary needs of city workers and a growing slate of capital projects. Durham city staff will need a leader who can think outside the box, Williams says, to meet these challenges.
“How do you empower and make sure folks are innovative and creative in a government?” Williams says. “It’s like expecting people to be lively and vibrant and creative with fluorescent lights.”
Unlike her predecessor, Tom Bonfield, who was recruited from outside of Durham, Page came up through the ranks in different departments and as a deputy city manager before reaching the top spot. The city could look to promote within its ranks, or bring in a fresh voice.
Can the City Do More to Support Affordable, Sustainable Housing?
Development remains a hot-button issue for Durham. In June, Tony Sease, a Durham planning commissioner, resigned from his volunteer position in protest of the way some city council members seemed to regard the planning commission. Tensions rose after the city council approved a 200-acre development along Virgil Road in Southeast Durham. The planning commission unanimously opposed the proposal in January, but the city council voted 4-3 to approve more than 500 single-family homes on the parcel.
Council member Nate Baker, a former planning commissioner, says that he is invested in the rewrite of the city’s unified development ordinance (UDO), as Baker says the UDO is vital to bolstering the tools Durham’s planning department has at its disposal for better land use management.
“I want to make sure that it’s accomplishing what we need to get accomplished in terms of ending sprawl as we know it,” Baker says, “and making sure that it gives us all of the tools that we need to transition our city from a completely auto-dominated city to a walkable, mixed-use, multimodal city.”
Affordable housing also continues to be a challenge for folks across the Triangle. Even with an abundance of new apartment buildings, renters are struggling to find affordable places to live.
How Will the City Council Support the Infrastructure Bonds?
The city council has placed two bond referendums on the ballot for this fall.
The first is a $115 million streets and sidewalks bond. Over 12 miles of new sidewalk is proposed for 25 high-priority areas, along with 100 miles of additional sidewalk repairs throughout the city.
The second $85 million bond is for improvements to two Durham parks and recreation facilities, East End Park and Long Meadow Park. The bond also includes the construction of a brand new public water park at Merrick-Moore Park beside the Wheels rollerskating rink.
Community members have asked for investments in the city’s parks and recreation facilities as a way of improving public safety by steering Durham’s youth away from criminal activity.
“These are things that emerged from the community,” Baker says. “These are questions that I hear all the time: ‘Why don’t we have more parks? Why don’t we have more pools? Why don’t we have more sidewalks?’ It’s kind of bread and butter stuff. And people want these things pretty strongly.”
Per state statute, city staff cannot advocate for the bonds, only promote that they’re on the ballot. City council members, however, are not restricted.
“We can champion it. That is part of the reason why we will be working hard at being the face of pushing it,” Baker says.
Should both bonds pass in November, the cost to taxpayers through the city’s property tax collection would be roughly 3.46 cents per $100 assessed value, starting in 2026.
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