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Durham County commissioners review consent agenda including shelter contracts, radio upgrades and EMS facility funding
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Summary
At a Feb. 2 work session the Durham County Board of County Commissioners considered a broad consent agenda that included proposed contracts for community intervention and a daytime shelter, funding for radio infrastructure and mobile radios, and a multi-million-dollar share of an EMS co-located facility; many items were presented for authorization rather than final vote in the agenda text.
Durham County commissioners met in a virtual work session Feb. 2 to review a consent agenda containing multiple contracts, budget amendments and land-protection actions that county staff recommended the Board authorize.
The County Manager recommended a $500,000 contract with Hayti Reborn - Justice Movement to coordinate community intervention efforts countywide and a $350,000 contract with Urban Ministries of Durham to operate a Homeless Day Shelter and Services Center pilot designed to provide daytime shelter, basic services and connections to housing resources. Krystal Harris, director of Community Intervention & Support Services, and Samantha Smith, management analyst for the county manager’s office, were listed as resource persons for those items.
County financial and project requests included authorization to execute a $133,000 operational assessment contract with Baker Tilly Advisory Group to prepare for an Enterprise Resource Planning implementation, and a capital amendment of $1,557,339.72 to support construction of an additional radio tower and purchase of mobile radios for the Office of Emergency Services to meet the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) standard. Mark Lockhart, Emergency Services director, was listed as the resource person for radio and OES items; the agenda cites coverage gaps in locations such as Brier Creek and Hope Valley and a June 30, 2026 TDMA deadline.
The consent agenda also included requests to fund pre-development work by the University of North Carolina School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative (DFI) for the former Lowe’s Grove School site (a not-to-exceed $72,400 Phase I contract within an appropriated $112,400), and to appropriate $10,634,182 of limited-obligation bond funding to cover Durham County’s EMS share of the new Station 19 co-located public safety facility at 31 Davis Drive (total County EMS share $10,834,916 including county-specific costs). County Manager Claudia Hager and several department directors were named as resource persons on these items.
Land-conservation and grants items included a $104,600 transfer to support Durham’s 50% share of the Ken Wolfe farm conservation easement (29.605 acres), a $510,000 contribution to leverage Triangle Land Conservancy’s $3.1 million purchase of 77 acres that will add 15 acres to Southview Preserve, and recognition of a $571,000 pass-through from the Army National Guard to the Triangle Land Conservancy to support a separate 50-acre acquisition. The agenda also listed recommended recipients for the Matching Grants Program (five nonprofits totaling $100,000).
Most items in the published agenda were presented as requests for authorization or adoption; the agenda text lists resource persons and staff recommendations but does not include recorded motions, seconds, or vote tallies. Where the agenda specifies pending legal review or contingent approval (for example, contracts pending County Attorney review), staff noted that final execution would follow legal review. The agenda text identified funding sources for many items (existing department funds, General Fund balance, limited-obligation bond funding) and, where applicable, noted attachments with supplemental documents and legal forms.
Next steps noted in the agenda: items flagged as pending final legal approval or contract execution would return to staff for completion; where the Board were to take action it would occur in the meeting process (the agenda does not record final outcomes).