911 Consolidation, Black Business in Durham, and Legislative Agenda Planning
The Durham County Board of Commissioners reviews a major 911 consolidation and HEART crisis response study, pressing for equity-focused measures and data-driven outcomes, and hears a detailed appeal from the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce for deeper partnership, access, and funding to support local Black-owned businesses. The board also debates conservation investments, homelessness services, and state legislative priorities on schools, transit, and county taxing authority. 44mins
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Original Meeting
Monday, February 2nd, 2026
11404.752
Board of County Commissioners on 2026-02-02 9:00 AM - Work Session
Wes Platt
Durham, NC
In This Video
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Commissioner Jacobs emphasized that a county grant program was leveraging strong matching funds and requested data on applicants and past funding increases to ensure it met community need as budget season approached, while Manager Hager summarized final consent budget amendments for a midyear staff reallocation and a transit work plan adjustment.
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Sherry outlined that the presentation provided a progress update on the 911 consolidation and HEART expansion study, summarizing completed work, previewing upcoming activities, responding to prior Board questions, and clarifying that this was an informational status briefing rather than a decision point.
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Sherry explained that the study used systems engineering analysis to evaluate potential consolidation of city and county 911 operations and countywide HEART program expansion, aiming to present operational, financial, governance, and implementation options that were not just feasible but practical for both jurisdictions.
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Sherry reported that the 911 consolidation and HEART expansion study remained in the discovery and current state assessment phase, with agencies completing extensive surveys and documentation requests to establish a comprehensive baseline of call volumes, staffing, technology, and other operational data for later analysis.
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Sherry described how the study drew on lessons from other regional program expansions to shape operational and governance models, and explained that detailed operating and capital cost estimates would be developed and presented alongside specific 911 consolidation and HEART expansion options rather than in isolation.
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Sherry explained that the 911 consolidation study was assessing how backup and redundancy plans would interact with a new emergency operations center while outlining a 2026 timeline for draft and final reports and emphasizing that recommendations would be data-driven, objective, and shaped by Board priorities.
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Commissioner Jacobs urged that the 911 consolidation and HEART study evaluate outcomes beyond cost and efficiency by tracking how calls connect people to behavioral health resources, measuring impacts on law enforcement capacity, and aligning with Durham’s Stepping Up initiative and sequential intercept map to reduce harmful criminal justice involvement, particularly for Black residents at the earliest stages of crisis response.
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CJ Broderick introduced the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce, outlining its mission to advance Black economic freedom and its county-funded work since 2021 to connect Black-owned businesses impacted by the pandemic with capital, contracting opportunities, technical assistance, and other local, state, and federal resources.
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CJ Broderick reported on the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce’s county-funded impact by sharing participation metrics for workshops, counseling hours, and events since FY22 and noting that more detailed data were being collected on specific types of business support such as grants, loans, certifications, planning, and marketing.
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CJ Broderick shared testimonials from supported business owners about how Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce coaching, webinars, and resources strengthened their operations and networks, and emphasized that the Chamber had delivered strong value and impact for a relatively small contract cost.
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CJ Broderick described how the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce developed foundational programs like the Ignite Business Foundations and bookkeeping training for startup and growth-stage entrepreneurs, while also requesting greater access to economic development tools and activities to better support Black-owned and other small businesses in the scaling phase.
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CJ Broderick previewed specific concerns about how limited access to Durham’s economic and workforce development tools affected Black-owned and other small businesses, framing the impacts as feeling like passengers rather than drivers, experiencing distrust and lack of advocacy, and facing nightmares instead of dreams.
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CJ Broderick highlighted that Black-owned businesses continued to receive a very small share of local government contracting and faced rising lease and property costs that were forcing closures near downtown, and proposed partnering with the County to build a more trusted, representative, and responsive economic and workforce development system.
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CJ Broderick asked the Board to deepen its partnership with the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce by increasing access to economic development tools and providing $100,000 annually for service delivery costs, while stressing that meaningful access and shared power for Black-owned businesses were as important as direct funding in a tight budget year.
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Commissioner Allam voiced reservations about giving outside entities access to sensitive economic development negotiations, noting that incentive packages typically targeted new or expanding firms rather than existing small businesses, and suggested instead forming a working group to align local partners on supporting Durham-based businesses and talent through 2050.
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Commissioner Jacobs asked for data demonstrating outcomes for supported businesses and requested a clearer picture of city-run small and minority business programs funded through county federal dollars, while also noting county efforts to improve internal contracting opportunities and require companies receiving incentives to commit to working with Black- and minority-owned firms.
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CJ Broderick cautioned against signaling that county-level economic deals were out of reach for small and Black-owned businesses, argued that existing data gaps reflected the lack of an empowered partner to help collect it, and urged the Board to treat a partnership with the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce as a pilot program to generate those outcomes and insights.
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Commissioner Valentine noted that the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce’s current contract focused on workforce development and requested a list of partners working in economic development, while CJ Broderick described the Chamber’s potential role in broader recruitment and retention efforts, including marketing Durham and helping attract expanding businesses in coordination with other local partners.
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Deborah Craig-Ray briefed the Board on the challenging state legislative session, noting the lack of an adopted budget while highlighting Durham’s efforts to be added to a statewide youth data privacy bill and tracking of key provisions from the Essential Relief for Childcare Act expected to advance through future budget discussions.
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Commissioner Burton stressed the growing difficulty of funding living wages for school-based workers at the county level and urged lobbyists to keep state legislators focused on increasing public school support, while Deborah Craig-Ray affirmed it as a statewide priority constrained by ongoing state budget gridlock.
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Commissioner Allam proposed state advocacy priorities including allowing the city to levy its own transit tax, increasing statewide judicial system resources to reduce court backlogs and jail populations, and enabling more local clean energy tax incentives, while Deborah Craig-Ray noted that the current process needed to focus on Durham County–specific goals with broader statewide items deferred to a future planning cycle.
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Commissioner Jacobs warned that inadequate state funding for teacher pay and school facilities had shifted heavy pressure onto county property taxes and cautioned that proposals to limit local taxing authority, amid North Carolina’s near-bottom ranking in teacher salaries, created a crisis that Durham needed to confront in coordination with the state county commissioners association and lobbyists.
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Commissioner Jacobs urged involving county lobbyists on proposed Falls Lake water quality rules through the Upper Neuse River Basin Association and highlighted unresolved SNAP administrative cost burdens on county social services, emphasizing both as statewide issues with major implications for Durham’s future growth and DSS resources.
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Commissioner Valentine endorsed pursuing a Mecklenburg-style transit tax and requested an update on legislation to allow Durham Public Schools and the County to develop teacher housing, while Deborah Craig-Ray outlined the Board’s timeline for approving any local bill requests and noted follow-up was needed with the county manager on the housing issue.
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