On Wednesday, the Chapel Hill Town Council met to discuss two proposed developments.
What’s new?
- Council member Karen Stegman introduced a joint resolution between the Town and the City of Durham calling for an immediate lift of the Stop Work Order on foreign assistance programs and the re-opening of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
- The resolution highlights the benefits of foreign assistance and underscores the severe consequences of the Stop Work Order.
- The resolution urges the state and federal government to recognize the negative impact of the Stop Work Order on over 1,750 employees across 60 organizations in the Chapel Hill-Durham area.
- The town council heard from a representative of the American foreign aid industry in Chapel Hill and Durham before voting on the resolution. Several employees from the foreign aid industry in Chapel Hill and Durham were in the crowd.
- Brianna Clarke, Executive Director of the North Carolina Global Health Alliance, said North Carolina is the fourth highest recipient of annual USAID funding.
- Since 2012, the state has been awarded $12 billion in grants to institutions in North Carolina, and $8.5 billion have yet to reach the state’s economy.
- “We are eager to work with the administration to ensure that American foreign aid lives up to American values,” Clarke said.
- Council member Adam Searing urged U.S. Sen. Ted Budd (R- N.C.) and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R- N.C.) to help the people affected by the stop work order and said, “Job losses of this magnitude should not be a partisan issue.”
- Mayor Jess Anderson announced that, next week, the Town will send a letter to the Town’s federal delegation regarding this matter.
- During the public comment, Mark Perry and his wife, Azadeh Perry, proposed a petition to use the Chapel Hill Community Center for the Triangle Baha’i Institute’s programming.
- “Our gatherings are a beautiful blending of culture and background, embodying the ideals we teach children, which is unity and diversity” Perry said.
- Perry said that parents within the community want to use the community center for shelter from harsh weather conditions.
- He said they previously had a key to the center, but it was taken away by the Housing Authority in May 2024 on the basis that the programming was religious.
- Other members of the institute, including children, spoke on how the program serves them and their community by leveraging values such as inclusion, learning and service.
What decisions were made?
- The council unanimously voted to pass the resolution.
- The council unanimously voted to receive and refer the petition raised by the Triangle Baha'i Institute.
- The council unanimously voted to postpone the legislative hearing on the 200 S. Elliott Rd. development to March 12.
- The council unanimously voted to amend the 2024-25 Council Calendar.
What’s next?
- The council will meet again on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Public Library for a work session.
