Did Durham County violate contract with city on Bull City United? What we found
Durham County officials may have violated their contract with the city of Durham in abruptly shuttering Bull City United — but the county won’t answer direct questions on the matter.
The program began in 2016 under Durham County as a way to reduce gun- and gang-related violence in the Bull City.
Bull City United was based on the Cure Violence model, which treats violence as a public health issue and has been used across the globe and in cities like Chicago and New Orleans. The county hired former gang members and others with lived experience to connect community members with resources, conflict resolution and positive role models.
In 2021, the city of Durham bought in, offering close to $1 million to expand Bull City United’s reach from two areas to six, The News & Observer previously reported. The county spent $6 million the following year on a Pettigrew Street building to serve as the initiative’s home base.
But controversy quickly accumulated around the program, with multiple Bull City United employees arrested on a variety of charges, including drug-related offenses, as The N&O and WRAL reported. The pressure continued to build, until suddenly, at 6 p.m. on the first Friday of November, the county announced Bull City United was shutting down, effective immediately.
In the four months since then, the reasons and timeline for the closure have remained unclear, with county officials only saying the decision came “after careful consideration over time.”
And public records recently obtained by The N&O suggest multiple county officials may have wanted to ensure it stays that way.
Here’s what we know.
A ‘difficult decision’
The N&O submitted dozens of records requests to the city and county last month seeking officials’ correspondence related to Bull City United. As of press time, only one of those requests had been filled, with the city providing Director of Community Safety Ryan Smith’s emails. Smith acted as a liaison between the city and the county on Bull City United.
Those emails show nothing unusual until April of last year, when Krystal Harris, the county’s director of community interventions and support services, requested a meeting with Smith. Harris’ department oversaw Bull City United and its employees.
“I wanted to see if you would be available in the next week or so to have a discussion regarding Bull City United,” Harris wrote in the April 29 email.
But Harris didn’t specify what she wanted to discuss, prompting a May 1 inquiry from Smith as to what she hoped to cover.
“We actually have information to share with you for your feedback,” Harris replied. “I’m not sure if your leadership has had any questions or concerns regarding the program but we’d love to hear and discuss.”
It remains a mystery what ultimately transpired in the May 2 meeting between Smith, Harris and then-Deputy City Manager Bo Ferguson. Ferguson, who now serves as city manager, wouldn’t clarify last week to The N&O what the trio talked about, stating the conversation wasn’t a matter of public record.
What is clear is that Harris emailed Smith and Ferguson after the meeting, writing, “This has been a difficult decision to make and I appreciate your support.”
Harris also shared two studies, one by N.C. Central University and one by a private consulting firm, about Bull City United in the email. She requested Smith and Ferguson only share hard copies of the studies, writing, “[W]e don’t want electronic copies circulating at this time.”
County and city officials would not answer questions from The N&O as to whether that is standard policy for them or why Harris made that request. The studies did not provide any damning data on the program, though the NCCU study urged officials not to rely on Bull City United as the sole method of reducing gun violence in the community.
Both entities insist the city only learned of the decision to shut down Bull City United on Nov. 1. Text messages from Ferguson to Smith that day indicate that could be accurate, with Ferguson writing at 2:24 p.m. that he’d just learned from the acting county manager of the closure.
Unspent funds
Though the city had committed just over $1 million to Bull City United for fiscal year 2024-25 and almost $1 million the year before, documents show much of that money went unspent, with the county struggling to hire employees for the program.
In a June 10 email to a finance staffer, Smith wrote that in fiscal year 2023-24, multiple Bull City United positions went unfilled, including:
The supervisor role, unfilled for about 7 1/2 months.
Five outreach worker roles unfilled for about 13 total months across all the positions.
Twelve violence interrupter roles unfilled for about 15 1/2 months across all the positions.
Ultimately, the city paid for the equivalent of 15.5 positions rather than the full 18 in fiscal year 2023-24, city emails show.
The warning signs continued to mount, with a concerned resident emailing Smith on Aug. 25 with allegations of illegal activities by Bull City United employees at the Pettigrew Street building.
“I have witnessed drug activity between most of the workers there,” the resident wrote. “I’ve witnessed this guy and a few other employees carrying guns.”
Smith thanked the resident for their feedback and encouraged them to share it with Harris.
Discussions about the city’s payments to the county for Bull City United continued through the program’s closure announcement Nov. 1, emails show. Then, 17 days later, Smith shared with Ferguson a new piece of information — the county had allegedly violated its agreement with the city by failing to provide proper notice.
“[An employee] wrote Friday that the County’s actions were in breach of the contract and that we should send the county no additional funds under this contract, including for project build [a separate program] until or if a new agreement is entered into by the city,” Smith wrote. “Her opinion was also that no city funds should go toward the severance of the BCU employees.”
The agreement between the city and the county required at least a six-month notice of intent to terminate any of the involved programs, the contract shows. That means the county would have needed to notify the city by May 1, 2024, if it intended to shutter Bull City United by Nov. 1 — the day before Harris, Smith and Ferguson met about the county’s “difficult decision.”
In response to questions sent by The N&O last week, County Manager Claudia Hager would only provide statements through a spokesperson, who offered copied-and-pasted remarks also shared with a WRAL reporter Nov. 9, emails show. The response did not address two specific questions about Harris’ emails and meeting with Smith and Ferguson, and the county did not respond to a follow-up email from The N&O.
Meanwhile, the city largely deferred questions on Bull City United to the county.
“Although the City had prior knowledge of concerns about the program, we were not involved in any decision making about the program’s future,” Ferguson said in an emailed statement. “Because Bull City United was a County program, all inquiries should be directed to the program’s coordinator, who was responsible for operating the program.”
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 5:35 AM.
