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Durham Board Of County Commissioners Select Chair And Vice Chair For 2024

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

DURHAM, N.C. – During the Durham Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Work Session on Monday, December 4, 2023, the Board elected its new Chair and Vice Chair for the upcoming year.

County Attorney Al Andrews presided over the election of Commissioner Nida Allam as Chair of the Board. A 5-0 vote elected Chair Allam. Chair Allam then presided over the election of Commissioner Nimasheena Burns as Vice Chair by a 5-0 vote. 

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Allam

Commissioner Nida Allam was sworn in on December 7, 2020, making history as the first Muslim woman elected to any office in North Carolina. Commissioner Allam is a leading advocate for affordable housing, Medicare for All, a fair living wage, quality education, a Green New Deal, abortion rights, and labor rights in North Carolina. She grew up in Wake County, attended North Carolina public schools, and graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in sustainable materials and technology. Commissioner Allam continues to serve on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and was recently named to the Third Cohort of the Hunt Institute’s State Policy Fellows program.

She currently serves on the following Boards and Committees:

  • Board of Health
  • Criminal Justice Advisory Committee
  • Durham History Museum
  • Durham Partnership for Children
  • EMS Peer Review Committee
  • Open Space and Trails Commission
  • Project Access Steering Committee
  • Workforce Development Board
Burns

Commissioner Nimasheena Burns was elected a Durham County Commissioner in 2020 for a four-year term which she is currently serving.  As a board member, Commissioner Burns is known for championing maternal and infant health, economic development investments, job training and job creation, affordable housing investments, public education, agricultural development, technical assistance for small businesses, environmental justice, as well as wrap-around support services for the county’s most vulnerable students and seniors.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and a minor in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from North Carolina Central University. During the most recent National Association of County Counties (NACO) Conference, Commissioner Burns was chosen by the newly elected NACO President to serve as Vice Chair on the Resilient Counties Advisory Board and Vice Chair of the Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee’s Juvenile Subcommittee. She has been selected as one of 13 Elected City and Council Official Delegates for “Local Government 2030: Action for the Future, a National Convening of Practitioners and Elected Officials all under the age of 40 and given the charge to break silos and create the groundwork for change.

The Board will hold the final scheduled Regular Session of 2023 on Monday, December 11, 2023. 

For more information about the Durham BOCC, visit here. Contact information for the Commissioners can be found on the Board’s webpage. 

Citizens may call the Clerk to the Board at (919) 560-0025 or email clerk@dconc.gov with any questions.