Durham officials aren’t sure what effect, if any, the federal government’s “sequester” budget cuts would have on the city if they take effect Friday.

“I am just real hesitant to get involved in the rhetoric about that,” City Manager Tom Bonfield said.

The most direct possible effect Bonfield had heard of was a cut in Community Development Block Grant money the city uses for neighborhood revitalization and low-cost housing.

“But that’s just in very preliminary conversations,” he said.

Community Development Director Reginald Johnson, whose office administers CDBG grants, said he hasn’t had any information from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department, or from private organizations that keep tabs on federal action affecting housing.

The sequester is “something we’re looking at,” Johnson said, “but right now … we have no idea what that means at the local level.”

Southside Neighborhood Association President Marie Hunter thanked the City Council this afternoon for its attention to her community, but she took issue with a city report indicating a decline in crime there.

"We don't know what to do," she said. "We talk and talk and talk and the same things are going on all the time."

Longtime city administrator Reginald Johnson assumed duties as interim director of community development on Monday.

Johnson's move from senior assistant to the city manager begins community development's transition from retiring Director Mike Barros. Barros's retirement was announced earlier this month.

Johnson is still handling liaison between City Hall and the Carolina Theatre and Durham Performing Arts Center, though most of his other responsibilities have been assigned to Assistant to the City Manager Karmisha Wallace, according to City Manager Tom Bonfield.

While Barros is on the job until Oct. 7, Johnson had already taken over coordination of the city's role in the Southside/Rolling Hills revitalization and managing the city's homelessness prevention efforts.