District attorney candidates address CIBO

Security, crime and justice took center stage during a  Council of Independent Business Owners breakfast April 1. The Asheville-based trade group’s meeting served as a forum for the three Democratic Buncombe County district attorney candidates: current DA Todd Williams, prosecutor and former Assistant DA Doug Edwards and assistant public defender Courtney Booth. (Attorney Joe Bowman […]

Mark Meadows at CIBO power lunch

Meadows confirms no FEMA aid for region at CIBO power lunch

Meadows noted that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long’s letter on Aug. 20 denying Gov. Roy Cooper’s request for a federal disaster declaration was likely the final word on the matter. “I think that decision has been made,” he said. “Obviously, that’s a decision that they didn’t feel met the threshold [for supplemental federal assistance].”

Mission Health CEO Dr. Ron Paulus shares his rationale behind the health system's intended sale to Hospital Corporation of America.

Mission Health sale, policing top conversati­on at CIBO breakfast meeting

Mission Health President and CEO Dr. Ron Paulus sees system expansion through mergers as a nearly inevitable survival tactic in the current healthcare environment. “There are many leaders — not me, but Mayo Clinic and others — that believe within 25 years, there will be maybe four or five health systems in the U.S.,” he said.

Former Asheville City Council member announces push for district elections at CIBO lunch

Dr. Joe Dunn, a retired dentist who lives in South Asheville, today told members of the Council of Independent Business Owners he’s launching a push for district elections for seats on Asheville City Council — and he’s planning to take his case directly to North Carolina legislators.

Down to business: CIBO city council candidate forum

The final six candidates in the race for Asheville’s city council are by now veterans of many forums and panel discussions. Wednesday’s Council of Independent Business Owners (CIBO) forum emphasized issues of particular interest and importance to Asheville’s business community, yielding some answers frequently heard on the campaign trail and some that moved into more wonkish territory.

Tensions run high over tackling Asheville’­s graffiti

Local business owners raised their voices and things got, by the moderator’s own admission, “a little out of hand” at Friday morning’s Council of Independent Business Owners meeting when it came to the issue of graffiti. With the district attorney, city leaders and a state representative on hand, opinions differed — sometimes sharply — on possible solutions and who should foot the bill.

Portrait of CIBO: Council of Independen­t Business Owners rallies Asheville business community

The Council of Independent Business Owners has been called a lot of things over the years.

Few could argue that the nonprofit — whose members serve on such powerful public bodies as Asheville’s City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency’s board and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners — lacks influence. But how far does it reach? And does the group still have the kind of impact that it did in the past?

Candidates question each other, developmen­t at CIBO forum

The five Asheville City Council candidates squared off at the Council of Independent Business Owners’ forum yesterday afternoon as this year’s campaign entered its final stretch. Many of the topics discussed had been dealt with at previous forums, with some exceptions. In this case, the candidates questioned each other, and spoke frankly about their thoughts on development and NIMBYism.