Tomorrow may see that rarest of all creatures come to Asheville: a short City Council meeting, as it begins early (4 p.m.) and has a short agenda, so Council members can meet with Southern Conference Basketball Tournament decision-makers. Before that, Council has to vote on a series of annexations and unveil next year’s budget.
SoCon officials are considering the Asheville Civic Center as a venue for the tournament for the next three years. Some Council members will meet with those officials as they attend the Norah Jones concert tomorrow night. For that reason, a month ago Council unanimously approved Council member Jan Davis’ motion to start the meeting an hour early and keep it short.
There are only two major matters on the agenda. The first is the presentation of the much-wrangled-over city budget for the next fiscal year and setting a public hearing for May 25.
The second is a series of 12 proposed annexations around the city, including everything from commercial property in the Airport Road area to half of a house in Haw Creek (the other half is already within the city limits).
— David Forbes, senior reporter
Perhaps we should simply annex Nora Jones?