Rep. Tim Moffitt says he plans to introduce an amendment that would repeal the Buncombe County Cultural and Recreation Authority, created less than a year ago to manage libraries, parks and recreation facilities. The authority’s original purpose was to consolidate county parks and recreation facilities with those of Asheville and other local municipalities, but state legislators later revised the law to ban cities from joining.
Moffitt tells the Asheville Citizen-Times that his proposed repeal has nothing to do with a judge ruling yesterday, June 9, that the state’s plan for the the local water system violated the state constitution:
ASHEVILLE – State Rep. Tim Moffitt on Tuesday planned to ask lawmakers to end a year-old [Cultural and Recreation Authority] designed to foster collaboration between Buncombe County and its cities on amenities like ball fields, parks and libraries.
Moffitt, a Republican in House District 116, said … Moffitt said the CRA repeal amendment, which will be added to a bill that ends the extra territorial jurisdiction authority of Weaverville and makes a technical correction to a similar law about Asheville, has nothing to do with the ruling. …
David Gantt, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said the county had gone to some trouble to create the CRA since the legislature authorized it [and taken] several steps to ensure that they continued to get benefits for local government employees in the state, wrote by-laws for the CRA board and shifted some employees’ responsibilities after the CRA was created.
… “I hope we can resurrect it in a way that satisfies the General Assembly,” he said. “I think it worked pretty well but the General Assembly thought otherwise and they call the shots on this one,” he said.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.