• In a 4-3 vote, Council approved four new one-stop voting sites for the municipal elections in November. The location of the sites has not yet been determined, but the intention is to have them open one week before the General Election.
The move doesn’t come free: running the sites will cost between $44,000 and $60,000. Council will vote on the necessary budget amendment at its next meeting on Sept. 8.
• Renovations to the W.C. Reid Center suffered another setback as Council voted to withdraw its application for a $500,000 N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Grant. Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Director Roderick Simmons advised Council to back out of the grant in light of the slow progress on the renovation. The N.C. Department of Natural Resources recently denied an extension of the grant, and advised Simmons that withdrawing would be better for the city’s prospects for receiving a future grant than would letting it expire. Council will next discuss whether to continue with the planned new structure or to refurbish the existing Reid Center building.
• In a 6-1 vote, with Council member Carl Mumpower voting “no,” Council approved the historic landmark designation to the Spinning Wheel building on Hendersonville Road.
For full Council coverage, see the Sept. 2 issue of Xpress.
— Brian Postelle, staff writer
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