City Council picks five finalists for vacant seat

Posted on by Brian Postelle

Asheville City Council has named the five candidates, culled from a field of 47, that it will interview to fill the vacant seat left by now-Buncombe Commissioner Holly Jones.
The finalists are: Kelly Miller, Esther Elizabeth Manheimer, Charlie Hume, Sylvia E. Farrington and Charles W. (Chuck) Archerd.

Go to the Xpress Files here to read each candidate’s application. And go to the Xpress forums to cast your ballot for one of the finalists.

At the Dec. 2 formal session, Council members went around the table and named their favorites from the applications collected last week (Council member Bill Russell was absent, but had submitted his preferences earlier.) Miller, Manheimer and Hume got four nominations each, and Archerd got three.

Council, having previously envisioned six finalists, briefly flirted with voting on a sixth nomination out of the field of candidates with two nominations each, but decided instead to move forward with five.

The interviews will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 1:30 p.m. in Council chambers and are open to the public. The final vote will follow during a regularly scheduled formal session, and there will be a time for public comment before action is taken.

Here are the nominations presented by each Council member:

Brownie Newman:
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Sylvia E. Farrington
Linda S. Fowler
Gordon Smith
Bryan Freeborn
Linda Carol Williams

Bill Russell (absent):
Charles W. Archerd
Charlie Hume
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Kelly Miller

Jan Davis:
Ed Hay
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Sylvia E. Farrington
Charles W. Archerd
Kelly Miller
Charlie Hume

Terry Bellamy:
Charles W. Archerd
Sylvia E. Farrington
Spencer Ellis Hardaway
Charlie Hume
Kelly Miller
Jay Marino

Robin Cape:
Sylvia E. Farrington
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Linda S. Fowler
Linda Carol Williams
Spencer Ellis Hardaway

Carl Mumpower:
Brian P. Woods
Clifford O. Feingold
Bryan Freeborn
Charlie Hume
Kelly Miller
George E. Keller

— Brian Postelle, staff writer

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