Changes celebrated at Buncombe County Health and Human Services Department

About 75 department heads, staffers, elected officials and others gathered Feb. 15 to celebrate recent renovations to the Buncombe County Health and Human Services Department building in downtown Asheville.
(Pictured here: Board chair David Gantt and Commissioner Carol Peterson try out a new kids play area in the building’s lobby. Photos by Bill Rhodes)

Buncombe commission­ers: Retreat and advance

Jones urges Asheville Middle School renovation Mandatory trash pickup discussed The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners huddled with staff Jan. 31 to discuss past accomplishments and current priorities. Here's a look at some of the considerable ground they covered during their four-hour retreat. Where we’ve been County Manager Wanda Greene began by handing the commissioners […]

Sunday open thread

Interstate 40 was cleared, Asheville City Council retreated, the downtown Bank of America closed up, the role of religion was fiercely debated at the Buncombe County Board of Education, Shuler bowed out, the city looked at restricting newspaper boxes, Council headed to East Asheville, and a deal over the Occupy Asheville camp remained out of reach. Whew. It was a busy, busy news week in Asheville.

New contaminat­ion emerges in Mills Gap; neighbors await municipal water hookups

At a kitchen table in the Mills Gap community in South Asheville last night, neighbors of the former CTS of Asheville plant met to plan next steps, after two new domestic wells nearby recently tested positive for industrial contaminants including cyanide.  CTS has signed an agreement with EPA to provide filtration to all homes within a one-mile radius of the recently demolished plant; but neighbors say they were anticipating municipal water hookups.

Pay to stay

Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Jan. 10, 2012 meeting Jones questions two-tiered benefits Emotional meeting abruptly concluded Tensions ran high as the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners met Jan. 10 to consider employee-compensation policy. In a memo to the commissioners and the county manager last month, as well as an email newsletter to supporters, Commissioner […]

Legislativ­e committees focus on Asheville, Buncombe County

With constitutional arguments concerning the Jan. 4 and 5 convenings of the N.C. Legislature now in the court system and the next scheduled session a month away on Feb. 16, the legislative calendar is currently dense with committee activity. And three committees specifically affecting Asheville and Buncombe County are part of the out-of-session action.