Mandates and precedents­: Around 100 gather for update on water system fight

About 100 people gathered tonight for a forum updating locals on the dispute over the fate of the city’s water system from local government and activists. Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said the public has given city leaders a clear mandate to continue its lawsuit and fight to preserve local control of the water system against state legislation seeking to seize it and turn it over to a regional authority.

Rep. Moffitt: We stopped Asheville from joining rec authority in retaliatio­n for water lawsuit

At a Realtors’ luncheon on Aug. 5, Rep. Tim Moffitt admitted that state legislators changed a recreation-authority bill as retaliation for Asheville’s lawsuit over the forcible transfer of the city’s water system. “Until the lawsuit is settled, we took the authority away from the city,” he told realtors. This contradicts statements Moffitt had previously made that the matters were unrelated.

All swing together: city, Democratic legislator­s defend suing state over water bill

Friday morning, Asheville city officials past and present were joined by some of the local legislative delegation to voice their opposition to a state bill that would forcibly transfer the water system to a new regional authority and the Metropolitan Sewerage District. At the press conference they supported City Council’s decision to sue the state in an attempt to halt the new law.

Attorneys lay out arguments in evidence room audit lawsuit

Attorneys for an alliance of local media (including Xpress), the city of Asheville and Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore laid out arguments before Judge Bradley Letts this morning over whether or not an audit of the Asheville Police Department evidence room should be released. Letts will likely issue a ruling within the next 30 days. Photo by Max Cooper.