MSD board meeting mixes humor and politics

A seemingly straightforward meeting of the board of the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County took two surprising turns on Wednesday afternoon. One led to a staff report on a private sewer-line failure that took more than two years to resolve. The other led to a vote on withdrawing a December proposal to the city of Asheville regarding the possible merger of water and sewer management — an action that was rejected. UPDATED THURSDAY, APRIL 18.

Water torture

Mere months before the many-headed Hydra that is the Regional Water Agreement is scheduled to expire, the central questions remain: Will Asheville and Buncombe County negotiate a settlement tying up all the loose ends? Will their lawyers wind up duking it out in court? Or will the General Assembly, like some legislative deus ex machina, […]

A long, hard look

“What would be the ultimate cost of not having a regional approach?” — Nelda Holder, president,Asheville-Buncombe League of Women Voters Just get everything out on the table, and maybe everyone involved will feel obligated to address the stated problems. So says Gary Semlak, a former board member of the Regional Water Authority of Asheville, Buncombe […]