Investigation Reveals Causes of Christmas 2022 Water Outage Incident

The after-incident report investigating the City of Asheville's response to the water outage last Christmas is highly critical. Recommendations ranged from hiring, training, and certifying more administrators for dealing with local media outlets; to training staff and elected officials on their roles and responsibilities in incidents; to inventorying major equipment in the water system and monitoring things regularly.

Update on Buncombe County’s New Fleet Building Construction

Bids came in way over expectations for a new repair shop for Buncombe County's rolling stock. Reasons included a desire to make the building operate solely on electricity featuring resistance heating, build a solar array across the full roof, and have a backup generator capable of running the building at full load for two days.

The Construction of Swannanoa Railway Tunnel: A Shocking History

Dr. Dan Pierce, Professor of history at UNC-A, spoke to the Leadership Asheville Forum of the human tragedy which surrounded the construction of the Swannanoa Railroad Tunnel and the RAIL Memorial Project.

Northside Future I-26 Work Is Here For A While

The four-year, $26 million plus project is being performed by Summers-Taylor Inc., of Johnson City, Tennessee as the lowest qualified bidder. The contract calls for completion by March 14, 2027.

Council Debates Water Equity

Asheville City Council approved rate changes for the next fiscal year. They mostly followed staff recommendations, except they wanted to postpone voting on residential water rates until manufacturers and other high-volume water users could be made to shoulder more of the costs of running the system.

Asheville to Spend $19M on McCormick Field

Asheville City Council agreed to spend $19 million over the next 20 years on upgrades to McCormick Field. This will bring it into compliance with the new standards set by Major League Baseball and allow the tourists to remain in the city.

How Asheville Is Spending ARPA Funds

The City of Asheville has disbursed $7 million of the $24.9 million awarded from ARPA in 2021. Now, it has contracted with Baker Tilly to determine where another $4.7 million will be spent.

Before the Water Plant Expansion Vote

The Town Council of Weaverville took care of a lot of business besides the expansion of the water treatment plant at their February meeting.

Water Plant Expansion Gets Green Light

The Weaverville Town Council voted to move forward with the water treatment plant expansion, but the decision split the council.

Catch-22 in Patrolling US 23/Future 26

At a meeting with the Woodfin Town Council, Police Chief Michael Dyke was questioned about his department's response to accidents and speeding drivers on the section of US 19/Future I-26 that passes through Woodfin.