From Staff Reports

They may come from polar opposite sides of the political spectrum but both Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell and Buncombe County Commissioner Mike Frayer had to deal with the so-called “parking-gate” furor in August.

Indeed, the saga may have culminated Aug. 12, when the two officials took to the airwaves to face-off in an hour-long live interview on “The Pete Kaliner Show” on News Radio 570 WWNC 

For Bothwell, the furor started on Aug. 4, after the Mountain Moral Monday rally, when he used his electronic parking pass to let 64 vehicles out of the county parking garage on College Street — for free. In the aftermath, the county billed Bothwell $512  — the amount that Buncombe officials said should have been paid by the 64 vehicle owners that the councilmen let us for free. Bothwell eventually paid the bill.

The Bothwell story came to light when Fryar accused Bothwell of stealing from the county and said he helped alert the media to the incident. The story was covered both by the local media as well as the Associated Press.

However, the “parking gate” issue took a major and surprising shift, when, on the morning of Aug. 12, WLOS-TV reported that Fryar “is now facing questions about his own actions at a county-owned parking lot months ago.”

Reportedly, 11 months ago, Fryar, using his own tools, removed cables the county had placed at its Coxe Avenue parking lot, enabling people to park for free.

On the afternoon of Aug. 12, Bothwell, a Democrat, and Fryar, a Republican, sparred verbally during on “The Pete Kaliner Show.” Bothwell said Fryar’s allegations constituted “a partisan attack” and, given the commissioner’s own actions, questioned his “moral standing” for lodging the complaints.

Bothwell claimed he used his parking pass to let people out of the garage because the gate was malfunctioning and traffic was backed up.

“I thought I’d be thanked for helping solve a problem,” Bothwell noted. “I undid a thing that could have lasted two or more hours. It’s not stealing. … To me that’s totally crazy.”

To the contrary, Fryar told Bothwell that he he should have called county staff rather than let people out, accusing the councilman of doing it “for political gain.”

In an email newsletter, Bothwell used the incident to ask supporters for donations to his campaign fund.

“I would never take anything on myself, to let people out,” Fryar countered.

Meanwhile, Bothwell lodged similar complaints against Fryar for his move to open the Coxe Avenue lot. “That was not his right to make a change,” said Bothwell. “He took it upon himself to open that parking lot.”

Fryar said he took the cables off in response to complaints from people wanting to park there. “Hopefully it solved a problem,” he said. “I didn’t do it for political gain.”

Fryar said that he recollects talking to County Manager Wanda Greene about it and getting her approval. However, Greene told WLOS: “I told Mike, don’t do it, don’t mess with it, because it would be destruction of county property.”

On “The Pete Kaliner Show,” Fryar said a key difference was that his action didn’t cause the city to lose money. Bothwell countered that it did, because by letting people park in the lot for free against county policy, they weren’t paying the city for parking on the street or in garages.

Noting that he will pay the county’s $512 bill, Bothwell added: “The county is profiting from this, and you’re complaining.”

“Both of us violated county policy without violating the law,” said Bothwell, who noted that in addition to the bill, the county revoked his parking pass.

The county traditionally provides free parking passes to members of Asheville City Council. And the city provides free parking passes to Buncombe County commissioners.

 Fryar said he doesn’t think any elected officials should receive free parking passes. Although the passes can be used anytime, he only uses his when he parks in town for official government business rather than recreational events such as basketball games, he said.