From Staff Reports

HENDERSONVILLE — Several residents held up protest signs — at a City Council meeting with no scheduled public comment session —  on April 26, when a plan was proposed “to implement ways to bolster diversity, equality and inclusion within the government and city limits,” Asheville TV station WLOS (News 13) noted.

“It’s all about us establishing the baseline for how our organization moves forward and interacts with our community,” City Manager John Connet was quoted as saying by News 13. “Some of our community feel like their voices have not been heard, and we wanted to have a process where we did hear those voices.”

Connet noted that, a few years ago, council voted “to form a committee dedicated to implementing DEI policies and procedures,” News 13 noted. Hendersonville later hired AHKIRAH Legal and Diversity Consulting to assist. Over the last nine months, Bahiyya Greer, founder and principal consultant, and a team of six other consultants have worked on a DEI plan. 

Connet said the project cost the city $147,000.

Among those who showed up to show disapproval over the DEI proposal was Vickie Amato, a Hendersonville resident for 30 years, who told News 13, “Instead of spending money for this stuff, there are people all over this county who need personal advocates. They’re falling through the cracks. I’m fighting against ‘wokeism.’ It’s gone to far.”

Another DEI challenger at the meeting, Jeff Groh of Fletcher, was quoted by News 13 as saying, “Many of us have remained silent too long and I’m of the age now where I don’t care” if his views upset others. “I’m going to say and stand up when I think something is wrong — and this is wrong. It’s destroying our cities.”

Groh also said he “he doesn’t want to turn the city (Hendersonville) into Asheville,” News 13 noted.

“Whether it’s DEI, whether it’s defunding the police, it’s all part of cultural Marxism, and it’s really about dividing us,” Groh was quoted by News 13 as saying. “In their initial contract, before they spoke to one person, it says, ‘to identify and comprehensively address social inequalities.’ Before they even started, the assumption was that there’s a problem. It’s a solution looking for a problem, as far as I’m concerned.”

A crowd of about 35 people showed up for Greer’s presentation to council, various news media reported.

Among the messages on the signs held aloft by DEI opponents were the following:

• “DEI = Marxism”

 â€¢ Others featured a red strike-through over “DEI.”

The Hendersonville Lightning noted that at “City Council’s April 12 meeting, several members of the public spoke against the DEI study, saying it was unnecessary and divisive. Although the council does not take public comment during its mid-month workshop meeting, DEI opponents turned out anyway,

Meanwhile, following up on Jeff Groh’s assertion, the Lightning reported in its May 3 edition that a reporter for the newspaper asked Hendersonville Mayor Pro Tem Lyndsey Simpson if she thought the city’s $147,000 diversity study was a “solution looking for a problem.” 

The Lightning noted that Simpson “did not hesistate to answer.”

Specifically, the newspaper quoted Hendersonville’s mayor pro tem as saying the following:

“I wouldn’t say that we were looking for a problem. We know there is a problem. We have several department heads within our organization. None of them are people of color. We have many people in our community that are technologically challenged and so they have issues getting information from us, or using the new parking meters. And these are all things this is meant to address.”

In her presentation of the $147,000 DEI report, Greer, speaking for her consultant group after six months of study, was quoted by News 13 as saying the following: 

“We’ve engaged in community listening sessions, engagement sessions, change and awareness questionnaires, surveys – some of them have been virtual, some of them have been personal.

“It’s really meant to first establish an understanding of the culture here. The work culture for employees and how residents view the work that employees do from a diversity, equity and inclusion-based perspective.”

What’s more, Greer said that the 119-page DEI proposal is full of data and recommendations. She also said that she does not understand how residents could be unhappy with it – especially given the timeframe.

“The proposal was just released,” Greer said, according to News 13. “Even some of the City Council members shared that they had not yet had the time to review the proposal.

“We hope that this work that we’re engaged in, as a firm, only amplifies and supports the needs of the people of Hendersonville.”

News 13 concluded its report by noting that “in June, AHKIRAH and the city will begin a second series of community-based workshops. Workshops be open to the public and held at different locations through August. Details to follow.”

Meanwhile, the Lightning noted that the report presented by Greer recommends that Hendersonville form a 12-member DEI committee, comprised of leaders  from the police, water and sewer, human resources,, planning and community development, communications, and finance departments.

The Lightning added that the purpose of the committee, according to the DEI report, “is to promote a safe, equitable, diverse and inclusive environment where all differences and identities are respected, valued and included, and where representations is celebrated and encouraged.

“The committee will foster organizational change, establish a focused framework towards issues of diversity and inclusion and the promotion of the City of Hendersonville DEI Strategic Plan.”

Simpson was quoted by the Lightning as saying, “We did some community meetings before. We had some issues getting people to attend, which I’m not surprised by, but I’m hoping we can get some more people to come to the next one because now we’re really talking about — because that was all the information gathering — now we’re really talking about actionable items. How can we take your suggestions and implement them?”