In the absence of CIBO President Buzzy Cannady, John Carroll, the pro-business group’s past president, served as the emcee and welcomed everyone. About 60 to 70 people attended, with Jerry VeHaun, mayor of Woodfin, among the elected officials present.

Earlier in the meeting, an update on the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization was given by its director, Tristan Winkler. 

As Manheimer began her 30-minute presentation that included a brief question-and-answer session at the end, she first noted that filing is open — “and Sandra Kilgore’s, Kim Roney’s and Sage Turner’s seats are up, this time, for re-election...”

Turning to her “State of the City” report, she said, “Our (council’s) biggest job, I would say, is to adopt the budget...

“You can see here that the growth has been in our general fund. But some of these other funds are growing as well...

“The (annual) revenues for the city are around $250 million, but the biggest is in water...”

Among compensation recommendations by council, Manheimer said that “the real pay increase for our employees was more than 5 or 6 percent,” despite what has been reported to the contrary.

She also pointed to benefit recommendations that included (among many) the following:

• An additional 1 percent 401(k) match

• APD wellness incentive

• Actuarial study for post-employment medical care.

Besides restoring core services as the top priority, among 2024 strategic priorities — “these were developed really in the middle of the pandemic,” she said — “one of the key focus areas has been reparations… They are coming to the point to where they will be making their final recommendations... Reparations is a major project... 

“Another one (priority) is homelessness strategies... We’re doing everything we can to address this... Homeward Bound has just opened” a permanent homeless shelter in the former Days Inn on Tunnel Road, the mayor asserted, with a note of enthusiasm.

Manheimer added, “We will have another joint meeting of the city and the county… in November — to talk about what weve done since that time...

“One of the recommendations from the National Alliance of Homelessness” is that the city needs more housing for the homeless....” 

As for providing mental health and substance abuse treatment, she said. “This issue is so much more complicated than that... You have an entire network of providers that provide services in this arena, but that are not all necessarily coordinated. If you’re dealing with mental health and substance abuse… To try to bring them all together and coordinate them, is the challenge.

“One of the priorities is neighborhood and climate resilience… We have hired an urban forester to look at our tree canopy and make sure that we preserve it....

“We are also a climate refuge, so we see people moving here because of Asheville’s climate status.”

The mayor then spoke about the new Broadway Street Public Safety Station, which she said will provide better service to the area around it. 

Next, she addressed Asheville Police Department pay enhancements “to improve recruitment and retentionng,” noting that the city has “contracted with a national recruiting firm to boost APD staffing.”

In contrast to the APD, Manheimer noted that “our fire department is almost fully staffed — and I don’t think we have any vacancies in our fire department.”

As for public safety and cleanliness initiatives, she pointed to the following:

• Police department

• Community responder program (Buncombe County has the highest overdose rate in the state)

• Downtown cleanliness

• Equitable and affordable housing and stability

• Affordable housing GO board

• Housing Trust Fund

• Land Use Incentive Grants

• Development fee rebates

Then, the mayor said, “As you know, there is a total lack of financing available right now because everyone is struggling with financing right now.” As an example, she noted the delay with the Fuddruckers property off Charlotte Street.

As for core services Infrastructure improvements, Manheimer noted, “We’re looking at adding another downtown bathroom... Also, we’ve got some bike lane projects and street restripings that are in the works.”

At that point, she noted that Asheville voters last approved a bond referendum in 2016 — and that it is time for another bond referendum. “We plan to put together another package for 2025.”

Next she said “places badly needing sidewalks” in the city include Johnston Boulevard, Airport Road and New Haw Creek Road.

The mayor then praised the efforts of D. Tyrell McGirt, noting that “our parks and rec (department) under Tyrell has been fantastic!”

Also, she noted, “Council has now adopted Pack Square Visioning. We got a $3 million grant” to cover the project.

As for the I-26 Connector Project, Manheimer said, “If people would like to see aesthetics and multi-modal on the Jeff Bowen Bridge, they need to get involved. We’re going to bring the bridge back to a city street. You’ll be able to ride your bike from West Asheville into downtown. It (the conversion of the bridge to an attention-getting city gateway) is not inexpensive....

 â€œSpeaking of ‘non-inexpensive,’ there’s the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. The council has given the green light to move ahead with two proposals. This is a tremendously expensive project. But they are great economic drivers for your downtown...”

As she concluded her “State of the City” address, the mayor raised the issue of “water... As you know, the city had a catastrophic water outage last year. We’re working very hard to avoid it happening again....”

During a brief question-and-answer session that followed, an unidentified woman asked, “For the downtown, College-Patton bike lane project, how much will that cost? For me, I’d rather be safe than have bike lanes... Also, who are (the council members up for re-election) who are for the bike lanes — in correlation to the next election?”

Manheimer replied, “The bike lane project for Patton (Avenue) and College (Street) will be in our agenda Tuesday night (Oct. 17). We will vote on whether to move forward. 

“So folks can come Tuesday night and speak on it. Then you’ll know who (on council) votes for it and who doesn’t vote for it… There has been a lot of outreach on bike lanes and greenways. If you go to other cities that have robust bike lanes in their downtowns, you create a safer environment. More eyes on the street make for more safety….

“And moving in that direction is the direction that (many) cities are moving into. as it creates more ‘vibrancy.’ I support bike lanes, I supported the Charlotte Street and Merrimon Avenue road diets,” the mayor said, evenly.

An unidentified man stated that his research indicated that the “APD starting pay is $21.67 per hour. At Chick-fil-A, they get $18/hour. Why not pay them (the APD) more?”

“We are workiing on raising APD pay,” Manheimer asserted. “I’m not sure you stated it correctly,” insofar as the APD starting pay is concerned. 

“As for our police pay, I don’t think we’re at a competitive level. I think we need to do more” to raise the APD’s compensation, the mayor said in finishing the Q&A and receiving polite applause from the CIBO meeting attendees.