Top priority is the safety of our community
and to minimize the spread of COVID-19 while conducting City business
The May 12 Asheville City Council meeting and budget work session will be held remotely. Due to the locally declared State of Emergency and Stay Safe, Stay Home order, there will be no public attendance at these meetings. This includes news media.
The agenda is posted at this link. Prior to the 5 p.m. meeting, City Council and staff will participate in a 3 p.m. budget work session. As with all work sessions, no public comment will be taken at the budget work session.
How to give public comment
Public comment will be taken on all items on the formal meeting agenda by voicemail. All voicemail public comment must be received by 5 p.m. May11 before the meeting by calling the City of Asheville toll-free Public Input Line at 855-925-2801 and entering this meeting code: 8659.
Before commenting, please state your name, City of residence and the item you are commenting on. Calls will be played during the Council meeting in the order received for up to an hour for each agenda item. Each call will be limited to 3 minutes per person per item. All comments must conform to City Council rules of decorum. Those comments that do not may be excluded.
Ways to watch or listen to the remote meeting
The public may listen live by phone to:
- The 3 p.m. budget work session by dialing 855-925-2801 and entering code 8658;
- The 5 p.m. City Council meeting by dialing 855-925-2801 and entering code 8659.
In addition, if you would like to submit email comments on any of the public hearings, please submit those comments to AshevilleCityCouncilMay122020@publicinput.com. Those comments will be shared with City Council.
This information and the live stream of each meeting can be found at www.publicinput.com/AshevilleCityCouncilMay122020 for the Council meeting and www.publicinput.com/AvlBudgetBriefMay122020 for the budget work session.
This is a temporary measure for the health and safety of everyone, as we collectively work through social distancing techniques to prevent the spread of COVID-19, taking into consideration guidance from the CDC, N.C. Department of Health and Human Service and Buncombe County Health and Human Services.
Please be aware that this guidance could change, as this is a rapidly evolving national and local health emergency.
The top priority is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and avoid overwhelming our healthcare network.
Toward that end, City Hall and other municipal buildings were closed to the public as of March 17. Employees who are able to complete their work offsite during this COVID-19 public health emergency are working remotely in a telecommuting mode. Staff have remote access to hold meetings, respond to phone calls and emails.
All essential services continue with some services, such as permitting, sanitation and transit, being modified.
We continue to coordinate City response with Buncombe County and State officials. These actions are all designed with public health in mind, as we pull together to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.