Asheville City Council will hold a special called meeting at 5 p.m. April 28 to consider a resolution authorizing the City Manager to apply for and receive funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to recover costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic event and to designate the applicant agents. You can find related documents here.
As the City of Asheville continues to work through the COVID-19 public health emergency, we want to make our residents aware of our modified operations, especially regarding how they can participate in their City government.
Following the orders from Gov. Cooper as well as Buncombe County, the City is taking the following measures until further notice:
- Due to the locally declared State of Emergency and Stay Safe, Stay Home order, there will be no public attendance at City Council meetings.
- Everyone is encouraged to watch the City Council meeting via live stream at this link.
Public comment will be received on the item on the agenda. There will not be an open comment portion at this special meeting. All public comment must be received by 5 p.m. April 27 by calling 828-259-5900 and following these instructions:
- Before commenting, please state your name, City of residence.
- Each call will be limited to 3 minutes per person per item.
Calls related to the agenda item will be played during the Council meeting in the order received for up to an hour. All comments must conform to City Council rules of Decorum. Those comments that do not may be excluded.
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 Sources.
Please be aware that this guidance could change, as this is a rapidly evolving national and local health emergency.
Four council members will participate in the meeting in person and the other three will attend via video conferencing.
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.