A note that our report is a day late this week because of the Juneteenth holiday.
The Buncombe County Commission met this Tuesday, June 20th, 2023 at 5 pm. It took place at 200 College Street, Room 326 in downtown Asheville. You can watch the meeting online (or a recording of it) via Buncombe County’s Facebook page. The full agenda is here.
URGENT
- 0 Items
PROBLEMATIC
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Things of concern, more information needed
Follow Up: Buncombe County Commission Proposed Board Meeting Time/Schedule Change (Original Proposal from 6/6/23 meeting)
The Buncombe County Commission discussed a scheduling change at their June 6th meeting, and postponed a final decision, seeking more community input. They currently meet on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 5 pm. With the proposed change, they would meet at 10 am on the first Tuesday of each month; the meeting on the third Tuesday would remain at 5 pm.
We raised serious concerns about this proposed scheduling change in our 6/5/23 report, and encouraged folks to reach out to the County Commission to urge a different approach. We assume that hearing from GAP supporters, and other concerned community members, helped convince the Commissioners to hold off on this shift. Our reasoning: shifting one of the two County Commission meetings to the morning will make it almost impossible for many working people to attend. Participation and input would skew even more toward those in our community with the privilege of flexible work schedules, a population that is disproportionately white.
Things to do
If you already communicated with the County Commission about this, we thank you. If you haven’t, we encourage you to reach out to the Buncombe County Commission and ask them to reconsider the proposed change to their meeting schedule. They are explicitly seeking community input so now is the time to speak up.
You can (a) use our County Commission template link to open up an email you can adapt, (b) copy and paste the content below this chart into an email, or (c) write your own message to brownie.newman@buncombecounty.org, jasmine.beach-ferrara@buncombecounty.org, alfred.whitesides@buncombecounty.org, amanda.edwards@buncombecounty.org, terri.wells@buncombecounty.org, martin.moore@buncombecounty.org, parker.sloan@buncombecounty.org
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You can open this email in your own email program by clicking here. To proceed manually, you can copy and paste the text below into an email and then address it to the addresses listed.
Send to: brownie.newman@buncombecounty.org, jasmine.beach-ferrara@buncombecounty.org, alfred.whitesides@buncombecounty.org, amanda.edwards@buncombecounty.org, terri.wells@buncombecounty.org, martin.moore@buncombecounty.org, parker.sloan@buncombecounty.org
Subject: Proposed Meeting Schedule Change Limits Equitable Participation
Dear County Commissioners,
I read about your proposal to shift one of your monthly County Commission meetings from 5 pm to 10 am. I am concerned that this daytime meeting will be almost impossible for many working people to attend. This means that participation and input to your process will skew even more toward those in our community with the privilege of flexible work schedules, a population that is disproportionately white. I urge you to reconsider this plan.
Thanks for your leadership,