There was very little discussion, except for Buncombe Sen. Martin Nesbitt, who spoke firmly against the precedent of the State seizing municipal assets, as this report recommends. A bill aimed at expanding the Metropolitan Sewerage District's Board to accommodate 2 seats for Henderson County, and empowering it to eventually take over & operate Asheville's water system, is expected to be filed & voted on in the coming weeks. Any actual transfer of the system is up in the air until after the November elections. Check back for more updates.
Time: 10 minutes 15 seconds (gavel-to-gavel). The Study Committee (minus the one Democrat, who was inexplicably AWOL) votes to adopt the Draft Report & send it on to the Legislative Research Commission. Check back for more updates...
NC League of Municipalities letter to the Study Committee
"The North Carolina League of Municipalities and the cities that it represents, oppose all efforts by the North Carolina General Assembly to force any given city to transfer existing assets of the city to another entity, or to restrict or eliminate the ability of a city to operate a municipal enterprise in ways which locally elected officials determine will benefit city taxpayers and ratepayers to the greatest extent possible."
As Jim Nabors would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" The six month 'study' process delivers exactly the same result as Rep. Moffitt's original bill of one year ago: a State-forced transfer of Asheville's water system to the MSD. It postpones legislation forcing the transfer until after the November elections, introducing a clear political element to the issue; immediately gives two MSD Board seats to Henderson County, and amends the MSD charter to allow it to take over Asheville's water system. The Study Committee could amend the Draft Report at the April 19th meeting in any way before adopting it; Legislative Research Commission could accept or amend recommendations in any way before sending legislation to the House in May.
Remarks by Elaine Lite, President of Mountain Voices Alliance; Tim Schaller, President of Asheville Brewers Alliance; Chris Pelly, Asheville City Council and MSD Board member; and David Gantt, Chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Video by Peter Brezny.
The "Hands off Buncombe's Water" press conference has been re-scheduled for April 13th, 10 am, in the Pack Place Boardroom. Check speakingforbuncombe.wordpress.com for more details.
Sourcewatch page on North Carolina State legislators with ALEC connections.
Speaker Thom Tillis awarded "2011 Legislator of the Year"
"ALEC likes Tillis" article in Charlotte News & Observer
Model Legislation entitled "Establishing a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Authority Act" adopted.
Rep. Tim Moffitt participation on International Relations Task Force.
Rep. Moffitt explains involvement in ALEC.
Read more on the Privatization page
The final meeting of the Study Committee will be held on April 19th 2012.
At least one week before that date, the Study Committee will publish their draft legislative report. The public will have that week to give input to the committee, then they will meet & vote on the 19th. After that, their recommendations go the Legislative Research Commission, which will decide what, if any, legislation to introduce to the full House. This legislation would be eligible to come up in the current short session. Check back here for updates.
The third meeting of the Study Committee has been announced:
Wednesday, March 14th, 1:30 pm, rm. 643 Legislative Office Building, Raleigh
Buncombe County Commission Chairman David Gantt's video statement supporting City of Asheville retaining control of it's water system
Rep. Moffitt acknowledges that his study committee process could lead to privatization of the Asheville water system. Watch the video here.
Mountain XPress coverage of the Feb. 23rd Study Committee hearing, at the WNC Ag Center.
Feb. 22nd: Asheville Green Drinks will host an evening of activism related to the water issue. Plan to attend, and sign-up for carpooling to the Feb. 23rd hearing in Fletcher.
Watch the video from the Feb. 20th Mountain Voices Alliance forum here. Thanks to Davyne Dial and John Blackwell.
Feb, 23rd Study Committee hearing
The Metropolitan Sewerage/Water System Committee is holding their second hearing, at the WNC Ag Center, Fletcher NC, in the Virginia C. Boone Mountain Heritage Building (directions here.) The hearing will open for comment sign-up at 8:30. Arrive 30 minutes before your time block in order to sign up to speak. Each person will be given 3 minutes. Here is the schedule of who will be allowed to speak and when:
Feb. 20th Forum:
Mountain Voices Alliance has announced that a second forum on the water issue will take place at Jubilee! Community Center, 46 Wall Street, downtown Asheville, from 6:30 - 9 pm. Panelists will include:
Update - Rep. Tim Moffitt and Rep. Chuck McGrady will attend and participate in the discussion.
Patsy Keever, N.C. Representative, Buncombe County.
David Gantt, Chairman, Buncombe County Commission (via video due to previous engagement).
Jan Davis, Asheville City Council member.
Joe Minicozzi, executive director, Asheville Downtown Association.
Katie Hicks, assistant director, Clean Water for North Carolina.
Susan Kask, Ph.D. economics, Warren Wilson College.
Barry Summers, activist, ashevillewater.blogspot.com.
Marc Hunt, Asheville City Council member.
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| Current (Feb. 14th, 2012) drought status of SE United States |
Feb. 13th Forum:
The League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe County have announced that a forum on the water issue will take place at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, from 6:30 - 9:00 pm. Panelists will include City Council member Esther Manheimer, study committee member Rep. Chuck McGrady, MSD Chairman Steve Aceto, and former Buncombe County Chair Gene Rainey.
Questions?
A number of Ashevilleans have been following this issue since the beginning. If you have questions that aren't answered in the various pages of this site, use the comment box at the bottom - all comments are moderated, so let us know if this is a private inquiry & it will stay so. Otherwise, your question & our reply will be posted below.
Hearing:
The first hearing of the study committee looking at transferring control of Asheville's water system happened on Jan. 23rd.
- Read the Carolina Public Press story here.
- Read the AC-T story here.
- Look at the presentation materials here.
- Look at the hearing agenda up to the time the City of Asheville delegation left for Raleigh on the morning of the 23rd here.
- Look at the hearing agenda when the City of Asheville delegation arrived in Raleigh four hours later here.
"It can not be said that anybody other than the users in general, have paid for that system."It remains to be seen how this radical, some might say 'socialist' notion will figure into the Committees decision.
Background:
A legislative study committee, made up of five House Legislators, has been authorized by the General Assembly in Raleigh to 'study' whether or not to seize Asheville's water system. It is Chaired by Representative Tim Moffitt(R-116), who in May 2011 initially proposed simply requiring the City to turn over it's water supply to the Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD), the Buncombe County-wide authority that handles collection and treatment of wastewater. He did not consult with the City or the MSD beforehand. In fact, several officials from the City had traveled to Raleigh specifically to ask Rep. Moffitt about pending legislation that might affect the City a mere two days before it was introduced. But in the words of one Council member, "...it's strange to not even mention that there's going to be a bill to seize a water system that the city has operated for the last 100 years." After several weeks of local controversy, Rep. Moffitt changed the bill to a 'study bill', and it passed the House, which essentially delayed the issue for a year.
Since initiating the process of a 'study committee', Rep. Moffitt has said that the three options they are studying are:
- a) do nothing - allow Asheville to continue operating its own water system,
- b) force the City to turn it over to the Buncombe County-dominated MSD, as per his original bill, or
- c) force the City to turn it over to a separate authority, most likely a regional system (Buncombe/Henderson) favored by Henderson County Representative Chuck McGrady, another member of the study committee.
UPDATE (Jan. 4, 2012):
I've been contacted by Rep. Moffitt, and he asked that I post a correction to this passage, and I don't have much reason to believe that it isn't true. He says that the intial bill, that he proposed in May 2011, was done as a 'placeholder', meaning that as the time for introducing bills draws short, Representatives will sometimes introduce bills that hold a place on the docket for a particular issue, but they don't accurately represent what will be in the final bill. Apparently, this is a common practice to introduce these bills, and then substantially amend them later. Rep. Moffitt says that this is how the bill started out one way, and wound up as the 'study bill' that got passed (this was touched on in the May 27th XPress article below).
As for the lack of notification to the City officials who visited his office shortly before he introduced the bill, he says that he didn't give them a heads up because he hadn't completely decided what he was going to do at that point.
