April Minutes 2016

The meeting was called to order by President Dave Campbell at 4:00pm.

Big thank you to Smoky Park Supper Club for hosting our June Social! New officers were elected for the 2016-2017 membership year:

President- Dave Campbell, President Elect- Shelley Schenker, Treasurer- Jenny Lumb, Secretary- Sarah Pelchat, Past President- Daniel McClendon

Treasurer’s Report: There’s a little over $9,000 in the bank account with $1,400 promised to Yancey Landscaping. Just half of the membership has renewed so far and new invoices will be sent out. New members include Rebel Strength Roadhouse, Amplified Media and Kari Wrinn of the North Carolina Glass Center which took over Asheville Glass Center as of June 1st and will be the largest public-access, nonprofit glass studio in the Southeast.

APD/Officer Sean Davis: Everything is good crime wise but there has been a large uptake of people on the riverfront. Jean Webb Park area being a big draw for people but they are moving people out every night. Agent Moore of Norfolk Southern has been helping to clear the tracks. Early this morning the Supper Club was broken into and alcohol was stolen. Trying to push panhandlers to the shelters downtown.

City of Asheville/Marsha Stickford: Open City Hall provides more background of projects and people can share feedback on issues. There’s a button to go to Open City Hall on the homepage of the Cities’ website.

NBB/Susanne Hackett: Producing Fat Tire and Ranger. On August 27th, there will be an open house from 4-10pm to celebrate the 25th birthday of New Belgium and Asheville’s grand opening. There will be three bands performing and tickets will be $50 which include three beverages. 3-4,000 people are expected to attend. Tours will start the next week and there will be geared towards locals first.

RiverLink: Riverfest will be Saturday, August 13th from 1-7pm across from Cotton Mill. Floats will come out at Cotton Mill and there will be bands, food and drinks. The last two RiverMusic concerts are moving to Carrier Park due to the construction happening in RAD. Karen is retiring after 30 years and a new executive director will be named.

RADTIP Update/Steph Monson Dahl: PSCN is moving gas line along Riverside Drive. There will be lane closures and flaggers out on Riverside until end of year or through March depending on the weather. It extends to five points location and Roberts St. Nothing will move on Clingman Extention. For more information, go to AshevilleNC.gov/River. There will be construction updates and a map on the website. If you click on where you’re at, it will show schedule of when utility relocation will happen. There may be outages during this process. Business Kits will be created by end of August to hand out to businesses so they have everything they need. It was reminded that this is just pre construction and that RADTIP starts in March.

Haley Mahoney/Sustainability Program: She presented the Asheville Workplace Challenge which is a self-assessment tool that gives local businesses ways to save money and reduce their environmental impact. To participate, businesses complete an online survey assessing current energy and water use, how employees get to work, and what types of waste are generated. This baseline data provides a starting point to help the business understand how they are currently performing so they can apply tips to help them save money, increase awareness and become more sustainable. Businesses can complete a range of tasks designed to improve their workplaces and Green Challenge score by editing their survey until the closing date. Awards in several categories will be handed out at the first annual Green Workplace Challenge Ceremony later this year. For more information please visit http://asheville.municipalchallenge.com/.

UGOTour: This was brought back up in discussion but was decided that more information is needed for the individual businesses before making a final decision.