Even though the voters of Asheville do not want their water system taken from them, it appears that means absolutely nothing. I attended the meeting on Nov. 30 at the Metropolitan Sewerage District. Let me tell you this: MSD does not know how to run a public meeting.
They had an overflow crowd, since they held the meeting in too small a room. They put the overflow crowd in a room with a speaker phone, and with the trucks rolling by outside and the talkative MSD employees in the next room (there was a window connecting the rooms, right by the speaker phone). It was rather difficult to follow what was going on. I knew they voted on something, but did not find out until afterwards what it was. They handed out an agenda to the people in the main room, and failed to do so with the overflow crowd until I pointed this out.
The vote (at the water meeting) turned out to be about passing on the proposal that the MSD planning committee put together to the full MSD board. They are holding their next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. — a workday for most people. I am guessing the board doesn’t have to worry about being at their jobs, since most of them look like they are well past retirement age, with the exception of the two Asheville City Council members. No efforts there to have a diverse planning committee at MSD, since we all know that what old white men think is exactly what’s best for everyone (that was sarcasm, for the slow to catch on).
It appears that the NC Legislature who want to take away Asheville’s water system really do not care one bit what the public thinks about this arrangement.
— Susan Oehler
Asheville
