City Council regular meeting — January 25, 2022

Principal Planner Shannon Tuch said that this is the consideration of an ordinance to amend the conditional zoning of property (Ordinance No. 4733) located at 324 Biltmore Avenue. This public hearing was advertised on January 14 and 21, 2022. Mayor Manheimer opened the public hearing at 6:02 p.m., and when no advanced callers signed up, she closed it at 6:02 p.m. Mayor Manheimer said that members of Council have previously received a copy of the ordinance and it would not be read.

Background:

• The Broadway Public Safety Station–a combined use facility comprising Fire Station 13, a police substation, an emergency operations center (EOC) and a community meeting room–is currently under construction.
• The facility requires a station alerting system to provide visual and audible notification to fire and rescue personnel of incoming emergency response events.
• Motorola’s Mach Alert System is the current station alerting system employed by the Asheville Fire Department.
• Mach Alert has been approved as a sole source procurement via Resolution 21-37.
• This contract will have a duration of 371 calendar days, completing by January 31, 2023

Vendor Outreach Efforts:

• Not Applicable
• Sole source procurement Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• Maintains the standardization of a critical fire department system
• This standardization results in cost savings in operations and maintenance Con(s):
• Sole source procurement may reduce competitive pricing.

Fiscal Impact:

• Funding for this contract is already included in the adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project budget.

Background:

• The Shiloh Community Center and the Montford Community Center HVAC modernization projects are in design and will soon be ready to bid.
• The projects will require specific equipment or systems to be procured with bid specifications that will identify brand names known as preferred alternates.
• These methods are in the best interest of the City for the reasons identified below: Owner’s

Preferred Alternates:

• NCGS 133-3, authorizes the listing of one or more preferred brand alternates in bid specifications to list a preferred brand alternate.
• Specifications containing a preferred brand alternate must identify the performance standards that support the preference and must be approved in advance by the owner in an open meeting.
• Any alternate approved by the owner shall be approved only where:
• Preferred alternate will provide cost savings, maintain or improve the functioning of any process or system affected by the preferred item or items, or both, and
• Justification identifying these criteria is made available in writing to the public.
• The items listed below will be specified in the construction bid:
• Lochinvar Boiler Systems-Shiloh Community Center and Montford Center
• Currently installed at several City owned facilities.
• Required to continue developing Building Construction Division’s operational and equipment standard objectives.
• Boiler standardization results in reduced in-house labor costs and equipment downtime in the event of failure, while also lowering required part stock and allowing more accurately focused training of the maintenance staff.

Vendor Outreach Efforts:

• N/A Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• Facility Maintenance Division functions and efficiency are enhanced and simplified when mechanical equipment is standardized across the City’s building portfolio.
• As a bid alternate, City staff will be able to choose whether or not to accept. Con(s):

None Fiscal Impact:

• No fiscal impact for this specific action.
• Funding has already been approved for these capital projects.

Background:

• The City’s Capital Projects Department is preparing to construct sidewalks along Patton Ave. between Druid Drive and Louisiana Avenue.
• During the design process, a minimum quantity of concrete curb and gutter was identified as needed for the City’s sidewalk project.
• As part of their plan review, NCDOT identified additional concrete curb and gutter they felt was needed within the project limits, and asked the City to install it as part of our project without compensation.
• The City’s budget did not support this additional work.
• Subsequently, NCDOT asked the City to install concrete curb and gutter as part of the City’s construction activities, and offered to reimburse the City for the curb and gutter installation.
• This agreement is a result of that compensation offer.
• NCDOT offered to compensate up to $90,000, and it’s expected that the City will ask for the entire amount.

Vendor Outreach Efforts:

• NA
• Intergovernmental Agreement Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• Will assist in stormwater transport, improving road conditions for traffic along a heavily-traveled roadway Con(s):
• Additional construction time needed for curb and gutter installation will impact traffic and nearby properties

Fiscal Impact:

• There will be a negligible financial impact due to NCDOT reimbursing for the work and City staff needing to process construction records and inspect the work.
• Construction timetables and project management will be impacted with the additional work, but this is considered negligible.
• The budget for this project is already included in the adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

Background:

• FTA Section 5303 Metropolitan Planning Program provides funding for transit planning activities, including personnel.
• The City has historically applied for and received Section 5303 funding to supplement a portion of existing Transit Planning Division staff wages.
• The City has historically received $60,000 (80%) from FTA, and the City and NCDOT have provided $7,500 each in matching funds (20%).
• However, on January 4, 2022, the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization notified the City of Asheville that the annual 5303 funding allocation to the Asheville Urbanized Area has increased and next fiscal year the City will receive additional funding.
• The total Federal (80%) share from FTA for the 5303 allocations in FY 2022-23 to the City will increase from $60,000 to $223,082.
• Accordingly, the State and Local (20%) share for each entity will also increase from $7,500 to $27,885 each.
• The application deadline is January 28, 2022.
• If for some reason the Council does not authorize the application on January 25, 2022, staff will withdraw it.
• Upon approval, NCDOT will approve a two-year grant agreement with the City for FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24.
• If awarded, staff will budget the funding in upcoming Transit Operating Budgets. Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• Supplements funding for multiple transit planning positions.
• Enables the City of Asheville to leverage $223,082 in Federal funds and $27,885 in State funds to support the City’s transit planning activities. Con(s):
• The City is responsible for half of the 20% local match, which is $27,885.

Fiscal Impact:

• The required local match in the amount of $27,885 will be included in upcoming Transit Operating Budgets.

Background:

• The City of Asheville has owned the property located at 30 Buchanan Place, known as McCormick Field, since 1984 and leases the property for operation as a minor league baseball stadium.
• The presence of a minor league baseball team is a positive contributor to quality of life for people and businesses within the City of Asheville.
• The economic Impact of the team is very positive for local business and is expected to exceed $10 million annually.
• The Tourists team also annually utilizes hundreds of local citizens as temporary seasonal workers.
• Having the team downtown contributes to the continuing revitalization of the South Slope, providing numerous l walkable options for pre and post game food & beverage and retail customers for downtown businesses.
• The most recent lease expired on December 31, 2021.
• In lieu of lease payments, the DeWine organization will continue to provide substantial in-kind services to include the staffing of the stadium, the care and maintenance of the field and the day to day operations of McCormick Field.
• The premises to be leased include the field, stadium, and front parking lot along Buchanan and McCormick, access will also be permitted for use of the storage area located near Mountainside Park.
• The enclosed map shows the areas that are covered by the lease.
• It should be noted that the lessee is prohibited from using the parking lot located off of Hunt Hill Place at Mountainside Park for operations and/or parking on game days. The one exception is that the area may be used to stage fireworks.
• Major League Baseball has implemented a significant reorganization recently, the Asheville Tourists are now affiliated with the Houston Astros professional baseball team.
• The proposed lease will cover up to a two year period.
• A shorter term lease is proposed in order to align with new expected standards from Major League Baseball Professional Development League which take affect, April 2024.
• Significant capital improvements will be required to meet new standards, staff will need this time to negotiate a long term (15
• 20 year) solution to capital maintenance at McCormick Field. Additionally this time will allow for creation of a more transparent game day operations plan relative to the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• DeWine Seeds-Silver Dollar Baseball, LLC is committed to keeping minor league baseball in Asheville.
• The presence of the Tourists team has a positive economic impact on the local economy Con(s):
• The City is not receiving fair market rent for the facility.
• This lease should be renegotiated for a longer term when a long term plan for the facility & team is in place, prior to opening day, April 2024.

Fiscal Impact:

• DeWine Seeds-Silver Dollar LLC will pay the City $1 in annual lease payments, but as noted above, they will provide in-kind services to include staffing of the stadium and maintenance of the field and the day to day operations.

Background:

• The Sanitation Division requires a reliable fleet to provide essential trash collection services to City residents.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to acquire parts to repair Sanitation vehicles and has extended the time to build and purchase new sanitation trucks to greater than 1 year.
• The Sanitation Division entered into a contract with TLG Leasing, Inc. in December 2020 to rent a trash collection truck due to truck shortage issues.
• The Sanitation Division needs to continue utilizing the rental truck until the Sanitation fleet is stabilized through repair of current trucks or receipt of newly purchased vehicles.
• Three (3) new trash collection trucks were ordered in September 2021, with an estimated arrival date of December 2022.

Vendor Outreach Efforts:

• Automated side-loading trash collection vehicles are highly specialized pieces of equipment and availability is extremely limited.
• The current rental truck was sourced from a vendor that could provide the type of truck needed. Committee(s):
• None Pro(s):
• Continuing this contract allows the Sanitation Division to continue to provide the core service of waste collection to the Asheville community. Con(s):
• Spending this funding on a rental truck rather than investing in the capital purchase of a new truck is not ideal, but is the needed action to have a reliable fleet of Sanitation trucks to deliver core trash collection services.

Fiscal Impact:

• The cost to continue the automated side-loading vehicle rental is $8,999.03 per month. The rental truck will be used until the Sanitation Fleet is stabilized, either through repair of current vehicles or receipt of new vehicles with an estimated time of arrival of December 2022.
• Funding for the rental will be paid from the current Sanitation Division budget for Fiscal Year 2021-22.

Patrick Conant requested that Cit Council allow the ARPA worksessions to receive public comment especially due to the large number of proposals and large amount of money available to be distributed.

On January 11, 2022, City Council appointed Derek Weekley to serve; however, Mr. Weekley was unable to accept the appointment.