Buncombe seeks staff expansion for affordable housing

Buncombe County seal

The three new employees the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners seeks to hire won’t be hammering nails, sawing wood or framing roofs. But board members argue they’ll be just as necessary as construction workers to the expansion of affordable housing.

During its meeting of Tuesday, Dec. 7, the board will consider a budget amendment to create three new full-time positions in Buncombe’s Planning Department. At a cost of roughly $164,000 per year, the staffers would help the department’s Community Development Division manage housing feasibility studies and oversee other work.

As outlined in a Nov. 16 presentation to the board’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee, Buncombe hopes to address affordability in part by redeveloping county-owned property in downtown Asheville. Properties on Coxe Avenue and Woodfin Street currently used for county parking lots or small buildings, for example, could instead host dense housing available to low- and medium-income residents.

The subcommittee’s members — board Chair Brownie Newman, as well as commissioners Amanda Edwards and Parker Sloan — say Buncombe needs to conduct feasibility studies for those properties, a task they believe the county can’t accomplish at current staffing levels. They draw comparisons to another study currently underway for county-owned property on Ferry Road, which could be slated for mixed-use development, including affordable housing.

If the new positions are approved, hiring would begin in January. The employees would then develop a request for proposals for an outside firm to conduct the feasibility studies starting in July. Estimated costs for the studies themselves are not currently available.

$1M in COVID pay for county employees

Having previously approved over $1 million in pandemic premium pay for county staff as part of their federal American Rescue Plan Act grants, commissioners will now consider the details of how that money will be doled out. A policy up for approval at the Dec. 7 meeting outlines four payment tiers for employees based on their involvement in the pandemic response.

The biggest bonuses (up to $3,000) would go to “core COVID” employees, those who spent at least 75% of their time on managing Buncombe’s approach to the coronavirus. High-risk workers making direct contact with the public, such as first responders, would be eligible for payments of up to $1,500, while customer service staff and other “medium-low risk” workers could get up to $1,000. Employees who were reassigned to COVID-19 response would get an extra $1.44 per hour, up to a total of $1,000.

The county estimates that 757 workers would be eligible for at least some bonus pay. If approved, the money would go out at the end of December.

Consent agenda and public comment

The board’s consent agenda for the meeting contains 13 items, which will be approved as a package unless singled out for separate discussion. Highlights include the following resolutions:

The commissioners will also hold a briefing at 3 p.m. before the regular meeting to discuss Buncombe’s COVID-19 response and other matters. On Nov. 30, the county renewed its indoor mask mandate through Wednesday, Jan. 5; in a Facebook post the same day, Newman cited the potential for high viral transmission during holiday shopping and uncertainty around the omicron variant as reasons for the extension. The full agenda and supporting documents for the regular meeting can be found at this link.

In-person public comment will be taken at the start of the regular meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. in Room 326 at 200 College St. in Asheville; no voicemail or email comments will be permitted. Both the briefing and regular meeting will be livestreamed on the county’s Facebook page and will subsequently be available via YouTube.

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About Daniel Walton
Daniel Walton is the former news editor of Mountain Xpress. His work has also appeared in Sierra, The Guardian, and Civil Eats, among other national and regional publications. Follow me @DanielWWalton

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3 thoughts on “Buncombe seeks staff expansion for affordable housing

  1. Lou

    Employees who spent their time “managing Buncombe’s approach to the coronavirus”…you mean ignoring calls from concerned citizens and looking the other way while trump supporting businesses refused to enforce mask mandates? Okey dokey.

  2. Censor this!

    More highly paid staff to request expensive studies, paid for by higher taxes on property, rental property included, which will be passed on to tenants. Great plan!

  3. jordan

    So we are spending *more* money to outsource the same job that has been delegated to their purview over and over. This is not a new issue. This is a typical game financial hot-potato the city of asheville where they pass the bag, and keep the money.

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