Three new Council members are sworn in, a vice mayor is chosen, unity is proclaimed and the mayor’s father leads a sing-along
Above: the new Council, seated on the dais. From left: Brian Haynes, Gordon Smith, Vice mayor Gwen Wisler, Mayor Esther Manheimer, Cecil Bothwell, Julie Mayfield and Keith Young. Photos by Max Cooper
Asheville City Council’s Dec. 1 meeting marked a changing of the guard, as Senior District Court Judge Calvin Hill swore in three new Council members: Keith Young, Brian Haynes and Julie Mayfield.
This followed a closely-fought election that saw some upsets and a November that held two contentious Council meetings.
Now it was time for the half-ceremony, half nuts-and-bolts occasion of an “organizational meeting” as the city calls it, with the swearing-in preceding the appointment of a vice mayor.
It began on the ceremonial side, with the usual pledge of allegiance and Senior Firefighter Bentley Andrews playing the Star-Spangled banner.
Then, Mayor Esther Manheimer told the assembled crowd that it was time for them to sing a song her father, former UNCA professor and administrator Ron Manheimer, had written, with lyrics set to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “This land is your land.”
Here are the lyrics, presented without comment:
The actual sing-along went something like this.
I declined to participate.
From there, Hill swore in the new Council members in turn, starting with Haynes before proceeding to Mayfield and Young.
From there, with the new Council members seated, they offered a few remarks. For the moment, despite the differing opinions during the election, declarations of unity marked the day.
“I look forward to working with everyone on Council, I’m excited and I’m ready to go to work,” Haynes said. “I’m very proud of our city voters, I feel like they did a very good job. I don’t want to let you down. Also I would like to tell voters to stay involved: join committees, come to meetings and make your voices be heard.”
“Ultimately what this is for me anyways is an incredibly humbling experience; several thousand people I don’t know voted for me, and for Keith and Bryan and everyone up here and put their trust in us to help lead this city to a better future,” Mayfield said, adding that she had confidence that with the public and Council’s help “I think we will be able to lead Asheville to the place I think we all want to go, where the city remains a great place for people who live here, that we increase economic opportunity every day for more and more people.”
She added that she hoped unity would mark the current Council.
“Our city’s in a very transitional time, a very transformative time,” Young said. “These six up here have the city’s best interests at heart and I’m looking forward to being able to roll my sleeves up and work with each and every one of them. I thank each and every person that upheld their civic duty and came out to vote an encourage people to stay involved in the process and stay involved in your community.”
Manheimer noted that she was originally slated to make an address as well, but declined because “tonight’s not about me,” though she noted that she looked forward to working together.
“We will certainly have differing opinions and I hope we do; otherwise we’re not a functioning body,” she said. “But what I already here from you and what I look forward to is working through those differences to find an outcome that betters our community.”
So they then proceeded to choose a vice mayor. The position fills in for Manheimer when she’s not available, also represents the city at events and — traditionally — heads up the process for appointing locals to the many city boards and commissions that are also supposed to help write policy alongside the elected officials and city staff.
On that front, Council member Gordon Smith nominated Council member Gwen Wisler, noting that with Manheimer’s recent appointment as head of the state Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, the role was more important than ever.
“I’m going to nominate someone tonight who is a unifier, who has been showing up to more stuff than I’ve seen any Council member do since I’ve been up here, who has an unquestioned integrity, Gwen Wisler is everywhere,” she said. “She does very difficult things with extraordinary grace.”
Wisler, elected two years ago, is the former CEO of the Coleman outdoor company and currently runs a consulting company. She’s been firmly aligned with the current majority on Council on most matters, with the notable exception of issues she believes will affect the city’s finances. She notably voted against incentives for Moogfest, more recently against new loan terms for Mountain Housing Opportunities’ Eagle Market Place project and earlier this year pushed for studying an overhaul and possible increases in fees for users of the city’s parks and bus systems.
“I think of Gwen as a dove out in the community and a hawk when it comes to the budget,” Smith said. The appointment passed unanimously, with Mayfield offering additional praise for Wisler.
The new Council’s only meeting this year is tomorrow, where it remains to be seen if the unified front will persist as they deal with issues like the I-26 connector, another downtown hotel and the development of downtown.
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