Sgt. Janice Hawkins and Sgt. Curtis Jones were promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Detective Keith Cloer, Senior Police Officer Mike McClanahan, and Senior Police Officer Brandon Moore were promoted to the rank of Sergeant.

The officers were joined by family and colleagues and sworn in by Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy in the City Council Chamber.

“These individuals went through a very intense process for these promotions. They all worked extremely hard,” said APD Chief William Anderson. “They are outstanding and they have done great jobs to be here today.”

The Asheville Police Department maintains its commitment to public safety and promotions like the ones earned by these five officers further strengthens the department’s ability to serve the community. The department as a whole strives for excellence, and it is a pleasure to be able to recognize the achievements of these officers and see them move forward in their careers in law enforcement, Anderson said.

Click here for more about the Asheville Police Department.

Asheville’s Public Works Department takes on many of the core operations that keep the city operating day to day including streets, sidewalks, sanitation and stormwater services.

Click the video below to see Mayor Terry Bellamy read the proclamation declaring Public Works week at the May 14 City Council meeting and hear from some of the city’s Public Works employees.

Darryl Rice, Rob Martin and Kevin Haughinberry all completed specialized training through Blue Ridge Community College and passed the national inspectors certification test administered by the CSA Group, the industry standards developer for alternative energy vehicles. Their achievement makes them three of only a handful of people in North Carolina certified to inspect the low-emission CNG vehicles.

Compressed natural gas is cheaper – about $1 less per gallon – than gasoline and emits roughly 23 percent less greenhouse gasses. But the tanks on CNG vehicles are under high pressure and inspecting them requires specialized training.

Rob Martin, Darryl Rice, and Kevin Haughinberry stand next to one of the City's CNG-powered pickups.

The Fleet Division of the General Services Department inspects, repairs and maintains all City of Asheville vehicles, from Police cruisers to Water Services trucks to Street Services equipment. That keeps the garage on South Charlotte Street pretty busy. Adding CNG certification is a big step forward for the division, making it possible to inspect the city’s 35 CNG vehicles. Overall, eight city departments use CNG vehicles, from Public Works to the Asheville Fire Department. The City of Asheville also operates a CNG filling station at 45 McCormick Place that is open to the public seven days a week.

The CNG inspection certification is another step in support of the City of Asheville’s initiative to reduce its carbon footprint. Green and sustainable practices and fiscal responsibility are both goals identified by Asheville City Council in its strategic operating plan.

Click here to see more about the City of Asheville’s sustainability initiative.

Below is a 2012 post highlighting the summer camp:

Fire Camp a great escape for kids
June 14, 2012

For 28 youths, this week was a chance to fill the boots of firefighters at the City of Asheville Fire Department’s Fire Escape camp.

For the third year in a row, AFD hosted the three-day camp for boys and girls in grades six through eight. Attendance at the camp, held at the Asheville Firefighters Association Camp off Clayton Road, has grown since it began in 2010.

“We got some repeat campers, and a few told their friends. Word is getting out and we filled up pretty quick this year,” said AFD Public Information Officer Kelley Klope.

The department’s interaction with students at Asheville Middle School through the In Real Life partnership also contributed to the turnout, Klope said.

Kids got to learn how to use turnout gear, the suit and equipment firefighters use when entering burning buildings, unroll and connect hoses and take a turn in the 100-foot-tall aerial bucket. They even got a taste of the obstacle course training that Asheville’s firefighters use to stay in top form.

“They get to learn the skills we use,” Klope said. “The kids just love it.”

The camp also serves as an introduction to other opportunities the AFD offers, including Asheville Fire Explorer Post 77, which trains young adults ages 14-21 firefighting skills. Several current firefighters with the department got their start in Post 77.

Fire Escape camp was provided free of charge, thanks to the participation of the Asheville Firefighters Association and Asheville firefighters who volunteered their time over the three days. The AFD also wants to thank Firehouse Subs and Asheville Pizza and Brewing for donating lunches.

Click here to apply to attend Fire Escape Camp.

For information about future camp opportunities, contact Kelley Klope at (828) 251-4011 or kklope@ashevillenc.gov.

The conference focused on the challenges and opportunities for expanding diversity in the workplace and in management roles in light of a rapidly changing population.

Participants took part in 20 break-out discussions on topics from mentoring to stereotyping, all of which are important issues facing the marketplace. Keynote speaker Dr. Robert Livingston gave a presentation on the influence of physical appearance, race and gender on the conscious and non-conscious process of leader selection.

“The conference was an opportunity to support the YWCA’s campaign as well as to share the research of Dr. Livingston with a broader audience of local employers,” says City of Asheville’s Human Resources Manager Derrick Swing. “The conference received immediate positive feedback, and we hope to collect more formal feedback that will help us in designing future opportunities for events like this one.”

“Realizing the Benefits of Inclusion and Diversity” would not have been possible without the help of Buncombe County, UNC Asheville, the Center for Diversity Education, the YWCA, AB Tech, MAHEC, ABCRC, and others.

Click here for more about the YWCA Stand Against Racism.

Contenders for the awards, both individuals and teams, are nominated by their colleagues, supervisors and the people they work alongside, and a highlight of the ceremony is hearing the special accomplishments of each nominee.

“This is a great opportunity to hear examples of people who do excellent work across the city in a variety of ways, because that’s who you are,” said Kelley Dickens, the City of Asheville’s Director of Human Resources said at the ceremony.

Below are the nominees in each category, with the winners marked in blue. Congratulations and a big thanks to all nominees. See more pictures at the City of Asheville’s Flickr page.

Continuous Improvement

Rich Rauschenbach – Asheville Fire Department
Robert Martin – General Services

Integrity

John Presley – AFD
Mike Brookshire – Water Resources

Diversity

Anna Pigman – AFD
Sonia Salgado – Water Resources

Safety and Welfare

Jeremy Godfrey – Water Resources
Linette Sieben – Water Resources
Jamie Bryson – AFD

Hazard Device Team – Asheville Police Department

Excellent Service

Jason Williams – IT Services
Keith Mastin – Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts
Nick Harvey – Public Works
Sandra Travis – Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts
Holly Waltemyer – Human Resources

Special Victims Unit – APD
Drug Suppression Unit – APD
Battalion 3 C Shift – AFD
APD Day Shift Downtown Unit

Outstanding Leadership

Kevin Taylor – APD
Ron Kerns – Water Resources
Robert “Rock” Jones – Public Works
Douglas Quinones – AFD

Open Data Catalog Team

Above and Beyond

Erik Hagen – General Services
Kathy Wilson – IT Services
Josh Darty – Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts
Brenda Mills – Finance
Charity Constant-Morris – Finance
Diane Meek – Development Services
Dion Eskew – General Services
Avery Gibbs – AFD
Anthony Oliver – Public Works
Rafael Bango – AFD
Hayne Griffin – AFD

Public Housing Unit – APD
Transit Master Plan Team – Transportation
Flushing Team – Water Resources

Rising Star

Jonathan Ingle – Public Works

North Carolina local governments must abide by very specific procurement and contracting laws that provide transparency to citizens. CLGPO certification means that the Amy and the City’s Purchasing Division are recognized as providers of efficient, fair and transparent business practices. Amy has been the city’s purchasing manager since 2007, and has been pursuing CLGPO certification for much of that time in an effort consistent with the City of Asheville’s goal of continuous improvement.

“Amy helps ensure that taxpayers get the best value for goods and services, which is especially important during challenging budget times,” says Deputy Finance Director Eric Hardy.

The Purchasing Division is responsible for procurement of equipment, supplies and services. It issues and manages requests for bids for contracted services throughout the City of Asheville organization, and Amy’s certification ensures that Asheville is a leader in doing business in a fair and open way.

The division works to enhance bidding opportunities to contractors by working closely the City of Asheville’s Minority Business Program and by utilizing social media to spread the word about bid requests.

Click here for more information about the City of Asheville’s purchasing division.

To receive bid requests via Twitter, follow @ashevillebids.

“This is a great service project for our local organizations and it’s a huge help to us,” Hendren says. “Each fire company is assigned the upkeep of hydrants in a certain part of the city, and having volunteers help out frees up our firefighters and allows them to take care of other tasks.”

Its not just busywork, Hendren says. A bright coat of paint helps firefighters quickly find hydrants when responding to a fire and the colors tell them what water pressure the hydrant has and what kind of coupling to use. Red, orange, green and blue all denote different water flow. That information is critical when seconds can mean saved lives or property.

Repainting takes place between April and October and all kinds of groups, including schools, youth groups, scouting troops or civic organizations are invited to volunteer. The AFD provides all the materials and Hendren leads a short training session before volunteers head out with maps of the area they will cover. Hydrants assigned to volunteers are chosen so that volunteers don’t work on major traffic corridors.

For more information or to sign up to volunteer, contact the city’s Volunteer Coordinator Marsha Stickford at (828) 259-5506 or email: mstickford@ashevillenc.gov..

Click below to see a video about volunteer fire hydrant painting made in collaboration with the Girl Scouts of Buncombe County:

In an ongoing effort to communicate fiscal realities and identify community priorities in the upcoming budget year, Asheville City Council will hold a community budget meeting Thursday, April 18, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will take place in the gymnasium of Charles T. Koontz Intermediate School, located at 305 Overlook Road, Asheville.

The community budget meeting is another step in engaging residents in the ongoing budget process.

At a March 12 work session, city staff presented City Council with preliminary balancing strategies to close a $2 million budgetary gap.

On April 3, the public was invited to a town hall meeting at the U.S. Cellular Center where a deeper level of budget balancing strategies were introduced based on forecasted revenue impacts of recently proposed state legislation.
At the April 18 meeting, staff will once again update Council and the community on new developments, following which, members of the public will be asked to participate in small group budget discussions to help prioritize and weigh impacts of budget balancing options.

Background, staff reports and updates on the 2013-2014 budget discussion can be found at: ashevillenc.gov/budget.

Koontz Intermediate School is located shares an entrance with Valley Springs Middle School. The entrance is located on Overlook Road just north of the intersection with Long Shoals Road and south of the South Asheville Library.

The slideshow below shows step-by-step how it was done. Click in the lower right corner to enlarge the images and then click in the upper right to enable descriptions of the photos.

Fiscal responsibility and multimodal transportation are two goals in Asheville City Council’s Strategic Operating Plan.