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From YouTube: Governance Committee
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B
Okay,
thank
you
good
afternoon
everyone
and
welcome
to
the
governance
committee.
A
subcommittee
of
the
asheville
city
council.
All
the
committee
members
and
staff
are
here
present
through
google
meets
and
I
would
just
like
to
briefly
introduce
everyone.
So
my
name
is
esther
mannheimer,
I'm
the
mayor
of
asheville,
and
we
have
here
with
us,
councilwoman
kim
brownie,
councilwoman,
gwen,
whistler
and
brad
branham,
our
city
attorney.
B
Okay,
we
are
streaming
live
on
our
virtual
engagement
hub,
which
is
accessible
through
the
virtual
engagement
hub
link
on
the
front
page
of
the
city's
website.
We
also
have
an
option
for
the
public
to
listen,
live
by
phone
dialing.
B
B
B
B
Okay,
we
have
a
motion
and
a
second
I'll
do
a
roll
call
vote,
councilwoman,
roney
and
councilwoman
whistler.
I
and
myself
I
okay.
The
minutes
have
been
approved.
The
next
item
on
our
agenda
is
the
non-discrimination,
ordinance
city
attorney,
brad
branham
will
present
this
item,
so
I'm
going
to
turn
it
over
to
brad.
D
Thank
you,
mayor
and
good
afternoon,
members
of
the
committee
and
anyone
else
who
is
watching
today.
I
do
have
a
quick
presentation
to
provide
some
context
of
this.
If
we
can
pull
up
those
slides,
I
can
begin.
D
D
Adoption
of
this
ordinance
would
allow
the
city
to
align
its
regulations
with
that
of
the
newly
adopted
ordinance
in
buncombe
county,
as
well
as
advancing
the
city's
overall
goal
of
fostering
equity
and
inclusion
throughout
our
community.
Next,
please,
as
a
little
bit
of
background
in
2017,
the
general
assembly
adopted
house
bill
142..
D
The
primary
purpose
of
this
bill
was
to
repeal
the
former
and
commonly
known
law
hb2
or
the
bathroom
bill.
Now.
This
law
also,
however,
prohibited
local
governments
from
enacting
any
ordinances
which
regulated
private
employment
or
public
accommodations,
but
this
prohibition
ended
late
last
year
and
since
that
time,
multiple
cities
and
counties
throughout
the
state
have
enacted
new
anti-discrimination
ordinances
dealing
with
private
employment
and
public
accommodations,
most
recent
of
which,
just
last
week
was
buncombe
county
next
slide.
D
It
would,
in
cases
where
a
voluntary
resolution
cannot
be
reached,
avail
the
city
of
the
ability
to
utilize
civil
penalties
as
well
next
slide,
diving
a
little
deeper
into
the
ordinance
elements,
as
I
mentioned
in
my
first
or
second
slide.
It
would
prohibit
discrimination
in
two
areas:
private
employment
and
public
accommodations.
D
Private
employment
does
refer
to
anyone
within
the
city
employing
one
or
more
persons,
and
it
covers
matters
such
as
hiring
tenure
conditions
of
employment,
as
well
as
other
employment,
related
factors
with
regard
to
public
accommodations.
The
ordinance
defines
this
as
any
place
facility
store
or
other
establishment
which
supplies
accommodations
goods
or
services
to
the
public.
So
we
can
think
of
this
as
anything
from
an
airbnb,
a
restaurant
retail
store
or
other
service
providing
business.
D
There
are
several
exemptions
built
into
the
ordinance
which
are
primarily
designed
to
align
the
city's
ordinance
with
existing
state
and
federal
law.
I
will
note
that
there
are
religious
exceptions
included
for
educational
institutions
and
corporations
and
associations
similar
to
what
was
provided
for
in
buncombe
county's
ordinance
next
slide.
D
The
ordinance
also
provides
a
process
for
violations
of
the
ordinance.
In
such
case,
complaints
can
be
filed
directly
with
the
city's
office
of
equity,
inclusion,
persons
or
entities
who
a
complaint
is
filed
against
may
also
provide
a
written
answer
to
the
office
and
that
staff
will
then
conduct
an
investigation,
including
conducting
certain
discovery
related
activities.
This
could
include
anything
from
site
visits,
reviewing
documents
taking
testimony
from
witnesses,
asking
additional
questions
and
the
investigations
will
use
what
is
called
a
reasonable
cause
standard
of
review,
and
this
will
ask
whether
or
not
based
upon
the
evidence
collected.
D
These
complaints
will
then
be
addressed
primarily
through
education
and
persuasion,
a
mediation
process
which
will
hopefully
result
in
voluntarily
entering
into
agreements
called
conciliation
agreements
to
cease
the
discriminatory
activity.
It
is
our
hope
that
these
sort
of
voluntary
activities
will
resolve
most
of
the
issues
that
arise.
However,
in
such
cases
where
these
voluntary
procedures
are
not
acceptable,
we
do
have
the
option
under
the
ordinance
to
issue
civil
penalties
100
per
incident
per
day,
as
well
as
seeking
injunctive
relief,
if
necessary
through
the
city
attorney's
office.
D
Due
process
is
also
protected
under
the
ordinance
by
providing
an
appellate
process
for
all
parties
concerned.
Following
the
investigation,
the
office
of
equity
inclusion
will
issue
a
final
report
to
the
parties.
If
voluntary
compliance
cannot
be
achieved,
appeals
from
these
decisions
can
be
made
either
to
the
director
of
the
office
of
equity
inclusion
or
to
a
panel
consisting
of
the
city
manager,
the
city,
human
relations
director
and
the
city
attorney.
These
appeals
need
to
be
filed
within
10
days
of
a
final
decision,
or
that
right
is
forfeited.
D
However,
additional
appeals
can
still
be
made
to
the
superior
court
system
next
slide
now.
With
regard
to
timing,
in
order
to
coordinate
the
city's
response
with
that
of
buncombe
county,
the
city's
ordinance,
if
adopted,
would
not
take
effect
until
july
1st
of
this
year.
This
brief
period
between
adoption
and
implementation
would
allow
both
local
businesses,
as
well
as
the
governmental
agencies,
to
prepare
for
the
implementation
specifically
providing
a
period
for
both
public
and
governmental
training
and
education.
D
C
This
is
kim,
I
mostly
I
just
have
some
acknowledgements
one
brad,
thank
you
to
you
and
your
office
for
getting
us
to
this
place
where
we're
ready
for
today's
decision.
C
I
do
acknowledge
the
concert,
the
concerns
that
I
hear
around
the
fines
not
being
enough
that
they
are
less
than
some
traffic
tickets,
that
we
will
need
to
address
capacity
building
for
the
office
of
equity
inclusion,
and
I
just
also
want
to
acknowledge
that
as
a
person
of
faith,
I
know
that
my
religious
freedoms
are
protected
by
the
first
amendment,
so
I'm
hearing
some
concerns
around
that,
but
also
that
protection
against
discrimination
and
employment
and
public
accommodations
is
not
yet
protected
at
the
federal
or
state
level,
which
is
why
we
are
among
the
municipalities
of
north
carolina
passing
these
non-discrimination
ordinances
for
those
who
have
concerns
which
I
share.
C
This
is
a
starting
point
and
we
have
farther
to
go.
I
am
deepening
my
understanding
around
discrimination
on
source
of
income
and
what
that
means
for
folks,
for
example,
who
have
voucher
holders
or
veteran
voucher
holders
for
housing.
So
I
know
that
we
we
are
going
to
keep
moving.
We
have
work
to
do,
but
this
is
certainly
a
necessary
step.
So
thank
you,
brad
for
your
help.
Getting
here.
D
Thank
you,
councilwoman
rooney.
We
appreciate
that
and,
as
you
said,
I
would
mention
that,
if
adopted,
we
certainly
always
have
the
ability
to
make
amendments
these
ordinances
to
determine
where
any
areas
exist
that
need
to
be
tightened
up
or
increased
in
terms
of
strength.
So
we
can
provide
the
very
best
ordinance
structure
for
the
community.
B
Yeah
I
want
to
thank
you
also
brad.
I
know
you
you
and
I
and
have
been
talking
a
lot
as
well
as
with
councilwoman
rony
about
the
other
cities
that
have
been
working
on
these
ordinances
and
that's
been
very
much
a
moving
target
and
several
some
cities
and
a
couple
of
counties
have
already
done
this
and
the
ordinances
look
different
and
there's
a
lot
of
varying
opinions
about
what
they
should
or
shouldn't
include
or
what
they
can
or
can't
include.
B
So
I
appreciate
all
the
work
that's
taken
behind
the
scenes
and
as
council
member
whistler
remembers
going
through
this
experience
when
hb2
was
happening
was
very
traumatic
for
our
community,
especially
so
it's
kind
of
amazing
to
me
that
we're
here
at
this
point.
So
that's
very
that's,
really
exciting
and
I
want
to
thank
jasmine
who's,
maybe
out
there
in
the
ether
and
the
county
for
leading
the
way
locally.
On
this
and-
and
I
know,
there's
some
talk
of-
maybe
some
other
municipalities
within
buncombe
county
following
suit.
B
If
there
are
any
other
questions
or
comments,
let's
see
if
we've
got
any
callers.
Is
that
all
right
can
we
do
that?
I
think,
first
of
all,
what
I'll
need
is
a
motion
to
approve
and
then
we'll
we'll
see
if
we
have
any
any
callers,
do
I
have
a
motion
to
approve
and
move
this
forward
to
city
council
this
evening.
A
I
was
just
going
to
make
motion
so
I'd
make
the
motion
to
move
this
on
to
city
council
tonight
for
approval.
B
B
Okay,
okay
and
we
have
a
few
people
signed
up
tonight,
so
people
are
probably
waiting
for
this
evening's
meeting.
Okay,
I'm
gonna
do
a
roll
call
vote.
So
when
I
say
your
name,
please
say
please
state
your
vote:
councilwoman
roney,
aye,
councilwoman,
whistler,
hi
and
then
myself.
I
all
right.
Thank
you.
So
the
last
time
on
our
agenda
is
public
comment
and
I'll
just
check
again.
Jenna.
Do
we
have
anyone
wishing
to
make
public
comment
at
this
meeting.