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Kimberly-Clark expansion will add 14 jobs

Saluda News

Duke says sale of Tuxedo power plant preserves whitewater recreation

TUXEDO — Duke Energy Carolinas announced this week the sale of its hydroelectric plant at Lake Summit and four others in the region, a move that whitewater paddlers are watching with interest.   Read Story »

Mills River News

Ask Matt ... How much wood can 
a wood chuck chuck?

Q. What is that large orange machine on the mulch yard near Ingles on NC 280 in Mills River? It’s a wood chipper. The machine carries the brand name Morbark 6600 Wood Hog and it’s a monster. Unlike the old round tub grinders the Wood Hog employs a steel belt conveyor to push logs, stumps, and trees into the grinder teeth. This baby will chew up and spit out tree trunks 42 inches in diameter. The Wood Hog was purchased by Riverside Stump Dump for a cool $1,015,000 and was broken in just last month. Ronnie Ray owns two Riverside Stump Dump sites, one in Mills River and another in Asheville, where he keeps an 18-year old tub grinder. Ray needed another chipper in Mills River. He likes the Wood Hog because it’s track-mounted which offers greater mobility. “I can put the new machine on a truck and take it to Waynesville or as far as Boone to do chipping at their own landfills,” said Ray. “It’s good for off-site jobs like clearing trees for a development.” I asked Ray how long before his million-dollar baby would pay for itself. “I don’t know yet,” he replied with a smile. But Ray was obviously impressed with the Wood Hog’s first day on the job. Anyone driving by the Stump Dump on Highway 280 can see that he has a lot of inventory. Now he just has to move out the mulch. Q. What competition for Internet and cable TV services is available locally and when do cable franchises expire?  It’s all changed. In 2007 our state Legislature did away with locally awarded cable television franchises. County Attorney Russell Burrell said that the law now calls for a “one size fits all” statewide franchise. The old city and county agreements are dissolved except that Morris Broadband must still provide a public educational and governmental channel (it’s channel 11). The new law changed how revenue is handled. Now the State collects revenue from the cable company and distributes it to local governments up a population-based formula. Our six local governments in Henderson County have collectively budgeted $716,000 in “cable revenues” for this fiscal year. It should be mentioned that U-verse, AT&T’s fiber optic service, is in the game with the state too. Some revenues come from a telecommunications tax and some from a video programming sales tax. Hendersonville City Manager John Connet pointed out that cable revenues are declining because more subscribers are moving to other Internet-streaming options. As for what competition is available locally, there is of course, Morris Broadband and U-verse for Internet and cable. Dish Network and Direct TV (AT&T) both offer TV but not Internet. Viasat offers Internet and TV via satellite. Spectrum (Charter Communications) operates in Buncombe County. They could get approved to operate a cable system here but they must bury their own cable lines in the ground or hang them on Duke’s power poles – likely a dealbreaker since Morris Broadband is already there. * * *Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Sheriff's office creates safe exchange location for buyers and sellers

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office has designated an Exchange Location in its parking lot at 100 N. Grove St. to provide an area where buyers and sellers can feel safe when they make transactions. “Many people already take advantage of the Sheriff’s Office as a place for conducting internet exchanges,” said Major Frank Stout. “We have parents who meet up for child custody exchanges in our parking lot and to buy items purchased on Facebook, Craigslist and other sites.” The signs are located in the first parking spaces directly in front of the main Sheriff’s Office entrance and explain the area is under video recording. The Sheriff’s Office recommends exchanges be conducted during daylight hours. The Hendersonville Police Department also offers an Internet Purchase Exchange Location in their parking lot behind City Hall at Sixth Avenue and King Street. Stout explained he continues to see people using the Sheriff’s Office as a safe area to conduct exchanges and wants to encourage others to be smart when buying and selling items online. “Establishing a safe meeting place, like our Sheriff’s Office, is a great step in reducing your chance of becoming a victim.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Hero of Pork Chop Hill, a local veteran, dies at age 90

Joe Clemons, a Hendersonville retiree whose heroism led to a pivotal U.S. Army victory in the Korean War, died on Tuesday at age 90 at his home, friends said.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

NCDOT spells out timeline for killing off Balfour Parkway

A consulting engineer has laid out a three-month process the agency will follow to remove the Balfour Parkway from the state transportation priority list culminating in action by the State Transportation Improvement Plan to remove the project in late summer. "The same partners who initially identified and supported the project can also agree to eliminate the project," Planning Group Manager Kristina Miller, of RK&K consulting, said in an email Thursday. "As a member of the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, Henderson County’s stance on the project will be considered by this regional transportation agency." The MPO is expected to agree during a meeting next week to initiate the process to remove the project from the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). That will trigger a pu blic comment period beginning June 6. The MPO will take up the TIP amendment on June 28.Upon approval of the TIP amendment, NCDOT would proceed to remove Balfour Parkway from the STIP by August. The N.C. Board of Transportation is expected to adopt the amendment in late summer, at which point the $160 million project would be dead.  "NCDOT and the entire project team appreciate the time and feedback given for this project," the NCDOT said. "Please be assured that the vote by Henderson County will not strain the working relationship and partnership between NCDOT and the county. NCDOT looks forward to continuing to work with Henderson County to address the county’s transportation needs."   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Local course hosts mini-golf U.S. Open

Although it’s his home course, the Champions miniature golf course is a challenge for Danny Baddley.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

State’s high court convenes in Hendersonville

The seven black-robed justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court sat in a court session farther west than ever on Tuesday morning, giving Hendersonville a state record, if a short-lived one.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Bet on brewery paid big returns

Some people criticized the Henderson County commissioners seven years ago when they agreed to tax incentives of more than a quarter-million dollars a year to recruit a prospect with the code name of Big Forest.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Commissioners, School Board to meet to resolve HHS funding dispute

Moving quickly to avert a blowup that could derail the Hendersonville High School construction, Henderson County commissioners and School Board members agreed on Wednesday to meet face-to-face next week to resolve a conflict over a newly announced price increase of $11 million. In meetings with School Board members on Monday, Clark Nexsen architect Chad Roberson and John Mitchell, the county’s business development director, told board members that the plans at $52.6 million included no auxiliary gym and an auditorium of 400 seats instead of 900. Hoping to finalize its 2018-19 budget by Wednesday, county officials asked School Board members to make a new request for $11 million more. The School Board said no. They said they felt misled by presentations and drawings going back to 2016 that had always showed an auxiliary gym and a 900-seat auditorium as part of the total project at the $52.6 million pricetag. The cost overrun, and the School Board's reaction to it, was only the latest in the long and contentious path to build a new Hendersonville High School, an option favored by the Board of Commissioners and broadly opposed by HHS students, faculty and alumni. The School Board voted against and then in favor of the new-school option before the City Council, in a split vote after an emotional public hearing, approved a rezoning for the project. County Manager Steve Wyatt and Commissioner Bill Lapsley said the larger auditorium and second gym were always add-ons above the agreed-upon capital cost of $52.6 million. Lapsley recalled that both the larger auditorium and an auxiliary gym were add-ons beyond the $52.6 million cost Clark Nexsen projected.“As far as the auxiliary gym, my take on it there’s two gyms at the existing school and we ought to provide two gyms at the new school,” he said. “Last week, when the architect met with us individually and he told us the second gym was going to cost $3 million and the larger auditorium was going to cost $8, my answer was I’ll vote to support the $3 million but not the $8 million. So that was my position last week and tomorrow (in a budget drafting session) if asked that’s exactly what I’ll say.”Lapsley does not regard the extra $11 million as a cost overrun; it was always known that the practice gym and larger auditorium would cost more.“The plan is the plan,” he said. “If they changed their mind and don’t like the layout of the buildings that train’s already left the station. We’re here at the 11th hour. I’d like to see us move on with the second gym” and continue repair and renovation of the Stillwell-designed auditorium for the school’s continued use. “What the board voted on, and it never wavered, was $52.6 million and 161,000 square feet,” Wyatt said. “Michael (Edney) had asked the architect for planning purposes (to price the gym and larger auditorium) and that’s what Chad has done. You include it in footprint but you don’t design that. You design that and amend the price” if the School Board and commissioners agree.The architect and general contractor, Vannoy Constrcution, are ready to solicit bids and need to know whether the auxiliary gym and 900-seat auditorium are in or out.“When we went to the city showed the largest possible footprint because to get approval to make it bigger we have to go back to them,” Wyatt said. “There were school people intimately involved but at no time was anything ever committed to other than $52.6 million and 161,000 square feet. I don’t think we care what the 161,000 feet looks like. If they wanted to move things around I don’t think commissioners would have a problem with that. Everyone knew that it was $52.6 million and 161,000 square feet and that those things were not likely to be in there." Not all commissioners agreed with Wyatt's recollection. “In the joint meeting we had back in November of ’16, we went into some fairly lengthy discussion on Hendersonville High School,” Commissioner Grady Hawkins said. “At that time it was pointed out that there was an auxiliary gym and a 900-set auditorium and the price was still 52.2 (million). What changed between that meeting? Somewhere the decision was made to go back and pare those down but yet it’s indicated in the November meeting that those other items could be successfully accomplished within that budget.” The process of “refining the program and refining the budget for each one of those options” resulted in the higher number, Roberson responded. “We also discussed in the May (2016) meeting that there was going to be at least a $10 million (price increase) to add those components to the project.” The architects say the auxiliary gym would cost $3 million and the larger auditorium $8 million.Commissioner Charlie Messer said he gets “questions I can’t answer” about the HHS project and its ever-escalating cost.“Why can’t we keep the old Hendersonville High School gym, the one that was built in the ‘70s? I would like to see the possibility of at least having some dialogue with the School Board to see if that would even be possible to do that because that’s saving a lot of money,” he said. “I don’t know if the county commissioners are going to get crucified for not using the buildings that we have.”Commissioner Bill Lapsley, a civil engineer, said that would be impossible.“From my perspective, if the School Board decided to save that building, you’re talking about a total redesign of the project,” he said. “That gym would be right at the front door of a brand-new $60 million school. … I support totally building a second gym. My biggest concern at the moment (is) we’re going to delay the construction project even more. I think we should at least direct the architect to proceed with a second gym and then if we want to debate the auditorium fine.”The School Board and commissioners will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 24, to discuss the next steps and agree on a construction price.   Read Story »

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