Local News

Fayetteville PWC responds to WARN Mutual Aid Request

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Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Written by Staff Report

In response to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina, representatives from the Fayetteville Public Works Commission’s Water Resources Division are responding to a Mutual Aid request from NCWaterWARN.
WARN stands for Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network. These representatives will be joining other water and wastewater utility workers to help restore drinking water and sanitary sewer services in one of the hardest-hit areas of Western North Carolina.
Hurricane Helene caused significant damage to critical infrastructure, particularly affecting drinking water systems and wastewater management facilities in multiple counties. Many residents are experiencing disruptions in essential services, such as drinking water and wastewater management, which poses serious health and safety concerns.
To address these urgent needs, NCWaterWARN has mobilized resources, expertise, and volunteers from across the region. Teams are working to assist communities with materials and supplies, repairing damaged pipelines, clearing debris, and ensuring safe drinking water access. They are also helping restore water reclamation facilities to prevent further sanitary sewer overflows and mitigate environmental hazards.
PWC sent multiple Water Construction Crews and other subject matter experts to the Town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene, Wednesday, Oct. 9, for at least 2 to 4 weeks.
“This Mutual Aid effort is a testament to the spirit of collaboration and community amongst the North Carolina Public Utilities,” said Timothy L. Bryant, PWC CEO/General Manager. “As one of the largest public utilities in North Carolina, we understand the need to provide critical services to our community and how important it is to work together during emergencies. We are proud of our team members who volunteer to leave their families to help our neighbors in Western North Carolina regain access to clean drinking water and proper sewage services, especially during this challenging time.”
What is NCWaterWARN?
NC WaterWARN is a Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network, (WARN) of utilities committed to helping each other conduct response and recovery operations. WARN provides a system of mutual aid that may be utilized by public water/wastewater utilities requiring emergency assistance from other member utilities. NC WaterWARN provides:
• A voluntary mutual aid and assistance network to combat water-related incidents throughout the State of North Carolina
• An organized system for requesting assistance in the form of personnel, emergency equipment, materials and other required resources
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual Aid is a collaborative effort where individuals or groups come together to support one another, particularly during times of crisis or need. Utility Mutual Aid includes sharing resources, skills, and knowledge to repair and/or rebuild critical infrastructure in response to emergencies like natural disasters.

(PWC has sent Water Construction Crews to Black Mountain, North Carolina in response to a mutual aid request from NCWaterWARN. Photo courtesy of PWC)

What does the future hold for Fayetteville, Saint-Avold sisterhood?

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Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Written by Evey Weisblat, CityView Today

When the mayor of Saint-Avold, France, stepped onto the newly renamed Saint-Avold Avenue in downtown Fayetteville last year, it was a symbol of a decades-long friendship between the two cities, and a commemoration of the French mayor’s first visit to Fayetteville.
Fayetteville and Saint-Avold have been paired as part of the International Sister City program since 1993, but the relationship had been stagnant for many years, until 2021, when Kris Johnson founded the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance, an independent nonprofit organization that has supported the program through new cultural and educational exchanges between the cities. This includes facilitating and raising funds for delegations from both cities to visit each other in 2023 and 2024.
“They’ve rekindled the relationship,” Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen told CityView, referring to the Friendship Alliance.
But more recently the 30-year sister city relationship has been marked by tensions between Fayetteville City Council members and the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance that emerged during the Fayetteville delegation’s trip to Saint-Avold in late May, which included Council Members Mario Benavente, Malik Davis and Courtney Banks-McLaughlin.
Conflict around the trip stemmed from an unscheduled outing to Paris that the three city council members took in the middle of the visit. Members of the delegation previously told CityView the council members had disappeared unannounced and during important group discussions one day in the trip, while the council members maintain they had received permission to leave.
Now, council members are reconsidering the structure and nature of the Saint-Avold sister city program.
At a recent Fayetteville City Council work session, the council declined to fulfill a $15,000 request from the Friendship Alliance to support the costs of hosting nine French teachers and three students from Saint-Avold, who are visiting Fayetteville from Oct. 18 to Oct. 30 for an educational exchange program with Cape Fear High School and Massey Hill Classical High School.
Two representatives from the Friendship Alliance, Sylvia James and Stacie Ferry, presented the request at Monday’s meeting. Friendship Alliance director Kris Johnson, who could not attend Monday’s meeting, told CityView on Tuesday the group had initially submitted the proposal for the trip and request for funding in June, after discussing it with Saint-Avold city officials during the trip in late May. The board of the Friendship Alliance has been fundraising since then, and has raised $15,000. In light of the funding request being denied, Johnson said, they will now have to stretch the money they’ve raised to cover the costs of accommodations for the Saint-Avold guests.
Funding request
The request for funding was initially set for a vote at the last council meeting in September, but the council tabled it for a more in-depth discussion at the October work session.
At an agenda discussion prior to the September meeting, Benavente pushed for the October discussion, explaining he wanted to reconsider funding allocations for the program.
“I’m not saying that we need to hold that against the kids involved in this otherwise good program, but to me, that is a concern about the leadership and the judgment of this group,” Benavente said.
Benavente is one of the three council members who went to France and made the day trip to Paris.
Mayor Mitch Colvin also expressed concern at the September meeting about fulfilling the request amid competing budget priorities.
“I do want to get a little clarification about where we’re going with this,” Colvin said. “You know, what’s the ROI? I like Kris [Johnson]. I like the program. But again, you know, are we going to do this each year?”
The council ultimately expressed willingness, via a unanimous consensus vote on Monday, to support the educational exchange trip with an in-kind donation of a van for transportation, and asked the Friendship Alliance to submit a revised request to be approved at the next council meeting on Oct. 14.
Speaking to CityView, Johnson declined to comment on whether she believes there is any connection between the denied funding request and concerns raised by members of the Friendship Alliance about the council members’ behavior in France. She expressed appreciation to the council for offering to assist with transportation for the trip — and optimism about a positive relationship moving.
“I’m not looking to burn any bridges,” Johnson said.
During the work session, other council members raised concerns about fulfilling the $15,000 request to the nonprofit.
The city previously spent $10,000 for the Saint-Avold delegation’s visit in 2023, and $7,846 for the travel expenses of the three council members who went to Saint-Avold earlier this year. The nearly $8,000 for this year’s travel expenses was appropriated from the city’s general fund.
Banks-McLaughlin also said she had concerns about the amount of funding in the organization’s request being considered at the meeting.
“I do think that it’s a great idea to have teachers coming from Saint-Avold to visit our city, but it does give me heartburn,” Banks-McLaughlin said. “The fact that we are using taxpayer dollars and we have other organizations that need funding.”
Johnson said the Friendship Alliance has been supporting the sister city relationship that the City of Fayetteville entered into three decades ago. She said the municipality of Saint-Avold has been generous in the past, and “rolled out the red carpet” for previous Fayetteville visitors, paying for meals and lodging for the Fayetteville delegation when they visited in May.
“My point is that the city council … and the city government of Fayetteville made this relationship,” Johnson said. “I mean, they’re the ones that created this relationship.”
Prior to the council reaching consensus to provide transportation assistance to the Saint-Avold group, Jensen proposed a motion to fund the group with $10,000, but the motion ultimately failed, as it was not seconded. She told CityView she hoped the conflict during the May trip was “not the reason” that the initial $15,000 funding request was not fulfilled.
Jensen told CityView she hopes that Fayetteville can maintain the relationship with Saint-Avold as it looks to the future. She expressed frustration that the volunteer-run Friendship Alliance may not get the support it needs from the city to keep the relationship with Saint-Avold afloat.
“Well, it’s sad that you have volunteers that are putting their time and their money and their resources to make this a good thing for our city,” said Jensen, “and it’s going to fall by the wayside.”
Johnson told CityView she was grateful for the city’s offer to provide transportation assistance, and will provide them with
the necessary information.
“I’m really truly hopeful that this year will be the start of student exchanges,” she added. “That is such an amazing opportunity for students in Fayetteville.”
Johnson said the Friendship Alliance has several destinations planned for the Saint-Avold teachers and students, including tours of local universities, landmarks and historical places.
A new sister?
The debate over funding requests led city staff and council members to reconsider the nature and purpose of the sister city program, as well as its management by a private organization (the Friendship Alliance) and informal structure. Currently, no one on city staff oversees the program.
Several council members and the city manager recalled recent talks with members of the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation about exploring another sister city relationship that would focus specifically on shared economic development opportunities. Mayor Mitch Colvin mentioned there were companies in South Korean and African cities that have also expressed an interest in establishing themselves in Fayetteville.
“There were cities close to military bases, large military bases that had [shared] strategic interests,” Colvin said during the work session. “And we’ve actually, economically, had a few of those companies that either [have] come here or give interest for here.”
Hewett said there are other cities that Fayetteville officials and economic development leaders “feel culturally, economically may foster that type of relationship that we want, which is the whole purpose of the sister city.”
Ultimately, Benavente moved to establish an “ad hoc” group that would report back to the council with an expanded Sister City program. The motion gained consensus.

Up & Coming Weekly Editor's note: Cumberland County's Private First Class William M. Shaw, a casualty of World War II is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France. The American Cemetery in Saint-Avold is the largest American military cemetery in Europe. The street running in front of the cemetery is the Rue de Fayetteville. The 30 year sister city program with Saint-Avold holds significant military history with the city of Fayetteville.

Looking at American Indian, Alaska Native groups in U.S.

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Tuesday, 08 October 2024

Written by Staff Report

Hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes live throughout the United States. As the nation prepares to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day this October, the month can serve as a great time for people from all walks of life to recognize the diverse range of groups who make up the American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
The United States Census Bureau reports that more than half of the country’s Native American population lives in five states. Oklahoma, which is home to 14.2 percent of all American Indians in the United States, has the largest such population of any state in the nation, followed by Arizona (12.9 percent), California (9.9), New Mexico (9.1), and Texas (4.8).
Data collection regarding all subsections of the U.S. population is ongoing, and that includes research into the American Indian and Alaska Native populations. But recent findings from the USCB illustrate some notable developments among the American Indian and Alaska Native populations between 2010 and 2020.
• The Alaska Native “alone” population grew by a significant percentage in the decade between 2010 and 2020. During that time, the Alaska Native alone population increased by nearly 11 percent, reaching 133,311 in 2020. The “alone” designation includes respondents who reported only one response when asked a question regarding their race on the 2020 census.
• The Alaska Native alone or in any combination population, which includes both those who gave just one response to the race question as well as those who reported multiple responses, increased by nearly 46 percent between 2010 and 2020.
• The American Indian alone population increased to just under 2.2 million in 2020, marking an increase of 11.6 percent since 2010.
• The American Indian alone or in any combination population nearly doubled in the decade-long time frame, increasing to more than 6.3 million in 2020.
• The largest Alaska Native alone group in 2020 was the Yupik (Yupik Eskimo), which accounted for nearly 7 percent of the total Alaska Native alone population. But the largest Alaska Native alone or in any combination population was larger. That distinction belongs to the Tlingit, who accounted for more than 9 percent of the Alaska Native alone or in any combination population in 2020.
• The Navajo Nation made up the largest share of the American Indian alone population in 2020. The Navajo Nation accounted for 14.6 percent of the American Indian alone population in 2020, followed by the Cherokee (10 percent), Choctaw (3.2) and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina (2.5).
• The Cherokee (23.8 percent) made up the largest share of the American Indian alone or in any combination population in 2020. The next greatest subsection in that category were the Navajo Nation (6.7), the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana (4.7) and the Choctaw (4).
American Indian and Alaska Native populations make up a sizable percentage of the overall U.S. population. Recognition of these figures can serve to remind U.S. residents from all walks of life of the significance of celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day this October.

Court of Appeals revives property owners’ lawsuit against Fayetteville

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Tuesday, 08 October 2024

Written by Paul Woolverton, CityView Today

Neighborhoods want the city to rebuild lakes that drained when dams burst during 2016’s Hurricane Matthew.
Western Fayetteville residents whose private lakes and dams were damaged or destroyed in Hurricane Matthew in 2016 may continue their lawsuit over their losses against the City of Fayetteville, the N.C. Court of Appeals said in a ruling issued Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge William R. Pittman in 2023 had ordered their case dismissed.
This aerial view from Google Maps shows where Arran Lake used to be in western Fayetteville. The lake washed away when its dam breached during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. Credit: Screenshot from Google Maps
The property owners and their homeowner associations want the city to repair and rebuild the dams of four lakes — Devonwood-Loch Lomond, Upper Rayconda, Arran Lake (which all overtopped and breached during Hurricane Matthew, and no longer hold water) plus the dam for a lake near Strickland Bridge Road (which did not breach but was heavily damaged).
Hurricane Matthew caused severe flooding throughout Fayetteville, Cumberland County and southeastern North Carolina.
The property owners contend Fayetteville had used their lakes to help control stormwater, and so the city bears responsibility for the damaged and destroyed dams.
In court papers, Fayetteville’s lawyers said the lakes were built before 1961 and were designed to be recreational amenities for their neighborhoods. This was long before the neighborhoods were annexed into the Fayetteville city limit.
The city’s lawyers said an engineering study concluded the city’s urbanized infrastructure upstream of the lakes contributed a negligible amount of stormwater during the hurricane’s massive rainfall — that the hydrological models show the water would have overflowed these dams even if the city had not been built up around them.
In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge N.C. Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday said some of Pittman’s reasons for dismissing the property owners’ lawsuit were valid, but he had been mistaken on other points. The appeals court said the lawsuit should have advanced:
• On the question of whether since the hurricane destroyed and damaged the dams, the city has been negligent in sending stormwater through the empty lake beds (which now have the original creeks on which the dams were built).
• On the question of whether the city is trespassing on private property by discharging its stormwater through the empty lakebeds, instead of discharging it some other way.
Court of Appeals Judge Hunter Murphy and Judge April Wood were in the majority opinion. Judge John M. Tyson, who is a Fayetteville resident, agreed with most of Murphy and Wood’s decision. But he said the lawsuit should also have advanced to consider whether the city, by sending its stormwater through the dry lakebeds, has taken the residents’ property via inverse condemnation
Inverse condemnation occurs when the government takes or damages something you own without paying you first, says a definition published by the Cornell Law School. The federal constitution requires the government to pay you if it takes your property.
This lawsuit could next move to the N.C. Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals decision. The parties have until Nov. 5 to request this.