Hendersonville City Council Thursday unanimously approved companies to design and engineer a parking deck downtown.
Walter Consultants was hired for $487,000 to design and engineer the project. The firm was one of five that submitted proposals. S&ME was also hired for $98,500 to perform construction materials testing and special inspections for the project.
The four-story deck will house 253 parking spaces. The final design and cost for the nearly $11 million project on Church Street and Fifth Avenue West is expected to be brought to council for approval this summer.
Council members approved several other resolutions on its consent agenda, agreeing to:
Hire Edifice General Contractors as the construction management firm for the new Fire Station No. 1 that will be built. The firm was hired at a preconstruction services cost of $53,200 and a fee not greater than 6%.
One month after Greg Newman was removed from office as district attorney in a rare court proceeding, he has been approved to work in Asheville and Buncombe County as a defense attorney for indigent clients – those who have been accused of a crime and can’t afford a private lawyer.
Buncombe County Chief Public Defender Sam Snead on May 24 approved Newman to be placed on a list of attorneys who serve as court-appointed counsel for indigent people.
These lawyers are paid by the state’s Office of Indigent Defense Services to represent those accused of crimes but the public defender’s office has a conflict and cannot take their cases, or is too overburdened to take a case, Snead said.
Greg Newman, former Henderson County district attorney removed from office in disgrace in April, is working as a defense attorney for the indigent in Buncombe County.