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Council appoints former mayor Jerry Vihan to Planning Board of Adjustment
Summary
After interviewing multiple candidates, the council appointed former Mayor Jerry Vihan to the Planning Board of Adjustment, citing his years of local experience and emergency-services background; staff asked unsuccessful candidate Jerry Carr to consider reapplying later.
The Woodfin Town Council appointed Jerry Vihan to the Planning Board of Adjustment after interviewing several candidates for the advisory and quasi-judicial body.
Councilmembers said Vihan's long experience as mayor and 47 years with Buncombe County emergency services made him well suited to consider flood risk and post-storm planning. In his interview Vihan cited his service as mayor for two decades and his background with emergency management, saying that experience would be "an asset to the board" when considering development and disaster resilience.
The council moved and seconded a motion to appoint Vihan; members voted by voice and the motion carried with no recorded opposition. Councilmembers discussed the tradeoffs between choosing candidates with deep local knowledge and candidates with professional planning credentials and noted the value of Vihan's familiarity with local infrastructure and MSD constraints.
One interviewed candidate, who identified himself as Jerry Carr and described five years of planning experience and American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification, was not appointed; council members encouraged him to reapply when future openings arise.
The new appointment takes effect immediately; staff will complete onboarding and scheduling for the Planning Board of Adjustment.
