- Title
- Chair, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners · Democrat
- In this role since
- sworn in as chair December 2024 (commissioner before that) (BPR)
- Current term ends
- December 2028
- Next voter decision
- not on the 2026 ballot
Surveillance record
No statement by Edwards on the RTIC, Fusus, the Axon contract, or the forfeiture money that funds them has been found. Her one relevant signature is collective: the November 18, 2025 joint statement with Mayor Esther Manheimer and members of both boards that “The Asheville Police Department and Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office do not participate in ICE or CBP operations and are not involved in federal immigration enforcement activities” (City of Asheville). The statement addresses operations, not data: nothing in it, or in any county policy, restricts what the sheriff’s cameras and plate readers share with federal agencies (Buncombe County).
She voted for the April 2, 2024 forfeiture amendment, $250,000 “to purchase surveillance equipment,” 5 to 0 (minutes). She chaired the Oct 6, 2026 meeting at which the board removed the sheriff’s $290,000 FUSUS/Axon forfeiture request from its agenda on Drew Ball’s motion, and let a resident who had signed up to speak on the item speak after its removal (county video, 0:19:20; the request).
She chairs the board that adopts the sheriff’s budget every June and whose head, under federal rules, co-signs the annual certification for the forfeiture money that built the RTIC (What the Law Lets the County Do). Whether that signature is hers or the county manager’s is a records question (request 16).
The question for her
Has she asked the sheriff whether Fusus or plate-reader data is accessible to ICE or CBP, and would she separate surveillance technology into its own budget line so the board votes on it knowingly?