Title: City Manager, City of Asheville (Dakisha “DK” Wesley) In this role since: January 12, 2026 (appointed unanimously by council December 5, 2025, from 50+ applicants; previously assistant county manager, Buncombe County, July 2019–January 2026; before that Lake County, IL (where she oversaw the Law & Judicial portfolio) and 12 years with Fort Worth, TX) Current term ends: — (serves at council’s pleasure; not elected) Next voter decision: never directly; the council that hires and fires the city manager is on the ballot Nov 3, 2026 · Election 2026
Why the city manager has a page on a surveillance site
Asheville runs on the council-manager system: council approves decisions; the manager carries them out, and for the RTIC, the implementation details are where all the unresolved questions live. Two of the most consequential surveillance decisions in the city’s history now sit on this desk, neither subject to any vote:
1. The contract. On May 7, 2026, five days before the RTIC vote, Wesley confirmed to council, on the record, that the Axon agreement they were about to authorize “does not exist yet… B2 will give me authorization to further negotiate and finalize that contract with Axon.” (2026-05-07 Agenda Briefing) Council then granted exactly that. The final terms of a 7.5-year surveillance contract (retention, data ownership, ACEIP participation, termination rights, renewal pricing) are whatever Wesley negotiates and signs. The signed document has never been made public ([[Records Center|request #1]]).
2. The police chief. The permanent successor to the interim chief is the city manager’s pick; a “comprehensive and collaborative search” was expected to produce a name “by the end of September” 2026 (WLOS). Whoever it is inherits the RTIC as it goes operational, every promise APD made, and the policies that can be revised without a council vote. No election, no confirmation hearing: one hire.
Worth knowing for context: Wesley came to the city from six and a half years as an assistant county manager at Buncombe County, the government whose Sheriff built the ~2,000-camera Fusus network during that same period (Buncombe County). To be precise about what is and isn’t known: which county departments she oversaw was never published (the county announced her hire without assigning a portfolio, and no later source enumerates one), and no public record connects her county role to the Sheriff’s Office or its camera network; I state the chronology and nothing more. It says something that the official who now controls records access has an unpublished job history herself.
The transparency commitment on the record
One statement worth holding onto. On May 7, when Roney pointed out that even council couldn’t easily find the operative Axon documents (buried under “final agenda documents” from a prior meeting), Wesley answered: “they’re public documents, so there’s no reason why we cannot ensure access.” (2026-05-07 Agenda Briefing) That is a standing, quotable commitment from the city’s chief executive. Every time a record on the Records Center list is refused, delayed, or buried, it can be measured against the manager’s own words.
What to watch
- The executed Axon contract: did the negotiation add the protections other cities won (term caps, audit rights, no auto-renewal; Denver got all of them), or sign the vendor’s baseline? The document answers this the day it’s released.
- The chief announcement (~September 2026): the pick, the process’s community input, and whether the new chief inherits or revisits the promise ledger.
- The dashboard 404s: the promised transparency pages are the manager’s office to fix; “no reason why we cannot ensure access” applies.
Related: Jackie Stepp · 2026-05-07 Agenda Briefing · What Axon Contracts Do · Records Center · Promise Tracker