ASHEVILLE - The city has hired its first equity and inclusion manager, a position meant to root out institutional racism and give opportunities to underrepresented minorities.

Kimberlee Archie, a higher education consultant from Charlotte, was selected after a nationwide search, city officials said in a release late Thursday afternoon.

The other finalist was Alaysia Black Hackett, director of diversity and multicultural affairs at Mars Hill University. The two made the cut from a pool of nine top candidates.

Archie will begin work July 31 with an annual salary of $80,000. Total funding for the equity program is $136,000 this fiscal year, which started July 1.

The hiring comes more than a year after the council tapped equity and diversity as a key issue in early 2016.

Since that time the city saw the fatal police shooting of African-American resident Jerry Williams by a white officer, an incident that opened racial fissures, though the shooting was ruled justified.

A traffic disparity study this year by an independent group showed a disproportionate number of black drivers stopped and searched by city police. That was followed by historic pushback against expansion of the police department by many who said African-Americans face harsher treatment by officers.

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In her new position, Archie will work inside city departments and outside municipal government with nonprofits, the public and others to "establish the use of an equity lens in all city programs and policies," city officials said. Her first focus will be on city hiring and human resources, purchasing, public engagement, sustainability, public safety and community and economic development, officials said.

Archie has a bachelor's degree in social welfare from the University of Washington and a master's in education from Capella University.

She worked in mental health in Washington state and later as family support director for the United Way of King County. In Seattle city government she was director of the Department of Neighborhoods before moving to Charlotte.

Archie has two adult children, a daughter in Charlotte and son in Washington State.

Archie has facilitated workshops, taught courses and made presentations at conferences on inclusive public engagement, race and equity and related subjects, the release said.

City Manager Gary Jackson said she has "a passion for social equity."

“Kimberlee Archie brings to the City of Asheville a demonstrated track record in accountability and facilitating opportunities for others to grow and develop," Jackson said.

Her office will be in City Hall, where she will have a direct line of communication with him, Jackson said.

"She will have easy and regular access to all services, programs and initiatives across the organization through the day-to-day support for the services and programs provided by all departments," the release said.

The equity focus came from a January 2016 retreat where council members made it a top priority for the areas of health, education, housing and economic mobility.

In June the city hired a Denver, Colorado firm to do a $320,000 racial disparity study.

African- Americans make up the city's largest minority group. But black residents are shrinking in number, from more than 12,000 in 2000 to just over 11,000 in 2010, census figures show.

That year, local African-Americans had a median income of $30,000, compared to the average Asheville income of $42,333.

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In Asheville City Schools 26.4 percent of black students grades three-eight were performing at or above grade level during the 2014-15 school year.

Among white students, 83.1 percent had reached that bar.

In traffic stops from 2002, African-American drivers made up 18 percent of drivers stopped despite being less than 13 percent of the population.

That is according to the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the Asheville Buncombe NAACP and "open data" web developers who analyzed 15 years of traffic stop information.

The group said 33 percent of traffic searches were of black drivers and 66 percent were of white drivers.

Contraband was found on black drivers 28 percent of the time and on white drivers 29 percent of the time.