Highfill amends budgets

HIGHFILL — Council members passed three ordinances, two of them on all remaining readings, at their Aug. 9 council meeting in the new city hall.

An ordinance rezoning 120 acres owned by Legacy Bank from C-2 commercial back to rural residential was passed with rules suspended and on three readings with a single vote.

The land, located northwest of Arkansas Highway 12 on the western boundary of Highfill’s city limits, was originally zoned rural residential but had been rezoned to C-2 commercial.The zoning change restores the possibility of the land being sold for other than commercial purposes.

Passed on its second and third reading - with Sandy Evans voting no and Ryan Evans, Toby Lester, Michelle Rieff and Paula Pautsky voting yes - was an amended city budget for 2011, reflecting more accurately incoming revenue and current expenditure needs. The amended budget includes salary adjustments for Vernon Reams, head of the town’s street and maintenance department, and Stacie Williamson, the town’s recordertreasurer. The full-time salary for Reams is $35,000 per year. Williamson will receive $14,000 per year for her part-time position. Theadjustments are retroactive to July 1. Sandy Evans suggested the salary for recorder-treasurer be reset to $10,000 per year.

A full copy of the amended budget is available from the city office.

A third ordinance was passed on its second reading. It would amend the town’s sewer regulations to make it possible to provide for the transport and disposal of liquid waste from the new Osage Creek Amphitheater set to open yet this year south of the city. The ordinance will be brought back for a third and final reading at the regular September council meeting.

With Sandy Evans being the only council member voting no, the council gave the go-ahead for fire chief Jeremy Jackson to pursue a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to purchase a new fire truck to replace the department’s 24-year-old truck located at station two. The grant application, with up to $1 million allowed, requires a 5 percent match. The applications are due Sept. 9.

Jackson said the department could apply for enough for a new fire truck - $350,000 to $400,000 - with money for the town’s matching portion being in the department’s savings fund for equipment purchases. Jackson said the department could prepare its own grant application and save on the cost of hiring someone to prepare it.

The only downside for the town, Jackson said, was a FEMA requirement for departments receiving the grants to follow National Fire Protection Association standards. That would require all firefighters to receive an extensive annual physical. The estimated cost of the physicals for the entire department of 30 could be as much as $12,000 per year, depending on the number of firefighters already receiving the physicals from their full-time departments. The first year’s cost could be written into the grant, but the town would have to come up with additional funding to pay for the physicals in subsequent years, Jackson said.

Another requirement would be providing an additional 80-hour training class to qualify fire department personnel to drive emergency vehicles under NFPA guidelines.

Jackson said the cost involved was a small price to pay if the department could receive a new fire truck at only 5 percent of the price.

Street and Maintenance Department supervisor Vernon Reams told council members he was looking at the possibility of applying for a grant to purchase a road grader for the town which could be used for street and road maintenance, and alsosnow removal. The grant would provide 100 percent funding for the purchase, with the only expense to the city being a $2,500 preparation fee. He said he would report back to the council in September with more details about the grant.

Water and Sewer Department supervisor James “Butch” Wiand said he would like the council to consider a way to set upsome type of savings for his department for future purchases and major repairs. He voiced concerns that no budgeting mechanism was in place to provide for system improvements or expansions, or if a major repair would be needed.

Highfill police chief Eric Jones told council members the refurbished patrol car the city ordered late last month from a company in Vinita, Okla., should be delivered this week. He also said he expected to be able to turn back most of the extra $1,500 the town allowed him to ready the car for service.

He also reported the possibility of being able to use a team of county sheriff’s officers for meth lab cleanup at a much lower cost than hiring a private hazardous materials disposal company.