Highfill to set up wards

Proposed Ward Boundary Option 1

Proposed Ward Boundary Option 1

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

— An ordinance which would have amended Highfill’s code by adding a definition of concentrated animal feeding operations failed on it’s third and final reading at a Dec. 13 council meeting at Highfill’s city hall.

Councilwoman Paula Pautsky made a motion to adopt the amending ordinance, but her motion failed to receive a needed second to put the ordinance to a vote.

An ordinance to adopt a city budget for 2012 was adopted on its second reading with Highfill Mayor Stacy Digby casting the deciding vote. Ryan Evans and Sandy Evans voted against the measure; Paula Pautsky and Michelle Rieff voted in favor of it; and Toby Lester abstained.

Account balances as of Nov. 2, according to the document, totaled $754,713. Projected 2012 budget summaries include $240,000 administration, $201,192 for street and alley, $172,500 police department and $151,935 for the fire department. Also attached to the budget ordinance was the waterwastewater fiscal budget for 2011 which is on a fiscal year from July 2011 through June of 2012. That budget includes total incoming revenue of $722,260 with total expenses (including water and wastewater loan payments) being $907,634 for a negative balance of $185,375.

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Proposed Ward Boundary Option 2

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Proposed Ward Boundary Option 3

The proposed budget is likely to be adjusted in working sessions of the council before it comes back for a third and final reading in January.

After some hesitation on the part of the council, it finally adopted by unanimous vote a resolution to continue payroll, fuel expenses and emergency maintenance into the new year until a new 2012 budget is adopted - anticipated at the council’s Jan. 10 meeting.

The council also passed on their first readings two ordinances which would establish three wards in the city and amend portions of city code dealing with the election of aldermen. The proposed changes are due to the city’s reclassification to a city of the second class under Arkansas law following the increased population numbers in the 2010 Census.

Under the law, city attorney Stephen Miller said, the city could either go totwo wards and four aldermen positions or to three wards and six aldermen. The proposal was to establish three wards.

Distributed to council members for review were three proposals from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission for ward boundaries within the city. A final ward boundary map will need to be adopted and included in the ordinance when it is passed on its third and final reading.

The council gave unanimous approval to a resolution authorizing the establishment of a separate bank account to hold the funds of the Ida Jean Bryant Trust, used to pay for training of Highfill Volunteer Fire Department firefighters.

The council approved 2011 over-budget expenditures for engineering services (relating to the Silver Meadows Subdivision) and legal expenses for the city.

A request from Deffenbaugh Trash Service for a 6-percent increase in trashrates (amounting to about 53 cents per customer each month, according to Digby) was tabled because representatives from the trash company failed to attend the meeting. The increase, according to Digby, would bring the company to the “break-even point” in their trash service contract with Highfill.

Kevin Higgins, Highfill’s fire marshal and code officer, brought back more safety concerns caused by the lack of finished work in the Silver Meadows Subdivision. Also discussed were the hazards caused by missing man-hole covers on streets in the subdivision.

Council members, by consensus, urged Higgins to begin leveling fines against the subdivision’s owner.

Police Chief Eric Jones reported the promotion of Jeremiah Nicholson from part-time officer to fulltime and his second in command. He also said the department had been given four new ballistic vests.

News, Pages 16 on 12/21/2011