HIGHFILL — In a brief meeting on March 12, Highfill City Council passed a rezoning ordinance, a resolution changing the fiscal year of the water and wastewater department and discussed options to cut the city's legal fees.
With rules suspended, the council passed, on three readings with a single vote, an ordinance to rezone property located at 14378 West Highway 12 from Rural Residential to C-1, Neighborhood Commercial District. The action was recommended by the city's planning commission in response to the Feb. 5 application of Edward Nicklaus.
According to a representative of Nicklaus, the rezoning application was for just over 6 acres of property — about 20 percent of the total property — in order to build three ball fields there.
By resolution, the council changed the fiscal year of the water/wastewater department from a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year to a Jan.1 to Dec. 31 fiscal year. The change will bring the department in line with the city's fiscal year and budgeting process.
In a discussion period at the close of the meeting, councilman Chris Holland asked if the council would like to look at the possibility of hiring a different attorney in an attempt to lower the city's legal fees. City attorney Steve Miller explained that state law requires municipalities to consider qualifications of those providing professional services, choose based on the qualifications and needs of the city and then negotiate a contract.
Holland explained that he was only seeking to “get the most bang for the tax payers' buck.”
Highfill Mayor Stacy Digby said he expected that other qualified attorneys would likely have similar rates to the city's current attorney.
Miller explained that a way for the city to save money on its legal fees is to handle more of the work with its own employees, especially in matters where it only requires minor changes to legal work which is already done.
Holland asked if there were trainings to which the city's treasurer/recorder and administrative assistant could be sent so they could take over some of the duties which the city has been sending to its attorney. Miller suggested looking into trainings offered by the Arkansas Municipal League and the Arkansas City Clerks, Recorders, and Treasurers Association.
“As long as we keep it at $30,000, we're good,” said councilman David Williamson, saying that should be the maximum amount the city spends annually on legal fees.
Though the city has been spending considerably more each year recently, Miller said he thought the city could hold down legal fees to $30,000 by doing more of its work in-house and having his law firm oversee that work and focus on handling new ordinances and contracts rather than handling almost all of the city's legal documents.
Digby said Gentry's city attorney, Jay Williams, said Gentry holds legal costs down by doing much of the work itself, in-house.