HIGHFILL -- Council members at Highfill's Nov. 11 meeting heard a presentation by Brian Woodring of Utility Service Co., a company which services water tanks around the country and is used by Gravette, Decatur, Bentonville and Centerton. The council is considering using the company to service its water tank.
According to information presented by Wood-ring, the company would repair and re-coat Highfill's water tank inside and out and be responsible for all repairs and upkeep if the city chose to enter into a maintenance contract with the company. Annual cost to the city would be $41,370 for three years to cover the cost of repair and re-coating. After that, the annual fee would drop to $12,881 over the next years and rise to $14,298 for years 2021 through 2023. Tank repair and re-coating would be repeated again under the contract, with the expected life of coating being about 10 years.
The advantage to the service, according to Woodring, is the fact that his company would be responsible for any repairs or upkeep to the tank and would handle water sampling and paperwork to keep the tank online. Engineering fees would also be included in the price, he said. He said all the city would have to do is call his company with any problems, and Utility Service Co. would handle them.
At the September meeting, the council authorized James "Butch" Wiand to seek bids for re-coating the city's single water tank but asked him to have the interior and exterior portions of the job also be bid separately so that the city could proceed with work on the interior even if it lacks funds to complete both the interior and exterior at the same time.
According to Wiand in September, the city received estimates indicating it could re-coat the interior of the tank for approximately $47,000. The work would include a 5-year warranty, but the city could pay an additional $2,300 every two years for service and have the warranty extended for 10 years. The cost does not include engineering fees and costs associated with draining the tank and pressurizing the water lines. Councilman Chris Holland asked if Wiand thought another $10,000 would cover it, with Wiand indicating he thought it should.
Wiand said cost estimates to do the entire tank, inside and out, were approximately $105,000.
In September, Holland suggested the city use the money in the water department's savings -- approximately $35,000 -- and add the difference to it to do repair and re-coat the tank's interior unless the savings account will cover it by the time the work is done. We can then "save for the [work on] the exterior, Holland said. "Maybe, by the time they do it, we'll have enough to do the whole thing," Holland said.
"If we can do the $2,300 and get a 10-year warranty, I don't think we can go wrong," Holland said of his suggestion to begin with work on the interior, where it is needed most, and then follow up with work on the tank's exterior.
Holland was absent at the Nov. 11 meeting.
Woodring said on Nov. 11, his company's plan would allow the city to budget what tank maintenance would cost. He said he could project the contract costs out as long as the city would like. The maintenance contracts are renewable annually, he said, but the company would not ever drop the city except for non-payment.
No decision was made on water tank repair and maintenance. More discussion was saved for budget discussions which were to begin Tuesday, after press time.
A decision on the purchase of a 3/4 ton pickup truck for the street department was delayed until prices can be obtained on additional cab options -- including crew cab, extended cab and regular cab. The matter will be brought up again at the December meeting. Council member David Williamson said he would obtain fleet prices for Chevrolet trucks to be compared with state-bid prices on the three cab types.
In other business, the council approved two resolutions appointing Don Nash to fill vacant positions on the Highfill Water and Sewer Boards.
Also discussed was the possibility of moving the community building from its current location to the city park. Reason for moving it was safety because of trucks trying to make the corner on Arkansas Highway 264 and the visibility problems caused by the structure in its current location.
Highfill Mayor Stacy Digby said it was the only historic building left in the town and he wanted to see it preserved. He said the time to move it might be now rather than going to the expense of hooking it up to sewer because of the fire station expansion and then moving it later.
Digby said he had received a price of $21,000 to move the building but that did not include a new foundation and hookups for it in the city park. The matter was also referred to the budget planning meetings.
General News on 11/19/2014