HIGHFILL -- City Council in Highfill adopted a new budget and passed a resolution to keep water rates at their current level during its Dec. 13 regular meeting at city hall.
Water rates would have automatically gone up by 5 percent at the beginning of the new year but the council, at the recommendation of James "Butch" Wiand, the city's water and sewer supervisor, and the city's water board, the council voted to forgo the increase this year and leave rates where they have been. Wiand said the city has been gaining new customers and will likely be getting more in the immediate future to offset costs of the system. He also said the city's rates are close to the same as other neighboring cities, adding that he did not want to see Highfill's rates go higher and discourage new customers from signing on to the system.
The council also passed a new budget for 2017 after trimming most increases from department budgets to keep expenditures from exceeding incoming revenues. Overall, incoming revenue was anticipated to be $1,664,700, with expenditures set at $1,664,412. A full copy of the city's budget is available at city hall.
One change in the police department budget was to eliminate the sergeant's position and replace it with a second patrolman position. The change came following the resignation of Sgt. Darren Robertson to take a position with another department. Rather than refill the sergeant's post. Blake Webb, Highfill's police chief, suggested the council eliminate the sergeant's post and authorize him to hire a second patrolman instead. The action would save the city approximately $7,000 in annual salary costs, and Webb said the department didn't really need a sergeant because of its size -- a chief, two full-time officers and one or two part-time officers. Webb mentioned the possibility of promoting a part-time patrolman (Dennis Malone) to full-time as a way to fill the position, but posting and notification within the city needs to be done first before a decision is made.
Councilman Roger Hill questioned Chief Webb about the possibility of continuing with just two full-time officers, and Webb said he didn't believe it could be done in the long-term because the full-time officers would get no time off and would pretty much have to be on call at all times as the primary or backup officer. He said the county and neighboring cities are under no obligation to provide services inside Highfill, and even to contract with the county and pay for an officer's time, car and equipment would not necessarily keep an officer in the city on a regular basis if he or she would be needed elsewhere in the county. He said such an arrangement would need to be discussed with the sheriff's department for details if the city wished to pursue it. Webb said he thought having a chief and two full-time patrolmen and some part-time officers was the most efficient and cost effective way for the city to provide law enforcement services to its residents.
In a related issue, the council voted unanimously to release the ownership of Kit, the city's 4-year old service dog, to Darren Robertson. Robertson had served as the city's K-9 officer until his resignation and is the second officer to be a handler for Kit. The action was taken because of the time and cost involved to train a new handler and to maintain the K-9 program. Webb said he didn't have the time or money to continue the K-9 program in Highfill at the present time and that it is hard on the dogs to change handlers multiple times. With the release, the city also frees itself from any liability in regard to the dog. The possibility that Robertson could possibly be asked to use the dog in his employment at Cave Springs was discussed, but no provisions were included in the release.
In other business, the council appointed Roger Hill to the city's depository board, authorizing him to be a signatory on city bank accounts since Paula Pautsky will no longer be on the council after Dec. 31. Don Nash was reappointed to Position 1 on the city's planning committee. After some discussion in regard to Pam Harwell's place of residence, she was reappointed to Position 2.
The council also discussed possible reasons for declining tax revenue from car rentals at the airport and questioned why the incoming tax revenue continued to decline when the airport continued to grow and get busier. A possible meeting between city officials and airport officials was suggested as a way to learn the reasons.
General News on 12/21/2016