HIGHFILL — The city council, on March 14, approved a resolution and an ordinance making it possible for Silver Meadows LLC to move forward with its plans for the construction of a subdivision with 250 homes and a park within the city limits.
The resolution will allow Silver Meadows to place money into an escrow account for road and street repairs in the subdivision. The agreement specifies that $20,000 would be placed in the escrow account now, with another $1,000 per lot deposited when the individual building permits are issued. In another matter in which some street repair attempts had failed, the council agreed to allow Silver Meadows to place $15,000 into an escrow account to complete the repairs when the weather is more suitable. According to reports, cracks in the streets had been repaired twice but opened up again and it was thought the repairs could better be completed in the warmer months.
The ordinance, passed on three readings with a single vote and with an emergency clause, approved the final plat for the subdivision. Michelle Rieff was the only council member who voted against approval of the final plat. She voiced concern related to not requiring builders to fence in the back yards of homes in the subdivision along Mason Valley Road. City code does not currently require privacy fences around backyards, according to Mayor Stacy Digby, and the city could not arbitrarily require it.
Vernon Reams, the city's street supervisor, reported that Malone Road was the worst street in town and recommended patching the bad spots and putting a 1 1/2 inch overlay between Arkansas Highway 12 and Main Street. Also suggested was patching a short section of Mason Valley Road, overlaying a portion of Holland Avenue and replacing the culverts on Linwood Street with concrete culverts and overlaying the street with 1 1/2 inches of asphalt.
Reams said that, in some cases, the cost to chip and seal was greater than the lowest bids to overlay with asphalt. He also said there is little or no grant money available for street repair.
Digby spoke of looking for grants to overlay the walking trail in the park. He said it was pretty rough and needed an overlay. Rieff reported receiving a complaint that there was not enough lighting along the trail in the park.
The council unanimously approved the expenditure of $29,997.53 from savings to purchase 100 Neptune water meters and the necessary software to go with them. James "Butch" Wiand, the city's water and sewer supervisor, said he didn't think the supply of new meters would last long. He said he planned to use the new meters in places where a larger number of water customers are grouped together and readings for the area could be taken from a single location. He said working meters which are older could be recouped and used where reading multiple meters from a single location was not an option.
Wiand also informed the council of five air release valves not working at the Hutchens Road lift station. He said the bad valves cause the system to air lock and they need to be replaced. He said the cost would be $5,000 plus some significant cost to get to the old valves and replace them.
Mayor Digby brought up the topic of creating a waiver request to opt out of city trash service, but Digby and the council agreed that the city couldn't just let people opt out because the city's trash contract is based on service for the whole city.
Also suggested was a form to be given to contractors when they obtain their building permits to explain that sales and use taxes for items delivered in Highfill were to be credited to Highfill and not the city listed in the mailing address.
Digby reported that the Highfill 4-H informational meeting had standing room only. He also reminded council members of an upcoming fire department chili supper and pie auction at the Highfill Community Building, from 5 p.m. until it's gone, on April 15. The pie auction will begin at 6:30 p.m.
An Easter Egg hunt is scheduled in Highfill for 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, in the city park.
General News on 03/29/2017