Highfill fills alderman post, rezones properties

After administering the oath of office on July 10, Highfill Mayor Michelle Rieff (left) shakes hands with new council member Jayme Thompson to welcome her to the Highfill City Council. Thompson was appointed by the council on July 10 to fill the vacant Ward 1, Position 1, seat on the council.
After administering the oath of office on July 10, Highfill Mayor Michelle Rieff (left) shakes hands with new council member Jayme Thompson to welcome her to the Highfill City Council. Thompson was appointed by the council on July 10 to fill the vacant Ward 1, Position 1, seat on the council.

HIGHFILL -- City council, at its regular July 10 meeting, appointed Jayme Thompson to fill the Ward 1, Position 1, position vacated by Trevyr Lester. Thompson was sworn in by Mayor Michelle Rieff immediately after her appointment by the council, allowing her to be seated on the council midway through the meeting.

Trevyr Lester, the wife of Toby Lester, also on the council, resigned her post for reasons not stated in the meeting.

The council adopted two ordinances with rules suspended rezoning property belonging to Stacy Digby from C-1 to R-1 and property belonging to Highland LLC from rural RR Residential to PUD -- Single Family Residential. The Digby property is being used as residential and sale of the property was suspended pending the rezoning. Sale of the Highland property was also dependent upon the zoning change. An emergency clause was passed for each of the zoning changes, making the changes effective immediately.

The council passed a resolution adopting guidelines and policies for the use of the Highfill Community Building. The guidelines regulate uses for the facility, as well as cleaning and reserving the facility. The guidelines are to be posted in the facility and provided to anyone using the facility. Mayor Rieff reported that the city received an additional $20,000 for the building's restoration work as a historic site for a new roof. She said another $10,000 may yet be received through the county.

At the suggestion of Alderman Chris Holland, the council voted (with Mark White dissenting) to move $100,000 from the city's general funds into savings.

James Wiand, water and sewer supervisor for Highfill, reported that a rate study is "in the works" for the city. He said he had contacted Tim Mays of ESI regarding the study and would report more in the future.

Wiand also reported that the city was seeking to extend sewer lines to the NACA (Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority) wastewater treatment plant due to a health department regulation which only allows 400 homes to connect to Highfill's sewer system in spite of the fact that the sewer department's drip field can handle 100,000 gallons per day and the city is currently receiving

only 10 to 11 thousand gallons per day.

Holland asked Wiand to find out why the city is being limited when the sewer system is only operating at 10 percent of its capacity. Holland said the city's wastewater treatment facility was designed to be built in two phases, with each phase capable of handling 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

Vernon Reams, the street supervisor, reported on work to be completed on Rocky Comfort Road to replace culverts washed out in past flooding.

Holland suggested that Reams also take inventory of the city's street signs and budget each year to replace those signs which look bad and need to be replaced.

Mayor Rieff reported that Stacie Williamson had been selected for the part-time administrative assistant position and would begin on July 13.

Rieff also reported that the city hoped to launch a new website in August. The city website has not been updated in several years and council members have repeatedly asked for it to be updated.

Rieff reported that an updated communications system mandated by the governor's office would be coming and that Blake Webb, the city's police chief, would present information on the two- to three-year implementation plan once the Benton County Sheriff's Office receives budget approval for the new system.

A council workshop related to mid-year budget adjustments was set for 6 p.m. on July 23.

General News on 07/18/2018