Mayor on Duty

I wish I could say it’s over, but I can’t. The drought and related restrictions on water use and outside burning remain in place. The small amount of rain we got over the past weekend […]

The picture says it all. The water is just going over the Lake Sequoyah Dam. Highlands has not had significant rain for some time, and I don’t see any in the immediate future. Are we […]

Tonight is the Highlands Town Board meeting beginning at 7 p.m. at the Highlands Community Center next to the ball field. At 6 pm the board will have a public workshop meeting at the same […]

For nearly 35 years, there have been several efforts to secure funding to dredge Mirror Lake. With the state appropriating 5 million dollars in the new budget, the restoration of the lake will become a […]

Thursday night is the monthly Highlands Town Board meeting. It will start at 7 p.m. at the Highlands Conference Center next to the ball field. But before this official business meeting, there will be a […]

We are in the season of wonderful community events. This past weekend, the entire community enjoyed a well-done Dazzling Dahlia Festival. I want to thank the festival’s organizing committee and the Highlands Historical Society for […]

I attended a wonderful tribute to the late Katherine Willoughby at the Shakespeare and Company Bookseller last Friday afternoon. Mrs. Willoughby was the owner and operator of the bookstore for many years and an honored […]

I fired my large kiln this weekend in preparation for the Village Square Art Show that begins on Saturday. I have been making pots since 1968, and after getting out of the Army in 1972, […]

Thursday night is the August meeting of the Highlands Town Board of Commissioners. It will begin with public comment at 7 pm. The meeting can be accessed remotely by using the YouTube link on the […]

I was at an inaugural Earth Day convocation 53 years ago this month, and it will be celebrated again this year on Saturday, April 22. I had a little longer hair back in April 1970 […]

Last Thursday, the town board and staff conducted an all-day budget workshop, aka the Highlands Town Retreat. This event signaled the start of the budget process for the coming year. It will be followed up […]

Last Wednesday, our Town Manager Josh Ward, and I took the five-hour drive to Raleigh to attend the North Carolina League of Municipalities Town and State Dinner for 2023. This event always takes place at […]

I was optimistic, and the staff was too, that the town would receive a state grant to replace the aging pre-clarifier tank at the water tank. The town had resubmitted the grant we applied for […]

Pictured above are HFR firefighters and an HPD officer pouring water on a house fire in Sagee Woods a day after the initial emergency call was made. The fire took multiple days to fully extinguish. […]

As mayor, I like getting positive feedback, all elected officials do, it makes for a good week and last week was a very good week. After writing this column last week, where I proposed […]