Student, city honored at Airway Heights council meeting

There were plenty of awards at the May 21 Airway Heights City Council meeting as the city was given one along with a student from Sunset Elementary School.

First, the chair of Washington Community Forest Council, Angel Spell, presented Airway Heights with the Tree City USA award for the 15th year in a row.

"It's an honor to be here to celebrate Airway Heights with 15 years," Spell said. "We recognize your efforts."

The city is one of 91 in the state to receive the award.

"Our community needs trees and we need trees," Spell said. "Together, by using our resources, we are making the community a better place."

The second award was given to student Nihal Phagura for the Arbor Day poster contest. Mayor Kevin Richey and Spell presented the honor to Phagura, who said the poster took a couple days to complete.

The artwork will be on display in the front foyer of City Hall for the remainder of the school year.

Since there were only two council members present, there was no quorum at the meeting, which means nothing could be voted on.

In staff reports, City Manager Albert Tripp announced that the city has reached out to the West Plains Community Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who threatened a lawsuit on April 2, but he said that they haven't heard back from them.

He also had Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director JC Kennedy present the council with an update on the shortfall of funds for the recreation center, which has dropped from $2.2 million to $1.7 million.

"We are still trying to find ways to fill this gap," Kennedy said.

The reason behind the update is because the city is looking into buying property in the future and Tripp wanted to inform the council on what other funds they need to focus on first.

Councilwoman Veronica Messing suggested that they talk more about it when the whole board was present.

Grace Pohl can be reached at [email protected].