Mountain Pine’s new mayor answers call to serve

MOUNTAIN PINE — Morgan Wiles’ resignation as Mountain Pine mayor last month made him the city’s third elected mayor since July 2016 to leave office before the end of their term.

Rather than calling a special election for the 20 months remaining on Wiles’ term, the City Council voted last week to appoint former Recorder/Treasurer Malinda Henson.

Henson, who moved back to her hometown two years ago, said she didn’t seek the appointment.

“I actually wasn’t going to run at all,” she said. “So many people put in to nominate me, I went ahead and took it. I would have people stop at my gate and say, ‘I hope you’re running for mayor.’”

Henson stepped into the breach during a challenging time for the former mill town of about 800 people. Her predecessor sparred with the City Council over lines of authority, with Wiles accusing the council of interfering in executive matters and focusing on trivial issues rather than the structural challenges facing the city.

Henson hopes to have a better relationship with the council. Her mother, Virginia Long, is a council member for Ward 3.

“I think the city needs someone who can talk to anybody, whether it’s an official or the homeless guy on the street,” she said. “We have so many elderly and other people who were getting overlooked.”

Henson said she and her husband, Eric, relocated from Pearcy to be closer to her mother and father.

“My parents are in their 70s, and they’re not in the best of health,” she said.

Henson also helps out with her seven grandchildren, a brood that will grow to eight when daughter Shayna Henson’s first child arrives later this year. In addition to looking after three generations of kin, Henson is an active volunteer in the community.

“I try to volunteer as much as I can,” she said. “I deliver food or help out with anything that comes up if it’s for the town.”

City Attorney Terry Diggs said Henson has experience running City Council meetings. She served as acting mayor after Wiles tendered his resignation.

“She has presided over the council in the absence of Mayor Wiles, and she has done a very good job,” he said, adding that city government has become a matriarchy, with the newly installed chief executive and seven of the eight City Council members being women.

Henson is focused on infrastructure improvements. Reintegrating the municipal water tank into the city distribution system is a priority. The Arkansas Department of Health issued a precautionary boil order in March 2016 after a report from a 2013 inspection warned debris and other hazards were inside the 110,000-gallon standpipe tank. The lifting of the order was conditioned on valving off the tank, which has been offline for more than five years.

The Health Department said the tank rusted because it had not been painted, allowing holes to develop in the roof and weld seams to rust on the top and bottom. In early 2020, an engineer told the City Council steel angles supporting the top of the tank were unsound.

The city buys its water wholesale from the city of Hot Springs. Water from the nearby Ouachita Treatment Plant on Cozy Acres road has flowed directly into Mountain Pine’s distribution lines since the tank has been offline. Water pressure has been mostly unaffected as a result of the city’s proximity to the plant’s high service pumps that push water across the regional water system’s 145-square-mile service area.

Engineers have said pressure would be affected if water were needed for fire suppression. The absence of storage capacity would also leave the city with no reserve in the event of a service interruption at the plant.

“Since the first of the year, when I took over as recorder/ treasurer, I’ve been pushing it more,” Henson said. “It’s very important to get it back online. It’s an issue that’s been on the agenda for a very long time.”

In addition to public works and utilities, the police force the City Council reconstituted in spring 2019 also answers to Henson. The city was without a police department for more than two years.

Henson said she’s hopeful she can improve relations with Garland County. Her predecessor was critical of the sheriff’s office, telling the Garland County Quorum Court in 2018 that deputies didn’t give calls for service in Mountain Pine the same priority as more affluent areas.

During the first few months of his tenure, Wiles withheld the city’s share of the countywide sales tax that funds the Garland County jail.

The state tax code entitles the city to a population-based share of the 0.375% sales tax.

The county’s other incorporated areas entered into agreements to remit their shares to the county after voters approved the sales tax in an October 2011 special election. The ballot title voters endorsed said cities with law enforcement personnel shall use their collections to operate and maintain detention facilities and pay the cost of housing prisoners.

Wiles, hoping to negotiate a payment based on the number of city inmates in the jail, said his position was supported by statute, but he ultimately relented. The city has had a detention services agreement with the county for almost two years.

Henson said she’s asked the county to help the city maintain its streets.

“We had no help from Garland County because of issues with other mayors,” she said. “We have talked to them, and they’re willing to start coming out here and helping with potholes as soon as they get caught up, which is a big plus.”