Highland Park Town Council members reunited for the first meeting of 2026 with handshakes, smiles, holiday stories, and formal acknowledgement of gifts received late last year.
The monies received, primarily from the Highland Park Charitable League plus individual residents, provided a $650 one-time appreciation gift to each of the town’s full-time employees.
Mayor Will C. Beecherl saluted Jill Tanabaum and other league members.
“Thank you for all the contributions you were able to garner (for) a fantastic distribution to the town staff,” the mayor noted. “It was above and beyond anything we’ve seen before, so you’ve really set a great precedent to yourself for 2026.”
Town policy had allowed town administrator Tobin Maples to accept the gifts and make the one-time Christmas and retention payment to town employees already, but the council on Jan. 6 approved a formal resolution accepting the money.
The council also:
Neighborhood Spotlight
Park Cities
Where the Park Cities Stay Connected.
- Updated town Financial Management Policies to incorporate changes to state law. Effective Sept. 1, 2025, purchases below $100,000 no longer require formal competitive bidding, director of finance John Samford explained.
- Amended with local amendments town building codes to incorporate the most recent standards set by the International Code Council (2024) and the National Electric Code (2023).
- Authorized the sale of 3.281 acres from the town’s former landfill off Conveyor Lane in Dallas to the city of Dallas for the Hampton Pump Station Project. The town will deposit the $100,043 in proceeds in the Reserve Fund.
- Approved a replat combining two lots in the Mount Vernon Addition, where the applicant plans to demolish a house at 3812 Mockingbird Lane to create a larger yard for their home at 3816 Mockingbird Lane.
- Conditionally approved the replat of 0.765 acres at 3606 St. John’s Drive in the Hackberry Creek Addition to create two lots. After questions regarding a driveway are resolved, the site would be divided into a 15,003-square-foot property with an existing home and an 18,389-square-foot vacant lot that could be sold to a buyer wanting to build a home.
