Recap of City Issues - December 12, 2008

Scott Kriston attended the TX DOT FM 2499 phase 4 weekly project meeting.  The TX DOT FM 2499 project status  is as follows:  Currently the installation of the stormwater pipe continues near the Castlewood area and the Brooks Court area, retaining wall construction continues on the south end of the project at Clifton, near the Castlewood / Highland Shores intersection and near the Castlewood / Northwood intersection, the contractor installed all of the drill shafts on the south side of the proposed bridge at Poindexter Branch of Lake Lewisville, he has moved to the north side of the bridge and started installing drill shafts.  Franchise utilities are working on relocating their infrastructure that needs to be relocated inside the TX DOT right of way.  CoServ continues relocating electric poles & buried electric south of Highland Shores Blvd.  They are relocating the poles to one-foot inside of the TX DOT r.o.w. so TX DOT can install a proposed retaining wall 500 feet south of Highland Shores Blvd. on the east side of the TX DOT r.o.w.  Time Warner CATV has laid a temporary line and is anticipated to start relocating approximately 800 feet of buried CATV wire located south of Highland Shores Blvd. over the next few weeks.  TX DOT is verifying drainage easements along the entire project.  Explorer Pipeline completed the relocation of their gas line that cross the TX DOT r.o.w. in Highland Village.  TX DOT is installing culvert boxes across the right of way at various locations, flagmen will control traffic during this process.  It is anticipated to take one day to install each of the box culverts across the r.o.w., weather permitting.  The holiday schedule for the TX DOT contractor is as follows:  Dec. 25 - Jan. 4.  

Corporal April Roppolo and Corporal David Harney attended the LETS graduation at Christa McAuliffe Elementary.  135 fifth graders received a certificates.  Guest speakers were Mayor Costa, Captain Blount, Officer Stevens, Officer Henderson, Officer Stanford and Detective Musick.     

Scott Kriston held a pre-construction meeting with the engineer and contractor for the proposed DKH Academy this week.  This project will be built on the corner of Highland Shores Blvd. and Briarhill Blvd.  The contractor is planning on starting construction the first week of January 2009.

Matthew Kite, P.E., Scott Kriston and David Clark met with the architects at Freese & Nichols this week to discuss the proposed Municipal Service Center preliminary layout.

Matthew Kite, P.E., Scott Kriston, Charles Mitchell and David Clark met with BW2 Engineers this week to discuss the City's project status report.

Utility Crews attended a Pipeline Safety training class at the Fire Station.

Utility Crews repaired an electrical short at the Highland Shores Well lot when a phase of 480V shorted out against the conduit.

Utility Crews flow tested the fire hydrant at 3140 Justin Road for fire protection of the new IHOP.

Utility Crews made two emergency turn offs for a residence in need of repair.

Utility Crews assisted the Parks Department with replacement of their water service for Pilot Knoll Park.

Utility Crews TV inspected the sewer main on Lake Creek to insure proper repair of the line from last year's backyard erosion due to the flood waters.

Utility Crews TV inspected a sewer lateral line on Catlin to check for possible bad spots in need of repair.

Utility Crews flushed and TV inspected the sewer line on Scottish Mist Trail to assist construction crews making the sewer tie in for the new District at Highland Village construction project.

Utility Crews obtained the required bacteriological water samples as mandated by the state & delivered them to the Lewisville lab for testing.

Utility Crews unstopped two sewer backups and flushed the sewer main on Pebble Knoll.

Utility crews repaired 2 water main line leaks - one on Catesby Place and one on Highland Village Road.

Utility Crews verified all city infrastructure was uncovered and up to grade on 104 Woodland for construction of new home.

Utility Crews started installing fence posts around the Southwood Well Lot to prevent unlawful dumping in the area.

Utility Crews dressed the areas on Camelot Ct  that was made during the installation of a sewer service for new a home construction.

Utility Crews winterized all fire hydrant construction meters at each construction project location in the City.

Utility Crews responded to four (4) after hour emergency call outs this week. 

Utility crews performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.

Drainage crews re-graded and re-sodded drainage easement behind houses at the 800 block of Camelot.  

Drainage crews repaired a stormwater pipe separation under the pavement in the 200 block of Village Tree. 

Drainage crews repaired curb inlet at the 200 block of Village Tree. 

Drainage crews cleaned a drainage culvert at the corner of Harlington & Chinn Chapel. 

This week the Police Department responded to 134 calls for service, made 48 traffic contacts, made 8 arrests, responded to 6 traffic accidents and performed 567 community policing activities.

Jana Onstead kicked off our first "Lunch and Learn" for employees on December 3, 2008.  Employees are invited to bring their lunch and learn about a topic of interest.  A representative from Nationwide presented tips on "How to Manage Investment Risk." 

Martha Butz attended the TMHRA Employment Law conference in Rockwall December 3^rd thru 5^th.  Martha serves on the TMHRA Board and was the program planner for the conference.

A graduation ceremony was hosted by NTMA in Bedford on Thursday to recognize employees who completed a training series.  Martha Butz, Lonnie Tatum, Ron Knox and Charles Mitchell attended along with some of the employees recognized.  Lupe Hernandez and Mark Rudder from the Street Department attended for completing the Lead Worker Series.  Sandy McCoy from the Public Works Department and Nancy Sharp from the Fire Department attended for completing the Customer Service Series.  These employees also completed training but were unable to attend the ceremony.

Vanesa Childers attended a Power Recruiter Workshop sponsored by Monster in Grapevine on Thursday.

Barbara Osborne, Court Administrator attended a New Judge/Clerk school in Austin as a Committee Member for Texas Municipal Courts Association. Barbara's duties are to provide a membership sign-up and promote the state organization.

On Friday the annual employee holiday luncheon sponsored by the Lion's Club was held.  Employee service awards were presented to twenty employees:

            20 YEARS       Sam Smith, Jane Ponder and Sue Thompson

            15 YEARS       April Roppolo

            10 YEARS       Patty Hamilton, Paul Kimberlin, Ron Knox, and Guadalupe Hernandez

             5 YEARS        Julie Erickson, Wesley Nienhuser, Travis Nokes, Roy Willis,  Matthew Kite, Dennis Oliver, Vanesa     Childers, Gary Cowley, Rhoda Savage, Tom Rollins, Onay Nunez and Jana Onstead

A canned food drive to benefit the CCA Food Pantry was held in conjunction with the employee holiday luncheon.  Employees donated both canned goods and money, which were delivered to CCA to help with their needs during this holiday season.

Chief O'Bara attended the Executive Board Meeting for the Texas Police Chief's Association.

Officer Jose Diaz attended Crime Scene Search training at the Regional Policy Academy in Arlington.

Friday morning Mayor Costa attended the Lets Graduation at McAuliffe Elementary.

Mayor Costa and members of Council attended the Annual Staff Holiday Luncheon sponsored by the Lions Club on Friday.