Recap of City Issues - March 20, 2009

The City's contractor, Railroad Controls Inc. has completed the installation of train horns at the Briarhill and Highland Village Road railroad crossings. Testing of the horns showed a marked decrease in train horn noise to the surrounding neighborhoods. The Kansas City Southern Railroad must now approve the installation and issue a general order to its operators to begin observing the new protocol of not sounding the train's horn at these two locations. RR Controls tells us this process generally takes 5 to 6 weeks. After that time the trains will not use their horn but rather will rely on the installed horn to provide warning at the crossing.

Scott Kriston attended the TX DOT FM 2499 phase 4 weekly project meeting this week. The TX DOT FM 2499 project status is as follows: The contractor is installing the pillar cross members for the proposed bridges at Poindexter Branch & installed some drill shafts on the Hickory Creek Branch of Lake Lewisville. Bridge beams are planned to be delivered and installed on the Poindexter branch bridge starting April 1st.  The contractor is installing retaining walls along the entire project. The contractor completed the concrete pouring on the north bound lanes from the KCS Railroad to FM 407. They are currently pouring the concrete pavement cut-outs and drive entrances. They anticipate switching traffic to the new pavement April 1st.  TX DOT is preparing to install the drainage infrastructure across the intersection of Highland Shores Blvd. and FM 2499, flaggers will perform traffic control during this operation.  KCS Railroad has ordered materials and is preparing to install the new railroad crossing on FM2499. 

On Wednesday Parks & Recreation Director Rhoda Savage and myself attended the Senior All-star event at the Highland Shores Community Center. Also in attendance was Councilman Scott McDearmont and Parks & Recreation Board member Tom Moore. Frees and Nichols, our consultant for the proposed 948 redevelopment, made a presentation on the final floor plan for the Interim Senior Center / Parks & Recreation Facility.  I provided a brief history of our Senior program, along with a project overview, and Frees & Nichols provided an overview of the building.  After the presentation, myself and our consultant provided a Q & A session for all attendees. I feel it was a very positive meeting for everyone. One brief fact of the new facility - seating capacity of the Senior area will be 175 people.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Sue Thompson attended the monthly Governmental Affairs Committee meeting, sponsored by the Lewisville Area Chamber of Commerce.  Rick Herrington, Deputy Executive Director for the North Texas Toll Authority (NTTA) was the speaker and he provided updates and information on projects of interest in this area.  For instance, the extension of the 121 toll way to McKinney is estimated to be completed by September of this year, the Lake Lewisville toll bridge will open this August, and an interesting fact is that currently there have been 1.6 million toll tags issued.  In another project, the President George Bush toll road, eastern extension, from Highway 78 to I-30 is scheduled to be completed in late 2011.  Sue provided an update on Highland Village happenings.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

This  past  weekend, the Highland Village Fire Department sponsored a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Ham Radio Technicians class for Denton County Emergency Management personnel.  The class, taught by highly regarded Plano instructor Allan Batteiger included 16 hours of training on emergency Ham Radio Operations.  Ham Radio serves a very important role in emergency management by providing vital communications when traditional two-way communications have been disabled by natural or manmade events. 

The Highland Village Fire Department responded to 17 calls for service the week of Mar 13th-19th.  This included: 8 medical emergencies, 3 public assists, 1 natural gas leak, 3 structure fire calls, 1 odor investigation and 1 commercial fire alarm call.

The Police Department attended an Open House at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, Highland Village Elementary, and Heritage Elementary School.  In attendance from the Police Department were Corporal David Harney, Corporal April Roppolo, Officer Delana Jones, and Auxiliary members Dick Williams and Mrs. Williams.  Six hundred Railroad Safety flyers were passed out and fifteen hundred junior police badges were also passed out.

Officer Greg Arrington conducted a station tour for a group of Cub Scouts.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Street Department:

• Repainted school crosswalks during spring break
• Completed concrete repairs on Wood Hollow Drive.
• Crack sealed at various locations throughout the city

Scott Kriston attended the UTRWD 60" water line monthly progress meeting.  The project status is as follows:  The contractor has approximately 30% of the pipe installed, the tunnel contractor will be tunneling under FM 407 next week.

Scott Kriston met with the Freese & Nichols architects, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and civil engineers this week to perform a site visit of the existing Public Works facilities located at 948 Highland Village Rd.  They took many pictures and looked at all the areas to get a feel of how they are going to design the new facilities.

The Highland Oaks Subdivision utility contractor is finishing installing the stormwater inlets and installing the water meter boxes.  The Utility staff has set two water meters for the two houses being built.  The franchise utilities are currently installing their infrastructure.

Utility Crews:

• Responded to five resident emergency calls. Performed two emergency turn offs for residents in need and responded to one after hour water leak.
• Unstopped three sewer back-ups.
• TV inspected a sewer line to locate the property line clean out as well as any possible bad spots.
• Performed a pump seal swap at the Highland Shores Well Lot. The seal was changed from a packing style seal to a mechanical seal.
• Performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.
• Performed a sewer dig and repair on Glenmere.

Drainage Crews:

• Cleared tree limbs and debris from a drainage pipe in the 3000 block of 2499 due to beaver activity.
• Cleared various creek channels of debris due to the recent rains.
• Worked on installing the gabion baskets and mattress' on the creek erosion in the creek located behind Highland Hills. The recent rains caused them to pull off of the job for a few days until it was safe to move back in.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Pilot Knoll staff and Wes Neinhuser are continuing roof repairs and replacement in the Day Use area of Pilot Knoll Park.

Wes Neinhuser and staff delivered culvert pipe etc. to volunteers working on the Corps natural trail area near Highland Shores on Thursday.

Tony Palesano repaired various sprinkler heads on city property in the City.

All crews are starting mowing cycles in Parks, Municipal sites and medians.

South Crew prepared soccer and baseball fields at Unity Park for practices and games.

All crews will soon be planting spring flowers in various Parks and shrub beds in the city in anticipation of warmer weather.

Two of the new logo entry signs where installed by the contractor and staff last week at City Hall.

Senior All-Star Count

Monday - 23 for Game Day

Tuesday - 13 Bridge Class

Thursday - 38 Game Day and Pot Luck

Friday - Putt Putt - 14

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Jana Onstead applied for and was awarded a $1,000 Small Entity Scholarship to attend the Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA) Annual Conference, which will be held in Dallas this year. The Public Entity Risk Institute awarded up to 20 individuals of smaller entities the scholarships. An application was submitted which included answering essay questions describing our City and operations. Jana did an excellent job! Way to go Jana!

Fire:

• Fire Department personnel attended monthly emergency medical services training this week. This training is mandated by the Texas Department State Health Services and all fire/EMS personnel are required to attend continuing education each month.

Police:

• Cpl David Harney attend a Basic School Resource Officer Course this week.
• Officer Chris Carver attended a Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Update Course.
• Auxiliary Member Comie Barges was promoted to Auxiliary Lieutenant and assigned as a Team Leader.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Costa delivered meals to seniors as part of the "Mayors for Meals" program on Wednesday.