Recap of City Issues - September 18, 2009

This week we were notified by the National League of Cities that our nomination as a finalist with the Police Involving Parents "PIP" for the 2009 Awards for Municipal Excellence was not selected as a winner in this year's competition.  The ironic thing is that with all the success that Chief O'Bara has had in our Community Policing program, and his willingness to promote the Highland Village model of success with other cities, one of those other cities has won a Texas Municipal League award in Public Safety using one of our established programs.

The TXDOT FM 2499 project was rained out this week.  The project status is as follows:  The contractor is preparing to pour concrete north of the Northwood Castlewood intersection to the Hickory Creek bridge.  The contractor continues to pour the cut outs and driveways on the south end of the project.  The contractor is addressing drainage issues that have surfaced from the final grade of the new road.  The contractor continues to build the pedestrian tunnel.  The contractor is final dressing the southern end of the project.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Sue Thompson reports that a ribbon cutting was held this week for the new expansion to the DKH Academy located on Briarhill Boulevard just south of Highland Shores Boulevard.  The original DKH building is still used as a part of the school.  Shelly Easler, owner of DKH Academy, welcomed Highland Village Mayor Dianne Costa and Flower Mound Mayor Jodi Smith for the ribbon cutting.  Ms. Easler had some of the children and teachers participate in the event as well.  HVBA and the Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce were represented and Highland Village City Councilmember Charlotte Wilcox was also in attendance.

Sue Thompson reports that she attended a meeting with VSE, marketing agency for the Shops at Highland Village, and members of the Highland Village Women's Club to discuss the annual Our Village Glows event which will be held at the Shops on Tuesday, December 1st this year.  More information will be made available as we get closer to the holidays.  Sue also attended monthly merchants meeting at the Shops at Highland Village along with representatives from Regency Centers to discuss how better to market the Shops and their merchants, upcoming events, and those in attendance received an update on current roadway improvements to FM 407 and FM 2499 from John Polster of ITS, consultant for Denton County on transportation projects.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Fire:

• Highland Village Fire Department responded to 14 calls for service the week of Sept 11-17th. Included are: 7 medical emergencies, 1 commercial fire alarm, 1 hazmat call, 1 mutual aid, and 4 public service calls. Fire personnel conducted 3 business inspections and conducted a tour of the Fire Station for Girl Scout this past week.

Police:

• This week, the police department responded to 127 calls for service, made 92 traffic contacts, made 3 arrests, responded to 0 traffic accidents and performed 682 community policing activities.
• Senior Animal Care Officer Michelle Burke and Animal Care (fill-in) Kerry Payne recently conducted an animal adoption fair that was held at the Police Storefront. We had a terrific turn-out even though it was raining. There were three other groups that were involved with us - North Texas Animal Control, Noah's Ark in Gainesville, and All Texas Family Rescue - and there were thirty-eight animals available for adoption. Eleven animals (two cats and nine dogs) were adopted during the fair and three animals were taken by another rescue group for adoption. Police Auxiliary member Michael McCoy assisted throughout the event. Great job to everyone involved!!

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Streets:

Scott Kriston Met with Metro PCS representatives and toured the Idlewild EST site and the Unity EST site for as a proposed Metro PCS antenna location.

Scott Kriston & Justin Praesel met with BW2 Engineers to discuss the Oak St. well lot rehab & Manhole restoration projects.

Utility Crews:

• Swept and hosed off the rear parking area of the Service Center.
• Located a buried sanitary manhole & raised to grade.
• Unstopped one sewer backup.
• Excavated and repaired two main breaks. One on Villa Park and one on Cedar.
• Relocated all equipment to the Double Tree Ranch site to make way for construction of the new Service Center.
• Plugged the existing 12" water line that was abandoned at the MSC site.
• Are making repairs to the Southwood 600KVA generator, and Lift Station 9 after they were struck by lightening this past Saturday.
• Relocated the Streets Dept. fire hydrant meter to the Double Tree Ranch site.
• Responded to twelve after hour call outs and five resident concerns.
• Located eight areas of utility infrastructure for proposed franchise utility work.
• TV inspected one sewer line.
• Performed Fire Hydrant maintenance on 39 fire hydrants.
• Removed the flag pole light at the Service Center.
• Cut and plugged the 6-inch water line that fed the old Fire Dept. training fire hydrant at the MSC.
• Removed the old 300k gallon water tower altitude valve and the old fire hydrant located in the rear of the MSC.
• Installed and terminated the KCS Railroad wayside horn controller cable.
• Performed meter rereads, water turn on/turn offs, and leak checks.
• Perform maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.

Drainage Crews:

• Distributed mosquito larva insecticide in various locations of standing water through out the City.
• Backfilled a low spot around inlet box on Highland Shores Blvd.
• Cleaned around various creek crossings caused from the recent rain event.
• Completed the installation of the under drain on the Hillside drainage project.
• Repaired a fence inside the drainage easement at 115 Nowlin.
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• Removed debris from drainage flume at 417 Greensprings

Streets:

• The Street Division trimmed trees that Durham school bus route #321 had giving to the city that were causing damage to school buses and causing visibility issues.
• The Street Division did some saw cutting of the asphalt street on Mosswood Drive to begin preparation in making asphalt street repairs to be done next week.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Staff has been trimming trees and cleaning debris from Parks after this week's heavy rain.

Staff is involved in weekly maintenance of all parks, medians and municipal grounds.

Staff is completing work on the Sellmeyer Tennis Court fence bracing project.

Tony Palesano has been adjusting and cutting off irrigation systems in the Parks due to the heavy rains this week.

Staff has been placing new logo "Parks Rules " signs at locations in various parks.

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (17 attendees) and Thursday (26 attendees) for game day.

Three Senior All Stars met on Tuesday for open game time.

Nine Senior All Stars met on Tuesday afternoon for the Helping Hands special heart project.

On Wednesday, 46 Highland Village Senior All Stars went on the Choctaw Casino trip.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Martha Butz, Jana Onstead and Vanesa Childers met with representatives from United Health Care and Higginbotham to discuss the wellness program for the upcoming year.
• At the employee meeting on Wednesday the winning team for the Walk Across Texas program was recognized. Forty employees walked 13,232 miles in eight weeks. The winning team members were Jane Ponder, Gary Cowley, Jon Richardson, Melanie Lewis, Rhoda Savage, Sandra Tatum, Sheri Morrison and Sue Thompson. Top walkers on each team were Gary Cowley, Bill Aycock, Pedro Miranda, Karen Bradley, and Michael Leavitt. Justin Praesel walked the most miles at 1,179!
• Everyone who participated was eligible to win a Wii Fit system and Karen Bradley was the lucky winner in that drawing. This was our first attempt at this program but it was a success and we hope to do it again next year. Everyone did a great job!

Fire:

• Fire Chief Lonnie Tatum attended the DSHS/GDEM Pandemic Influenza Regional Conference in Arlington on Tuesday.
• Nancy Sharp attended a day long Ropes Course for Leadership Lewisville on Tuesday. The course was held at the Stony Ranch facility in Ponder.
• The Fire Department conducted board interviews on Wednesday and Thursday for the open Firefighter positions.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

On Tuesday, Councilmember Meek attended the Leadership Lewisville Opening Retreat.

On Tuesday, Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem Combs, Councilmember Wilcox and City Secretary Richardson attended the Flower Mound Luncheon.

On Wednesday, Mayor Costa attended Denton County Friends  "Annual Law Enforcement Luncheon".

On Thursday, Councilmembers Davis and Meek attended the 10th Anniversary Celebration of CCA's Adult Health Center.