Recap of City Issues - December 18, 2009

Scott Kriston reports that the TXDOT FM 2499 project contractor is installing the Pedestrian tunnel north of the KCS Railroad, excavating the south bound lanes at FM 2499 & Castlewood and is excavating the FM 2499 connection at FM 407.

Scott Kriston reports that the Highland Shores Paving project contractor has started clean up.  Pavement striping is anticipated to start next week.  Two-way traffic has been established from Highland Village Road through the Briarhill intersection.   

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

This week, the police department responded to 156 calls for service, made 111 traffic contacts, made 4 arrests, responded to 5 traffic accidents and performed 330 community policing activities.

Corporal April Roppolo and McGruff (Auxiliary Bob Miller) passed out over four hundred beanie babies at the Santa event on Saturday.

The Police Department composed a list of assistance agencies for those in need this holiday season for the officers.  These lists were also distributed to the other area police departments for their use.

The Police Department assisted with traffic control for the Santa Day parade that featured holiday music, floats, and Santa!

Eli is one of our many successful adoption stories from the Highland Village Animal Care unit.  His "Mom" sent us this photo and told us that they recently had a party and that everyone fell in love with him right away.  It's stories like these that make our days complete! 

Detective Andrea Musick-King recently assisted the Children's Advocacy Center of Denton County with their "angel" program.  She picked 10 families out of 58 that needed assistance and brought their needs to the employees of the Police Department and City Hall.  Between us all, we were able to provide gifts for a much happier Christmas for those in their time of need.  Great job everyone!

The Police Department conducted a deployment at the recent Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony location at The Shops of Highland Village.  The Police Auxiliary were a great assistance, as usual, at this annual event.

The Police Department conducted annual Intermediate Weapons training for all Field Operations personnel.  This yearly training includes all of our current intermediate weapons including the TASER, expandable ASP batons, and OC spray.

Redmoon VP Bill Young accompanied a representative from the Chief's Office at the DART Police Department to inspect the department's video systems at the Shops and Marketplace.  DART is considering the use of the same equipment for use at their rail stations and other facilities.  Captain Blount conducted a tour of the Communications Center and gave a demonstration of the systems capabilities.

Fernando Costa is a Brazilian Federal Police Commander and he was here to look at the Police Department's camera system as a basis for camera systems they are installing all over the Brazilian federal highway.  Redmoon is the contractor for the systems and they flew here to look at what we are doing with technology related to the video systems.

Bedford Police Department recently contacted us after coming to the Police Department to look at an officer's personnel file.  They were very impressed with our electronic personnel file system and wanted to know more about how it was done.  Sergeant Sheri Morrison talked with them and explained the Laserfiche system and how it works.

Fire:

Fire Calls for Service

Fire Department personnel responded to 25 calls for service the week of Dec 11-17.

• 13 Medical Emergencies
• 5 Public Service Calls
• 2 Motor Vehicle Accidents
• 1 Smoke Investigation
• 1 Fill-In
• 1 Public Assist
• 1 Gas Leak
• 1 Residential Fire Alarm

Chief Lonnie Tatum read to the children at McAuliffe Elementary as part of their reading program.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

The Street Division received a new backhoe this week.

The Street Division crew held a class in the operation of the backhoe and attachments including the new jackhammer.

The Street Division built a storage area for the new jackhammer and haul off spoils from the Southwood storage area.

Utilities:

Scott Kriston attended a project meeting this week & reports that the MSC contractor is working on the demolition & dirt work of the MSC site (fence demo & asphalt removal).  The contractor is installing the water & sanitary lines.  Fence contractor is anticipated to start next week, weather permitting.

Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineers this week to discuss all open Public Works projects.

Utility Crews:

• Responded to seven after hour call outs and eleven resident concerns.
• Flushed 1,000 feet of sewer lines.
• Located four areas of utility infrastructure for proposed franchise utility work.
• TV inspected five sewer lines for damage and covered infrastructure.
• Cleared six sewer backups.
• Performed meter rereads, water turn on/turn offs, and leak checks.
• Performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.

Drainage Crews:

• Reworked a dirt berm and installed sod for potential flooding in the 2000 block of Briarhill Boulevard.
• Finished backfilling pool, dressed up area, and seeded at 310 Highland Village Road.
• Is installing  the material bins slabs at 5001 Village Parkway.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Tommy White, Fince Espinoza, Pedro Miranda, Keegan Arnold and Tony Palesano attended the Texas Turf grass conference in Austin on Monday and Tuesday. Joey Harden and Frank Furche, with help from Justin Praesel and Utilities staff, installed a sewage grinder pump at Pilot Knoll Park. Park staff has been busy winterizing restroom facilities and campsite faucets at various parks. 

On a different note, our Parks Director, Rhoda Savage is moving onto bigger and better things next week.  She's really going to be missed by us all but mostly from her staff.  She's been a super mentor, a great leader and most of all a wonderful friend.  We are grateful to have known her, wish her the very best and she'll always have our support. 

Park's staff is preparing for the upcoming Resolution Run/Dog Walk on January 16th.  We're soliciting sponsorships, working on the t-shirt design, brochures, posters, web ads and finalizing the 5K route.  If you'd like to sign up for the run, please visit: www.terrafirmapromo.com  See you there!

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (15 attendees) and Thursday (37 attendees) for game day. Thursday was also the pot luck lunch and holiday gift exchange.

On Monday, 55 Highland Village Senior All Stars went on the Kiowa Casino trip.

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

On Wednesday, 24 Highland Village Senior All Stars went on a holiday light tour at Highland Park.

Five Senior All Stars went shopping on Friday at Grapevine Mills Mall for some last minute shopping.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• A reception was held December 17 for Parks and Recreation Director Rhoda Savage. Ms Savage has accepted a position in Cedar Hill.  Mayor Costa and Councilmembers Meek and Wilcox attended and expressed their appreciation for the many initiatives Ms. Savage has established during her six years with the City of Highland Village..
• Staff met with Katherine Ray of Ray Associates to discuss initial findings of the Municipal Workforce Analysis and Staffing Plan. This analysis, which will be presented to City Council January 12, serves as a planning tool for personnel allocation in future years.  The initial study, which was completed in 2005, has served as a road map for resource deployment.

Police:

• Chief O'Bara attended the Texas Police Chief's Association (TPCA) conference in Bastrop TX.  Chief O'Bara serves as TPCA's Region 8 Director which encompasses nearly 100 North Texas police agencies as well as the Associations Chairperson for it's "Applicant Screening Committee" which assisted approximately 30 Texas communities in selecting new Chief's of Police this past year.
• The Police Department would like to take this time to congratulate Mike MacLean for all the time he has put in with the Auxiliary. He set a goal of 500 hours and has met that goal plus. All of the our officers know Mike well and he has worked with all of them. Mike has participated in all of our activities. He has proven to be a real asset to the Police Auxiliary and the Police Department. Mike is also the first person to have reached this goal and will be the first to receive the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award.
• Records Technician Patty Hamilton attended training with the Attorney General's Office in Austin.  This annual training is for all things Open Records and is of great assistance in that area.
• The following personnel received their TCLEOSE Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Practitioner certification recently:  Sergeant David Pittinger, Officer Alan Oldaker, Sergeant Paul Kimberlin, Officer Delana Jones, Corporal David Harney, and Officer Joey Hasten.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem Combs and Councilmembers Meek, Wilcox, Robichaux and Davis attended the 1st Annual Santa Day Parade.

Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem Combs and Councilmember Meek attended the Precinct 3 Thank You Reception.

Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem Combs and Councilmember Meek attended the Lewisville & Flower Mound Chamber Luncheon on Tuesday.

Mayor Costa attended Reading for Students at McAuliffe Elementary.