Recap of City Issues - February 5, 2010

Scott Kriston reports that the TXDOT FM 2499 section 4 project contractor is excavating & pouring concrete on the south bound lanes at FM 2499 & Castlewood and is preparing a barricade removal plan at the FM 2499 connection at FM 407.  TXDOT anticipates opening the FM 2499/FM 407 intersection to traffic in 3 weeks, weather permitting.

Scott Kriston reports that TXDOT has awarded the FM 407 Widening project from Briarhill to Chinn Chapel to Tiseo Paving.  The project consists of widening 1.369 miles of FM 407 at a cost of $5.4 million.  The contract is currently being executed.  The project is scheduled to take 15 months to construct and is anticipated to start moving dirt in mid May 2010.  Traffic congestion & delays should be expected in the area during construction.  The City will attend the pre-construction meeting when scheduled by TXDOT.

Scott Kriston reports that the Highland Shores Paving project contractor is cleaning up the site & working on sprinkler repairs.  A final walk through was performed last week.  Contractor is working on the punch list. 

The City is experiencing issues with our new train horns because of the railroad's track maintenance equipment.  KCS  has told us that they have track maintenance crews in the area 3-weeks out of the month performing track maintenance due to soft ground in this area.  Their maintenance equipment shunts are not as good as a train's shunt and could trigger several horn blowing sequences and arm activations as they pass through the signal areas.  This is a drawback of having an AHS that was not identified to us by the railroad or the horn manufacturer.  We are working with both entities to attempt to resolve this problem but in the meantime you may receive complaints of the horn's blowing up to 20 times as the railroad's trucks on the tracks pass by.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Police:

This week, the police department responded to 123 calls for service, made 47 traffic contacts, made 10 arrests, responded to no traffic accidents and performed 420 community policing activities.

Alain Stephens has been hired as our newest Police Officer starting Monday, February 8th.  Alain is a recent Tarrant County College Police Academy graduate.  Alain (pronounced A-LAWN) currently resides in Denton but grew up in Highland Village after moving here when he was two years old.  We welcome him to our team and look forward to working with him in the future.

Special thanks to a special Highland Village family from the Animal Care Unit.  Their daughter recently had a birthday and, instead of asking for birthday presents, she asked party guests to bring something to donate to the Animal Care Unit.  They brought us a lot of really amazing stuff and we are very grateful for this family's generosity! 

Senior Animal Care Officer Michelle Burke adopted out several pets this week including a very pretty little hound dog that was recently released to us by it's owner.  If you're looking for a new friend, we have all shapes and sizes!

Corporal Arrington conducted his first LETS class last week and it all went very well.  Looks like the kiddos loved him!

Dru Anne Moss has been hired as our newest Communications Officer and she starts on Monday, February 8th.  We welcome her to the team!

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Utilities:

Scott Kriston reports that the MSC project contractor mixed in lime stabilization for the front & south side parking lot.  The framing and dry wall contractor continues to work inside the Parks & Rec building.  The fence contractor is excavating & setting steel for the concrete footer for the perimeter fence along the north side of the lot.  The footer is being poured as they complete a section and it passes inspection. 

Scott Kriston attended a FM 407 utility coordination meeting this week held in Highland Village.  CoServ Gas and CoServ Electric are planning on relocating their infrastructure in the near future.  Most of it is located on the Flower Mound side of FM 407.

Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineering , Inc. & discussed the status of all open Public Works projects.

Utility Crews:

• Responded to five after hour call outs and six resident concerns.
• Excavated and repaired one sewer line.  Excavation was made on Stone Canyon to repair two broken spots in line.
• Unstopped three sewer line backups.
• Located two areas of utility infrastructure.
• Raised valves and manholes to grade at FM 2499 and Parkhurst.
• Completed the flushing plan for wastewater main lines in Basin 1 on paper.  Crews will begin the field work in the next few weeks.
• Replaced a bad air release valve in the Lift station #7 valve vault.
• 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:

• Installed a 4" drainage pipe to eliminate standing water off the walking trail in the 2000 block of Butterfield Stage.
• Backfilled drainage easement to prevent and eliminate flooding & erosion in the 2000 block of Nelson Parkway. 
• Met with a resident on Woodside about standing water.
• Cleaned various inlets, creek crossings and bar ditches after recent rain events.
• Met with a resident in the 3000 block of Castlewood about flooding issues.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Fince Espinoza, Justin Praesel and Tom Rollins met with Calsens to discuss the central irrigation control system's method of communication that best suits our needs.

Park and Recreation's staff met with a representative from Celebrations Grand Ballroom to finalize plans for this year's Father / Daughter Dance next Friday.

Park's staff is preparing baseball and soccer fields for the spring season.

Park's staff has been welding/renovating some soccer goals at Copperas Park in preparation for the practice games.

Park staff is in the process of remodeling restroom facilities at Copperas Park.

Staff is involved in repairing and welding soccer goals at Copperas Park.

Staff at Pilot Knoll have been installing new roofing on picnic shelters this week as well as making repairs to the boat dock walkway at that park.

Senior All-Stars

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (21 attendees) and Thursday (34 attendees) for game day.

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

On Wednesday, 24 Highland Village Senior All Stars attended the Ft. Worth Rodeo.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Panel interviews were conducted this week with candidates for the Director of Parks and Recreation.
• Please join us in welcoming Jana Onstead back from maternity leave!

Police:

• Sergeant Sheri Morrison attended a "kick-off" meeting for the new Cityworks software system.  More meetings to come!
• Officer Tim Henderson and Officer Jessie Peterson attended CPR Training at the Highland Village Fire Department.
• Chief O'Bara assisted with the selection and interview process for the next Director for Parks.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Dianne Costa and Council member Wilcox attended the Lewisville Independent School District Board of Trustees public hearing on February 2, 2010.  The Board received public comment regarding the possible rezoning to move children from Briarhill Middle School to Downing Middle School.