Recap of City Issues - March 14, 2008

The quarterly Breakfast with the Mayor was held on Friday, March 14th with 15+ in attendance.  Mayor Costa welcomed everyone and recognized everyone with introductions around the table.  Staff gave updates on the Veteran's Memorial project, the April 8th HVBA luncheon, the on-line survey from DCTA related to transit Route 22 along FM 407 on how to increase ridership, the Easter Egg Hunt festivities and the upcoming Red, White and Blue Festival.  The Mayor gave an update on the recent Transportation Summit held in Washington D. C. that she and Dottie Palumbo attended on behalf of Highland Village and how important participation is at all levels of government to help with planning for future transportation needs.  The Mayor agreed to sit on a Committee for this purpose and to host a future meeting here in the City.  The Breakfast was very informative with good conversation and questions from those in attendance.

The municipal election will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2008.  The mayoral candidates include: Fred Busche, Dianne Costa (incumbent) and Gene Costa.  The incumbents for Places 2, 4 and 6 are uncontested, but will remain on the city ballot.  In addition to elected officials, the ballot will include two bond propositions for Lewisville Independent School District and two uncontested races for School Board Trustee Places 6 and 7.  

Nearly one month after the tri-city State of the Cities Luncheon, the Highland Village Sate of the City video presentation continues to receive good comments. An article was written in the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News highlighting the video. As was stated in the article, we are using the video to market the city by making it available for viewing on the city web site and on YouTube. Our reports indicate over 450 views of the video from the city web site and 143 views from YouTube. The information included with the video on YouTube reads, "Highland Village Texas. A small community with a powerful punch. The safest city in Texas, great shopping and dining, beautiful parks and trails. Highland Village is a community where you can have it all!"

Sue Thompson and Dottie Palumbo met with the Economic Development Director for the City of Lewisville to discuss the process the City of Lewisville will be using when working with their consultant on establishing a plan for future development associated with the DCTA Rail Station location and other locations.  A follow-up meeting is scheduled with Lewisville and their consultant.

Below is a photo from the February 23, 2008 cleanup of the Highland Village, Wichita Forest.  The Parks and Recreation Department would like to thank Greater Lewisville Cares, volunteers from the local Daisy Troop (Jr. Girl Scout Troop 637c) and others for their help in keeping our community clean.             

March 1, 2008 was the official Great American Cleanup Day.  Volunteers aided in cleaning a neighborhood creek off F.M. 407.  Thank you to Greater Lewisville Cares for all your hard work to keep Highland Village a beautiful community.                  

On Monday, the Senior All-Stars met at the Highland Shores Community Center for snacks and game day.  (14 Residents and 6 Nonresidents attended.)  Following game day, seven of our Senior All-Stars and Cheryl Dudich met to discuss future events and ideas for the All-Stars.

On Wednesday, 14 Senior All-Stars met at Barnes and Noble for their monthly “Book Club”.  Members of the book club will be reading “Coming Home” by Rosamunder Pilcher in March to discuss at the next book club meeting in April.

On Thursday, the Senior All-Stars met in the police training room at City Hall for game day and snacks.  (24 Residents and 16 Nonresidents attended.) Following game day, 14 of the Senior All-Star members went to a Mystery Lunch at Village Grill in Highland Village.  The “mystery” was the location.

This Saturday, March 15, 2008, Parks and Recreation, Police and Fire will come together to put on the 2008 Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Unity Park Baseball Fields.  The children will have the opportunity to hunt 11,000 Easter eggs, enjoy a bounce house, photos with the Easter Bunny, face painting, and lots of fun in the sun.           

On Monday, Fince Espinoza met with Marcus Cross Country booster club to discuss the 2008 Red, White and Blue 5K run.

On Wednesday, Fince Espinoza attended a meeting with the principal of McAuliffe Elementary to discuss a partnership opportunity at the Kids Kastle Park.  McAuliffe students plan to decorate tiles to replace missing wall tiles at the Kids Kastle Park.  On Thursday, he met with the principal to discuss 2008 Kids Kamp.

On Thursday, Fince Espinoza attended a meeting with the principal of Briarhill Middle School to discuss 2008 Kids Kamp.

On Wednesday, Rhoda Savage, Fince Espinoza, Tommy White, Audrey Gedminas and Shelly Clark attended a biweekly staff meeting. 

On Wednesday, Tommy White, Laurie Mullens and Fince Espinoza attended a meeting with The Twister Radio Station for possible sponsorship for 2008 Highland Village Days, Red, White and Blue Music Festival.

On Friday, Rhoda Savage, Tommy White, Audrey Gedminas, Tim Bruedigam and Fince Espinoza attended a preconstruction meeting regarding the City Trail.

The Unity Park Elevated Storage project is on schedule.  The tank was disinfected, filled with water and bacteriological samples passed.  Utility staff put the new elevated tank online Thursday.  Utility staff is setting up pressure monitors to verify the pressure increase.

David Clark draws the first cup of water from the New Unity Park elevated storage tank.

The FM2499 Water Line Relocation project is on schedule.  The contractor is finishing up the sewer line relocation in front of the park near Rolling Hills Subdivision.

The I&I smoke testing project is on schedule.  The contractor has completed the smoke testing and submitted a final report to the City for review.  Utility staff & BW2 Engineering determined what lines to camera for a closer inspection.  The contractor will be out next week for the camera inspection.  Most of the defects found were on private property.

Matthew Kite & Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineers this week for a project status report meeting.

Drainage staff cleaned bar ditches this week along Highland Village Road and Highland Shores Boulevard to allow for proper drainage. 

The Pilot Knoll crew with the help of other staff completed installation of a new roof on the gate house of the Pilot Knoll Park.

The Parks North crew cleaned out shrub beds around City Hall as well as other flower and shrub beds in the City.

The Parks North crew also repainted the restrooms and other site areas at Copperas Branch Park. 

City banners that were blown down by recent high winds were replaced this week by the Parks North crew.

Wes Nienhuser finished applying pre-emergent fertilizer to Parks, medians and municipal grounds in the City.

Tony Palesano repaired irrigation systems in City parks and municipal grounds.

A contractor did lighting repair work to the Pilot Knoll boat parking area.

A contractor replaced lights at Unity Park athletic fields.

All Parks crews have started some routine mowing in needed areas.

This week, the police department responded to 170 calls for service, made 55 traffic contacts, made 7 arrests, responded to 7 traffic accidents and performed 385 community policing activities.

The Highland Village Fire Department had 24 calls for service the week of March 7th -13th were as follows:  9 medical emergencies, 1 public service, 2 structure fires, 1 public assist, 2 injured persons, 3 commercial fire alarms, 3 fire alarms, 1 gas leak, 1 odor investigation and 1 vehicle lock out.

An Employee Advisory Committee meeting was held on Wednesday.

Martha Butz attended the monthly NTMA luncheon in Euless. Topics discussed included TMRS, training and future meetings. 

Justin Praesel, UT Supv, and Larry Jeurink, UT Tech, attended a SCADA class in Dallas this week.

David Clark UT Supt, Jimmy Brown UT Crew Leader, John Harper, UT Tech & Mark Rudder, UT Tech attended the TWUA annual school in Ft. Worth for training in water and wastewater operations.

Applicant Christy Perry has accepted a police officer position with our department and is scheduled to start March 31, 2008.  Christie has nine years previous law enforcement experience with the Caldwell Police Department and Burleson County Sheriff's Department.  We welcome her to our team and look forward to working with her.

The Police Department held a training session for all Field Operations supervisory personnel this week.  The training session covered DFW Airport Bomb Squad Orientation and SWARM Severe Weather Training.  The DFW Airport Bomb Squad Orientation session was conducted by Officer Heather Phillips who is actually a Highland Village Police Department alumni.  Heather started out with us as a dispatcher several years ago! 

On Thursday, Chief Tatum attended the Denco 9-1-1 board meeting at the Denco offices in Lewisville.

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier attended the weekly construction meeting for the new fire station.

Chief Tatum attended the Denton County Task Force meeting on Thursday.

Assistant Chief Collier attended a SWARM and DFW Airport Bomb Squad meeting on Thursday.

Nancy Sharp attended an IAAP (International Association of Admin. Professionals) meeting that was held in Las Colinas on Monday.

Mayor Costa attended a press conference on Tuesday, March 11 held at Capital One Bank in Highland Village.  The purpose of the press conference was to announce the partnership of the Britteny Sage Lindt Fund with the American Bass Anglers fishing tour and a Professional Angler.  Her boat and truck will proudly display the Britteny Sage Lindt Fund.

Mayor Costa, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Combs, Council member Adams and Council member McDearmont attended the Highland Village Community Development Corporation meeting on Tuesday, March 11. 

Michael Leavitt, City Manager
03/14/08