Recap of City Issues - October 2, 2008

The Police Department attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Children's Advocacy Center of Denton County building last week.  Corporal Roppolo was called up and told that a resident in Highland Village gave $20,000.00  in her name. The person that gave the money asked to remain anonymous. Two rooms in the new building will be the Cpl Roppolo rooms. 

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier met with Public Works Director Matthew Kite and an architect  from Kirkpatrick and Associates to review plans for the storage building that will be constructed at the new Fire Station.                                                                                                               

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier attended the Denton County Fire Chief's Association's monthly luncheon to participate in a follow-up discussion on the recent Hurricane Ike response from Denton County Fire Departments. 

Highland Village Fire Department donated a certificate for "A Spaghetti Dinner for Four with the Highland Village Firefighters" to the Lewisville ISD Education Foundation fundraiser.  The highest bidder for the certificate was Montessori School.  They enjoyed a spaghetti dinner with the firefighters on Sunday evening.  

The Police Department, assisted by the Police Auxiliary, conducted a bike rodeo at McAuliffe Elementary.

The Police Department was advised by the President of the Selection Committee at the IACP Headquarters in Alexandria VA., that for the second time, the Highland Village Police Department has received the coveted "Community Policing Award" from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for this year's submission entitled "A Value Based - Daily Activity Report for Patrol Officers". 

The Police Department's Outdoor Warning Siren Activation is being included in the National League of Cities' City Practices database.  The program joins more than six thousand proven city solutions that NLC provides to its 18,000 member cities on a wide range of issues. 

On Monday, Rhoda Savage, Fince Espinoza and architects from Freese and Nichols met with the Senior All-Stars to discuss the future community activities center.

On Tuesday, Parks/Economic Development staff met with Regency to discuss this year's Village Glows event at Regency December 2^nd.

This week Parks staff met with Calsense to discuss installation of a centralized irrigation system.

The October 3^rd Family Disco Dance has been cancelled due to lack of participation.

On Monday, the Senior All-Stars met for game day at the Highland Shores Community Center.

On Wednesday, the Senior All-Stars met at Barnes and Noble for book club.  This month's book is "Deadly Will" by Marion Moore Hill.

On Thursday, Seniors met at Highland Shores Community Center for game day and lunch provided by meals on wheels.

The Park South Crew is finishing up applying sealant to Kids Kastle.                                      

The Parks North Crew has been trimming and pruning trees in the Parks.

Wes Neinhuser has been doing pesticide applications to the outside of various buildings in the parks.

Tony Palesano has been adjusting and repairing irrigation systems in the parks and municipal grounds. 

The Parks department Inland Trail Crew has been planting much needed plants at our amenity stations along City Trail.

Last week, the police department responded to 136 calls for service, made 55 traffic contacts, made 3 arrests, responded to 7 traffic accidents and performed 383 community policing activities.

This week, the police department responded to 173 calls for service, made 64 traffic contacts, made 5 arrests, responded to 5 traffic accidents and performed 501 community policing activities.

The Highland Village Fire Department had 19 calls for service the week of Sept 26 - Oct 2.  This included: 12 medical emergencies, 1 odor investigation, 1 residential fire alarm, 1 public service, 1 commercial fire alarm call, 1 public assist, 1 structure fire, and provided 1 fill-in at Lake Cities Fire Department.

Applicant Ryan Stanford has been hired as our newest police officer and will start tomorrow, Sept 23rd.  Ryan has approximately 15 years police experience in Texas and Arkansas and holds a Master Peace Officer certification.  Ryan's badge number will be 528.  We welcome Ryan to our team and look forward to working with him. 

Corporal Nunez, Corporal Harney, and Officer Bautista attended Special Investigative Topics training this week.

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier interviewed two candidates for part-time positions as Paramedics with the Fire Department.

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier met with Captain Moehlman, Captain Nokes and Captain Jones for the monthly Officer's Meeting.

Police applicant Chris Carver has accepted a police officer position with Highland Village.  Chris has previous experience with Home Depot in Corporate Loss Prevention and also with the Coppell Police Department.  We welcome him to our team and look forward to working with him.  His badge number will be 529.

At 2229 hours on 09/30/08  Wyatt Dale Cameron was born weighing in at 7 and 1/2 lbs and 20 inches.     Baby and mommy are doing good. Daddy on the other hand probably needs a bit of sleep.  Congratulations Jered!

Officer Patrick Finley has been selected for assignment as a Patrol Corporal effective October 20, 2008.  This action is in accordance with General Orders 310.00, Promotion / Assignment Procedures and based on the recent assessment process.  Corporal is an assignment and not a promotion.  Corporal assignments are for an indeterminate period of time based upon the needs of the department and satisfactory performance.  We congratulate Officer Finley on his new assignment and look forward to working with him in his new capacity. 

Sandy McCoy, Administrative Assistant for Public Works/Community Development, completed homework, finished seminar attendance requirements, and passed the fourth and final test required for receiving her Texas Registered Municipal Clerk certification this week.  She will be formally recognized in January 2009 with the awarding of her certificate.  Congratulations Sandy! 

On Tuesday Mayor Costa attended the Dallas Region Chamber 2008 Mayoral Address to the Business Community.  This meeting, held at The Fairmont Hotel, was hosted by Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert.

Mayor Costa will attend the Hispanic Chamber Meeting in Dallas on Friday.  The guest speaker at this meeting is Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin.

Also on Friday, Mayor Costa, City Manager Leavitt and City Attorney Palumbo will attend the 26th Congressional District/TxDOT Transportation Summit held at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth.  This summit is hosted by US Congressman Michael Burgess, M.D. in conjunction with Texas Transportation Commission Chair. The summit included informative presentations and panel discussions by federal, state and local officials regarding the upcoming 2009 Federal Highway Reauthorization Bill with a focus on transportation issues facing North Texas.