Recap of City Issues - October 10, 2008

October is Fire Prevention Month and the Highland Village Fire Department began its series of Fire Prevention Education to the schools.  The first session was held at Primrose Daycare yesterday.  Highland Village Fire Department personnel informed the children about fire safety, fire prevention, firefighter awareness and stop, drop and roll knowledge when there is a fire in their home. The children (ages 18 months to 5 years of age) were able to explore the Fire Engine and see a firefighter in his full protective gear so they know what the firefighter would look like if he would come to their home during a fire. Primrose School of Highland Village receives an annual Fire Prevention update each year.

Assistant Chief Collier met with the area Medical Control Systems group to discuss concerns that are going on with each participant in the group. The system now has Highland Village, Lewisville, Lake Cities, Sanger, Denton County Fire Marshal office, and Denton.  Krum, Ponder and Argyle are currently looking into joining the system.

Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier attended the monthly Denton County Fire Chiefs Meeting held at Denton County Emergency Management’s office on Thursday.                                   

Corporal April Roppolo contacted Susie Refo and facilitated the donation of 44 new bike helmets from her company.  These helmets are for the families that aren't able to afford them for their children.

The Police Department Bike Officers recently shared (and enjoyed!) some popsicles with the kids that attended our most recent bicycle rodeo. 

Fince’ Espinoza and Tommy White met with representatives from Calsense Irrigation to discuss final plans for a centralized monitoring system to be installed.

Rhoda, Tommy and Fince’ will attend the National Recreation and Parks Association annual Conference next week in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Senior All Stars had 24 attendee’s on both 10-6 and 10-9.  12 residents and 12 non-residents each day.

Sue Thompson reports the Veteran's Monument project is nearing completion.  The following picture was taken as the stone monoliths were being put in place.  Plans are in the works for the formal dedication of the monument. 

Matthew Kite, Scott Kriston, David Clark, Rhoda Savage, Tommy White and Fince Espinoza met with Freese & Nichols this week in a follow up meeting on the proposed Municipal Service Center design space requirements.

Scott Kriston held a pre-construction meeting for the District of Highland Village. The civil plans were stamped approve for construction. The contractors plan on starting construction of the utilities on October 13th and anticipate a finishing the utilities by the end of December 2008, weather permitting.

Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineers, Inc and S. Toub & Associates, Inc to discuss the electrical design needs for the proposed Oak Street well lot GSR / pump house rehab project and to look at two wastewater lift stations that need to also be rehabilitated.

Utility crews made sewer line repairs this week on Willow Creek Estates and Hillside Drive.

The Utility SCADA / Electrician updated Lift Station controls from probes to pressure transducers.

Utility crews assisted Layne Texas with water well testing.

Utilities received bids and started Fenceworks contractor on finishing the wrought-iron fence at the Central Fire Station (thanks to Bill Aycock and Jimmy Helfinstien for clearing the fence line).

Utility crews performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the distribution and wastewater collection system.

The drainage department is working on the final phases of installing 24 " RCP pipe, for 327 & 329 Catlin circle driveway culverts. The project was due to a faulty man way under

At the driveway at 327 Catlin, crews eliminated the man way in the driveway and tied into the existing drainage pipe under the street. Benny, Juan, and David did and outstanding job. 

At 35 Remington Terrace, Drainage Department shot elevations for a bar ditch reshaping project.

At 2580 Woodside creek channel, the Drainage Department removed weeds and debris to reestablish proper flow.

The Drainage crew (Benny, Juan and David) placed rip rap rock at 350 Catesby in drainage culvert to prevent further erosion.

Drainage Crew repaired a pipe separation at Silverthorne & Aberdeen. This was noticed when the Streets Department was repairing a faulty street panel. Drainage crew (Benny, Juan & David) made quick work of it. GOOD JOB!

Parks staff attended the Texas Recreation and Parks Society TRAPS Annual Equipment and Skills Rodeo in Farmers Branch on Thursday.  Our own Pedro Miranda placed 2nd in the Backpack Blower competition. 

All crews are still involved in general turf and shrub bed maintenance. 

Tommy White and Tony Palesano along with Utilities, Code Enforcement and Street Departments attended the pre-construction meeting for The District.

The Street Division trimmed up the trees along Highland Village Road between Doubletree Drive and Greenspring Drive to assist with visibility problems.

The Street crew cleaned the area of debris and weeds along Briarhill Boulevard, located at the railroad in the curb line.

The Street Division made a  concrete sidewalk repair at 3308 Northwood Drive and a concrete street repair located at Aberdeen Drive and Silverthorne. 

The Highland Village Fire Department had 30 calls for service the week of Oct 3-9. This included: 11 medical emergencies, 5 public assists, 3 public service calls, 2 structure fires, 2 residential fire alarms, 1 motor vehicle accident, 1 public education, 1 commercial fire alarm, 3 odor investigations, and 1 smoke alarm.  The Fire Dept. also performed three new business inspections this past week.

This week, the police department responded to 174 calls for service, made 58 traffic contacts, made 6 arrests, responded to 10 traffic accidents and performed 445 community policing activities.

The Police Department sponsored TDEx (Texas Data Exchange) Training this week.  The training was attended by our personnel and officers from a number of other agencies in the Metroplex.

Officer Greg Arrington is the newest addition to the Police Department and he started his training this week.

Matthew Kite, Ken Heerman, Scott Kriston, Gay Durden, Tom Rollins, and Melanie Lewis attended a presentation given by City Works on a work order management system that can be utilized as a parts & materials inventory system too.

Will Norris, Charles Ciampi and Nick Hall attended a Basic Water Works class in North Richland Hills to prepare for there state issued license.

Justin Praesel and Larry Jeurink attended an Electrical Safety class in Denton.

Justin Praesel in Utilities and Tom Rollins in Finance attended the eleventh series of the Supervisory Classes in Keller.  The class topic was “Dealing with Negaholics.”

On Monday seventeen employees attended a sexual harassment training class.  This class meets compliance training requirements and was presented by NTMA.

Jana Onstead, Martha Butz and Jane Ponder held orientation for three new police officers, Ryan Stanford, Greg Arrington and Chris Carver, on Thursday morning.  They are a great addition to our police department.

Martha Butz attended the monthly NTMA meeting in Watauga on Thursday.  New members, updates on classes and presenters, and graduation ceremonies were discussed. 

Robert Wise was promoted to Park Tech II.