Recap of City Issues - March 13, 2009

Sue Thompson and Laurie Mullens attended the monthly Shops at Highland Village merchant meeting.  The meeting is held at a different place of business each month.  This month it was held at The Boardroom Salon for Men and there was a great turnout.  The meetings are sponsored by VSE, the PR/Marketing consultant for the Shops.  The upcoming events for the Shops and the City were discussed and how the merchants can get involved and participate in the events.  Two of the businesses represented  stated they saw an increase in sales in January, and hope to have their February figures in soon. Sue Thompson reports that in speaking with Regency Centers, other merchants report an increase in sales as well.  That is great news in light of the ongoing roadway construction at FM 2499 and FM 407.

Scott Kriston attended the TX DOT FM 2499 phase 4 weekly project meeting this week. The TX DOT FM 2499 project status is as follows: The contractor is installing the pillar cross members for the proposed bridges at Poindexter Branch & installed some drill shafts on the Hickory Creek Branch of Lake Lewisville. The contractor is installing retaining walls along the entire project. The contractor completed the concrete pouring on the north bound lanes from the KCS Railroad to FM 407. They are currently pouring the concrete pavement cut-outs and drive entrances. They anticipate switching traffic to the new pavement by the end of March.  TX DOT is preparing to install the drainage infrastructure across the intersection of Highland Shores Blvd. and FM 2499, flaggers will perform traffic control during this operation.  KCS Railroad has ordered materials and is preparing to install the new railroad crossing on FM 2499.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

FF/EMT Mel Harper provided specialized CPR & Healthcare Provider training to a class of 18 residents, visitors and employees on Thursday.

The Highland Village Fire Department responded to 30 calls for service the week of March 6-12th.  This included: 16 medical emergencies, 2 odor investigations, 2 mutual aid structure fires, 3 motor vehicle accidents, 1 natural gas leak, 1 commercial fire alarm, 1 residential fire alarm, 3 public services, and 1 smoke investigation.

Officer Jessie Peterson met with the new bank (First Convenience Bank) that is now open and located inside Wal-Mart.  Jessie explained the "No Hats, No Hoods, No Sunglasses" program to their personnel.

Corporal David Harney assisted in giving some deserving students a Certificate of Merit.

Corporal April Roppolo and Corporal David Harney (assisted by Auxiliary Mike MacLean) attended an Open House at Briarhill Middle School this week. They passed out three hundred and fifty Rail Road Safety flyers.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Street's crew  installing signs in shopping areas parking lots directed by the HVPD the sign saying "Lock, Take, Hide" signs.

The Street Division are making a concrete street repairs at 3020 Woodhollow Drive. The area is saw cut and the rebar is in place. The staff will pour the concrete Monday because of the rain.

The Street Division demolished  the old house at 948 Highland Village Road. This was done in advance of the new service center scheduled to be built on that site.

Matthew Kite and Scott Kriston met with the UTRWD staff this week to discuss the timelines for the rehab work to take place at the wastewater lift station #1.

Scott Kriston and David Clark met with BW2 Engineers this week to discuss the Public Works project status report.

Utility Crews:

• Responded to five resident emergency calls.
• Performed one emergency turn off for a resident in need.
• Unstopped a one sewer back up.
• TV inspected the new sewer line on Windy Court.
• Finished annual lift station pump maintenance with ITT Flygt. One pump had to be sent in for repair.

Drainage Dept is in process of installing gabion erosion controlling in the Highland Hills area.

Drainage Dept cleaned various drainage easements & culverts in the Clearwater and Canyon Creek locations of debris from the recent rains.  

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Tommy White and Fince Espinoza met with Phil Loftis of Sign-a-Rama regarding adding new signs and replacing some of the old signs.

Parks staff installed the first of the new City logo signs at City Hall.

Staff cleaned out storage areas at 948 Service Center.

Staff mowed various Parks and Medians.

Wes Neinhuser did weed control applications to Parks and municipal grounds.

Tony Palesano did irrigation repairs to systems at Unity Park and other areas.

Senior All Stars:

• On Monday (29 attended) and Thursday (26 attended) the Highland Village Senior All Stars met at the Highland Shores Community Center for game day.
• On Tuesday (14 attended) the Highland Village Senior All Stars met for bridge and chair exercise classes at the Highland Shores Community Center.
• On Saturday the Highland Village Senior All Stars will meet for St. Patrick's Day pot luck dinner and games at the Highland Shores Community Center.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Jana Onstead attended a seminar at Higginbotham and Associates regarding the recent American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan legislation which affects Cobra benefits.
• On Tuesday Vanesa Childers met with Sheri Morrison and Captain Stewart in the Police Department for initial eRecruiter set up for online applications.
• Vanesa Childers attended a training class in Keller on "Hiring the Right Employees." Learning objectives were recognizing the importance of an interview, techniques, legal aspects of the hiring process and accurate application screening.

Parks:

• Tommy White attended Leadership Lewisville class on Tuesday.

Fire:

• Chief Tatum attended a Denco 9-1-1 meeting on Thursday.
• Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier attended the North Texas Fire Chief's meeting that was held in Flower Mound on Thursday.
• Assistant Chief Collier attended Leadership Lewisville on Tuesday.

 Police:

• Officer Alan Oldaker attended Police Bike Training this week.
• Communications Manager Jackie Cottongame attended Management/Supervision of the Communications Center this week.

Utilities:

• Scott Kriston and Rob Wachal attended a stormwater management conference held at the offices of Halff & Associates this week. The discussion was about the stormwater management program and database created by Halff.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Costa and City Attorney Palumbo attended the 2nd Annual Transportation and Infrastructure Convention from Wednesday through Friday in Washington, D. C.

Council member Calvin and his wife, Mandy, represented Highland Village at the TML Region 8 Dinner and Business Meeting held at Diamond Oaks Country Club in Haltom City on Thursday evening.