Recap of City Issues - April 10, 2009

Scott Kriston attended the TXDOT FM 2499 phase 4 weekly project meeting this week. The TXDOT FM 2499 project status is as follows: The project is 35% complete as of March 31st.  The contractor is installing the pillar cross members for the proposed bridge at the Hickory Creek Branch of Lake Lewisville. Bridge beams are planned to be delivered and installed on the Poindexter branch bridge starting April 14th through April 25th.  The contractor is installing retaining walls along the entire project.  Traffic will be detoured over to the new pavement April 13th at 2 pm.  The contractor installed the drainage infrastructure across the intersection of Fairland Drive.  They will move to the Northwood / Castlewood intersection in mid April to install that portion of the drainage infrastructure and build the concrete intersection and the road will be closed for a few months to complete that portion of the project.  KCS Railroad has started to deliver the materials for the new railroad crossing on FM 2499.  The TXDOT contractor has installed the asphalt base for the northbound and southbound lanes from Highland Shores Boulevard north to approximately 1000 feet south of the Northwood / Castlewood intersection.  Steel has been laid out & tied in the southbound lanes, concrete pavement will be poured within the next few weeks. 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Mayor Dianne Costa and Sue Thompson made a road trip up to the City of Pilot Point to make a presentation to the City's Economic Development Committee.  Sue and the Mayor met two of the Committee members during Denton County Days in Austin and were invited to come up and speak to their group about the success that Highland Village continues to have with our economic developments projects along our commercial corridor, and how we got there, including our process, ordinances, and working partnerships with our developers.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Fire:

• Highland Village Fire Firefighters, Captain Travis Nokes, Jared Middleton, Mel Harper and Tim Perkins assisted the Parks Dept with the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.
• The Highland Village Fire Department responded to 23 calls for service the week of April 3-9th. This included; 10 medical emergencies, 2 public services, 1 odor investigation, 1 public education, 2 mutual aid - structure fires, 1 fire alarm call, 3 public assists, 2 motor vehicle accidents, and 1 fill-in for another fire station.
• Chief Tatum contacted the SAFER Help Desk this week to get an update on the status of our grant. All he was able to find out was that our grant request was still active and they were still funding and would continue to do so until the money was gone

Police:

• Haley Whitlock started on Monday as our newest team member. She is our Part Time Animal Care Assistant and will be spending most of her time at the Police Department Storefront. Haley's hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10am until 2pm and Tuesday and Thursday she is working 3pm until 7pm. Haley is going to make a great addition to our staff so please feel free to stop by and welcome her on board!
• The Police Department, with help from our Police Auxiliary, conducted a deployment at the City's annual Easter Egg event. The employees that assisted were Corporal April Roppolo, Auxiliary Lehdonea, Auxiliary McLean, Auxiliary Miller, Auxiliary Mcoy, Auxiliary Jones, and Auxiliary Nada.
• This week the Police Department responded to 171 calls for service, made 51 traffic contacts, made 5 arrests, responded to 3 traffic accidents and performed 505 community policing activities.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Scott Kriston attended a project design meeting with the UTRWD and CH2M Hill on the design of the lift station #1 rehabilitation.

Utility Crews:

• Excavated the water line behind Delano to verify alignment and controllability.
• Performed fire hydrant maintenance.
• Responded to 4 after hours emergency calls.
• Performed sewer line maintenance.

Drainage crews:

• Finished creek erosion project in the 800 block of Highland Hills .
• Started the pipe culvert extension project In the 600 block of Sellmeyer.

Street Division:

• Is making asphalt street repairs to the edge of the pavement on La Mesa Drive. The project will continue through next week.
• Started painting markings on Highland Shores Boulevard and will continue painting markings until all areas that need painting are completed.
• Crack sealed the following streets - Post Oaks Drive and Springway Drive.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Staff from the North crew has been cutting down dead trees in several Parks as well as planting seasonal flowers in shrub beds around City Hall and the Veterans Monument.

Pilot knoll crew has been mowing the Day use area at the Park.

Staff is in the process of replacing and repairing electrical wiring at the Village Park pond fountain. 

The crew there also removed debris that was illegally dumped in that park last week.

Staff at Copperas painted all soccer goals in the Park.

The South crew has been mowing and prepping athletic fields for games at Unity.

Wes Nienhuser has been involved in making weed control applications in several parks.

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met for game day on Monday (28) and Thursday (27).  On Tuesday , ten met for bridge class and chair exercise.

On Wednesday, Parks' staff used both buses and drove 24 Highland Village Senior All Stars to the Dallas Arboretum.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Martha Butz attended the NPELRA National Conference in San Antonio this week. A legal update on recent FLSA decisions, administrative letter rulings, changes in the law and challenges faced by public employers during an economic downturn were some of the topics highlighted at the conference.
• On Thursday Vanesa Childers attended the monthly NTMA Board meeting in North Richland Hills. The Board discussed salary surveys, online training systems and workshops.

Fire:

• Chief Tatum and Asst. Chief Collier held the Fire Investigator kick off meeting to go over details of the program curriculum and assign instructors for the 6-week program.
• Asst. Chief Collier and Captain Vince Jones attended the monthly Medical Control Meeting in Lake Cities on Monday.

Police:

• Corporal David Harney, Captain Corry Blount, Sergeant Paul Kimberlin and Lieutenant Karl Schlichter distributed eleven HVPD Merit Certificates to Briarhill Middle School students this week.
• Officer Luis Flores and Officer Chris Carver attended Active Shooter Training this week at Texhoma Regional Police Academy.

Utilities

• David Clark & Richard Skipworth attended a TEEX sponsored backflow prevention class this week and performed their tri-annual backflow operators hands on test required to hold their backflow licenses.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Costa spoke to the students at Heritage Elementary School about the importance of conviction on Monday morning.

Tuesday morning Mayor Costa attended a small groundbreaking ceremony with the children at DKH Academy for their new facility. 

Mayor Costa and Community Development Manager Sue Thompson traveled to Pilot Point on Tuesday afternoon for an economic development presentation.

Wednesday Mayor Costa and City Attorney Palumbo joined members of the DCTA Board in Austin at the formal signing of the Governor's Letter of Approval of the Legislative Budget Board funding for the Denton County Transportation Authority's new commuter rail service.

Mayor Costa joined members of the Police Department in honoring students receiving the HVPD Certificate of Merit at Briarhill Middle School on Thursday.