Recap of City Issues - May 29, 2009

Scott Kriston attended the weekly TX DOT FM 2499 project meeting.  The project status is as follows:  The contractor has 3 spans left to pour on the Poindexter bridge south of the lake water level.  The contractor will continue to perform  concrete pours of the southbound bridge spans next week starting at 6 a.m.  The pours are expected to last 10 hours each.  The contractor is prepping the southbound lanes at the railroad south to FM 407.  The contractor is paving the Harlington Drive intersection.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Sue Thompson attended the final Steering Committee meeting for the 2008-09 Leadership Lewisville class. The Committee worked on finalizing the schedule for the 2009-10 Leadership class to begin in September, 2009. The City of Highland Village participates in the "City Day" class each year.  Sue reports that Highland Village also participated in the Economic Development/Transportation Day, along with the City of Lewisville and the DCTA. The Committee will resume their meetings later in the summer for the coming year's class.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Fire:

• McAuliffe Fire Prevention was held on Wednesday for the 3rd grade class. 100 students participated in the event where they were able to spray water with the fire hose, explore the ambulance and sit with Chief Tatum as he explained the importance of calling 9-1-1.
• Chief Gary Bonner and Captain Brittain from the Noble Oklahoma Fire Department visited with Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier on Wednesday regarding the planned construction of their new fire station.
• Graduation was held for the participants who completed a six-week Fire Investigator's course that was held at the Highland Village Fire Department EOC and Denton County Emergency Management offices. They will take the state test on Tuesday to receive the Fire Investigator certification.
• Chief Tatum delivered the commencement address for the Aubrey Fire Academy where one of HVFD's volunteers Scott Clasby graduated. Assistant Chief Collier was present for his graduation as well.
• The Highland Village Fire Department responded to 21 calls for service May 22 - 28th. This included: 13 medical emergencies, 2 smoke investigations, 2 residential fire alarms, 1 public education, 2 public service/assist calls, and 1 motor vehicle accident. Fire Investigators had one plan review for DKH Academy.

Police:

• HVPD will soon be using a new type of patrol vehicle in addition to our regular police cars. A specially outfitted Black Ford Taurus, formerly an administrative vehicle, will soon hit the streets with the primary objective of assuring compliance with traffic safety laws and low profile police patrol.
• This vehicle will provide the department with an additional tool to address citizen traffic concerns where our standard overt approach (enhanced police patrols, ghost squads, and speed monitoring trailer deployments, etc) have been less effective.
• It is a fully equipped and marked emergency vehicle with emergency lighting in the dash, grill and rear deck. An in-car mobile video/audio system will record all traffic stops, as with all HVPD patrol vehicles. Speed detection will be from stationary, moving and laser radar systems.
• Low profile police patrols will be used to enhance neighborhood safety and security by allowing officers a covert opportunity to observe the possibility of criminal behavior.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Matthew Kite & Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineering to discuss the Public Works project status report.

John Harper, Jose Guevara, Darren Dodd, Tatum Bivins, Charles Ciampi & Todd Hutson attended the 62nd annual TWUA Regional School held in Arlington this week.  They attended classes to renew and/or upgrade their water & wastewater licenses.

Utility Crews:

• Responded to three after hour call outs and four resident emergencies.
• Made one excavation to repair a water line.
• Unstopped one sewer line stoppage.
• Flushed and TV inspected four sewer lines.
• Cleared brush and is installing drainage pipe at the Southwood Well lot for the materials storage piles that will be relocated there permanently from the Municipal Service Center site.
• Performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.

Drainage Crews:

• Regraded a drainage easement in the 3000 block of Northwood.
• Removed weeds and debris from a drainage culvert in the 3000 block of Sherwood.
• Installed a brim to prevent flooding in the 2000 block of Briarhill.
• Shot grade for future drainage swale off inland trail behind the houses in the 900 block of Kingwood.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Parks staff is involved in parks seasonal mowing maintenance.

The South crew is busy preparing Unity baseball game fields for end of the season league games that end on June 6. The South crew also installed new Parks Rules signs at Unity Park.

The North crew has been installing signs and doing preparation at Copperas Park for the up coming Red White and Blue Festival at that location on June 6.

Wes Neinhuser has been treating various Parks for fire ants and also making weed control applications.

Tony Palesano has been repairing irrigation leaks in several Parks as well as replacing lighting fixtures at entry way signs in the City.

Pilot Knoll staff has been mowing and cleaning all Pavilions in that Park to prepare for the high volume of week end rentals of those facilities.

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (18 attendees) and Thursday (40 attendees) at the Highland Shores Community Center for game day.

Ten Senior All Stars met on Tuesday to play Bridge and Dominos.

On Wednesday, 8 Highland Village Senior All Stars went to Carrollton. They enjoyed A.W. Perry Homestead Museum, H-Mart Asian Market, and lunch at Babe's

Saturday, will be the annual Bass Champs fishing tournament at Copperas Park.  Weigh-Ins will be from 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturday.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Martha Butz, Jana Onstead and Ken Heerman met with Higginbotham & Associates and a representative from United Health Care to discuss the upcoming insurance benefit renewal.

Vanesa Childers held orientation with this year's Kids Kamp counselors on Thursday.

Chief Tatum, Assistant Chief Collier, Captain Travis Nokes, Captain Vince Jones, FF/Paramedic Randy McCurley, and FF/Paramedic Chip Willis attended the monthly officer's meeting on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Assistant Chief Collier attended a Denton County Training Officer's meeting that was held at the Lewisville Fire Department.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Mayor Costa and Council Member Meek attended the Lewisville Area Chamber Luncheon on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning Mayor Costa gave the keynote address to 5th graders from Highland Village Elementary School at their Career Day event.

Mayor Costa and Council Member Meek attended the Denco Area 9-1-1 District "Meet and Eat" event on Thursday morning.

Friday evening Council Member Meek presented a Citizenship Award from the Mayor and Council at the Marcus High School ROTC Awards Night.