Recap of City Issues - August 7, 2009

Highland Village voters approved bond funds for the reconstruction of Brazos Boulevard in May 2002.  Funding was approved for the paving of the road as well as improvements to the median and street rights of way.  The landscaping plan proposed at that time was very elaborate and included a dry creek, and numerous faux bridges.  The City bid the project for construction at a time when the costs for construction was at a record high.  Bids exceeded the voter approved funds, bids were rejected, the scope of the project modified, and the project rebid.  As a street project, the new scope emphasized improvements to the paved surfaces and associated infrastructure, and the majority of the landscaping was removed. The intent was to determine the level of future landscaping based on funds available after the pavement was placed.  The original landscape bid was over $1,000,000.  The City Council authorized approximately $250,000 for the landscaping of Brazos Boulevard, during the 2008/09 fiscal budget year.

A revised landscape plan was developed, the project bid and the construction is underway, expending the balance of the bonds in a manner consistent with the original design intent, but at a substantial reduction in cost.  Construction elements include the addition of low maintenance plant materials and a drip irrigation system.  The irrigation system includes the addition of software for a water management program geared toward reducing the water consumption throughout the City as additional sites are transitioned over to this system.  Borders separating the landscape areas are cast in concrete allowing for durability and low maintenance costs.  Areas that are not planted with native materials will be filled with a river rock, enhancing the visual appeal, but keeping the watered areas to a minimum. Construction is underway and scheduled for completion within the next 45 days.  An effort to complete the project prior to the start of school is underway, with hopes that the work will be finished earlier than contractually required.  We are hopeful this can be accomplished and residents will be pleased with the final product. 

Scott Kriston attended the TXDOT FM 2499 project meeting this week.  The project status is as follows:  The contractor completed the concrete pours of the bridge spans on the north side of the lake water level for the Poindexter bridge .  The traffic barriers are yet to be built on the bridge.  The contractor is focusing efforts to building the Hickory Creek bridge.  The contractor poured concrete on the FM 2499 intersections and opened several of them, they will continue to form and pour concrete cut outs, intersections and entrances.  The cut outs and intersections are anticipated to be completed over the next few weeks

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

The Street Division installed signage and a pedestrian crossing  at 3318 Castlewood Boulevard to tie into the trail on the Westside of Castlewood Boulevard.

The Street Division finished the asphalt street repairs on Malibu Drive by topping the existing repairs with a type C asphalt.

The Municipal Service Center Structures Demolition Project contractor completed the job and has moved off the site. 

Scott Kriston & David Clark met with Mike Burge of BW2 Engineers, Inc this week to discuss the sanitary sewer manhole rehabilitation, smoke testing, Spring Oaks turn around and Hillside Paving & Drainage Improvements projects.

Utility Crews:

• Toured the UTRWD's water and wastewater treatment plants to gain a better understanding of how our water is made and how our wastewater gets treated.
• Issued water conservation violators door hanger warnings.
• Repaired one service line leak and made a new service line connection.
• Replaced three curb stops, one water meter and one meter box.
• Repaired two sewer lines, unstopped one back up and installed one sewer tap.
• Responded two after hour call outs.
• Performed meter rereads, water turn on/turn offs, and leak checks.
• Located one area of utility infrastructure for proposed franchise utility work.
• Are preparing to install the water and sewer lines for the proposed MSC. Construction staking was set out this week and the asphalt parking lot was saw cut in the pipe alignment. Construction is anticipated to start Monday, August 10th.
• Flushed and TV inspected one sewer line.
• Performed maintenance on well lots, lift stations, fire hydrants and the water distribution and wastewater collection system.

Drainage Crews:

• Replaced a driveway culvert to restore bar ditch flow in the 100 block of Cedar.
• Moved stored pipe to the new materials storage location at 5001 Village Parkway.
• Located existing utilities in the 2700 block of Hillside for the Hillside Paving and Drainage Improvements Project.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

This is the ninth week of Kids Kamp at Briarhill Middle School. The field trips this week included roller skating on Monday, Going Bonkers on Tuesday, G Force movie on Thursday, and swimming at the Old Town Aquatic Center on Friday.

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (27 attendees) and Thursday (46 attendees) for game day and pot luck lunch.

Five Senior All Stars met on Tuesday for social time and open game time.

On Thursday, the Highland Village Senior All Stars took a field trip to Billy Bobs in Fort Worth.

Parks' staff met with the Highland Village Lion's Club to finalize plans for the Balloon Festival that begins next weekend.

As of last Saturday, the Chinn Chapel practice soccer fields were added to our list of fields that are available for rental.  There are two half fields available for rental and are located on the north side of Harlington Dr. between Millington Dr. and Chinn Chapel Rd.

Parks staff is preparing Copperas Branch park for the 22nd annual Highland Village Balloon Festival.

Parks crews are preparing the baseball and soccer fields for Fall games that start in September.

All Parks crews are performing regular maintenance.

The Brazos median landscape project is about 30% complete.  The grade has been established, concrete borders have been poured, main components of the irrigation system have been installed and potting soil has been delivered to the site.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

This week the Police Department responded to 163 calls for service, made 79 traffic contacts, made 1 arrests, responded to 4 traffic accidents and performed 903 community policing activities.

Chief Tatum, Asst. Chief Collier, Captain Nokes, Captain Jones and Captain Willis attended the monthly Officer's Meeting held in the EOC on Tuesday.

Chief Tatum and Asst. Chief Collier attended the monthly Denton Co Fire Chief's meeting that was held in the EOC on Thursday.

Highland Village Fire Department responded to 17 calls for service the week of July 31 - Aug 6.  Included are: 8 medical emergencies, 1 motor vehicle accident, 3 structure fires, 2 public service calls, 1 commercial fire alarm and 2 residential fire alarm/smoke detector calls.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Vanesa Childers and Jane Ponder held orientation for Robert Dukes on Thursday.  Robert is our newest Firefighter/Paramedic with the Fire Department.  We are glad to welcome him to our staff.

The Walk Across Texas teams are now in their fourth week.  After only three weeks of reporting miles the teams have walked a total of 3,918.07 miles!  This week we had a luncheon to mark the halfway point.  Everyone is doing a great job so keep on walking!!

Jana Onstead met with the Benefit Committee to review and discuss changes for next year's health, dental and vision carriers.

Fire Department personnel and staff assisted with the physical agility testing that was held on Friday morning at the Lewisville Training Field. This testing is used as an assessment tool for candidates that have applied for Firefighter/Paramedic/EMT positions with the Fire Department.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

On Thursday I attended the I-35E Stakeholder meeting at the City of Lewisville, the meeting was conducted by TXDOT.  They officially announced that I-35E will have at least a two year delay at this time and will now not start construction until 2012, due to the lack of funding from the state legislators.  They are moving forward with the environmental documents and they hope to have the FONSI in late 2010, this would allow right of way (ROW) clearance and the ability to start purchasing ROW along with ability to start mitigation of the project.

Mayor Costa and Councilmember Davis attended the Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club Evening Celebration Open House for the Opening of the Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge on Saturday, August 1st.

On Friday and Saturday, August 7th and 8th, Councilmember Meek attended Newly Elected Officials' Orientation in Austin.  This training, presented by Texas Municipal League and the Association of Mayors, Councilmembers and Commissioners, assists first-time elected officials, by answering many of their questions, addressing issues they will face, and helping them assume their new role with confidence.