Recap of City Issues - September 11, 2009

Staff recently met with Dr. Roy, LISD Superintendent of Schools, and his legal staff to review our existing Interlocal Agreement that covers Unity Park and Briarhill Middle School campus.  With recent legislative changes in the Educational Code, it has come to light that LISD has a conflict in the use of the site in relationship in paying for maintenance and upkeep of the area without the proper mechanics in place to allow for all activities.  The LISD Board will be considering a Lease agreement at their next Board meeting and, in turn, this will be coming to the City Council for consideration in October.

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Fire:

• Highland Village Fire Department responded to 18 calls for service the week of Sept 4 -10th. Included are: 14 medical emergencies, 1 odor investigation, 1 public service call, and 2 residential fire alarm calls. Fire personnel conducted 3 business inspections this past week.

Police:

• This week, the police department responded to 161 calls for service, made 133 traffic contacts, made 6 arrests, responded to 1 traffic accidents and performed 644 community policing activities.
• Leticia "Letty" Bustamante has accepted a police officer position with our department. It is anticipated her start date will be September 24th. Bustamante is a recent police academy graduate from Cedar Valley College and has previous experience in the private sector. We welcome her to our team and look forward to working with her in the future.
• Two 9 year Highland Village residents set up a lemonade stand in our neighborhood selling lemonade and cookies. Neither wanted to keep any money for themselves. They decided they wanted to donate any money made to help animals. The SPCA was suggested and they agreed. We made signs and what followed was an outpouring from the community. The girls made nearly $80.00 in just a little over one hour. Many passersby donated money without making a purchase. Many people assist with the shelter operations by making these types of donations.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

Streets:

• The Street Division made a concrete street repair at 2171 Timbercrest Lane. The concrete was heaving or swelling upward due to the ground movement at that location.
• The Street Division continue cracksealing open cracks in the asphalt pavement in the Village Estates III subdivision.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Parks staff marked the soccer game fields at Unity Park in preparation for GLASA's opening season.

Parks staff has reinforced the chain link fence posts on the north side of the tennis courts on Sellmeyer.

Parks staff received a new tractor on Wednesday to mow the Doubletree property among others.  It is a 95 horsepower unit with a 15' finish mowing deck.

Parks staff met with Police and Fire to discuss upcoming special events which include; Marcus II Cross County Meet at Copperas Branch, Senior All Stars flu shots at the Highland Shores Community  Center, Fall Clean Up at Copperas Branch, Highland Village Elementary Carnival, Hogwarts Festival and City of Highland Village Fall Festival both at Kids Kastle.

Tommy White met with the mowing contractor VMC concerning brush removal and tree trimming at the Doubletree Ranch.  Tony Palesano made repairs to irrigation heads damaged at the municipal complex.  Wes Neinhuser made applications for fire ants in several parks.  Both Corps Parks had a high volume of visitors for Labor Day weekend keeping staff at those parks very busy.

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met for game day Tuesday and Thursday.

Twenty six Senior All Stars took a tour of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium on Wednesday.

On Saturday, the 12th, the Senior All Stars are going to have a luau at the Highland Shores Community Center beginning at 6:00 p.m.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• Martha Butz hosted the North Texas Municipal Alliance board meeting on Thursday. Human Resource representatives from Euless, Mansfield, Bedford, Haltom City, Westlake, Flower Mound, Keller, Watauga, Southlake and North Richland Hills attended.

Fire:

• Assistant Chief Jason Collier and Captain Travis Nokes attended 3-day training for Strike Team Leader in Coppell this week.
• Nancy Sharp attended the reception for Leadership Lewisville last Wednesday. The reception was held at Lewisville Medical Center.
• Chief Lonnie Tatum attended the Regional Fire Chiefs' meeting that was held in Mansfield on Thursday.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

On Saturday, Mayor Costa attended the Grand Opening of Cross Timbers Artist Guild.  Mayor Costa accepted a piece of art on behalf of the City, which will be presented at the next Council Meeting.  Artist, Gene Colley, made the piece of art out of a tree that was salvaged from FM 2499.

On Tuesday, Councilmember Wilcox attended Leadership FM Team Building & Ropes Course.