Recap of City Issues - October 23, 2009

The Texas Department of Transportation reports that Ed Bell Construction will be switching traffic to the new concrete from the railroad tracks to Highland Shores Boulevard on Monday, October 26, 2009.

The City of Highland Village has secured Jagoe Public Co. to rehabilitate the existing asphalt pavement on Highland Shores Boulevard from Highland Village Road to Briarhill Boulevard and replace the concrete pavement in the 2700 block of Hillside Drive.  The notice to proceed is dated October 28, 2009, and has a contract time of 60 days to complete.  The contractor has informed the City that they will start the project October 28, 2009.  The existing asphalt pavement on Highland Shores will be ground up and reclaimed as the new road base, then a 2-inch surface layer of new asphalt will be installed for a smooth finish.  New road striping will be installed on Highland Shores Boulevard inside the project limits.  To allow for emergency vehicle traffic response, traffic control on Highland Shores Boulevard will be west bound only from Highland Village Road to Remington west for a proposed period of 3 weeks starting October 28th, weather permitting.  All east bound traffic on Highland Shores Boulevard will be detoured to FM 407 via Briarhill Boulevard and/or Village Parkway (FM 2499).  The 2700 block of Hillside Dr. will be closed for 3 weeks, weather permitting, to remove & replace the concrete pavement, traffic in this area will be diverted to Hillside Drive east.  A digital message board sign is already up warning the local traffic of the upcoming road closure.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Sue Thompson reports that staff received confirmation from the engineer working with TXDOT and the Town of Flower Mound that the plans for the signal to be located on FM 407 at Live Oak Lane (on the north side of FM 407- the spine road through the Marketplace) have been approved by the TXDOT District Transportation Operations Engineer.  Sue will provide an update on the proposed timeline as it becomes available. 

PUBLIC SAFETY (POLICE AND FIRE)

Fire:

Firefighter/Paramedic Chip Willis provided CPR & First Aid training to an area local Boy Scout Group last Thursday. Dispatcher Jessie O'Brien is one of the Boy Scouts group leaders.

Fire Calls For Service - Oct. 16-22nd

• 1 Odor Investigation
• 4 Public Service Calls
• 2 Motor Vehicle Accidents
• 11 Medical Emergencies
• 1 Residential Fire Alarm
• 2 Public Assist Calls
• 1 Structure Fire - Mutual Aid
• 1 Elevator Rescue
• 1 Injured Person
• 2 Fire Inspections for new businesses

Public Relations:

• Tour of Fire Station for Triestch Church Kindergarten Class
• Fall Cleanup Standby at Copperas Park
• Car Seat Installation
• Breast Cancer Awareness Public Education at Potbelly

Police:

• This week, the police department responded to 139 calls for service, made 126 traffic contacts, made 5 arrests, responded to 4 traffic accidents and performed 417 community policing activities.
• Corporal David Harney and Corporal April Roppolo conducted on a presentation for the Kiwanis Club. The Kiwanis were shown all the programs that the Police Department has for children including the PIP Program, Kid Safety Coupons, parent training videos, McGruff, Rosie, Bike Helmets, Car Seats, Juvenile Boot Camps, LETS, Denton Scared Straight Program, SRO in the Schools, Cops in Lunch Programs, Bike Rodeos, and HVPD Recognizing Students. The Kiwanis members were very impressed and offered to help with the next police bike race we have.
• The Highland Village Elementary "Fall Fest" event had about 1000 people in attendance. Police Department Auxiliaries that worked were Mike McCoy, Tim Morgan, Jim Conrad, and Selene Allison. Corporal David Harney and Corporal April Roppolo also assisted with the event.

STREET / UTILITY DIVISIONS PROJECTS

The Street Division made a concrete street repair on Highland Shores Boulevard at Lakeside Drive and will be opening up that location Monday, October 26,2009.

The Street Division trimmed some trees that were blown down during the storm Wednesday night and cleaned up debris around the Double Tree Ranch.

The Street Division made a saw cut on Creek Haven Street at Highland Shores Boulevard for the Drainage Division to make inlet repairs and a saw cut on Singletree Street to make some asphalt street repairs next week.

Scott Kriston held a pre-construction meeting with the contractor, engineers & City staff for the Highland Shores & Hillside (west) Paving Rehabilitation project this week.  The contractor is proposing to start on October 28th.  Digital message board signs have been put out to warn the public of the proposed traffic control.

The way side horns on Briarhill & Highland Village Road were field tested this week, Utilities staff received training on the operation, maintenance & trouble shooting of the horns.  The railroad process will take approximately one (1) month to execute before the trains will comply to the no train horn order.

Badger Meter gave a presentation to the Utilities staff this week on their fixed network meter reading product.

Scott Kriston met with BW2 Engineers and S. Taub Engineers to look at the 3 lift stations that are being designed for rehabilitation.

Drainage crews:

• Finished grading the creek, installed rip rap rock and concrete to protect from further erosion in the 600 block of Timber Way.
• Cleared creek crossings, culverts and inlet boxes of debris after the recent rain event.
• Removed the temporary pipe in the creek the TP&L contractor installed in the 300 block of Whitter to open up the blocked channel flow.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Rhoda Savage and Fince' Espinoza met with the Senior All-Stars on Thursday, also in attendance were a representative from the DCTA and Parks and Recreation Board Members Jonathan Bailey and Gene Wernette.  Topics of discussion were the DCTA services available for the seniors, the policy for the use of city buses and the timeline for construction of the senior center at 948 Highland Village Road.  Rhoda also informed the seniors on how the US Census Bureau would be collecting information. 

The Highland Village Senior All Stars met on Monday (19 attendees) and Thursday (37 attendees) for game day. Thursday was also the monthly potluck lunch.

Thirteen Senior All Stars met on Tuesday for open game time and the Helping Hands pillow heart project.

On Wednesday, 45 Highland Village Senior All Stars went on the Choctaw Casino trip.

Parks staff is assisting the Parks Foundation in preparing Kids Kastle for the Hogwarts Festival on Saturday.

Tony Palesano repaired drinking fountains at Unity Park.

Wes Neinhuser made fall fertilizer and pre-emergent applications to parks, municipal grounds and medians.

Staff did plant bed preparations for fall flower planting.

Staff did athletic field preparations for soccer and baseball games at Unity Park.

HUMAN RESOURCES / STAFF TRAINING

Human Resources:

• A make up training class was held this week for Preventing Sexual Harassment. Eleven employees attended the class. Mike Gibson from NTMA was the instructor for the class.

Fire:

• ‘A' shift personnel worked on removal of trees from the roadway on Wednesday evening during a heavy rain and windstorm that moved through the area.
• Fire Department Personnel attended monthly EMS continuing education classes on Monday - Wednesday.
• Firefighter/Paramedics Charles Hinkle and Jared Middleton attended a 40-hour Fire Officer 1 training course this week.
• Captain Vince Jones hosted the NCTTRAC (North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council) meeting on Tuesday evening.

CITY MANAGER / CITY COUNCIL

Councilmember Meek represented the City of Highland Village at the Annual Mayor's Ball and Hobie Cat Boat Races in The Colony on October 16th and 17th.  Mr. Meek reports that the Friday night Ball, with great food and a very different band - two guitars, drums, a fiddle and a bagpipe, was enjoyed by all.  The Saturday boat races were fun, with three boats competing.  Mr. Meek advised that those little Catamarans move quickly with the wind.

Councilmembers Davis and Wilcox attended the Fall Clean-up at Copperas Branch Park on Saturday.

Saturday evening, Councilmembers Davis and Meek attended the Highland Village Elementary Fall Carnival.

Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem Combs and Councilmembers Meek and Wilcox attended the Flower Mound Chamber Luncheon on Tuesday at Bridlewood Golf Club.  Senator Jane Nelson was the guest speaker at the luncheon.

Councilmember Davis attended the CCA Season of Hope Fundraising Dinner on Tuesday evening at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lewisville.

Mayor Costa and Councilmembers Meek and Wilcox attended events at the Texas Municipal League Annual Conference in Ft. Worth this week.