Recap of City Issues - July 3, 2008

Sue Thompson, Dottie Palumbo and I attended a Highland Village rail station identity meeting with representatives from DCTA and consultant Townscape, Inc. with URS Corp. The purpose of the meeting was for the consultants to hear from Highland Village on what features and design elements could be incorporated into the rail station to not only identify the location of the station, for instance, Lake Lewisville Station, but also on what specifically could be added to identify the member cities of Lewisville and Highland Village. Townscape, Inc. provided ideas and conceptual drawings in a power point presentation.  A similar meeting was held with Lewisville staff recently.  The next step is for a meeting with the consultants and the respective City Councils, perhaps in a joint meeting.  We are tentatively looking at the week of July 28th.  Additional information will be forwarded to Council as it is received on such a meeting.

Sue Thompson received a request from the developer of The District to schedule the ground breaking on Tuesday, July 29th at 9:30 a.m. at the site.  This event was placed on Council's calendar.  

Patrol and Auxiliary personnel provided safety and security at the Radio Disney Event held at the Shops of Highland Village and also at the Highland Shores Jack FM Party.

A Councilperson from the City of Azle visited with Chief O'Bara and Captain Mark Stewart last week.  She was especially interested in our "PIP" Program.  She was provided with a tour of our facility and a tour of the Storefront.

Rosie the Robot and Corporal April Roppolo made a presentation at Tutor Time last week.

Peter Piper Pizza is sending the Children's Advocacy Center of Denton County another $325 dollars that they have collected (through Corporal April Roppolo's assistance) to assist with the new building.

The Police Department and the Police Auxiliary participated in the Adventure Kids grand opening at the Shops of Highland Village.

The Police Department has added "Pet Coupons" to our Kid Coupons program.  These coupons (or pet goodies) are given out when someone is observed committing some type of good behavior with their pet.  Corporal April Roppolo said that she has gotten good feedback on the new program.

Corporal April Roppolo attended the Safety Fair at Capital One Bank.  PSO Dick Williams also assisted during the afternoon.

Street Division has been working around the school locations in preparation for up coming school year.

Crews continue to make concrete street repairs and crackseal the asphalt portion of Briarhill Boulevard.

The Street Crews has installed new and up-to-date street signs on Brazos Boulevard in the school zone location.

Last week, the police department responded to 130 calls for service, made 69 traffic contacts, made 2 arrests, responded to 7 traffic accidents and performed 868 community policing activities.

This week, the police department responded to 153 calls for service, made 80 traffic contacts, made 7 arrests, responded to 6 traffic accidents and performed 837 community policing activities.

Sergeant Dennis Oliver participated in the graduation ceremony for his supervision class at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Plano.

The Police Department made a conditional offer of employment to Tim Henderson for the position of Police Officer.  Tim is a recent academy graduate and worked previously in the private sector.

Sergeant Dennis Oliver graduated from the Police Supervision school at ILEA in Plano.  Chief O'Bara, Captain Stewart and Lt. Schlichter attended the ceremony.

The Sergeant selection process was completed with the assistance of a representative from Keller Police Department, Sasche Police Department and Denton Police Department.  The final selection has not yet been announced.

 On Thursday Martha Butz held a conference call to discuss guest speakers for the upcoming TMHRA Employment Law Conference in September.

On Wednesday a reception was held to convey well wishes to Marikka Williams who is leaving us to pursue an opportunity in Australia.  Marikka has done an outstanding job for the City of Highland Village and she will be missed.  We all wish her the best in her new adventure in the land down under!

On Monday, June 30th, Mayor Costa, Mayor Pro Tem McDearmont and Council Member Combs attended the TML Legislative Outlook meeting held in Arlington.

Mayor Costa met with Ben Casey and representatives from the YMCA on Tuesday, July 1st, to discuss funding for YMCA programs.

Michael Leavitt, City Manager                                                
07/03/08