Recap of City Issues - May 2, 2008

Yesterday was truly one of the brightest highlights for the City of Highland Village, with the Grand Opening of our new Fire Station. I am so appreciative to have been a part of the growth and development of our Fire Department, to have met and worked with so many hard working individuals who volunteered their time and talents to develop and create the foundation of one of the most successful and essential services a city must provide in fire protection and emergency medical service.  It has truly been an honor to work with you.  In 2000, I had the opportunity to present the first paid staffing plan to the City Council to provide combination volunteer and paid employees for the Fire Department.  I still remember it as if it was just our last meeting and also remember that feeling of excitement and the challenge in moving forward. I would like say thank you to the City Council of today and past Councils for in trusting us, the City Staff, with the management, development and operation of this community - it is truly a joy.  As in everything we do in this organization, we will have our challenges, but in the end we are all working together for the greater good of this community and for the betterment of everyone in our organization. The honor also extends throughout the whole City organization, for the success of one is the success of everyone.  The City staff for Highland Village is a special and talented group in everything they do, from having a EAF luncheon, to building a new water tower, being the safest City, in being recognized for financial excellence, maintaining our parks and building our new trails, to watching over the homes and buildings being constructed.  The success of this organization is because everyone cares.  I would like to say thank you to everyone for working together to make sure the initiatives of today and the future are successful.     

The new 13,250 state-of-the-art fire station facility will house Fire and EMS Emergency Operations, Fire Prevention, the Cities Emergency Operation Center, and Fire Administration.  The dedication was attended by over 300 people along with representatives from 9 area fire departments and 4 retired Highland Village Fire Chiefs. Operations of emergency services will begin Monday, May 5, 2008.

Staff occasionally receives calls requesting information on a current or on-going project, i.e. Wayside Horns. We've also heard from residents they'd like the information in the utility bill inserts available other than the printed copy in the actual utility bill. Our solution to both of these requests is City Connections, our new monthly web newsletter. City Connections will be posted to the web each month and will remain there until the next edition is posted. This newsletter includes all the information in the utility bill inserts as well as updates on current city projects. Visit the front page of the city web site to read the May edition.

The Highland Village WebQA Request and Work Order Management System was released internally on May 1, 2008.   It is currently being utilized for Utility Billing, Utility Operations (Water/Wastewater/Storm Water),  the Street Department, Permits, Inspections and Code Enforcement.  Staff will be utilizing this system to manage inter-departmental requests for service and will be submitting requests through this system on behalf of citizens.  When the system is released to the public other departments such as Animal Care, the Police Department and the Parks Department will have requests available for citizens to submit.   The system will be released for citizens to utilize upon release of the new website.

Officer Finley participated in the Briarhill Middle School "Fun in the Sun" event.

The Police Department put on our quarterly Scooter Training event.  There were two children that participated in the training and received their Scooter Permits.
This week, the police department responded to 182 calls for service, made 62 traffic contacts, made 9 arrests, responded to 10 traffic accidents and performed 455 community policing activities.

The Highland Village Fire Department had 29 calls for service the week of April 24 – May 1; this included 11 medical emergencies, 3 public assists, 1 odor investigation, 2 public service calls, 2 injured persons, 1 prisoner check, 2 fire alarm calls, 3 motor vehicle accidents and 4 structure fires.

The Employees Activity Committee hosted a luncheon for the employees on Wednesday down at 948 Highland Village Road.  Employees donated items to be included in the drawing for prizes during the luncheon.  Seventeen employees and their spouses, along with B&G Chemicals, donated a total of seventy-three prizes for the drawing.  Thanks to everyone who helped make this lunch special for our employees!

The Utilities Department welcomed Nicholas Hall to their staff this week.  Nicholas is a Utility Tech I and we are pleased to have him join us!  

Jana Onstead received training via the web on Tuesday regarding updates to FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act.

Council members Don Combs and Jon Calvin joined other elected officials and the Denton County Chambers of Commerce at the 2nd Annual Washington D.C. Fly-In hosted by U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D.  Council member Scott McDearmont also attended the meeting as a representative of the Medical Center of Lewisville.  Elected officials were provided tours of federal buildings and most importantly, the opportunity to speak with federal legislators regarding concerns for the Denton County area.   They met and spoke with a representative of the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding the needs for the State of Texas.  The delegation was informed that the DOT is aware of the needs for Texas, and that Texas was number one on their list.

On Monday Council members Adams and Calvin attended the monthly Precinct 3 Meeting held in Lewisville.

Council member Adams attended a Boy Scouts of America Friends of Scouting event held on Tuesday at which a Silver Eagle Award was presented to the Superintendent of the Lewisville Independent School District.

Mayor Costa and members of Council attended the Grand Opening Celebration for the New Central Fire Station.  Later that evening council candidates running in the May 10th Municipal Election attended a City Election Forum held at the Lewisville Chamber of Commerce.  This event, which was sponsored by the Denton County Republican Men’s Club and the Lewisville Area Republican Club, gave the public a chance to meet those running for election in Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village.

Michael Leavitt, City Manager                                                
05/02/08