Recap of City Issues - January 25, 2008

On Monday Ken Heerman, Director of Finance, the Senior Vice President of First Southwest Company and myself made two separate presentations to Fitch Rating and Standard & Poor's for our upcoming General Obligation Issuance and our Certificates of Issuance. Our meeting was held at Patrizio’s in The Shops at Highland Village to allow both rating agencies to see our efforts in economic development. Officially, we will not receive conformation until February 6th, but both agencies verbally express a favorable report.

On Wednesday Ken Heerman, Heather Castillo, Dottie Palumbo and I met with West & Associates about our upcoming General Obligation Issuance and our Certificates of Issuance.  The purpose of meeting with Mr. West was a confirmation and "Due Diligence" on all parties for our proposed debt issuance.  Officially, we did not receive any written confirmation, but Mr. West did verbally express a very favorable report being issued on the current status of the City of Highland Village.

Rhoda Savage met with BW2 Engineers to open bids for Victoria Trail, Market Trail, and Village Park Trail.  Seven bids were received and all are within the budgeted amount.  Staff hopes to make a recommendation to award a contract for construction for Council approval in February.

Rhoda Savage met with Dunkin Sims Stoffels, Inc. to discuss edits to the proposed 2008 Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan.  This plan will be taken to Council for consideration in February.

On Monday, the Senior All-Stars met at the Highland Shores Community Center for snacks and game day.  (26 Residents and 8 Non-Residents attended.)

On Thursday, the Senior All-Stars met at the Highland Shores Community Center for snacks and game day.  (31 Residents and 11 Non-Residents attended.)

The All-Stars February Newsletter was completed, printed and mailed out to the Senior All-Star members this week.

The Parks Department would like to thank Barb Osborne, Carolyn Britton and Julie Erickson for volunteering to use their artistic abilities to make centerpieces for the Father/Daughter dance.  The team worked quickly and efficiently together, cutting out, gluing and putting glitter on hundreds of hearts. Corporal Nunez conducted a VIP Patrol Bike class on Saturday, January 19, for Auxiliary personnel out at the Police Storefront.  This training will allow Auxiliary members to use the patrol bike on inland trail and retail patrols.

A Business E-Watch Alert was sent out this week to warn members of a counterfeit check scam in our area.

On Wednesday Cheryl Dudich and Shelly Clark met with a representative from Ardent Hospice regarding a sponsorship for our Senior All-Stars. 

On Thursday the Senior All-Stars met at the Highland Shores Community Center for snacks and game day.  (26 Residents and 8 Non-Residents attended.)

On Thursday Cheryl Dudich and Shelly Clark met with the Senior Advisory Group to discuss plans for future senior events.

On Friday the Senior All-Stars teamed up with the Lewisville YMCA, Lewisville Seniors and the Flower Mound Seniors to form a Senior Co-Op.  The Senior Co-Op enjoyed a day filled with active games.

The tickets for the 8th annual Father and Daughter Valentine’s Dance are officially on sale for residents and they are going fast! 

The Communications Personnel were officially moved back into their re-designed Communications Center.  Records Technician Patty Hamilton was also able to move back into her newly renovated office and that part of the Police Department is back up and fully functional.

Charles Mitchell and Ron Knox met with the Lewisville Traffic Division about pre-emption capability for the signal for the Fire Department at the new Fire Station. Pre-emption is the interruption of the traffic signal to allow the emergency equipment to control the signal. We currently have pre-emption capability for emergency equipment  for the signal at Brazos Boulevard and Highland Village Road.

The Street Division has been making concrete curb repairs on Medina at Victoria Park.

The Street staff made some adjustments the new signs that were installed on the signal arms at Highland Village Road and Brazos Boulevard.

The Street Division had made preparation for the inclement weather that was forecast for the early Friday morning by having personnel on standby and the trucks loaded with sand mixture.

The annual gate entry passes for Copperas Branch Park and Pilot Knoll are now officially on SALE until January 31, 2008 for only $35.00.  They’re selling fast!   

Wes Nienhuser, Joey Hardin and Frank Furche constructed a frame for the large map at the City Hall rotunda.

Parks staff worked hard this week installing the new map in the rotunda. 

North crew has been removing dead and damaged trees from old tree farm at Copperas Park.

North crew spent time putting up new park signs this week.

South crew was busy with ball field renovations at Unity Park this week.

The Highland Village Fire Department had 33 calls for service the week of January 17th -24th. This included: 14 medical emergencies, 4 vehicle lock-outs, 5 residential / commercial fire alarms, 4 structure fires, 2 public assists, 3 inspections and 1 motor vehicle accident.

This week, the police department responded to 106 calls for service, made 63 traffic contacts, made 5 arrests, responded to 4 traffic accidents and performed 574 community policing activities.

Corporal Bell and Detective King spent three days with Dallas Police Department Homicide division gaining knowledge in, specifically, Homicides, something we rarely see in Highland Village.

Sheri Morrison, Alicia Richardson, Karen Bradley and Tom Rollins attended the Laserfiche conference in Los Angeles.  The conference is held once a year and introduced everyone to the upcoming Version 8 of Laserfiche that should be out in the coming year.

On Wednesday the Parks and Recreation office staff attended an employee meeting.

On Thursday, Chief Tatum and Assistant Chief Collier attended the weekly construction meeting for the fire station.

Tommy White attended an herbicide/pesticide conference in Arlington on Thursday.

Martha Butz met with Rapid Med in Highland Village to discuss billing processes for occupational and pre-employment procedures.

Human Resources personnel have been working on organizing and discarding obsolete materials and supplies in the department.

Employee participation in taking the Health Assessment at myuhc.com has been good.  So far thirty-two employees have turned in their confirmations.  The cut off is February 29, 2008 so employees who haven’t participated yet don’t forget!

Michael Leavitt, City Manager
01/25/08