Recap of City Issues - August 8, 2008

As a result of the Utility bill insert, contributions in the amount of $1,070.00 were received this week for the Veterans Monument. Information is on the front page of our website and we will keep you updated as more contributions are received.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Highland Village and Lewisville Fire Departments conducted ISO mandated Mutual Aid Training in Highland Village. The training focused on utilizing Lewisville's 95 ft apparatus to evaluate roof access on homes located with steep grades or sharp inclines and access to difficult areas located throughout the city. As the photo shows, some areas are extremely difficult to reach with the aerial apparatus.

Laurie Mullens attended a meeting at Lewisville City Hall to discuss the upcoming Denton County Legislative Workshop. In 2006 Highland Village hosted this event and this year Lewisville will be the host. Representatives from Denton, Flower Mound, Lewisville and DCTA attended this meeting to discuss the goal of the workshop and the format. We'll provide more information as we continue planning the event.

Chief O'Bara and I met with the City Manager of the City of Lewisville, to discuss the issues we have experienced with the communications tower. I am happy to report that Lewisville has committed to address all issues.

On Friday, I met with the City Manager of the City of Corinth regarding the interlocal agreement for E911 and radio communications.

On Monday, the Senior All- Stars enjoyed Game Day at the Highland Shores Community Center.

On Wednesday, the Senior All-Stars met at Barnes and Noble in The Shops at Highland Village for Book Club. The August Book is "The Last Lecture".

On Thursday, the Senior All-Stars enjoyed Game Day at the Highland Shores Community Center. Meals on Wheels Provided lunch and following lunch the All-Stars enjoyed a game of bingo.

Our Kids Kamp had an awesome week of events for DFW Sports Week. They attended field trips to the Rough Riders, I MAX, Dallas Cowboys Stadium and Swimming. Next week they will enjoy the End of Summer Blast!

Corporal April Roppolo conducted a tour of the Police Station to approximately 40 children from a local day care.

Matthew Kite and Billy Spencer met with the Superintendent for the construction of the Majestic Liquor building Thursday morning to discuss their ongoing construction schedule. The Superintendent reported that he anticipated reopening the mutual access driveway area within a week by using a gravel surface until the permanent concrete work can be done early next month. He expected some additional closures of short duration for that drive as different phases of his concrete and drainage work are started. He plans to complete the entire project by the end of October.

On Thursday the Highland Village and Lewisville Fire Departments provided mutual aid to the Lake Cities Fire Department in battling a structure fire located on Corps Property in Hickory Creek. The intensity of the fire caused a grass fire that complicated extinguishing efforts. Since fire hydrants were not available in the remote area, the Lewisville Fire Boats drafted water from the lake and pumped into the Highland Village Engine. This procedure worked very well and demonstrated the importance of area Fire Departments working together in managing large scale incidents. Units were on scene approximately three hours before the blaze was contained.

The Parks North Crew replaced damaged nets and a bench at Victoria Park.

The Parks North Crew replaced signage at Sunset Point Park.

The Pilot Knoll Crew is preparing to paint the outside of the gate house and restrooms in the Park.

Wes Neinhuser, with the help of the South Crew removed and sprayed unwanted vegetation in the pond at Unity Park.

Tony Palesano has been working on irrigation systems damaged at Village Park.

The Street Division is making repairs to the stamp pavement located at Highland Shores Boulevard and Highland Village Road. The crew are repairing street failures in the stamp pattern concrete and repainting the pattern concrete. They will continue be making repairs to the stamp pattern concrete through next week.

The Street Division is making various repairs to asphalt street located on Lakeland Drive. This is done by replacing the asphalt over base failures and improving the base under the asphalt.

The Highland Village Fire Department had 23 calls for service the week of Aug 1-7. This included: 15 medical emergencies, 1 public service, 1 motor vehicle accident, 1 structure fire, 2 mutual aid calls, 1 odor investigation and 2 natural gas leaks.

This week, the police department responded to 173 calls for service, made 80 traffic contacts, made 7 arrests, responded to 6 traffic accidents and performed 640 community policing activities.

Chief Ed O'Bara, Captain Mark Stewart, Captain Corry Blount, Lieutenant Karl Schlichter and I attended National Incident Management System training at Denton County Sheriff's Office this week.

The Safety Committee conducted a safety inspection of all City facilities on Tuesday. Those members attending were: Bill Parsons, Sam Smith, Charles Mitchell, Tommy White, Billy Spencer, David Harney, Jason Collier, and Jana Onstead.

On Tuesday, a representative of Tut Services met with Vanesa Childers, Jana Onstead, and Tom Rollins to assist in the final implementation stage of the City's online application software.

Bid opening for 2008-2009 employee health insurance renewal was on Thursday. The Employee Benefit Committee will be meeting with Higginbotham and Associates to discuss the options for the upcoming fiscal year.

Assistant Chief Collier participated in the bi-annual Safety Inspections conducted on all city buildings and facilities. These inspections are important to maintain a safe working environment for all City Employees and visitors.

Two of the three new full-time employees hired by the Fire Department in January have now completed all phases of their Paramedic Certification. The final phase includes passing the rigorous National Registry testing procedure. Congratulations to Amber Wade and Tony Sorsby on completing this long and tedious process.

Chief Tatum attended the Denton County Fire Chiefs meeting on Thursday.

Corporal Steve Rodriguez and Corporal Onay Nunez both attended Instructor Certification school at Tarrant County College.

Sergeant Bobby Doyle attended Sig Arms Armorer re-certification course.

Officer Alicia Bautista and Officer Delana Jones attended Municipal Vehicle Operations training in Flower Mound.