Last Saturday’s Arbor Foundation seminar at our Athletic Center was a great success, Board members Neil Hewitt, Judye Murray and Ann Ward hosted the gathering of about 30 folks. It was great to hear from the Master Gardener about caring for our plants and yards in times of water shortages. The best take-away: With all of the shade we have here in Addison, it’s best to grow St. Augustine grass with at least 4 hours of sun each day. Cut it at 2 1/2 to 3 inches and water once 1” every 5 days…roots will grow deeper and be much more heat and drought tolerant. Thanks to the Arbor Foundation for all the great work they do here in Addison; quarterly seminars, our community garden, trees for the Bush School, and the landscape design for our new Water Tower! This is a very busy group.

If you are looking for a very special and FUN way to support the George H.W. Bush Elementary PTA—come out and enjoy great some food! Join us at T.G.I. Friday’s in the Village on the Parkway between 4:00-9:00 p.m. on Monday, February 20. Be sure to tell your server you are with George H.W. Bush Elementary—T.G.I. Friday’s will donate 20 percent of your purchase to the George H.W. Bush PTA! This is a great effort and I hope you can join us to support our local students!

Council News

On Valentine’s Day, our Council work session opened at 6:00 p.m. when Ron and his team unveiled our new Project Planning and Performance Disciplines System (P3). This new management process combines sophisticated software paired with a ton of input from staff. This new process will enable us to track measurable indicators against our Council goals—quite literally we will have a balanced scorecard of how our Town is doing. I believe the P3 process will make a significant positive impact on our ability to stay on task and focused on our goals. This is another outstanding example of Addison innovation and creativity in finding ways to make our process and our local government more efficient. A big “High Five” to Ron, Lea, Chris, Hamid and our entire team; you have set in place a process that will improve the way we do business for years to come. As the P3 process becomes fully integrated, we will continue to share examples of its value to you.

Our Regular Council Meeting began on time at 7:30 p.m. with our pledge and reminders of upcoming Town events. The Council approved a contract with Dallas County to provide election services for our Council election this May, as well as contracts for joint and crack filling on Quorum Drive, landscape and irrigation maintenance services, and seasonal color in our Parks, municipal buildings and neighborhood and Town entrances—all of which enhance and maintain our special Addison Brand.

Addison’s Director of Human Resources Passion Hayes was recognized for attaining the International Public Management Association Certified Professional and Human Resources (IPMA-CP and IMPA-HR) designations as recognition for excellence in public sector human resources. To qualify for these designations, Passion met the professional standards set by the governing body and demonstrated to a panel of senior level professionals her commitment to public sector HR by undergoing a rigorous review of her technical expertise and a review of her understanding of behavioral competencies to the role of HR professionals. Well done Passion, you make us proud!

Council also heard from Planning & Zoning Chairman Ralph Doherty who presented the Commission’s 2011 annual report. Highlights included their work on the new Village on the Parkway project, the resolution of the Trinity Christian Academy request for a revision to their master plan, the accountability for the folks at the Addison Town Center that includes Kroger and their indiscriminate tree trimming. It also included an investigation of new recycling technology with the Reimagine beverage recycling machine. Our Planning and Zoning commissioners are Chair Ralph Doherty, vice Chair Kathryn Wheeler, Linda Groce, John Oliver, Al Angel and Jennifer Hewitt. Margie Gunther just resigned as required by our Charter this week so she can run for City Council. This team had some real challenges this year and they worked through each one in a professional and effective manner. I thank each one of them for their enormous effort and contributions to our Town by way of their service this year! Thank You, we all appreciate your service to Addison.

Following the P&Z report, Council approved an award of an advertising and marketing contract to the Vivanti Group and Matchbox Studio. Carrie Rice, our Communications and Marketing Director, presented her analysis and explanation of the Agency of Record selection process that resulted in her recommendation to Council. Thanks also to Council members Neil Resnik and Roger Mellow for their support and insight for this process. Vivanti and Matchbox will inject new strategic and creative energy in our Brand development efforts.

Item #R6 was a resolution to suspend the effective date for new rates from Atmos energy. This will give us time to more fully analyze the request to be sure it complies with the law and is a reasonable request. This analysis is actually performed for a large consortium of cites like Addison by outside experts who negotiate on our behalf with Atmos to insure a fair result for all of our consumers.

The next agenda item was for the City Manager to extend our current agreement with the City of Carrollton to continue to provide fleet service work for us until September 2012. We have been very pleased with the streamlined cost efficiencies and we’re continuing to explore ways to expand these capabilities under our shared services strategy.

Council also approved revisions to our ordinance that helps govern various safety issues at our airport. The previous ordinance was newly enacted about one year ago, and in our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and listening to our customers, several revisions were recommended. Thanks to Blake and Neil for their work as our council liaisons to the airport for helping us understand these issues.

Item #R9 was the amendment to one of our traffic ordinances. Council approved removal of the school zone designation from part of Vitruvian Way, between Marsh and Spring Valley. Coincidentally, one of our very attentive citizens happened to notice the lack of need for this ordinance just about the same time our staff was bringing this revision forward to Council! This is yet another perfect example of the value of having smart, attentive Addison folks—well done!

The Council also considered a request from the ownersof the Clay Pit restaurant to amend their current lease with Addison. A number of years ago, when we relocated police and fire to their current locations, we entered into ground leases on several Belt Line Road tracts of land. Clay Pit is currently a tenant on one of those tracts of land and they were requesting some revisions to their lease. They made a brief presentation and after a lengthy executive session the Council chose to deny their request.

The balance of our evening was spent considering a number of opportunities and issues in executive session. We concluded the very long Council meeting at 11:40 p.m. I want to commend my fellow Council members for their intense focus and level of commitment as demonstrated by their contribution of their entire evening—and on Valentine’s Day! Thank you!

Around Addison

On Monday, I dropped by the corporate headquarters of Mattress Giant on Midway Road. They are long time Addison corporate citizens and I just wanted them to know we are glad they are here! I had a brief visit with their new Executive Vice President, Mike Bookbinder, who has recently joined their organization and moved from New York to Texas. His praise was effusive about our Town and our special kind of hospitality. Mattress Giant has had an incredible growth since they chose Addison as their corporate headquarters…they now have retail locations and distribution centers all over the United States!

We began Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, at the monthly Mayor’s Breakfast at Addison’s newly remodeled Marriott Quorum. We had a good turnout of area mayors and city management staff to hear from Winn Everhart, Vice President of Coca Cola. Winn of course mentioned their amazing product range and offered sample for us, however his core message was about ways Coca Cola connects with and helps to improve communities all over the world. Ron and I both chatted with Winn and his team about ways we can expand Addison’s connection and support from this incredible international brand. There are numerous opportunities for us to explore in the areas of sustainability and water stewardship, and Coca Cola would be a great partner in helping us attain our goals.

Also on Tuesday morning, I was honored to speak to the London Broadcasting Company Board of Directors, welcoming them to Addison to begin their first ever board meeting in their new corporate headquarters located in the Millennium building on the Parkway; maybe you’ve noticed their new TV Station signage KTXD-TV on that beautiful building! Their board members came from all over the U.S. to attend this very important meeting and I was so pleased and honored to have the opportunity to familiarize them with the Town and of course commend them on the wisdom of choosing Addison as their new home. When we look back on this new relationship years from now, I believe we will mark it as a significant event in the growth of creative opportunities and brand enhancement for Addison…very exciting folks for us to have as new corporate citizens!

Later that morning, I kept my economic development hat on as I stopped in to see the folks at Palm Harbor Homes in their new location on Spectrum. They were still unpacking from their move just a couple of blocks away. I let them know we are so pleased they chose to stay here in Addison. Teresa Lynn and Donna Wilkie let me know that their entire organization is so happy they will continue to call Addison home. They very much appreciated the visit, and thankfully were kind enough not to ask me to help unpack!

From Palm Harbor, I headed over to see the folks at ExponetHR in their beautiful building at 4970 Landmark. I met with my long time friend and CEO Larry Lacerte and his daughter and soon to be leader Megan Lacerte Barrie-Schwartz to let them know we appreciate their corporate citizenship and to explore ways we can become more connected with our respective organizations. Larry is one of those special people with an incredible vision and that amazing Midas Touch…we are indeed fortunate that he and his team have chosen Addison. I will explore ways for Larry to “touch” more here in Addison!

On Wednesday, local Addison business guru Bill Wallace held his amazing networking event Success North Dallas where they awarded the Dallas Police Officer of the year award to the officer that was the very first female in the DPD canine unit. Standing ovations all around for her work and her example!! I am often asked about networking opportunities in Addison and Success North Dallas is one of the best!

Thursday was a very busy day for all of us! Blake and Neil took the entire day away from their regular day jobs to join Deputy City Manager Lea Dunn, Director of General Services Mark Acevedo, and Joel Jenkinson, Addison Airport Director, at the 5th annual Aviation Summit hosted by the North Texas Council of Governments at the Irving Convention Center. In addition to the important networking opportunities with other partners such as the FAA, they were able to compile additional research and information that will be utilized in the ongoing development of our Airport Strategic Plan.

Also on Thursday, Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay, who serves as our RTC representative, Ron, Matt and I, attended a combined DART/ Regional Transportation Council meeting. DART President Gary Thomas reviewed the Innovative Financing Initiative Cotton Belt Phase 1 report performed by the RTC. There was a very good discussion among the Board members and RTC folks yet the discussion seemed to bog down on what the next best steps would be and who should take them. Frankly it was a pretty frustrating meeting. It seemed to me that there was more focus on protecting territorial turf than getting the Cotton Belt project started! As you all know, Addison has been a member of the original 13 cities that comprised the commitment to DART since 1984. ALL other original member cities have light rail, except Addison. We have been patient, we have remained focused on the importance of DART to our entire region, and Addison has paid in over $197,000,000. It is our turn, and as you can tell, this is a very high priority for us. We are exploring all of our options to find ways to advance this important project and to hold DART accountable for their commitments to Addison…stay tuned.

Ron and I visited on Thursday afternoon with Scott Blakeslee, General Manager at the Intercontinental Hotel. We are exploring ways we can create an incentive for them to more fully distinguish themselves at the upper end of the hospitality market. We discussed several interesting ideas that we hope to bring to Council for consideration in the near future.

Thursday concluded with one of my favorite events of the week—the Mayor’s Coffee at Astoria. While we only had a small group, the discussion was fun and lively and full of great new ideas. Neighbors from Vitruvian, Midway Meadows, and the Les Lacs neighborhoods shared some excellent suggestions, thanks to everyone who came out!

Dates to Remember

Addison’s Spring Town Hall meeting will be held Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. Please plan to attend this very informative Town meeting. Council members will each be presenting important topics, and of course we will have plenty of time to answer your questions.

Bond Evaluation Work Sessions—these are open meetings and you are certainly welcome to attend. The dates and times are:

• Monday, Feb 20 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall
• Monday, Feb.27 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall
• Tuesday, Feb.28 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall

I hope you all have a great weekend…see you Monday at T.G.I. Friday’s!

Todd

In our busy daily lives, it’s very easy to forget the important services we rely on each day—provided by our local Addison government.  As I say that, many of you may immediately be thankful for the men and women that are willing to risk their lives for us each day as First Responders.  Their physical presence is very visible for us as we drive by the fire stations or see a fire truck, ambulance or police car on our roads.  But there are others who are more behind the scenes than our First Responders.  Imagine waking up tomorrow morning, jumping in the shower, turning the handle and…no water. Or no flush to your toilet, or no water splashing through your coffee maker.  Right!  Addison also has very dedicated professionals in our Utility Department that are passionately dedicated to making sure these scenarios do not happen!  Their focus is to make sure each one of us has clean water in ample supply, and appropriate pressure for our showers, coffee makers, and to help our First Responders fight a fire.  There are only 262 professionals in your Addison government and each and every one of these folks play a very important role in providing us that very special lifestyle that is the Addison Way.                                                 

Speaking of First Responders!  You may have wondered what the heck was going on over by Chamberlains and Houston’s this week as it looked like a Fire Fighters convention, with at times just about every piece of Addison fire apparatus in our arsenal, in one parking lot!  It was training, training, and more training.  Our crews were using real-life situations, wearing all of their breathing apparatuses, all of our very sophisticated equipment, hustling up and own those very tall ladders to practice for what we all hope never happens.  They practice and train so intently so that when the unthinkable does happen, they are ready…thank you guys!                     

Heading over to our Police Department…sure our team is very good at catching the bad guys, but did you know they are also very good at helping us avoid becoming identity theft victims?  I was chatting this week with our Police Chief Ron Davis and Detective Truman Akins who is a certified Fraud Examiner.  I was interested to learn of the very real threat of identity theft.  Detective Truman offered some Identity Theft advice on how to steer clear of identity theft. It includes some very basic steps we can all follow to significantly reduce the likelihood we will be a victim. Much better to avoid being a victim than reporting you are one!                                                                                               

Council News                                                                                                                        

Your Council met on Thursday evening for a work session to review the recommendations from our Bond Advisory Committee and the Council is very carefully evaluating each of the recommendations.  We are cautiously weighing the very real needs we have with full recognition of the economic environment we are in now.  It has been 12 years since our last approved bond package, and it is clear that some of our very important infrastructure needs attention, if not it will begin to deteriorate and cost us even more to repair.  In a sense, it really is pay now, or pay more later.  Council has conducted two very lengthy sessions reviewing the report, and we have scheduled two more for February so we can begin to prioritize the recommendations and develop cost estimates for the Council’s final evaluations.  You are certainly welcome to attend any of our work sessions…our next work session to discuss the Bond Recommendations is Feb 20 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall, we also will have one at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 27, also at Town Hall.  Our Bond Advisory Committee was comprised of 43 Addison folks who worked very hard from September until they delivered their recommendations to us earlier this month.  Council is equally dedicated to following a cautious, careful, deliberative process in arriving at the very best course of action for our Town.  We will continue to keep you fully informed on this very important issue.                                                                                

Other Council Happenings                                                                                                  

On Monday, Council member Neil Resnik and I dropped in on one of our long time very successful Addison business owners at Pinnacle Graphics.  We thanked President Christopher Hill for maintaining his business here in our Town, and assured him we are here to be helpful in any way that we can.  We had a great visit; Chris even volunteered to be part of our volunteer process going forward—thanks Chris!  I also attended a luncheon at our Marriott Quorum for the North Texas Hotelier Association.  The event was chaired by Marriott’s General Manager Mark Brooks and was another occasion to show off the great remodel they have recently completed there at the Marriott.  Excellent luncheon speaker Linda Coop spoke about the many benefits the North Texas Council of Governments brings to our region.               

On Tuesday, I chatted with Brookhaven College president Thom Chesney about new ideas and ways the Town can work with the college.  We are exploring ways to develop a connection with our hotel and restaurant businesses, and to enhance the level of customer experiences at all of our local establishments…stay tuned.                                                                                               

I spent Wednesday with time with our presiding Municipal Judge Larry Dwight.  Judge Dwight has been working for our Town since the mid 80s and does an excellent job administering justice at our Addison courthouse. We are planning a Council work session in March or April to familiarize Council with Municipal Jurisprudence, and receive an update from the Judge on how we are doing on a day to day basis.   Later in the day, the Crowne Plaza hosted the Metrocrest Chamber Chairman’s luncheon that featured Mike Eastland, the Executive Director of the North Texas Council of Governments; Mike’s topic was Mobility 2035.  The audience, which included Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and I, along with Carrollton Mayor Matthew Marchant, and Mayor Bill Glancy from Farmers Branch, listened intently on ways NCTCOG can help our communities anticipate and plan for the coming population increase and transportation challenges, as well as the need to plan for improving the availability of our water resources.  This really was a meeting focused on looking ahead—very valuable information!

On Wednesday evening, the WaterTower Theatre had their Gala Preview at the incredible new home of Don and Barbara Daseke.  The event was a wonderful way to highlight the many benefits we receive as a result of having the best regional theatre right here in Addison…and since the Theatre is often about the set, the “stage” for this event almost overpowered the event itself.  The new Daseke home is the most remarkable use of beautiful natural materials in a sophisticated contemporary show place—an outstanding collaboration of designer Barbara Daseke and contractor and former Council member Tom Braun.  Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens and his wife Jeannie, Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay, Council member Roger Mellow and his wife Harriet, Council member Bruce Arfsten, Council member Chris Defrancisco and I, along with our City Manager Ron Whitehead and his sweet wife Donna, were there to show our support for the Water TowerTheatre as a very important part of our Addison Brand.   As a reminder, there are still WaterTower Gala raffle tickets available for some very cool items.  The Water Tower annual fund raising Gala is tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 18, so get your raffle tickets now!                                                               

Thursday, I visited several of our Addison businesses to just say hello.  I met with Jim Caloway, Vice President, and Jim Coburn, National Sales Director, of National Teacher Associates which is located on Keller Springs in the beautiful building with the globe sculpture in front.  Their business is growing and their business is now national as they provide benefits consultation for organizations all over the US!  They love being here in Addison and we discussed additional ways for them to be connected with our Town.  Look for National Teacher Associates to become a bit more high profile as one of our corporate citizens soon.                   

Today, I’ve had the opportunity to visit with several residents that are interested in finding ways to become more involved in helping our Addison become an even better place to live.  Our Council and staff are developing a wide variety of opportunities to get involved with our Arbor Foundation, P&Z Commission, and BZA Board.  In fact, Kimberly Lay and Chris DeFrancisco are in the process of filling openings on the new Community Partners Bureau and we are adding interested volunteers to our new Addison Foundation Board. Of course, we have our Addison Addvocates with over 50 regular volunteers!   Lots of ways to be part of our fun and success—let us know if you are interested—we’ll find a place for you!                                       

Do not forget tomorror’s Arbor Foundation seminar from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at the Addison Athletic Center, or our next Mayor’s Coffee at Astoria Cafe next Thursday Feb.16 at 6:00 p.m. in Addison Circle.   I need to run now to the annual Metrocrest Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony where I have the distinct honor and privilege of presenting the “Rising Star” award to our very own Addison resident Margie Gunther!  Well done Margie—you certainly are a rising star and you make us all very proud!

Have a great week everyone, I hope to see you around Addison soon!                   

Todd

Remember this time last year?  Think a year makes a difference?  It was this time last year, just before the Super Bowl, that Dallas was hit with a rain, sleet and snow storm!  A year later nearly to the day, we’re seeing temperatures in the 70’s!  The weather is perfect now, but last year, not so much.  The good news is a few things around our Town also have changed.  Congratulations to our Council and outstanding staff for managing so many projects so well.  Our new Water Tower, finishing the dddVitruvian Park and Infrastructure project, a complete redo of Spring Valley road and new intersection, opening our new Visit Addison, resurfacing the runway at our airport, major progress on Belt Line road improvements, 10 new companies to Town and 1,000 new jobs! We’re just getting started!

Council News

Blake and our team of Tom Hunse, Ivan Hughes, Jim Christensen and Albert Jandura have continued to work on our Addison Foundation project, they are making great progress and hope to present their recommendations to Council later this month.  They have added Addison resident Jackie Franey, donor relations director for the Communities Foundation of Texas, to their team.  Jackie brings her technical expertise, experience and love for Addison to this effort. This is very exciting work that can truly make a long term difference in our community.    

Kimberly and Chris are moving ahead with our new Community Partners Bureau.  They have narrowed the list of possible appointees to the committee and hopefully will bring the Council a report and recommendation by the end of this month or early March.                      

Bruce Arfsten and I are working with Ron Whitehead and Dannette Robberson to develop an appropriate recognition and connection between the life of President George H.W. Bush and the students at our Bush elementary school.  Ron and Dannette have put together an exciting display and photo exhibit recommendation that Bruce and I took to DISD Trustee Edwin Flores this week to seek his support, approval, and leadership through the DISD approval process.  We are very close to a point where we can share the details of this exciting project with you soon and give YOU the opportunity to participate.            

Blake, Ron Whitehead and Ron’s sweet wife Donna were our Addison ambassadors as they helped host the Taiwanese Chamber’s annual event at our Intercontinental Hotel.  This is a very important event for our community and we are so proud to act as the Host City.  There were over 1,300 guests and dignitaries from all over the world and our team did a great job of letting everyone know that we are honored to have them as guests in our Town.                                       

On Wednesday, Council members Lay, Resnik, Mellow, Arfsten and I received a sneak preview of the amazing renovations and remodel at the Marriott Quorum Hotel.  The hotel has completely remodeled their lobby, added meeting rooms, and recreated their restaurant spaces.  After our quick tour, we stepped into one of the new meeting spaces to attend the Addison Business Association luncheon where we heard from Dr. Thom Chesney, President of Brookhaven College.  After former Council member and current Brookhaven professor Glynda Turner gave us the impressive highlights of Dr. Chesney’s résumé, the President shared with us some of his vision for the College.  A very interesting presentation that left me with new enthusiasm for more fully connecting all of Addison with this very affordable, diverse, talented educational institution that we may take for granted since it is so close to home.               

On Thursday, Council members Kimberly Lay, Neil Resnik, Bruce Arfsten and Roger Mellow joined me at our quarterly Meritorious Service luncheon for Addison employees.  Almost 200 of our 260 Town employees attended and joined Ron in recognizing new members to our team, recent promotions, and special anniversaries for years of service with the Town.  The highlight of the recognition was Ron’s announcement that Paul Jackson was our Employee of the Quarter.  Aside from Paul’s long time great work performance, he showed special skill in showing some Addison residents the Addison Way by taking time out of his already busy day to help them negotiate a few very tricky stairs with some of their furniture on their move-out day. Well done Paul!   

Ron followed the recognitions with some well focused remarks on the current economy, the pressures it has placed on our budget, and the fact that despite losing some of our team members this past year, our Addison team of professionals have picked up the extra work and continued right on delivering great service to the people of Addison.  Ron emphasized the need for us to continue to deliver superior service to our community and find ways to be even more effective and efficient in how we do what we do.  Well said Ron!              

Around Addison                                                                                                       

On Monday, I joined Diana George from our Visit Addison team to welcome a prospective convention group to our Intercontinental Hotel, we sang the praises of our Town in hopes of earning their business for the hotel and Addison.                                                     

Carrie, Orlando and I had lunch with Dallas Business Journal Reporter Matt Joyce on Tuesday to review recent economic development activities here in Addison like the redevelopment of Village on the Parkway, our new Water Tower, and Vitruvian Park. We also discussed our new Business Registration process—Matt is interested in doing a story on the process.  After lunch, Orlando and Carrie gave Matt a comprehensive tour of Addison to familiarize him with some of our latest projects, as well as showing his the physical boundaries of our Town.  On Tuesday afternoon, I dropped by our Amegy Bank at 4650 Belt Line Road to welcome their new Branch manger Nicole Baker to Addison.  I met with Nicole and Shanna Warner—they were very appreciative of the support Addison provides for our local businesses; they are very nice folks and very pleased to be in our Town.

We started our new month off right with a very nice turnout Wednesday for our Mayor’s Coffee at Dunn Bros at 10 a.m.  I made a few remarks about the many opportunities to participate in all that is Addison and then we jumped right into their questions.  My suggestion to any of our current or future Presidential candidates—if they want good debate prep, come take questions from this very knowledgeable group!  Wow, they sure are great group of residents who offer further validation of what we all know is one of Addison’s best assets—the intellect of our folks!

Thursday, I was very proud to welcome the very first air crew from Emirates Airline; they will be staying here in Addison at our Marriott Quorum Hotel during their layover.  Emirates began service on February 1 with round-trip flights between Dubai and DFW and we will be their home away from home after their 16 hour flights.  This is a very important piece of new business for us and is another opportunity for us to connect Addison to the far reaches of the world.             

Friday, Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and Council members Neil Resnik, Roger Mellow, Chris DeFrancisco, along with several Town staff, braved the dark, looming skies to help break ground on the new Allegro II apartment community expansion—just off the Tollway in Addison Circle.  This is another great project from Addison headquartered Behringer Harvard, and when finished, will complete the Allegro project with first class, contemporary apartment homes for new Addison residents. Jason Mattox, Chief Operating Officer at Behringer Harvard, shared wonderful, heartfelt words about what it means for Behringer Harvard to be part of the fabric of Addison and how much they enjoy working on such great projects for our future residents. Larry Sloan, Senior Vice President of Behringer Harvard and I had the honor of turning over the dirt—what a great day for Addison!  

If you have some time tomorrow around 10:00 a.m., you might want to come by and join us to watch as London Broadcasting unveils their new signage on the Millennium building—the sign will be facing the Tollway—proudly announcing to all who pass that Addison is their home.  Come check it out about 10:00 a.m. Saturday.                                                                         

Graffiti, Graffiti, Graffiti.  Our Police Department and Parks Department are working as a team to eradicate this challenge here in our Town.  In the last 6 months, they have logged 12 instances of reports and removal and YOU can join their effort!  Please call 972-450-7156 to report an issue and give us a location—we’ll get right on it!  Quick and effective removal is the single most effective way to deter this damaging behavior and we can all help protect our Addison Brand.                                                                                                              

I hope you have Saturday, February 11 on your calendar to attend the Addison Arbor Foundation event at the Athletic Center from 9:30-11:30 a.m.  They will have an excellent presentation on how we can help our lawns and plants survive in these times of short water supplies.               

I hope you have a great week enjoying our Addison! 

Todd

Well, we finally received some much needed rain this week—it was still great to see all the rain and I know all of our lawns, parks and trees benefited. That said, we still need substantially more to get us out of our drought condition—please remember that Addison currently is in Stage 1 of our Drought Contingency Plan.

Council News

Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens and Council Member Neil Resnik continued their work on our strategic plan for our Addison Airport this week with a very long session on Monday. They expect to present an interim report to the full Council sometime next month and we’ll be sure to add the date to our www.addison2012.com online calendar—if you’re interested in hearing the report. Speaking of posting, for those of you who looked for the 2011 Year-in-Review attached to our newsletter last week, sorry we ran into some technical difficulties. It is posted on our blog—check it out—it is a very impressive list of accomplishments.

Tuesday was a very busy Council day and evening. We began at 5:00 pm with a tour of the amazing improvements that are underway at the Intercontinental Hotel. This is our largest hotel in Town and they successfully compete with major hotels around the entire country. They routinely bring international events and groups to their hotel, and in turn, to our Town. They are a very important part of our Addison economic engine and over the last 12 months they have undergone an amazing renovation! If you have not been by lately, go check it out—the food and entertainment are still first class and now the surroundings and finish match! Even the very cool fountains at the front door help grow their brand and ours.

Following our tour of the Intercontinental, Council returned to Town Hall for our 6:30 pm work session with Dallas County Commissioner Mike Cantrell. Mike came by to say hello and let us know how he can help Addison. Through recent realignment we are now in his district; Mike is a long time Commissioner that has a very large budget. I know we can count on his assistance with our various infrastructure needs. A rather timely visit given the presentation we were about to receive from our Bond Advisory Committee.

Our Regular Council Meeting began on time at 7:30 pm with the approval of a couple of budgeted items. We approved a contract to American Landscape Systems to provide tree planting services in our parks, medians and right-of-ways. We also approved an agreement with the World Affairs Council to help us insure another successful Worldfest later this fall.

We followed these approvals with a discussion and acceptance of the final report of our Bond Advisory Committee. Mary Jo Cater presented a summary of the report to and answered questions from the Council. Mary Jo is the chairperson of the group of 43 Addison folks that spent many hours working together to analyze our needs and dreams and make recommendations accordingly. This committee began their work back in September and worked diligently through the holidays to bring their work and deliberations to Council in a time frame that would allow Council time to review their recommendations and then set a Bond election schedule for this spring or fall if necessary.

The Council did accept the committee’s report and we will now begin the work of reviewing each of their recommendations and determining what our next best steps should be. The entire report is attached here for your review. The report is over 100 pages long and reflects serious thought and review of a wide variety of opportunities for our Town. The entire Council recognized and thanked all of the Bond Advisory Committee Memberspresent on Tuesday evening and I want to recognize all of them!

These folks represent some of our best and brightest and their work here helped advance our process of analysis and understanding of the needs of our Town. Thank you one and all for giving your time, energy and intellect to this important process. As you will see the committee made recommendations in the areas of Infrastructure, Public Safety, our Airport, Community Amenities and Next Great Ideas. Our next steps will be prioritizing and pricing their recommendations. We will keep you well informed as we proceed. Thank you again committee members, you and your work are another example of the reason our Town has been so successful.

After the Bond committee report, Council approved a meritorious sign exception request for the new Raising Cane’s restaurant. The exception permits them to have their signage in variance from our ordinance where one letter of their name, the “R” will be larger than the ordinance permits.

The Council also approved an ordinance calling for a Municipal Election on May 12, 2012 for the purpose of electing three Council Members for two year terms each. The seats currently held by Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay, Council Member Neil Resnik and Council Member Roger Mellow are up for election. Council Member Mellow has served for seven years, three full two-year terms and 1-year of an unexpired term, and as such due to our term limits will not be eligible to run again. We will miss Roger; he has done an outstanding job for Addison. Both Kimberly and Neil are eligible to run again. The filing time period begins Feb. 6 and runs through March 5 and Council candidate packets are now available at Town hall.

Our final agenda item was a closed executive session for the purposes of discussing ongoing negotiations with various business prospects that the Town is working with to locate here in Addison. As these negations proceed we will keep you informed of the exciting opportunities headed our way! We concluded our evenings work at just past 10:00 pm—it was a long but very productive evening.

Around Addison

Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay represented us Monday at the Downtown Dallas Inc. for their annual meeting. Over 1,300 attendees recognized that a vibrant Dallas is good for all of us—and here in Addison, we certainly benefit as well!

On Wednesday, Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens, Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and I joined our staff team including Ron Whitehead in helping to host the Metrocrest Chamber luncheon at our Addison Conference Center. Our speaker was Mine Yucel from the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas; she presented a rather encouraging forecast for our local and national economy tempered by the uncertainties of oil prices and sovereign debt concerns.

Kimberly and Council Member Chris DeFrancisco represented Addison at the Dallas Regional Chamber luncheon Thursday to help them celebrate their achievements in helping to reshape DISD, in providing a unified voice on legislative matters and in driving new companies to relocate to our region.

Thursday evening, Council Members Chris DeFrancisco and Bruce Arfsten joined me and many of our staff, including City Manager Ron Whitehead, and our great partners with the Metrocrest Chamber of Commerce to cut the ribbon for the now open McFadden’s on Belt Line Road. They have done an amazing remodel job and have greatly improved their ability for them to be a good neighbor by having their live music inside. Owner Martin Corboy and general manager Tim McEvilly were on hand to host a very large gathering of well-wishers and new customers; both Martin and Tim made a point of commending Carmen Moran and our Fire Department team on helping them through the process of meeting all of the important city regulations and standards in a timely fashion. Thank you also to our talented bagpipers from Addison Fire—they provided some festive music to kick-off the grand opening! I have no doubt that McFadden’s soon will be on the “must-go” list of entertainment venues, and for those looking to have some great food, hear live music and a place to dance—please go check it out!

This morning, I joined several of our Addison neighbors and business owners like Chick Martin and Gene Wismer at their weekly Rotary meeting at Lawry’s on the Tollway. It was great to see so many Addison folks doing so many good things for so many good causes. Our speaker reminded us of the amazing impact Rotary Clubs working together all over the country have made at eliminating the scourge of polio around the world—last last year there were only 642 cases, and their goal? Zero!

This afternoon, the North Texas Commission hosted another “To the Point” luncheon. Council Member Chris DeFrancisco attended as our liaison to that organization and Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay was there as an advisor to their Leadership North Texas program in which our own Orlando Campos is a participant this year.

Time to run out the door to BlackFinn to welcome the WineDown group to Addison and then over to our Addison Conference Centre to say hello to our neighbors at the Oaks North Homeowners Association annual meeting. Which reminds me….any of you that would like for me to come by and make a presentation, answer questions, or just say hello for your annual or quarterly HOA meetings, I am happy to do so—just let me know.

Upcoming Events

Be sure to stay in the know about all upcoming Addison events by using our new online calendar, http://www.addison2012.com/. The calendar is constantly being updated and available at any time, but registering allows you to customize a personal calendar for your work or play schedule, and enters you to win a great prize!

Wednesday, February 1, 10:00 am: Mayor’s Coffee at Dunn Bros.

Friday, February 3, 10:30 am: Ground Breaking for the new Allegro Phase 2 expansion over at Addison Circle.

Save The Date

February 11: The Addison Arbor Foundation will host an education event at the Addison Athletic Club. Come hear great tips on how best to keep your lawns and plants healthy during drought conditions.

Municipal Election: May 12, 2012

Have a great weekend in Addison, Texas! Looks like the weather is perfect!

Todd

Special Message

While we all know Addison is a great place to live and work, please remember that briefcases, purses, shopping bags, backpacks, diaper bags and other items left in plain sight in your car might make for a tempting target for thieves. Please, if you see something or someone suspicious in a parking lot, street, parking garages, please call 911 to let our Addison professionals move in—but please get involved by letting them know. A vigilant community is a safe community and we all need to do our part.

Dallas County Skywarn Training Feb 18, 2012