One more column after this one. That’s it. One more column. I’ve been sharing information with you nearly every month for many years now. I know you will either miss hearing from me or you’ll be glad to hear from someone else. Either way, you will be hearing from someone else in a couple of months.
As I have said in every column, it has been my honor to serve as Mayor of Highland Village and get to know so many of you in our City and in our surrounding communities. But I’m not going to get sentimental yet – I do have one more column for that.
I’d like to use this column to once again remind you of the great events we have coming up and the many ways you can stay informed and be involved in this great City.
The families with little ones will be glad to know the Easter Egg Hunt at Unity Park is back. And as always, it begins promptly at 10 a.m. Make sure you have your kids and their baskets at Unity Park on Saturday, April 9 before 10 a.m. It will be a great time for the whole family with pictures with the Easter Bunny (bring your own camera), face painting and of course the Egg Hunt.
We are following up the Easter Egg Hunt with the 7th Annual Highland Village Art Festival at The Shops at Highland Village. This is such a fun event with so many wonderful and different artists. Plus we’ll have live music, entertainment and interactive art activities for the kids. This event will take place on Saturday, May 7 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at The Shops at Highland Village.
Also on May 7 is the Highland Village City Council and the LISD School Board elections. This year we are electing City Council Members to Place 1 (Mayor), Places 2, 4 and 6. Early voting will begin on April 25 and residents can vote at any Denton County polling location, including the Highland Village Municipal Complex located at 1000 Highland Village Road. On Election Day, Saturday, May 7, Highland Village residents will vote on the Municipal Complex. This newspaper will hold a Candidate Forum at City Hall on Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
I have been telling you we are in an exciting time here in Highland Village as we look at developing the plans for our future. It is truly an exciting time and it’s also an important time for you to be involved and have your say.
The public input period of the Our Village, Our Vision planning process will close on April 13. If you haven’t already visited www.speakuphv.com to take the short surveys and provide input on the trail map or share your ideas in the comment section I hope you will take a few minutes to participate. If there is anything I have learned serving in City government it is that resident input is needed and wanted. Don’t let a few voices determine our future; take a few minutes to make sure your voice is heard.
While you’re at the SpeakUpHV website, if you have a question about anything happening in the City head over to the “Have a Question? Ask Us” project. You can scroll through and see if your question has already been asked and what the answer is or, if you don’t see your questions, submit your own and staff will respond. It has been great seeing all the different questions from our residents. You can be in the know, all you have to do is ask!
As we head into spring we are moving into severe weather season. Already we have had two severe weather events in North Texas. During these severe weather events the City uses an emergency notification system to text or call you with the pertinent warnings and information. If you haven’t signed up yet to receive these messages, now is the time. Just visit highlandvillage.org/StayNotified. There are two tabs on that page – Routine and Emergency Alerts signs you up for notifications that will be sent to your email, land line if you have one, and your cell phone in the event of an emergency or severe weather. The second tab is City & Website Notifications and is where you will sign up to receive email newsletters, the City Manager’s Report, notification of upcoming meetings and events, and other topics. I encourage you to sign up at both tabs so you are ensured to receive important information from the City. The Villager newsletter is sent monthly via email and includes all you need to know about upcoming events and City news.
We have many new businesses here in Highland Village and quite a few that are close to opening or will be opening sometime over the next several months. I encourage you to follow the Highland Village Business Association on Facebook and Instagram at ExperienceHighlandVillage. This is where you will learn about new businesses in the community and our many retail and restaurant establishments that you may not know we have in Highland Village. It is so important for us to support our local businesses. Besides keeping our unique shopping options here in Highland Village, when you make a purchase in Highland Village a portion of your sales tax dollars go towards funding and building our trail system and Doubletree Ranch Park.
I hope to see you around town at some of our upcoming special events – I would like to thank all our residents for making Highland Village such a unique, wonderful, family-oriented city. It has been my pleasure and my blessing to serve.
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