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CITY OF DESOTO CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE 02 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
CITY EVENT CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MAYOR MCCOWAN The DeSoto City Council invites the community to attend the Celebrating the Life Event in honor of Mayor McCowan on Saturday, November 21. While the event will be conducted at Town Center, the public is highly encouraged to attend virtually as in-person attendance will be extremely limited. The full event including a remembrance video featuring comments from the City Council, City Management Team, and other government and civil leaders is being filmed on Saturday, November 14 and will be broadcast live on the following platforms: The City’s website http://desototexas.gov/854/DeSoto-Cable-TV, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/desototx Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/desotocity Rebroadcasts will be available on the City’s cable channels.
SOUTHERN DALLAS COUNTY INLAND PORT TMA BEGINS SERVICE IN DESOTO
STAR Transit welcomes the opportunity to again partner with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) by providing new transportation services in the Inland Port area of Southern Dallas County. The on-demand micro-transit service, known as "GoLink", as well as a new rider subsidy program provided by Uber called "Inland Port Rides." The GoLink Inland Port is operated by STAR Transit beginning 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Monday - Friday. Uber provides service between 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Monday - Friday. During the initial promotional period, all job sites located within the Inland Port zone have access to the GoLink services. To access GoLink after January 1 as well as the rider subsidy program, businesses must join the IPTMA. More information about joining the IPTMA is available at www.inlandport.org. Trips should be scheduled through the DARTGoPass app or by calling STAR Transit’s Call Center at (877) 631-5278. 03 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
SENIOR OUTREACH TEAM
The Economic Recovery Advisory Task Force Senior Outreach Team met on Wednesday to discuss current and future broadcasts aimed at DeSoto’s senior population homebound by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
On Thursday, the team broadcast a video program in the senior’s time slot showing the joint Veterans Event held Saturday, November 7 between the City of DeSoto Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the DeSoto Food Pantry. In addition to providing food parcels for 60 preregistered DeSoto Veterans, event organizers were joined by DeSoto City Council Members MPT Kenzie Moore, Andre’ Byrd, Dr. Dinah Marks, Nicole Raphiel, State Representative Carl Sherman Sr., and former DeSoto Mayor Bobby Waddell to honor two distinguished guests, 92-year-old WWII Veteran Joe Washington and 93-Year-old Korean War Veteran Robert Patrick Williams. Fox DFW stuck with DeSoto and aired a nice report about our Veterans. They've always shown up for DeSoto's Veterans! https://bit.ly/38C44Sf
Communications Manager Matt Smith will interview DeSoto Police Sergeant Grady Kirkland and Officer Jessica Ryan live next Thursday at 9:00 a.m. to discuss precautions that DeSoto Seniors can take to prevent falling victim to scams.
CITY RESPONSE TO COMBATING COVID-19
Free COVID-19 and flu shots are available at Ellis Davis Fieldhouse drive through testing facility. The site is scheduled to be operational through the end of November and extended as needed. Ellis Davis is anticipated to be an administration point for COVID-19 vaccinations once they become available and approved for distribution. To date, there have been 1,945 DeSoto addresses with positive cases and 1,945 individual positive cases. 04 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
ETC INSTITUTE - COMMUNITY SURVEY UPDATE
The City of DeSoto has been working with Community Survey provider ETC Institute to finalize the presentation for Monday evening’s City Council work session review of DeSoto’s First Community Survey in more than a decade. The City Council has been provided with the report to review in advance of Monday’s review, and a representative from ETC will walk through the survey and answer questions. Below are some highlights from the Resident Survey:
On average, DeSoto received much higher ratings from residents than residents from other Texas and US Cities gave their home towns. DeSoto scored substantially higher than the Texas and national averages for resident satisfaction with the City's communications efforts. DeSoto consistently scored “significantly higher” than the Texas average for Fire, Police, and Emergency Medical Response services. These combined services came in at 13% above the Texas Average and well higher than the US average. DeSoto worked with ETC to add a detailed series of survey questions about relations between the community and DeSoto Police to accurately understand and measure community concerns. This data provides the Police Department with the basis for continued discussions with the community and will be reviewed in greater detail in a future public forum.
City Communications is presently working with the Information Technology Department to create a page where this information will be posted in detail and accessible to DeSoto residents. 05 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
STRATEGIC PLAN PRESENTATION TO COUNCIL
On Monday, November 16, the finalized Strategic Plan will be presented to City Council. In February 2020, the City of DeSoto entered into a contract with Vieve Enterprises, LLC to provide consulting services to assist the City with the development of a five-year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan was created with input from internal and external stakeholders. The resulting product is a five-year Strategic Plan that centers on seven focus areas. which include: Building Trust, Image, Thriving Economy, Learning Environment, Engaged and Vibrant Community, Safe and Healthy Community, and Beautiful City. The Strategic Plan will serve as the basis for the Annual City Council Business Plan, and will therefore guide City priorities and funding commitments for Fiscal Years 2021-2025.
MOSELEY POOL UPDATE CITY COUNCIL
In a Special City Council meeting on July 07, the Parks and Recreation Department and Councilman - Hunsaker Aquatics Construction Specialists provided a presentation exploring Moseley Pool renovation options. City Council selected the option affiliated with a complete renovation of Moseley Pool in addition to constructing a lazy river with recreational amenities. A financial analysis pertaining to this option is scheduled to be discussed in this week's City Council meeting. 06 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
RESIDENTIAL & BUSINESS ASSISTANCE HIGHLIGHTS
NDC is currently reviewing and approving submitted applications. 50 additional applicants and 20 businesses were invited to apply last Friday, November 6, and their due date is end of Friday, November 13. They received multiple calls and reminders throughout the week to encourage them to submit. NDC invited the remaining 85 applicants from the Residential lottery to submit. Their deadline will be November 20. All four food pantries have submitted documentation and their applications are currently under review.
NDC is planning to invite additional businesses as well. In addition to conducting extensive applicant outreach, DeSoto is continuing to manage calls and assist applicants in both programs and streamline communication between applicants and NDC staff. 07 PROJECTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST
PARKS DEPARTMENT UPDATES
YOUTH VOLLEYBALL CLINIC November 6, the DeSoto Parks and Recreation Department partnered with Fostering Dreams Dallas to offer a youth volleyball clinic. The clinic is offered for ages 8-18. Additional sessions will be offered on November 17 and November 20. Volleyball has been a sport that has been underserved for the past few years. This program is the start of what is to come. Eventually, this program will expand into a league and additional clinics for youth and adults.
THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT SALUTES ALL VETERANS There are no words to express how grateful we are to all of our Veterans. Thank you for all you have done! Thank you for the sacrifice you made so that we can enjoy this beautiful thing called “freedom”. Thank you to all who served and continue to serve this amazingly complex country we are all so fortunate to call home.
USSSA FALL STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS Texas Tournament Baseball hosted the USSSA DFW Fall Super NIT Baseball Tournament on November 7-8 at Grimes Baseball Complex and Zeiger Park. The tournament featured several teams from around the metroplex and state. This tournament featured 12-13 year-olds. 08 WEEKLY EVENTS & MEETINGS
NOVEMBER 2020
T O P I C A L W O R K S E S S I O N 16 ( V I R T U A L ) 6:00 pm
C I T Y C O U N C I L M E E T I N G 17 ( V I R T U A L ) 5:30 pm
T R E E O R D I N A N C E T O W N 19 H A L L M E E T I N G 6:00 - 7:00 pm
C I T Y E V E N T C E L E B R A T I N G 21 T H E L I F E O F M A Y O R M C C O W A N Blue Bonnet Rooms 11:00 am
V I R T U A L P L A N N I N G & 24 Z O N I N G M E E T I N G ( I F N E E D E D ) 6:00 pm
V I R T U A L F O U R T H F R I D A Y 27 C O N C E R T R E C A P V I D E O O F S U M M E R C O N C E R T S E R I E S 8:00 pm
D E S O T O P O L I C E 30 A D V I S O R Y C O U N C I L M E E T I N G TBD 09 UPCOMING WORK SESSION SCHEDULE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17
1.REVIEW OF MASTER CALENDAR OF 5:30 PM TO 5:35 PM EVENTS & SPECIAL MEETINGS
2. REVIEW OF REGULAR AGENDA 5:35 PM TO 5:40 PM ITEMS
3. DISCUSSION OF THE PROCESS FOR 5:40 PM TO 6:10 PM ORDERING A SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL THE UNEXPIRED TERM FOR MAYOR, PLACE 1 ON THE CITY COUNCIL
4. COUNCIL LIAISON UPDATES 6:10 PM TO 6:30 PM
5. DISCUSSION AND REVIEW OF 6:30 PM TO 6:50 PM SCHEDULED IMPROVEMENTS AT MOSELEY POOL 10 NEW HIRES, PROMOTIONS & RECOGNITIONS
New Hires In November
Employee Promotions
Employee Promotions