Highland Village, TX

Whether you're a weekend photo fanatic or just like the beauty of nature, the city of Highland Village is sponsoring the annual Fall/Winter Photo Contest, which runs through February 29.

Cash prizes will be awarded for Best Overall, Park Landscapes, Architecture/Structures, Nature/Wildlife and Black and White Photos.

For more information, past winners and contest forms, visit the city's website

In the most recent City Connections newsletter, it was announced that the City is in the process of implementing a fixed base network automatic water meter reading system or AMI. Part of this project consists of replacing all water meters in the City with new water meters that have the capability to log, store and send water consumption data to the City daily.

AMI will be used in conjunction with our billing system to eliminate the need for water meter readers. An AMI system will allow customer service representatives to answer customer inquiries with up to date and accurate water consumption information and will notify Utilities Operations of many different alarms, one being customer leaks so customers can be notified to make repairs. Upon completion of the project, Highland Village water account holders will be able to visit a secure website to view and track their personal household or commercial water consumption. Anticipated completion is February 2012.

In my city, Santa makes a cameo with his buddies in the Highland Village Fire Department. This is a fantastic event bringing Santa Claus on a test drive to make sure he knows where all the nice girls and boys live.

Next week, from 6-8:30 pm, Santa will drive around Highland Village with Christmas music and lights and spread holiday cheer. Here is the map and coordinating color-coded routes. If you need additional information, check out the Highland Village website.

Ho Ho Ho!

With little hoodlums like this one behind bars, it's no wonder that my city is safer than yours. Well, at least in Texas!

For the past nine years, Highland Village has been named the "Safest City in North Texas" and was this year announced it once again received that honor based on information provided by the FBI's 2010 Uniform Crime Report.

The difference this year is that Highland Village as now voted as the Safest City in TEXAS with population over 10,000 and less than 100,000. Our humble little city has 17,496 people and reported only three violent crimes and 94 property crimes. The next four in the list are Memorial Villages, Prosper, Canyon and Murphy.

The Police Department established programs which proactively address safety and crime prevention. These programs have won numerous state and national awards which further verifies the Safest City recognition.

So proud to be a resident here!

1. Have a child between the ages of 16-23 months.

2. Have a second child that knows what Santa is all about.

3. Place the younger child first on Santa's lap and walk away.

4. Have the older sibling walk up and give Santa a big hug and a list a mile long.

4. Laugh hysterically at that crying child as you try and capture the magic moment.

5. Relish in the fact that you have the year's best Christmas card.

I snapped this gem at the annual Castlewood Breakfast with Santa last year. It's always a fun event with crafts, donuts, and of course, Santa. Grab your kids and head to the clubhouse tomorrow, December 3 between 8:30-10:30 am for this year's event.

Crying children always welcome.