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Friday, April 19, 2024
Sometimes traveling on FM 1709 or other roads in Southlake can feel a bit like the old children’s game of my youth, Red Light, Green Light. Start….travel, travel, travel…Stop! The roads carry a high volume of traffic and can seem hard to navigate, but good traffic planning and control devices help keep everything as orderly as possible. The news gets even better when you have Miguel Palos and Trent Agan on your team. These two are focused on keeping the system operable and working smoothly. They come to work every day with the sole goal of keeping motorists moving and safe.
“Miguel and Trent do such a great job,” said Public Works Director Rob Cohen. “It takes technical expertise and skill, as well as a good relationship with our TXDOT colleagues, to maintain our system. They are capable and willing to do whatever is needed – day or night – to keep our traffic system working properly.”
Each of these employees has a strong professional background that has positioned them well to manage Southlake’s traffic. Palos joined the City as the Traffic Supervisor in January 2021. Prior to working for Southlake, Miguel worked for TXDOT, installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting traffic signals and illumination. He has also worked on networking and integrating intelligent transportation systems (ITS), traffic signals, and the timing of corridors.
Agan will begin his work as a Traffic Crew Leader in October. Since coming to Southlake in 2015, he has worked in the Public Works Department as a Streets Technician and Traffic Management Technician. Before working for the City, Trent worked for the City of Bedford for more than 20 years. His experience includes maintaining signs, markings, and signals, assisting with streets, water, and sewer operations, and conducting inspections.
Cohen recently reorganized the Public Works Department and allocated additional resources to the traffic management team. The changes allow the division to provide more timely responses to citizen inquiries and be more proactive in their work.
He notes, “The City facilitates large volumes of traffic daily, especially during peak travel periods. We must make certain that municipal traffic devices are in good working order, and coordinate with TXDOT when their equipment is down. This work is so important, and I want to ensure that we have sufficient resources. Safety and efficiency depend on our efforts.”
As traffic challenges continue with the growth of the City and region, the complex work will require strong management. Fortunately, Miguel Palos and Trent Agan are on the job and already preparing for the future.
For their work behind the scenes to ensure convenient and safe travel through and within the City, they are being recognized as two of the City’s unsung heroes.
These days it’s almost impossible to go to movie theaters where there are no Marvel or DC superhero movies on the big screen, and if you miss the first run, you can always binge watch your favorites on Netflix.
The great heroes have their stories and their fans, but for many, success hinges on having a solid sidekick to help them out, support them, or just to keep things on track. For our Southlake police and fire heroes, one of their most important sidekicks is Roland DeGraauw, Accreditation Manager.
Southlake’s police officers and firefighters perform at the highest level of excellence, and Roland can prove it! By successfully working through the respective accreditation process for each department, Roland makes sure that they get the recognition they deserve for their outstanding work.
“Managing an accreditation process is a massive logistical undertaking for one department, much less two,” said Police Chief James Brandon. “Not only does the process have to be coordinated, but Roland has to hit a pace and keep it going. Otherwise, achieving the highest levels of professional recognition would have been impossible.”
The Fire Department is one of only eight municipalities in Texas accredited through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI). To receive the accreditation, a department must prove its excellence in four categories: 1) Standards of Cover, 2) Strategic Business Plan, 3) Self-Assessment Manual, and the 4) Community Risk Assessment. The associated performance metrics track lifesaving skills and organizational performance. Southlake’s Fire Department has been accredited since 1999, in part because Roland manages the program and works with personnel to meet and document their distinction on 296 performance indicators.
The Police Department is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), which has established best practices for law enforcement. Departments are reviewed based on 487 standards. The PD’s most recent reaccreditation marks the 15th year of accreditation for the Department. They also recently received the Gold Standard Assessment status, the highest possible level. This reflects the high quality of the department, but can also be attributed Roland’s committed efforts.
Read more about the Fire Department’s accreditation here. An overview of the Police Department’s accreditation can be found here.
As with most capable sidekicks, Roland doesn’t seek the limelight. Instead, this humble, thoughtful, and kind man prefers to do his work behind the scenes and quietly smile when assessors complete their evaluation and compliment the departments on being some of the best police and fire operations in the nation.
Where would Batman be without Robin? Do we really think Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, could keep it all together without the help of the very capable Pepper Potts? Like our best-loved superheroes, Southlake’s Police and Fire Departments do outstanding work every day. Thanks to Roland’s effective management of the accreditation process, they have been recognized and highlighted as being among the best, and continue their ongoing work to meet the highest professional standards.
Since 1985, Americans have celebrated Park and Recreation Month in July to promote the importance of parks and recreation in health and wellness, conservation and social equity, and to recognize the thousands of park and recreation employees that maintain our nation’s local and community parks.
This July we’re celebrating the super powers of parks and recreation and all the ways these local, community resources add value to our daily lives with a Superhero Theme!
Whether it be SuperHero Training Academy for kids in Bicentennial Park, The Southlake Masterworks Concert Series, or watching Avengers: Age of Ultron with the family at the Aria Amphitheater, Parks and Recreation Month is action packed with activities and events sure to excite the hero in all of us.
Additionally the LiveFit Pass and all fitness classes will be free during July for Park and Recreation Month to help maintain that SuperHero health in all citizens. Register Here!
Events of all varieties and for all age groups will be hosted by The City of Southlake throughout the month of July, guaranteeing you and your family a super summer.
For a complete list check out the Park and Recreation Month Calendar.