Friday, March 29, 2024

The Southlake Cares Challenge

We need you, Southlake!  A challenge is at hand, and we need your help to conquer need in our community. The Southlake Cares Six-Month Challenge will raise awareness of these particular organizations’ needs and ask for specific aid to meet them.

Economic Stress Creates High Demand for Assistance

It’s a difficult time in our nation and our communities. Families desperately need the essentials of food, medicine, shelter, and more in our area, and local service organizations have a growing need of support from the community for money, in-kind donations, and volunteers. In some instances, the demands have tripled, while revenue sources have declined.  The City of Southlake has a history of partnership with these six service organizations and relies on them to help provide services to the community in meaningful ways.

How to Help

Visit the Southlake Cares website and learn more about these organizations. See where you might fill a need and then click on the button that says Learn More. On that page, there are links to take you to our partners websites.  From there, you can choose how you want to make a difference. If you do decide to give, please be sure to indicate Southlake Cares as your honoree.

Over the next six months, we will feature each one of our partners and tell you how they are helping the City.  We will also track the challenge’s progress to let you know how things are going and if our organizations are encountering a specific need.

We need your help to show we’re Southlake Strong and that Southlake Cares. Won’t you join us?

Partnerships at Work – Tarrant and Denton Counties

When it comes to partnerships, Tarrant and Denton Counties have a long history of working with Southlake for the greater good, which is why collaborating on the election process is a win!

Our partnerships helps the City keep costs down by sharing expenses with other municipalities and allow better governance during the election process.

All elections are handled through their respective election administrators, who manage and coordinate the election process with election judges and clerks. They also hire, train and supervise election staff, supply voting equipment, provide office supplies and place state postings.

Another major benefit to the partnerships is that both the City and County staff members share expertise and knowledge about the laws, procedures, practices, documentation and equipment, which allows the policies to be clear and adaptable and priorities consistent across the board. These partnerships also provide an alternative method of service delivery to our citizens by streamlining an efficient election process, whether that be municipal, county, state, federal, school district, general or special elections.

By strategically partnering with agencies and organizations like these, our City can continue to move forward and elevate our community.

City Partners with Tarrant County for Resurfacing of Crooked Lane

City Council approved an Interlocal Agreement with Tarrant County for the joint resurfacing of Crooked Lane during the December 3 City Council meeting.

The joint roadway rehabilitation project includes resurfacing the pavement of Crooked Lane from Kimball Avenue to Nolen Drive.

The partnership will consist of shared responsibilities between Tarrant County and the City of Southlake. The county will provide labor resources, heavy equipment to pave the roadway and half of the fuel expenses. The City will mill the roadway, and make any necessary subgrade repairs, manage traffic controls and is responsible for striping.

“This partnership has been beneficial for both the City and county,” said Rob Cohen, Director of Public Works. “By delegating work across multiple projects, it allows the city to invest in maintaining Southlake’s public assets, save costs on capital improvement developments along with securing a network of partners.”

The budget for this project is $330,000 and will be funded through the General Fund of the FY 2020 Capital Improvement Program.

This project is scheduled for January 2020. For updates, follow Southlake Mobility on Facebook and visit www.ConnectSouthlake.com.

Southlake Joins WAZE CCP Program

The City of Southlake recently hosted a regional training workshop focused on WAZE Connected Citizen Program (CCP).   The CCP program is a free, two-way data exchange empowering cities to help give drivers a heads up to important information such as road closures, big events and crisis centers.

The training, which was held at Southlake’s DPS North Training Facility, allowed more than 80 participants from at least 40 different government and public safety agencies, transportation and engineering firms, from across the DFW Metroplex to learn about the program.  It also gave participants insight to the mapping and editing tools found within the WAZE mobile application.

“The City of Southlake is pleased to be part of this program,” said Assistant City Manager Ben Thatcher.  “Through our partnership with WAZE and other DFW cities, we intend to get important traffic information to drivers so they can make informed decisions about their daily commute.”

Current City uses for WAZE CCP include communicating planned road construction and road closures within the city, as well as providing daily update on targeted traffic enforcement areas.  Look for more information about WAZE CCP and how the City intends to use the tool in the coming weeks.