Town services director Ronnie Brown, water department Employee of the Year Jose Reyes, Mayor Bill Seay. Photo: Courtesy of Highland Park

Okay, so they were announced in April, but better late than never, right?

• Martin Almanza, Water Department Employee of the Year
• Jose Reyes, Parks Department Employee of the Year
• Kirk Smith, Building Inspection Employee of the Year
• Janice Burke, DPS Civilian Employee of the Year
• Jeff Hightower, DPS Officer of the Year
• Marc Rossini, DPS Supervisor of the Year

Congratulations to all the winners.

Fridays are slow around here, like every office. We call sources, they rarely call back.

That leaves us with a decent amount of time to scour the websites of the municipalities, schools, and other groups we cover. Today I took to Highland Park’s site.

On the front page is the tab “Construction Updates.” I clicked through, hoping there might be some updated town hall renovation figures. I clicked again, through to the “DPS and Town Hall Renovation Project” link. Last updated? January 5.

But wait, there’s a light. “Check out the latest updates on our blog!” Helpful, I thought.

I clicked through to a Blogger site, complete with elevations drawings, slide shows, the works. The only problem? It was last updated in July 2011.

Town officials have said they’re planning on sending out brochures and information to area residents affected by the construction. Maybe they should turn to their website as well.

I’m sitting at the Dallas City Planning Commission right now, diligently trying to stay awake as I wait for the items I’m covering to pop up.

A fun Bluffview item just passed, though, and I thought I’d share. A rather innocuous replat in the 4700 block of West Lovers Lane — combining two lots east of Roper Street — will become a chocolatier, according to the project’s attorney.

To which I say: that will probably be a pretty big chocolate shop if it needs to take up two lots.

The University Park City Council approved the addition of the 3600 block of McFarlin Boulevard to the city’s parking district Tuesday night, but questioned the efficacy of continuing to do so.

More than 50 percent of the block’s residents approved the move, according to public works director Bud Smallwood. The need for the change was hastened by the use of the block by SMU’s food service employees, he said. As the parking districts have grown around the campus, employees are parking further into the neighborhoods and walking to work.

“What we’re doing is inconveniencing our resident to accomodate SMU employees,” said Councilman Bob Clark.

“But they gotta park somewhere,” responded Mayor Dick Davis.

The question (as always) is immediacy. The employees could park at Mockingbird Station and take the free Pony Express shuttle to campus, Smallwood said, but few do so. Parking on campus costs money, something a worker making minimum wage or slightly higher is unlikely to spring for.

The dance will continue.

“We displace them from there, and the move somewhere else,” said police chief Gary Adams.

“This won’t end until [SMU] parks them on campus,” Clark said.

When I walked up to University Park City Hall yesterday for the city council meeting, I was stunned by the number of campaign signs for Sam Tamborello and Joel Williams III. The two are running for the Highland Park mayorship, but this was University Park.

Ten signs filled the public right-of-way at University Boulevard and Williams Parkway, but when I walked inside city hall, I realized why: early voting. Both UP and HP early votes are cast at UP City Hall.

In UP elections news, council candidate Dawn Moore was in attendance during last night’s meeting and three of the other candidates were in their seats as city councilmen. Candidate Raquel Ibarra was not present, to my knowledge.

In this Friday’s paper, you’ll see a story about the residents of Golf Drive, and the residents of the woods behind their homes: coyotes.

It’s not a new story in the Park Cities, but one worth revisiting every few years. The folks on that block have started a petition to rid University Park of these coyotes. If you want to sign it, click the link.

For the flip side of their argument, head to the city’s website, which lists a bunch of reasons why partial trapping and removal of the coyotes (if I’ve learned anything reporting this story it’s that most people in Texas pronounce it ky-oats) may be more detrimental than helpful.

The University Park City Council is expected to approve a series of fee changes for city services at tonight’s meeting.

The changes include increases in animal impound fees and tree removal fines, and a slight decrease for larger parties at the city pool.

Find all of the changes here. Meeting starts at 5 p.m., but don’t be late: the fee schedule changes are the only item on the main agenda.

At Monday’s Highland Park Town Council meeting, we were in and out in about 20 minutes. Short and sweet, two traits I attribute exclusively to Mayor For The Day Ben Soong, a third-grader at Bradfield.

In those 20 minutes though, there were a few town hall project nuggets:

- Bids on the project were due Wednesday, and project manager Gallagher Construction will review them in the coming weeks. Council will have the bids on their desk to approve by May 20, said DPS Chief Chris Vinson.

- Prep work concluded on the town’s temporary office space on Lemmon Avenue last week. AT&T is now heading in to install the fiber connections. The town expects to move into their temporary digs by the end of May.

- Town officials are creating informational materials to distribute to neighbors regarding parking, staging, and traffic routes. Expect them soon.

Early voting for all University Park and Highland Park precincts will be conducted at the University Park City Hall, located at 3800 University Boulevard. The dates and times are:

Monday, April 30 – Friday, May 4 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Monday, May 7 & Tuesday, May 8 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Photo: Chris Scifres

A car flipped at the intersection of Milton and Hursey early Sunday morning, and the driver fled before University Park Police could arrive, witnesses said.

The BMW SUV allegedly hit a parked vehicle and flipped onto its side. The driver then got out of the vehicle and ran away.

Police attempted to make contact with the man, but had not by Sunday morning, witnesses said. More on this as I figure it out.