January News ReleasesJanuary 31, 2008 Abilene participates in the Great Texas Warrant Roundup ABILENE, Texas – The City of Abilene is joining law enforcement agencies and courts from more than 150 jurisdictions across Texas in the Great Texas Warrant Roundup. The multi-jurisdictional warrant roundup gets underway Saturday, February 16 and continues through Tuesday, February 26. Arrests will focus on defendants with traffic, parking, city ordinance, penal code and higher charge warrants. Municipal Court Administrator Teresa Borcik said, “Right now, we have several thousand outstanding warrants. We encourage people with warrants to voluntarily comply before the Great Texas Warrant Roundup begins.” Notices have been mailed over the past few days to persons with active warrants. Affected persons are urged to contact Municipal Court during the next two weeks to dispose of their cases voluntarily to avoid the inconvenience and embarrassment of arrest at home or at work in front of family, friends or co-workers.
“By the time we come to arrest you for an outstanding warrant, it’s too late to say you forgot about it,” Assistant Police Chief Mark Moore added. “Take care of it now and you won’t face arrest.” Municipal Court, located on the east side of City Hall at 555 Walnut Street, is offering extended hours for Monday, February 11 – Friday, February 15 and February 18 - February 22. The court will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on these days. A list of outstanding warrants is also available on the City of Abilene website at: http://www.abilenetx.com/MunicipalCourt/warrants.asp.
January 29, 2008 ABILENE, Texas – The new online citizen service center, known as ABILENE411, will debut on the City of Abilene website at www.abilenetx.com on Friday, February 1. City Manager Larry Gilley, Assistant City Manager David A. Vela and members of the Citizen Relationship Management Committee will officially unveil the new program at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, February 1 in City Council Chambers at Abilene City Hall, 555 Walnut Street.
January 28, 2008 Safety City given $10,000 donation from AEP Texas ABILENE, Texas – Safety City, a child-size town designed to provide a fun, interactive safety education for elementary age kids, recently received a $10,000 donation from AEP Texas. The money will go towards improvements at the facility, located on South 7th Street. “We are thrilled that AEP Texas made this generous donation to Safety City,” Safety Education Instructor Jennifer Stuckey remarked. “It really benefits the children of our community.” Safety City provides a safe environment for school children to apply the lessons of bicycle, pedestrian and general traffic safety that they learned in the classroom. The kids also learn about fire safety, stranger danger and school bus safety. "As this area's electric delivery company, AEP Texas has been providing electrical safety programs for school children for many years," said Greg Blair, Region Manager, Community Affairs for AEP Texas. "We believe Safety City plays an important part in educating our kids and we're excited to support a program designed to help ensure their safety." The Abilene Police Department, the Abilene Fire Department, the Abilene Jaycee Foundation and the Texas Department of Public Safety with the cooperation of the Abilene Independent School District and many members of the business community have helped make the Safety City program possible. Safety City opened in the 1981-1982 school year. Approximately 3,600 students and 1,200 adults participate in Safety City activities each year. News conference about Great Texas Warrant Roundup ABILENE, Texas – The City of Abilene is partnering with law enforcement agencies and courts from more than 150 jurisdictions across Texas in the Great Texas Warrant Roundup. A news conference about the upcoming multi-jurisdictional warrant round-up will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 31 in City Council Chambers at Abilene City Hall, 555 Walnut Street.
January 23, 2008 ABILENE, Texas – The City of Abilene’s telephone emergency notification system, CodeRED, now has a new phone number that will appear when a call is received by a resident or business. The new number will come up on Caller ID as 866-419-5000. This replaces the phone number, 999-911-9999. Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Bryan said, “The new CodeRED phone number may help prevent calls containing important emergency information from being blocked. During the August 2007 flood event, we received a few reports that CodeRED calls with the 999 feature did not get through to the intended parties.” With spring weather around the corner; the front line tool for weather information and warnings to our community is the all-weather radio. Emergency Management encourages everyone to have one of these radios in their home. The CodeRED system could be used for a prolonged weather event or a large volatile approaching weather system. The City’s CodeRED system became operational April 1, 2007 for all of Taylor County and portions of Jones County including Lake Fort Phantom Hill.
January 15, 2008 Mayor Archibald to deliver 2008 State of the City address ABILENE, Texas – Mayor Norm Archibald will present the first annual State of the City address on Monday, January 28 in Conference Room Two in the North Wing of the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 North 6th Street. The program begins at 10:30 a.m. The public is invited to attend the State of the City event. TV Channel 7, the City’s education/government channel, will rebroadcast Mayor Archibald’s State of the City address on the following days and times:
Most City offices to close for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ABIILENE, Texas – In observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, most City of Abilene offices and community service centers will be closed on Monday, January 21, with the exception of those providing life safety services such as fire and police protection. The Abilene Animal Shelter will be closed January 21. Citizens with an Animal Control emergency may call the Abilene Police Department at 673-8331 and an Animal Services Officer will be available to respond. Any animal that is picked up as a stray during the holiday will be attended to at the shelter. The Animal Shelter will re-open on Tuesday, January 22 at 9 a.m. to resume normal business hours. Solid Waste Services division offices will not be open January 21. There will be no residential refuse collection on Monday. Residents who would normally receive collection service on January 21 will receive service the following Thursday, January 24. Residents who are scheduled for curbside brush and bulky refuse collection on January 21 will receive service the next day, beginning Tuesday, January 22. Commercial refuse collection will continue as scheduled. The Environmental Recycling Center (ERC) will also be closed Monday. The ERC will resume regular business hours on Tuesday. CityLink Transit will run regular hours on January 21. The Abilene Zoo will be open regular hours, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., on January 21. The Municipal Court will be closed on January 21. All citations due January 21 will be due on January 22 with no penalty. Other City closings for January 21 include: City Hall, the Housing Administration office, the Water Office, Health Division, both Abilene Public Library locations, Abilene Civic Center, the Development Corporation of Abilene, the Airport Administration Office and City Recreation and Senior Citizen centers. The Water Services Center, 701 E. Hwy. 80, will be open on January 21, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., to take delinquent payments for customers whose water has been turned off and for new customers needing water service. For water emergencies, sewer problems and reports of water conservation ordinance violations, citizens may call the Water Services Center’s emergency hotline, 676-6000, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
January 8, 2008 Temporary parking change at Abilene Regional Airport ABILENE, Texas – Abilene Regional Airport officials advise passengers, who are leaving their vehicle at the airport, to arrive 90 minutes before their flight’s departure time to allow extra time for parking and the shuttle ride. Effective mid-morning Wednesday, January 9, departing passengers must park their vehicles in the new remote parking lot. Rental car customers will continue to use the existing parking lot adjacent to the airport terminal until further notice. Free shuttle service will be available to and from both parking lots.
The remote parking lot is located north of the Eagle Aviation building on Airport Boulevard. The $5.7 million project will take an estimated nine months to complete. The project entails construction of both the remote and covered parking lots, improved drainage around the terminal building and road work. The airport’s new lot will contain 731 parking spaces with 101 reserved for rental cars. Airport officials appreciate their customers’ patience and cooperation as improvements are made to the airport.
January 7, 2008 Road construction scheduled for Catclaw Drive this week ABILENE, Texas – Starting on Wednesday, January 9, the Street Services Division will begin shoulder work on Catclaw Drive between Cedar Run Road and Rolling Green Drive. This section of Catclaw Drive will be closed to through traffic from 7 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 10. To avoid traffic delays, motorists are advised to avoid the area during this time. Abilene police officer involved in shooting ABILENE, Texas – An Abilene police officer was involved in a shooting while responding to a domestic violence call at 2600 Nonesuch Road early this morning. The suspect, 30-year old Benjamin Holt of Abilene, sustained non-life threatening injuries. Holt now faces several charges including Assault on a Peace Officer (3rd degree felony), Resisting Arrest and Disorderly Conduct. At 3:14 a.m., the Police Department received a call, reporting a woman being beaten by her boyfriend. When the first officer arrived, he discovered an intoxicated man and woman outside. The officer began to arrest Holt for Disorderly Conduct, and Holt resisted and assaulted the officer. The officer used several force options including pepper spray and a baton but the man continued to attack the officer. The officer fired one shot from his pistol which struck Holt in the arm. Holt was treated and released at Hendrick Medical Center and then booked at the Taylor County Jail.
As per standard procedure, the police officer, who is not being identified at this time, is now on temporary paid leave. January 2 , 2008 Your opinion wanted: City of Abilene website survey ABILENE, Texas – The City of Abilene is launching on online survey about the public’s experience with its web site, www.abilenetx.com. City officials want to know how citizens currently use the website and what improvements or changes they would like to see. The 10-question survey should only take a few minutes to complete. The public can participate in the survey, found on the City website’s home page, starting Wednesday, January 2. The survey will be accessible through 5 p.m. Wednesday, January 9. The City will use the survey results to further enhance the website for our citizen’s use. **Deadline to take the survey is extended to the end of January.** Road construction continues for South 7th Street in New Year ABILENE, Texas – Starting on Wednesday, January 2, South 7th Street will close to through traffic from Leggett Drive to Pioneer Drive for approximately three weeks for street reconstruction. Traffic will be detoured around the construction area via side streets. Residents and people, needing access to homes and businesses in this area, will be able to do so by driving around the barricades but they are asked to use caution and watch for construction workers and equipment. Motorists who can avoid the area are asked to do so. Also on Wednesday, the South 7th Street segment between Willis Street and Leggett Drive will reopen to through traffic. This is the final phase of the reconstruction project along South 7th Street. The road work is being done as part of the City’s Street Bond project on South 7th Street from Barrow Street to Pioneer Drive. Upcoming Public Works projects will include the intersection of South 7th Street and Leggett Drive, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2008. Public Works will continue to improve South 7th Street west of Barrow Street as outlined in the Street Bond project. The final phase of street reconstruction, which will extend to Treadaway Boulevard, is expected to take place in 2009.
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