City hears about concerns over Industrial Blvd.

The Cameron City Council is still looking for a new city manager as the council did not move to hire anyone during a meeting on Tuesday night.

The council did however hear from a citizen concerned about the quality of the work being done to Industrial Blvd. in Cameron.

Pam Green, who lives at 906 Industrial was on hand to speak to the council about the condition of the road and the amount of dust that has been around during the time the road has been worked on over the last several months.

“I stand before you as a longtime resident and taxpayer,” Green said. “For the last 34 years I have lived at 906 Industrial Blvd. When you make a home, make memories and live a life for as long as I have in one place it is impossible not to have deep feelings and emotions. This is not a complaint about the traffic. This is concern over calling it a road.”

Green said that for all the years she has lived at her home minimal work has been done to the road despite it being a hub for Cameron businesses and an artery for many workers. 

“I would have expected that with the importance of this road that just putting a patch on it would seem ridiculous,” she said. “I also expected engineers to keep in mind the weight of the trucks that use that road and its proximity to Highway 77. This has not been the case.”

She said that the lime used as the foundation for the road and all the roads in Cameron has a number of terrible health qualities including respiratory issues, which she has been enduring.

Green said she was told that the road would be finished mid-July. 

“The dust was unbearable,” she said. “I called to see when the road would be finished and was told it was. When I returned home I found that no seal had been laid down and it was just as dusty and ridiculous as when I had left for work. The road maintenance guys left a so-called curb, AKA a pile of gravel, all along the side of the road. I had to drive over a bump to get into my driveway.”

She said that recently the city has spent a lot of money on Industrial and Blake Avenue. 

She asked the council to take a drive down the road and see if the citizens got their money’s worth.

“I worry that a permanent solution has not been made,” she said. “I am asking that better investment go towards the infrastructure of our roads in Cameron. The completed project is not something that should be accepted for such a highly traveled road. Please think beyond the quick fix. A long-term solution has not been made for this road.”

Green said she has witnesses a decline in the city’s streets over the last several years and asked the council to put more money in the budget for that.

City Public Works Director Craig Arnold said that he has not given a timeline for when the road would be completed to former City Manager Rhett Parker. 

“I just told him end of summer,” Arnold said. “We only have six guys on our crew. The material is what we use. We couldn’t stay on it every day. We had other things that we had to do. Then it started raining.”

He said that they had to go by the budget and they went by what they use on all other streets. 

Councilmember Nathan Fuchs asked about the top layer that was put on the road at Jackson and what was used on Industrial.

Arnold said they are using chip-seal for the roads. He said that using a harder rock would cost about $40 more a ton and cost more to transport it.

He said the 18-wheeler traffic is an issue.

Arnold said the road is completed at this time in the parameters of the budget for the work.

He said that chip-seal is not made for industrial use, but that is what was used with the budget that was given.

Mayor Bill Harris said the council would look into a better solution for the road and tabled the item until a recommendation for a long-term solution could be made.

In other business the council also: approved a contract with Walker Partners Engineering for the EDA grant for work on Adams Avenue; reappointed members to the Cameron EDC; declared the Cameron Herald the official newspaper of the City of Cameron; head about change orders for Texas Water Development grants; and heard the first reading of ordinances for the 2021-22 budget and tax rate.