Mary Ann Ortiz, a leader of The Border Organization and a resident of the Vega Verde Road in south Val Verde County, speaks to county commissioners court members about a planned water line extension and the poor condition of Pace Miller Drive. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
NEWS — Resident asks for timeline on water line extension
By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A resident of Vega Verde Road on Tuesday asked county commissioners court when the county would extend water lines in her area and what they would do about an area road in poor condition.
Mary Ann Ortiz, who identified herself as a leader of The Border Organization and a resident of the Vega Verde Road along the Rio Grande in the far south of the county, addressed the court during the “Citizens’ Comments” portion of its October regular term meeting.
Ortiz told the court during a previous county commissioners court session several months ago County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores asked for and received permission from the court to proceed in obtaining bids for a geotechnical company to perform studies on the Cienegas Road from the Del Rio city limits to the Duck Pond Road.
“The reason I’m here is I feel that some of the priorities that we should have up there is extending the water line we’re supposed to be getting, it’s supposed to be completed up to 7159 Vega Verde Road. However, there are still 26 or more residents past that address that are still in need of water, so I just feel that’s priority, in serving the community with water lines, instead of doing the geotechnical survey,” Ortiz told the court.
Pace Miller Drive is a short, unpaved road that links Vega Verde Road and Old Foster Drive in south Val Verde County. A resident of the area told county commissioners court members Tuesday the road is overgrown and in poor driving condition. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
“Another one of our concerns is Pace Miller Drive. It is on the (county road) maintenance book, and after we had that steady rainfall, Pace Miller Drive falls under erosion and overgrowth. Residents, law enforcement and sanitation services using this road are subject to hugging vegetative overgrown shoulders and crevices that are six inches deep in the middle of the road. It was really, really horrible to drive through it,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz handed out photos of the road, showing its poor traveling surface and the overgrown carrizo cane along its sides.
“As we’re driving through there, it’s actually hitting our cars,” she said of the overgrown cane.
Ortiz also referenced two items on the court’s Tuesday agenda, which dealt with actions to purchase materials for the Vega Verde Road Waterline Project.
“I was just wondering when is that going to start, when are the water lines going to start actually being put out there?” she asked.
Since members of the court can’t respond to citizens in the “Citizens’ Comments” portion of the meeting, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said he would like to move the “County Judge’s Comments” item up on the agenda, so he could address some of the issues raised by Ortiz.
“The county is going to do an assessment on Cienegas Road, and I know that people are concerned about their own little portion in front of their houses, and stuff like that, but you can’t get to your houses unless you get down Cienegas Road, so you can’t get to it, unless we maintain Cienegas Road, so that’s that,” Owens said.
“The water line, the distance that we actually have for the water line, is all depending on the money. So if there’s more people that need water further down, we can only go so far because of the money that we have,” Owens said.
“As a matter of fact, this court set aside another $460,000, something like that, above the money we had (set aside) because the pipe had come in so expensive, just to be able to accomplish what each precinct said they were going to do. The price of pipe had come in so expensive, and again, this court voted unanimously to spend another $400,000-plus, not of grant money, but of county money, just to be able to do the length that each commissioner said he wanted to do in his area,” the county judge added.
As to the start date, Owens said he and the county engineer are meeting with city officials this week.
“We’d been asking to move forward with the water line projects and present them to their public utilities commission, and that’s been going on for over a year,” Owens said.
He said during that meeting, he hopes to go over several projects “that the county and the city have together and figure out a solution and a timeline as to when these are going to get done.”
NEWS — Resident asks for timeline on water line extension
By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A resident of Vega Verde Road on Tuesday asked county commissioners court when the county would extend water lines in her area and what they would do about an area road in poor condition.
Mary Ann Ortiz, who identified herself as a leader of The Border Organization and a resident of the Vega Verde Road along the Rio Grande in the far south of the county, addressed the court during the “Citizens’ Comments” portion of its October regular term meeting.
Ortiz told the court during a previous county commissioners court session several months ago County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores asked for and received permission from the court to proceed in obtaining bids for a geotechnical company to perform studies on the Cienegas Road from the Del Rio city limits to the Duck Pond Road.
“The reason I’m here is I feel that some of the priorities that we should have up there is extending the water line we’re supposed to be getting, it’s supposed to be completed up to 7159 Vega Verde Road. However, there are still 26 or more residents past that address that are still in need of water, so I just feel that’s priority, in serving the community with water lines, instead of doing the geotechnical survey,” Ortiz told the court.
“Another one of our concerns is Pace Miller Drive. It is on the (county road) maintenance book, and after we had that steady rainfall, Pace Miller Drive falls under erosion and overgrowth. Residents, law enforcement and sanitation services using this road are subject to hugging vegetative overgrown shoulders and crevices that are six inches deep in the middle of the road. It was really, really horrible to drive through it,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz handed out photos of the road, showing its poor traveling surface and the overgrown carrizo cane along its sides.
“As we’re driving through there, it’s actually hitting our cars,” she said of the overgrown cane.
Ortiz also referenced two items on the court’s Tuesday agenda, which dealt with actions to purchase materials for the Vega Verde Road Waterline Project.
“I was just wondering when is that going to start, when are the water lines going to start actually being put out there?” she asked.
Since members of the court can’t respond to citizens in the “Citizens’ Comments” portion of the meeting, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said he would like to move the “County Judge’s Comments” item up on the agenda, so he could address some of the issues raised by Ortiz.
“The county is going to do an assessment on Cienegas Road, and I know that people are concerned about their own little portion in front of their houses, and stuff like that, but you can’t get to your houses unless you get down Cienegas Road, so you can’t get to it, unless we maintain Cienegas Road, so that’s that,” Owens said.
“The water line, the distance that we actually have for the water line, is all depending on the money. So if there’s more people that need water further down, we can only go so far because of the money that we have,” Owens said.
“As a matter of fact, this court set aside another $460,000, something like that, above the money we had (set aside) because the pipe had come in so expensive, just to be able to accomplish what each precinct said they were going to do. The price of pipe had come in so expensive, and again, this court voted unanimously to spend another $400,000-plus, not of grant money, but of county money, just to be able to do the length that each commissioner said he wanted to do in his area,” the county judge added.
As to the start date, Owens said he and the county engineer are meeting with city officials this week.
“We’d been asking to move forward with the water line projects and present them to their public utilities commission, and that’s been going on for over a year,” Owens said.
He said during that meeting, he hopes to go over several projects “that the county and the city have together and figure out a solution and a timeline as to when these are going to get done.”
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Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
Brian
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