By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Despite a plea from a citizen, county commissioners court members voted to begin the process of removing a short road from the county’s maintenance log.
A majority of Val Verde County Commissioners Court members took the action after once again hearing from a county resident who has repeatedly asked the court to maintain the road.
The road is Pace Miller Drive, a short stretch of road connecting Vega Verde Road and Old Foster Road in far southern Val Verde County.
Mary Ann Ortiz, a resident of Vega Verde Road and a leader of the Border Organization, spoke to the court during the citizens’ comments portion of Tuesday’s meeting and once again asked that the road be maintained. Ortiz and another family member have made repeated appeals regarding the road.
During a meeting about Old Foster Road in November, County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores, in whose precinct both roads lie, told Ortiz’s son he would research whether or not Pace Miller was a dedicated county road, which is the criteria by which county roads are maintained.
On Tuesday, Mary Ann Ortiz told the court, “The reason I’m here is because of . . . Pace Miller (Drive). My son and his wife weren’t able to attend this meeting because they’re both at work, but they did attend the meeting we had a few weeks ago, and during that meeting, they informed the court about the issues we’re having with Pace Miller, about the overgrown cane and the crevices in the road.
“That is the road (my son) uses to get to his home. He doesn’t live on Vega Verde, but the road to his home is off Pace Miller, and many, many years ago, that road was maintained. It was drivable. There was no cane overhanging the road and no crevices,” Ortiz said.
She noted Pace Miller also serves as an alternate route out of the area for residents of Vega Verde Road.
“So if it’s going to be removed from the county road maintenance log, that’s going to leave us without any other roads to exit Vega Verde, and we have used Pace Miller whenever we’ve had some type of emergency, like floods or when we have fires in the cane,” she said.
“Again, I’m asking the court: Please don’t remove Pace Miller from the county road log. We do need it, and it is the only other exit road we have in case there is any type of danger on Vega Verde,” Ortiz said.
Later in the meeting, the court moved to an agenda item requested by Flores: “Discussion and possible action on Pace Miller Road.”
After the county judge read the agenda item, Flores told the court, “Judge, the reason for this item is that the meeting we had (on Old Foster Road in November), there was a young man that questioned if Pace Miller Drive was a county road or a private road, so I had our county engineer investigate this, and he informed me that Pace Miller is part of the Moreno Valley Subdivision, and this road does not comply with model subdivision rules.
“It is not up to standards, so I’m going to ask the court’s approval to remove this road from my county road log book, to begin the process,” Flores said.
County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw gave the second, and the court voted 4-1 to approve the motion, with County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton casting the only dissenting vote.
Following the meeting, Nettleton declined to comment on his vote against the motion.
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