City moves forward on water issues
The Cameron City Council took another step towards remedying issues with its water intake station on Monday night during their regular meeting.
The council approved Freese and Nichols scope of work and fee proposal for the Little River Pump Station preliminary design and authorized funding to be paid out of water and sewer reserves during the meeting.
The city has been discussing moving the intake station for the last several months and Alan Hutson with Freese and Nichols was on hand to answer any of the council’s questions at the meeting.
The city’s water intake station is currently located on an area of the Little River that is in an oxbow and could be cut off from the river as it meanders over time.
The city began discussing this topic in August and hired Freese and Nichols to look into options for the project.
There is a lot of erosion along the Little River and it has put the city’s pump station at risk. Hutson said in a prior meeting with the city that erosion is creating an oxbow. That is when a river cuts off and leaves a segment without water. The group is looking at erosion trends and what may happen in the future.
City Manager Rhett Parker has said where the intake station and pumps are the river is so high that it is beginning to erode the bottom base and it is swirling around causing more erosion and starting to back up where the oxbow is.
The city also approved the placement of welcome banners at approved locations by Ginger Watkins with Cameron Economic Development.
“We have missed an opportunity to welcome some larger groups of people to our community,” Watkins said. “Primarily one of our major employers 44 Farms who has three auctions a year and a private donor donated five of these signs to post around town to welcome these 800 to 1,000 people to town.”
Watkins would like to post the banners at the airport, the corner of Fannin and Highway 36 by the library, the lot of the former Milam Motel or in front of the Budget Host, in front of Domino’s, and the corner of 12th and Highway 77.
In other business the city council also: appointed Arturo Rodriguez as City Attorney and approved a lease purchase agreement to computer replacement as budgeted.