Dateline: June 13, 2002

Grant funds will help repair streets 

Several blocks of streets in Clarendon will be repaired thanks to a $350,000 disaster grant from the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA).

In an announcement last week, ORCA officials awarded the Texas Community Development Program (TCDP) Disaster Relief grant to the city for damages caused by flooding on May 3 and 4, 2001.

“The Office of Rural Community Affairs is pleased to be able to assist the citizens of Clarendon,” said ORCA Director Robert J. “Sam” Tessen. “It is just an example of Texans helping Texans.”

The new grant complements and provides matching funds for another one awarded to the city earlier this year by the federal government’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program.

“We were fortunate to get these grants,” said City Superintendent Jim Roberts. “They came along about the same time, and we were able to tie the two together.”

Under the TCDP grant, portions of four city streets will be improved. Those areas include two blocks of McClelland Street between Fifth and Montgomery, three blocks of Hawley Street from Fourth to Barcus, and three blocks of Wood Avenue from McClelland to Jackson.

The grant also will pave and improve 1,300 feet of Thurman Avenue. That thoroughfare is a major drainage way for the eastern edge of the city. The EWP funds will address the first 150 feet south of US 287, and the TCDP grant will extend that work.

The EWP program funds will also be used for silt removal, slope protection, channel clearing, and debris removal. The remainder of the TCDP grant will be used to address mitigation measures needed to protect the low-lying areas within the city that flood each time a storm occurs.

Bids for the local projects should be let later this month, and Roberts says the work will be completed this summer.

“Small cities like Clarendon are particularly hard-hit by disasters, such as the 2001 flood, which stretch their resources and leave lingering economic consequences,” Sen. Craig Estes said. “These funds will help prevent flooding in the future.”

“The new Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) was designed specifically to look after the interests of small communities who need assistance, such as Clarendon,” said Rep. Warren Chisum. “It’s good to see our government stepping in to give them the help they need.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the funding source for this program.

For more information about ORCA, call toll free in Texas: 800-544-2042 or visit the agency’s Web site at www.orca.state.tx.us