Dateline: November 3, 2005

City officials want faster pace on street project

By Roger  Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

With some citizens’ patience running short, Clarendon city officials met with engineers and contractors last Wednesday to express the growing frustration over the pace of the 2005 street paving project.

Aldermen who attended the meeting say they told representatives of contractor B&B Solvent they want to see more activity and more progress.

City officials said after the meeting they worried that the available warm-weather days were not being utilized. Alderman Mark White told the Enterprise this week the contractor is being hampered by a construction job in Borger, at which concrete supplier Pampa Concrete is having to use all of its available trucks during 24-hour pours. That situation should end soon, White said.

Engineer Che Shadle confirmed that the availability of concrete has slowed progress.

“It takes two concrete trucks to run the curbing machine,” Shadle said. “If you don’t have two trucks, you can’t really run it constantly.”

Shadle wouldn’t put a firm date on when actual paving would start, but he did say that the curbing will be inspected by his firm before paving begins.

Wednesday’s meeting followed the receipt of the first letter to the newspaper critical of the project and followed the regular city meeting October 25 at which Mrs. David Burrow expressed concerns about cars being torn up while driving on streets under construction.