Roads, sidewalks the focus for new public works director

Cameron’s new public works director made his introduction while dropping in on Tuesday Cameron Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. 

Eric Stevens, who takes over for former Cameron Public Works Director Drew Bontrager, dropped by the meeting after accepting the position and comes to Cameron by way of Houston, where he worked for the Army Corp of Engineers. 

“I was first in the private sector for a number of years as an engineer working for municipalities of various sizes, then I worked for the corp of engineers. I was a manager there, and we had projects that ranged from $50,000, and the largest I managed we $25 billion. I’ve learned how to manage various types of projects and working with municipalities of various sizes,” Stevens said. “The thing I appreciate here is we have a lot of people who are good about problem solving and wanting to work together. One of the things we’re really facing is a budget shortfall in terms of funding. That’s one thing we’re chasing down is funding alternatives and prioritizing infrastructure improvements so we can hit those things that are most important.”

Stevens said transportation is his top priorities as public works director. Paving Griffon Road is one of his primary concerns, but resolving drainage issues will be more daunting. Without proper drainage newly laid pavement may seem like progress to motorists, but Stevens said it will not remain that way for long. 

“At the top of the list was Griffon Road, and looking at how we can resolve the traffic issues we have around the interchange at the hospital near Love’s. One of the things we have is aging infrastructure in terms of the roadways. You see potholes appear,” Stevens said. “One of the things we need to do is improve the drainage. If you don’t have good drainage, the structural system isn’t working adequately, then you’re going to have a lot of pavement issues. We’re seeing that in some places. One of the things I did today was I was looking at funding alternatives along the horizon for how we would study the storm drainage system and look at putting that into a model to look at how the flows are traveling through the system and how to fund construction improvements to the storm drainage.”

Another priority for Stevens is improving Cameron’s sidewalk network. In 2020, thanks to a $246,729 grant from the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, Cameron linked its sidewalks, which now stop just short of the Cameron Walmart. Stevens said the next step is improving pedestrian access to commercial areas. 

“One of the things that also came to the top of the list is sidewalks. We can get a way to help pedestrians in high traffic areas to get to the store, if the can’t walk or have to walk or if they don’t have the ability to take a vehicle and need to walk, they can do so safely. I want to make sure that our streets are safe. The sidewalk initiative is something we’re looking at closely, and prioritizing, because we have limited funds for that,” Stevens said.