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Residents urge stronger code enforcement, question council communications and recent housing financing
Summary
At the July 14 El Campo City Council meeting, residents pressed the council on litter and property maintenance, a longtime driveway repair left unresolved and a new apartment development that a resident says will use federal rural development financing.
Three residents used the meeting's public-comment period on July 14 to press city officials on code enforcement and communications and to question financing for a recent apartment project.
Michael Bochick, a lifelong El Campo resident, told the council he wants a community effort to keep the city clean and urged the city manager to coordinate mowing and code enforcement. "I'm not here to complain, but I come to come up with a game plan to see how we can get the people to come together to help clean it up," Bochick said. He pointed to commercial properties and a deteriorated concrete area behind the Dollar Tree as hazards for children and vehicles.
Former Councilman Stephen Ward, speaking as a resident, said he sent emails to the council office about a driveway and ditch repair that he says has been delayed for nearly 10 years. He said he received responses from the city manager and the public works director but not from council members and asked, "Did you receive my email?" Ward said the matter was routed through the city manager's office when residents expect the council address constituent concerns directly.
Dan Harris addressed the council about the Creekside apartment development proposed on the loop, saying residents were told the project would be privately financed and not "government housing." Harris said he later saw a report the development used a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program and argued the financing would allow rents that private landlords could not match. "Nobody wanted government housing, and that's what they are," he said and asked that the city's approvals be reconsidered.
City staff did not take action during public comment. Council members did not vote on the items raised during the comment period; the council limited replies to factual information and referred procedural and policy questions to staff where appropriate.
The council then moved to scheduled agenda items, including bonding and infrastructure projects discussed later in the meeting.
