No one told officials about work on Chispa Road
Heavy road equipment rolled on to Chispa Road northwest of Marfa on Tuesday, March 31, with the goal of improving the road for contractors working on the border wall project—infuriating Jeff Davis and Presidio county officials who were not given notice of the project on their county roads, according to officials who were actively gathering information on the construction on last week. The road heads south of Highway 90 west of Valentine and winds down to the river with stretches of road maintained by both Presidio and Jeff Davis counties.
The contractors met with Jeff Davis County Judge Curtis Evans and County Commissioner Albert Miller last week and agreed to stop their work, at least temporarily. Presidio County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler spoke with the field supervisor on the work—David Spencer of Barnard Construction, which is doing the section of wall work up river from Ruidosa—who agreed to attend a Commissioners Court meeting Wednesday to outline the road plans.
In calls from Customs and Border Protection officials to Presidio County Commissioners and County Attorney Blair Park—divided up to follow the Open Meetings Act—the CBP canceled its plans to attend the Wednesday meeting. Park said the officials told her they needed time to “get their ducks in a row.” The road work would stop until CBP got back to the county with more details, she said.
Park had planned to present an agenda item on Wednesday that would establish a procedure to deal with special uses of county roads, which she is modeling after other counties that have heavy oilfield equipment traffic. However, she noted that in those instances it didn’t involve any changes to the actual roads. Park said she pulled the item from the agenda to give the county more time to work on details.
Park added that a key question for the contractors will be if they intend to widen the road to a width that would go on to private property, at which point each landowner would have to dedicate that property—which could be an extremely long process.
Hisler had added an agenda item that states: “Presentation, discussion with action to approve the use/modification/reconstruction by Federal Contractors on Presidio County Roads.” She said this would be a formal action for commissioners to approve or deny the county road use and construction by contractors, which would require details on what they intend to do. With the contractor cancellation, the item—considered after the Big Bend Sentinel deadline—was expected to be discussion-only on the issue.
The Jeff Davis County Commissioners Court set a special meeting for today at 10 a.m today—after Big Bend Sentinel deadline. The meeting was to discuss whether the county should allow contractors to work on Chispa Road. The agenda item states: “Discuss and take desired action to approve a gift from Barnard Construction to reconstruct Chispa road from FM2017 to the Jeff Davis County and Presidio County Line.”
Last week, Evans was “not happy” with not receiving any notice before contractors rolled on to the road. On Monday, he said he wasn’t sure what direction his court would take, but Evans recognized that free maintenance and improvements would be the result of allowing the contractors on the road. “It would be beneficial to the county and to everybody that uses it, whether it be Presidio County or Jeff Davis County,” he said. Evans said he had a phone meeting scheduled with CBP officials on Tuesday that would “shed some light on our direction.”
Jeff Davis County Commissioner Albert Miller said Monday that the county has always struggled to maintain Chispa Road. “It’s just a rough old ranch road, and we just don’t have the money to do it,” he said. “And do we look at this as an opportunity to improve that road? Does the county have to look if there’s a win deal on this?”
Miller’s biggest concern, though, is that county officials have no details on the road work. “They haven’t presented us with anything very specific,” he said. “They just moved down there and started working. Well, what are y’all doing?”
Miller said he was told they may expand the road up to 24-feet wide. He asked whether they had easements to widen on to private property. “They’ve not even checked on that. Evidently, they didn’t know,” Miller said.
Hisler said when she spoke last week to the Barnard contractor, Spencer, he told her he was given assurances by the Department of Homeland Security that all agreements were in place for the road upgrades, something the commissioner said was impossible since the counties weren’t informed.
The road equipment can be seen in an Instagram video post by Yolanda Alvarado, whose family owns a ranch on the river that’s accessed by Chispa Road. Pictured are bulldozers and large excavation and road-grading equipment. The location is south of Highway 90 on FM 2017—about 17 miles west of Valentine—after pavement ends, where a dirt road begins that eventually makes its way down to two Presidio County roads near Candelaria on the border.
Lisa Morton, a general manager at the Van Horn Advocate newspaper, also was at the scene last week to take photos and videos. In a conversation with contractors, she was told they intended to work on a mile a day and make it a road acceptable for 50 mph speed limits.
Last week, before her phone meeting with CBP Monday, Hisler said she had talked with officials there who were unaware of anything that was happening. “My deal is no. You come to the Presidio County Commissioners Court, and you make a presentation and tell us what you’re doing,” Hisler said. For now, that presentation is on hold.
The Border Patrol Big Bend Sector did not respond to a request for comment.