Pamela Camden, site general manager at Lee Hi Travel Plaza TA-Petro, has been a resident of Buena Vista since 2022, when she and her husband Shannon and their three children moved into the city from the county.
Camden said she decided to be a candidate for City Council this year “due to the taxes the citizens of Buena Vista are paying yearly. I feel the budget needs to be balanced where BV citizens are not getting taxed so heavily.”
Asked to comment on issues facing Buena Vista, such as her thoughts on replacing the city’s aging middle school and how it might be financed, she said, “I think using Mountain Gateway’s structures would be an excellent fit for the middle school and how that is getting financed would be to look at the budget and trimming some excess where we can find it.”
As for other capital projects the city has looming such as an upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant, she said, “I think the city manager and his staff are doing an excellent job at finding grants to get this started. I know the city will need to put money towards this and I am hoping the new businesses in our city will help with this revenue.”
On economic development initiatives underway, Camden said city staff “are doing a great job in this area but I do worry about any cost the city may be incurring in this area.”
As Southern Virginia University gets bigger, she commented, “this will help our city with more businesses wanting to open and [thus providing] more revenue for our city. I do think parking is a problem [that] both the city and SVU need to address, especially if there is a new dorm being built.”
Overall, she said, “I do believe Buena Vista is progressing in a positive way but more needs to be done. My main focus, if elected, is to balance the budget and lower taxes for our citizens. We do have some major projects coming up and I am not sure that will be feasible in the near future but [maybe] down the road.” Her overriding concern, she said, is “making taxes more affordable.”
While this is her first run at elective office, Camden has plenty of business experience and in interacting with the public. She was the general manager of Country Cookin’ north of Lexington for 26 years, until it closed in 2020 during Covid. During her years managing this restaurant, she said, “I built a strong bond with many Rockbridge County families.”
CAMDEN
