The regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council had a mixture of presentations, personnel appointments and major purchases of equipment.

Resident Joan M. Jones spoke to the council regarding repairs on Bluebonnet Avenue. Roadwork started on Bluebonnet last year, but suddenly stopped.

“The community is very disturbed about this issue. It seems y’all do the things y’all want to do and we’re not getting the things asked for. When will y’all get to it?” she asked.

City Manager Brian McDougal said Bluebonnet is a Texas General Land Office project and he expected to hear from them in a day or two.

“Things need to be done. Y’all need to look at citizens’ priorities before spending our money,” Jones said.

Warren A. Field, community advocate, spoke next on a city in ruin, Port Arthur politics.

He said the city was in a “bad way.”

He said he knows how the councilmembers got on the city council.

“People buy you and you can’t represent the citizens,” he said. “Others control the vote in the city. Y’all have been trained well.”

“Runoff elections in the city cost lots of money. You young people care about fancy titles, money and benefits on the city council. The city is losing money. It’s a lowdown dirty shame what’s happening in our city.”

In other council business, Orange County resident Michael Cole was nominated as a member to the board of directors of the Orange County Appraisal Districts for the 2016-2017 term.

The following members were appointed/reappointed to the Citizen’s Pipeline Advisory Committee:

Loveless Williams by Mayor Pro Tem Raymond Scott Jr.; Deral Segler by Tiffany Hamilton, District 2 councilwoman; Harrison Hill by Morris Albright III, District 3 councilman; Sharon Lynn Watts by Keith Richard, District 4 councilman; Warren Field by Willie “Bae” Lewis, District 5 councilman; Harold Joseph Jr. by Osman Swati, District 6 councilman; John Parker by Charlotte Moses, Position 7 councilwoman; and Kelvin Alberinga by Kaprina Frank, Position 8 councilwoman.

Rosie Vela, CPA was appointed to serve as the interim finance director for the finance department.

The following purchases were made at the meeting:

• A 2017 F-750 yard dump truck for the utility operations department from Silsbee For through the Buyboard was bought for $72,723.
• A 2017 F-250 pickup truck with a service body for the utility operations department from Silsbee Ford through the Buyboard was bought for $33,876.
• One Bauer Breathing Air Compressor for the fire department through the H-GAC Cooperative Purchasing Program was bought for $34,761.
• Eight Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicles from Caldwell Country Chevrolet through Buyboard was bought for $352,966.
• A Schwarze Model A7 street sweeper from Heil of Texas of Houston under the HGAC contract for the public works department drainage division was bought for $230,654.

David Ball: 409-721-2427