An issue that was decided upon last week was revisited at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council on Tuesday night.

The Port Arthur voted 5-4 to end an agreement with the Parker Law Firm at their meeting on July 11. Resident Marvin A. Smith spoke during the Speakers and Communications portion of the meeting about speaking to state representatives.

“We’ve lost our lawyer (Carl Parker, former legislator and lobbyist) we were using,” Smith said. “It was in the paper several weeks past that Rep. (Joe) Deshotel would rather speak to his constituents than to lobbyists.

“Is it possible for the city of Port Arthur to send people to Austin as lobbyists?”

Osman Swati, District 6 Councilman, said the city freed up $6,000 a month what was being paid to Parker and now the city has to secure an active lobbyist in Austin.

“Austin is a completely different animal,” Swati said.

Smith replied, “We (Port Arthur) don’t have people smart enough to lobby?”

Swati said the duty of a lobbyist is very broad and it’s more complicated than one would think.

“I hope we find a person as quickly as possible,” Swati said.

Harold Doucet, District 4 Councilman, explained Deshotel would rather get his information firsthand from the citizens and gauge what they want.

“I thought lobbying was a dead issue,” Doucet said. “Deshotel is a senior representative which means he chairs different committees and has the most influence. The TML (Texas Municipal League) is constantly at the capital everyday. Our city attorney can go to the Legislature website and look at the bills for the day. We’re pretty well covered.”

Mayor Derrick Freeman said he didn’t understand what Smith was saying and asked if he wanted the city to use funds to take a busload of citizens to Austin to protest.

“We’ve used that at times in Austin in the past. I visited the capital this past session so they wouldn’t sign on to a bill that could had been detrimental to us. (State Sen.) Brandon Creighton signed on a bill this session that would be detrimental to Port Arthur.”

Freeman was referring to legislation that would not only annex residential areas, but affect industrial annexations as well in which the city of Port Arthur participates in.

He added that though Deshotel works in the Legislature, he’s still a member of a minority party, the Democrats, while the Republicans are the majority in Texas.

“There’s certain things that are beneficial to the city of Port Arthur,” Freeman said. “We’re very unique with our oil and gas industry. With the wrong legislation our budget could go away instantly. I invite citizens to got to Austin. There’s power in numbers.”

Smith concluded by saying, “I just love my city. I’ve lived here all of my life.”