Street repairs are of paramount importance in the city of Port Arthur. Consequently, a couple of items on the agenda at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council on Tuesday morning regarding streets had the full attention of councilmembers.

For instance, the council considered a resolution for a change order to the contract between the city and Excavation and Construction, LLC of Nederland for the Fourth Street improvements project to increase the contract by 34 days for a new total of 199 days. The scope of the work is from Stadium Road to Duff Drive.

The item was approved after a series of questions to city staff.

The change order is due to inclement weather and wet conditions that interfered with construction, according to Armando Gutierrez, director of public works. The original ending date was July 15. The new ending date was September 2.

Prior to approval, Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 city councilman, told Gutierrez the contract stated calendar days.

“He’s (the contractor) is not trying to make it up,” Doucet said. “If it rains, he can start working on the weekends. With this (the way the contract is worded), he’s trying not pay his people overtime.

“The contract manager is supposed to know this.”

Doucet said this extension is costing the city $500 a day and he was just awarded a 15-day extension.

“If they breach them (contracts), they pay,” he said. “It will cost $22,500 total they should owe the city.”

Doucet said when he was first elected to the council several years ago he would approve contracts without looking at them. Now, he reads the language in the contracts.

City Manager Brian McDougal said as with past street projects such as 18^th Street, the city hasn’t been doing the job they are supposed to be doing and (streets) representative haven’t been doing what they’re supposed to do.

In other council business, a resolution was approved to decrease the 2017 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant from $1,018,036 to $1,004,747. Under street resurfacing projects, the resolution is being amended from $353,159 to a revised amount of $301,870.

Doucet asked staff not to take $350,000 for street repairs. He said the council removed the item at the last meeting because they didn’t want to take any money from streets.

“Why would the item come back to council when there’s still money taken from streets?” he asked.

Charlotte Moses, At-Large Position 7 councilwoman, also asked why is this coming back in the same form.

Mary Essex, grants program administrator, said $301,870 was allocated for streets.

Doucet said it was previously approved $353,159 for streets.

“Find it somewhere else and bring it back to us,” he said.

Essex said they can make adjustments.

Ron Burton, planning and zoning director, asked if Doucet was looking at the General Fund to find the money.

Burton explained over past three allocations from HUD, the city always allocated $333,333 for streets. He said on three consecutive occasions, the city had not done a good job in utilizing that money and expend it in the appropriate time so that $1.1 million was sitting there. A plan was put together and expend $1 million.

“Hearing from HUD about our inability to expend in a timely manner, we needed to do a good job in this point and time reallocating $300,000 in other HUD programs to get into good standing,” he said. “For the next year’s report from HUD I think we will be in good standing, expended the money in a timely manner and expect an increase. At the end of the day we would achieve our common objectives in the CDBG program.”

Doucet said no one told the council they had two previous years stacked of money not used and if they didn’t do the appropriate thing, HUD would take the money.

“You can’t bring it up here and not give us all of the information necessary for us to make the right decisions in support of you,” Doucet said to Burton. “This will be the last year, as long I’m sitting here on council, we’ve had two years allocated for streets. It’s unacceptable.”

Moses said the information received enlightened the council and made a world of difference in understanding the entire process.

McDougal said it’s difficult to find a road project for $350,000. Most road projects are seven figures, he said. However, the city staff thought this amount was perfect for one year for this target area.

Raymond Scott Jr., District 1 councilman, said when the council has full information like this, then they understand. He added the city manager should had known about this and explained it to them.

McDougal apologized for not getting all of the information. He added that he knows council doesn’t want any money taken away from streets and he thanked them for their support.