For better or worse, 2017 a year to remember

Published 6:00 pm Friday, December 29, 2017

Between flooding from tropical storms, a fire at the German Pellets silo at the Port of Port Arthur and a city manager resigning, it’s been an eventful year for the city of Port Arthur.

Here’s a look back of the top stories for each month of the year.

January

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Edison Square apartment complex held a grand opening ceremony on Jan. 25. ITEX partnered with the Port Arthur Housing Authority to build the complex.

February

Jefferson County Precinct 8 Justice of the Peace Tom Gillam III was in stable condition after being injured from a shooting while in Houston.

A caller said he heard multiple gunshots and saw a man running away from Gillam’s vehicle. No arrests had been made yet.

In a Facebook post, Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman wrote the last thing the city of Port Arthur wants is for parts of the Hispanic community to go into the shadows because of federal immigration policies and take a proactive approach to the immigration issue.

March

The Port Arthur City Council voted to stay with its current logo and not adopt a proposed new logo or slogan. The vote was 8-1 with Mayor Derrick Freeman voting to go with the new logo and slogan.

Total petrochemicals announced a $1.7 billion investment to expand the company’s activities in Texas.

Total is entering in a partnership with Borealis and Nora to form a joint venture with the aim of building an ethane steam cracker and a new Borstar polyethylene unit on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Total is expected to hold a 50 percent interest in the new joint venture, according to a press release from Total.

April

Over the past two years, the firm BKD LLP has conducted a forensic audit of all financial records for the City of Port Arthur. This audit began in May of 2015.

Including, but not limited to, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Human Resources and City Yards. They also looked at allegations of misuse of travel expense policies, P-Card misuse, expenses for Pleasure Island, water collections and police department vehicle misuse.

May

Coach Wade Phillips, son of Coach Bum Phillips held a book signing at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur. The book is titled “Son of Bum, Lessons My Dad Taught Me About Football and Life.”

Bum was no doubt mighty proud again Friday afternoon as he looked down on Wade’s book signing at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur. So many people poured through that museum director Tom Neil had to make a run to Barnes and Noble in Beaumont to get more books.

In the District 2 election, incumbent Tiffany Hamilton lost with 49.5 percent of the vote to challenger Cal Jones with 50.5 percent of the vote.

June

Almost 50 people carrying signs and American flags marched up and down Houston Avenue in front of the Port of Port Arthur to protest the German Pellets silo fire that was still smoldering and emitting smoke into the community after 51 days. The march was led by environmental activist Hilton Kelley.

The German Pellets Silo had been smoldering for 52 days collapsed from a possible lightening strike.

After losing by three votes in the May 6 general election for city council, Tiffany Hamilton announced in a press release that her attorney at the office of Ray & Wood in Austin, filed a petition to contest the election.

Joe Nicotre, owner of Nick’s Grocery on 39th Street, announced his decision to retire in a newspaper ad.

Nicotre said the decision to shutter the business after nearly 58 years wasn’t easy and it’s not due to economics.

July

The Port Arthur City Council voted 5-4 to end an agreement with the Parker Law Firm at their regular meeting as a lobbyist for the city. Those voting not to keep the firm were councilmembers Raymond Scott Jr., Cal Jones, Thomas Kinlaw III, Harold Doucet Sr. and Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr. Those voting to keep Parker were Mayor Derrick Freeman and councilmembers Osman Swati, Charlotte Moses and Kaprina Frank.

The discussion to overturn the resolution started Tuesday morning when Doucet said the council should review outside yearly legal contracts and possibly eliminate them and to look to City Attorney Val Tizeno’s office possibly taking up some of the duties to save money.

Some city councilmembers wanted to know the development status Port Arthur’s Pleasure Island.

Jimmy Dike, Pleasure Island director, said the board, whose members do not get a salary, hasn’t had a quorum in two years.

August

The Port Arthur City Council voted to remove a resolution to approve the application of Concord EMS of Houston for an ambulance agreement to operate within the city of Port Arthur at their regular meeting on Tuesday night. Acadian Ambulance is currently the sole EMS provider in the city since 2010.

September

Tropical Storm Harvey dumped record amounts of rain at the end of August, crippling the city with floodwater and overwhelming efforts to move people out of harm’s way.

Emergency management crews, city workers and dozens and dozens of volunteers worked Wednesday to rescue what was estimated to be hundreds, if not thousands, of residents trapped by high water.

The Breeze KSAP-107.1 LPFM radio station in Port Arthur received $30,000 from the Port Arthur City Council after they decided to do business with the station for the Fiscal Year 2017-2018.

The Breeze will use the funds to upgrade and maintain its transmitter and equipment so the quality of transmission can be preserved and maintained.

The Port Arthur Public Library was one of many buildings hit hard by Harvey. It sustained flood damage and the subsequent mold issue inundated buildings often face afterward. It also sustained substantial damage and loss of property of its books, computer equipment, archives and more.

However, as director Jose Martinez insisted Tuesday, the library will reopen—just not anytime soon.

Berthing barges that were supposed to be coming the same day to Port Arthur for temporary shelter did not arrive.

County Judge Jeff Branick was told by FEMA representatives the barges did not pass Coast Guard inspection and they wouldn’t be coming.

The news came at a critical time as at least hundreds of apartment residents were given five-day notices to get out of their homes due to flood damage. In addition, Port Arthur Independent School District emptied Thomas Jefferson Middle School’s population of evacuees prior to the first day of school.

A tent city was temporarily set up at the Bob Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur. The tents are made to fit 14 cots and contain an air conditioning unit to help give residents refuge from the heat. The tents do no come with any outlets or other amenities.

Activist Hilton Kelley protested a dump collection site on 19th Street.

The site was used to sort debris from Tropical Storm Harvey. Debris must be sorted by type before waste can go into the landfill and the cities across the area have sites located at various areas in their communities.

However, Kelley, who is the founder of the environmental nonprofit Community In-Power and Development Association Inc., said the 19th Street site in Port Arthur was illegal and harmful to residents.

October

City of Port Arthur and Jefferson County personnel, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration personnel were all assembled in a de facto one-stop shop for the first scheduled questions and answers session about Tropical Storm Harvey recovery at New St. John Baptist Church in Port Arthur.

At first glance the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center seems perfectly intact.

Though the outside of the facility located at 3401 Cultural Center Drive seems untouched it’s the inside —where couples in formal wear have danced, costumed children celebrated their heritage and civic groups held fundraisers — that shows the extent of the damage that has caused the doors to be closed at least through the end of the year.

After Hurricane Harvey severely damaged the Port Arthur Salvation Army’s building at 3145 S. 25th St., members of the charitable organization quickly found a way to continue serving their community, despite not having a permanent location.

For weeks, it meant setting up distribution points and going door to door in the hardest hit neighborhoods to hand out boxes of food and hot meals.

A couple of months ago, the Salvation Army found a temporary location at 2600 Nederland Ave., in Nederland, where they have continued to assist Mid and South Jefferson County communities, including residents from Nederland, Groves, Port Neches and Port Arthur. Those outside of the area can visit for immediate needs and for referrals to closer assistance.

Ronald McElhose, transit general manager for the city of Port Arthur, rendered his resignation. McElhose had been employed with the city since 2015.

McElhose was named in a wrongful termination suit filed against the city of Port Arthur from a former employee who alleged racism and retaliation, according to a former Port Arthur News article.

The tent structures located in the parking lot of the Robert A. Bob Bowers Civic Center since Sept. 15, was ended.

Several emergency management crews operated the refuge. Three hundred residents had been housed inside the tents.

Lamar State College Port Arthur officially opened the Sheila McCarthy Umphrey Industrial Technology Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony that featured the new facility’s namesake at its focus.

Almost two months after Tropical Storm Harvey flooded Port Arthur, there’s still no room at the inn.

Displaced Port Arthur residents as well as the usual temporary industrial workers and out of town contractors and emergency aid workers are using up all of the hotel rooms.

The shortage of local lodging was made worse because the flood crippled almost every hotel in Port Arthur.

“Basically we’re at 100 percent (capacity),” Tammy Kotzur, the executive director of the Port Arthur Convention and Visitors Bureau said.

November

The Port Arthur City Council held a workshop in early November on the 2017-2018 street repairs program. Armando Gutierrez, public works director for the city, said he would get with city councilmembers for a list of streets in their districts most in need of attention.

City Manager Brian McDougal submitted his resignation from that position at a special meeting of the Port Arthur City Council.

The decision to accept McDougal’s resignation was unanimous by the city council.

The agenda item read the council was to discuss the duties, responsibilities, discipline, or dismissal of the city, requested by District 4 Councilmember Harold Doucet Sr.

Michael “Shane” Sinegal, Jefferson County Precinct 3 commissioner, said at the Press Club of Southeast Texas monthly meeting on Nov. 16 in Beaumont there is a possibility federal funding will be affected in an adverse way in receiving Community Development Block Grants if Port Arthur’s population drops below 50,000 residents in the next Census of 2020.

Many residents have left the city since Harvey hit.

The Port Arthur City Council held its second required public hearing of possible annexation of industrial properties. Mayor Derrick Freeman said the matter is over Industrial District Agreements.

He explained an IDA as a partnership between the city and major industries that are in the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction of the city. Unless and IDA is made, the city will receive no property taxes from the industries.

The city’s operating budget is $65 million a year and $30 million of that comes from IDAs.

Both parties have since reached an agreement.

December

Several Port Arthur City Councilmembers, the mayor and the city attorney attended a conference in Houston that cost thousands of dollars.

The 2017 Texas Municipal League Annual Conference and Exhibition was held on Oct. 3-5 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The TML website describes the conference as the signature event of the TML and one of the nation’s largest gatherings of local government leaders.

According to reports from the city secretary’s office, Mayor Derrick Freeman had expensed of $1,953; Raymond Scott Jr., District 1 councilman had $1,674; Cal Jones, District 2 councilman had $1,544; Thomas Kinlaw III, District 3 councilman had $1,605; Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman had $1,674; Charlotte Moses, Position 7 councilwoman had $1,599 and City Attorney Val Tizeno had $1,184.

The fund will provide $1,164,035 to 10 local projects to support hurricane relief and mitigation efforts in our region.

The Port Arthur City Council approved Harvey Robinson as interim city manager at their regular meeting on Tuesday night at city hall. Risa Carpenter, public information officer, said Robinson retired from the city in January 2009 as the personnel director and assistant city manager.

St. Joseph Catholic Church in Port Arthur received a $100,000 donation from the Knights of Columbus to repair damages to the church. St. Joseph has been sharing the St. James Parish since Harvey while their own church is being repaired.

The Rev. Kevin Badeaux, pastor of St. Joseph, said the donation is to help parishes damaged by Harvey.

Jeff Branick, Republican incumbent Jefferson County judge, will face Nick Lampson, former U.S. congressman from Southeast Texas, for the Nov. 6, 2018 General Election.

Branick switched from Democrat to Republican earlier this year. Lampson served in the House of Representatives from 1997 to 2005 in the 9th Congressional District. He lost that seat in 2004 and was elected to the 22nd Congressional seat and served from 2007-2009. He was defeated in 2012 by Randy Weber.

Floyd Gaspard, director of the Port of Port Arthur, retired after working 53 years on the waterfront.

Deputy port director Larry Kelley will succeed him.

Gaspard said when he started in mid-1960s, the port was 500 square feet with a 3,000 square foot warehouse and a 1,200 feet long dock. Now, the port is 150,000 square feet with multiple warehouses and plans to extend a dock and build a new and longer dock in the future. The Port also has $90 million in the bank.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, assailed the Port Arthur News for what he characterized as unfair and demeaning coverage of city leaders and how they conduct the people’s business.

Doucet charged that news coverage did not give both sides, that it was “biased” and that he was “not happy with it.”