PA councilman attempt to change election result denied

Published 2:39 pm Tuesday, January 16, 2018

A Port Arthur city councilman’s attempt to reverse a charter change election result through legal recourse was defeated at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council on Tuesday morning.

The council vote tally was 6 to 2 not to pursue the matter any longer.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 city councilman, proposed City Attorney Val Tizeno write a legal opinion how the deletion of Districts 5 and 6 would have a negative impact for minority voters — Hispanics, Anglos, Asian and Other — in representation on the council. He wants Tizeno to send the opinion to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Voters approved deleting Districts 5 and 6 in the May 2016 with nearly 66 percent of the vote. There are currently nine council seats including the mayor.

Tizeno said the DOJ process is to file a complaint and she already sent copies of the charter change twice to the DOJ. Lewis said without a legal opinion from the city, this shifts the burden to the citizens to file a complaint. He added that this will open the city for a reverse discrimination lawsuit.

Lewis said the least of the minorities listed, Other, in reference to Osman Swati, District 6 city councilman, who originally introduced the charter change amendment, as trying to oppress the larger voting bloc.

“This is a lot of déjà vu,” Swati said. “We’ve spent a lot of city time and city money on this issue before. What’s more to say than the 2016 election?

“Councilman Lewis’s memory is a little hazy. We need to remind him how constituents voted to reduce the size of the council.”

Swati cited election figures district by district:

  • District 1- Voting 62 percent in favor
  • District 2- Voting 68 percent in favor
  • District 3- Voting 70 percent in favor
  • District 4- Voting 62.78 percent in favor
  • District 5- Voting 62.5 percent in favor
  • District 6- Voting 69.75 percent in favor

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 city councilman, said the charter change election was passed by a large majority. The city attorney has sent the amendment to the DOJ and they have not acted.

“We need to follow the process and move on from the matter. The citizens have spoken. I don’t think the council is the place to oppose the citizens’ vote,” Doucet said.

In another lengthy discussion, Swati requested a discussion regarding ethics for the council.

He said citizens have approached him about this in the past and it’s good for the city council to remind themselves what are their boundaries, to instill public confidence and integrity in public government.

He stressed councilmembers have no authority to make decisions individually. Their authority comes collectively together.

Swati said he favored a training seminar with the Texas Center for Municipal ethics for the council.

Doucet said he agreed with Swati, but citizens needed to know councilmembers can attend training on ethics at Texas Municipal League conferences and newly elected councilmembers are required to undergo ethics training.

“There’s no need to come here and give ethics training. They’re offered throughout the year,” he said.

Some councilmembers said Swati was brining up the topic of ethics in response to a copy of a video that shows Councilman Thomas Kinlaw III berating first responders at the scene of a traffic accident in which his daughter was involved on Jan. 6 at Memorial Boulevard and 19th Street. They added that Kinlaw has apologized and shown remorse.

Swait said his message was misunderstood and he didn’t introduce it because of the recent incident.

He would like to develop a code of ethics for the city.

Lewis said he previously introduced a code of ethics and the council voted them down.

“This is not an attempt to embarrass anyone,” Swati said. “I want to put together a code of ethics for the city charter. Our own code of ethics.”

In other council business, Hani Tohme was named interim director of water utilities. He was previously water utilities director for the city of Beaumont.