The Port Arthur City Council urged Armando Gutierrez, public works director, to take some kind of action in repairing streets at their regular meeting Tuesday night.

For instance, Charlotte Moses, Position 7 councilwoman, said the department has been talking about street repairs since 2016 and things are moving at a “snail’s pace.”

“You say you’re studying and studying with no action,” she said. “We on the Council need to see some work. We’re looking at the work that was supposed to be done in 2016 and we lost money. The streets you presented us tonight have been looked at several times already and we don’t look good.”

Likewise, Raymond Scott Jr. said the money given to the streets department is still there.

Gutierrez started his presentation by saying there are three different levels of street repairs, depending on their condition — preventive maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

A number of streets after Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey wreaked havoc were added to the rehabilitation list.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, asked who changed the number of streets because only the City Council can make those kind of decisions.

Gutierrez said other issues are that it may take longer to repair a street depending on the condition of the infrastructure underneath.

“If you have bad water lines or bad sewer lines, you may want to put it off until that sewer line is replaced. We don’t know for sure,” Gutierrez said.

Another reason for the delay was much of the city’s equipment was destroyed by Harvey and is still being replaced.

Gutierrez made the following recommendations for street repairs:

• Proceed with in-house preventive maintenance and rehab
• Do more in-house rehab work by proceeding to years two and three of the street program
• Consider the purchase of a asphalt paver
• Meanwhile seek the county’s assistance with paving
• Advertise for paving services
• Tighten the scope of services in professional services agreement

He said the city could purchase a smaller paver because the streets are narrow in Port Arthur. Much of the work could be done in-house.

He added that Jefferson County Commissioner Michael “Shane” Sinegal and Brent Weaver look forward to helping the city.

Mayor Derrick Freeman asked if there was some type of penalty to levy against contractors who change orders that extend the work. Gutierrez said he will get with the city attorney. Meanwhile, he will tighten expectations on contractors.