A streamlined governing body should help the Port Arthur City Council conduct its public meetings — sometimes, they are interminable — in a tighter, more efficient manner.

Port Arthur voters made the final decision to eliminate seats 5 and 6 from the nine-member voting panel — that leaves a magnificent seven — and in this case, smaller is better. Two members ended their terms Tuesday and their seats themselves will pass into dust.

No matter the composition of the council, the sheer number of representatives was unwieldy, especially when some members feel compelled to comment too many times to no helpful effect during discussions. Port Arthur, with barely 50,000 residents, had as many council members as Forth Worth, with more than 850,000 citizens.

What council members ought not dismiss is the new racial composition of the governing body in this city — 100 percent African American. That’s in a city where the likelihood is that fewer than half of the residents are African American.

There is some disparity about Port Arthur’s count of racial and ethnic composition, but Data USA suggests a city that is 38 percent black, 31 percent Hispanic and 22 percent white. About 6 percent of the population is Asian American.

None of that suggests that a black City Council member cannot fairly and effectively represent citizens of another race or ethnic background. Nor is it the fault of civic-minded black representatives that citizens of other racial and ethnic backgrounds may decline to run.

Nor does it suggest that seven black council members don’t reflect some diversity of background among themselves — public employment or private business careers, religious beliefs, age or geographic or income differences or even political philosophy.

But when council members suggest, for example, as they did at a recent City Council meeting, that open positions within the Fire Department ought to be filled in such a way that they reflect the city’s diversity, what does that mean? Does it mean a diversity that’s not reflected on the City Council itself? Or does it mean Port Arthur needs to hire more Hispanic firefighters?

We’re unsure what the racial or ethnic composition of Port Arthur is today vs. what it was on Aug. 29, 2017, when Tropical Storm Harvey scattered our population to the winds. We hope all come back.

We know, too, how imperative it is to get not just a fair and accurate count of our people during the 2020 Census, but also a deeper understanding of who we are as a population and a roadmap to providing fair, representative government that welcomes well-intended contributions from everyone in Port Arthur.

This community is rich in diversity and should provide an even playing field for every person to participate in government. The overriding question moving forward is how do we, as one people, accomplish that?