BEAUMONT — I attended my first Beaumont City Council meeting at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 18, a Tuesday. The reason, to see how things were on the other side.

As the council members walked into Council Chambers, I will admit that they all were dressed very nicely, professionally. Suits and tie for the men and professional dress for the women, as each has a business background at some level.

Beaumont City Council is composed of seven elected individuals, a mayor, four ward council members and two at-large council members.

Similarities center around community concerns and needs along with council dissension between council members and city manager. We will get into that in a bit.

After listening to six different Beaumont citizens share concerns during the public comment portion of the meeting on street conditions, additional police officers, crime, inaccurate water bills, creating a downtown plan and a call for better leadership, I almost felt I was sitting at a Port Arthur City Council meeting.

What I really thought was interesting, after the public comments by citizens, was that comments by councilmembers and city manager were allowed.

Fully expecting each to comment on issues citizens had just presented out of concern, I was floored when Councilmember Robin Mouton promoted a book signing, Councilmembers Audwin Samuel and W.L. Pate promoted Lamar football and continued support for the football team and Mayor Becky Ames and Councilmember Bill Sam had nothing to say.

Councilmember Virginia Jordan asked questions about previously discussed areas of citizen concerns and about water meters. Councilmember Mike Getz was the only one to focus his comments on multiple citizens’ concerns from that day.

Is it just me who feels citizens in such a scenario will come to feel they don’t matter? Maybe.

If a citizen becomes so fed up with an issue that he or she needs to bring that concern to a public forum to be heard by the only individuals that can help or correct an issue, councilmembers should acknowledge those concerns.

Earlier in the meeting during the General Business portion, you could sense friction between the city manager and Getz. Discussing the 2019 budget, specifically about negotiations between the city of Beaumont and the Beaumont Police Officers Association, Getz questioned an increase of 3 percent pay and promoted a 3½ percent increase. Seemingly offended, Beaumont City Manager Kyle Hayes questioned if Getz were taking over negotiations on the increase. Of course he’s not, but the city of Beaumont is a city council/manager form of government.

Is a city councilmember not free to ask a question of the city manager? He should be able to. The city manager reports directly to the City Council. Neither here nor there, but to see this apparent friction upon my first meeting sparked my interest.

Additionally, when you have a community that ranks near the top in Texas when it comes to crimes per capita, as Beaumont does, a half-percent increase in wages may be the difference in recruiting good police officers than not.

So, why the frustration on this? One would think the city manager would relish in the assistance talking through options and opinions of the elected council. Must be deeper issues.

All in all, it was interesting to watch the city government to the north conduct business. Some areas were different, but others were much the same as what we have come to know as commonplace in Port Arthur.

Rich Macke is publisher of The Port Arthur News.