Last year was a remarkable one in the city’s history, most of it centered on Greater Port Arthur’s challenges from Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey and the damages it inflicted here. We talked with Mayor Derrick Freeman about the storm and how the city is dealing with continuing challenges:

Q: 2018 was a challenging year. Overall, how has Port Arthur’s situation changed for better or worse?

A: Well, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. A year ago, we were going back and forth with elected officials, Congress and the state of Texas. We heard arguments about Superstorm Sandy. Now that money we argued about has been appropriated, and there is hope — real hope. We know relief is close. On the recovery side, our funding puts us in a lot better position than we were before. We just got a letter, final approval for a 404 grant, about $26 million for drainage projects. So we are making some progress. It’s frustrating, but we are starting to get answers back, to get direction, to get funds.

Q: Was there a turning point during the year for Port Arthur, as far as making progress, a time when you knew things would get better? If so, what was it?

A: Not so much a turning point. But when Harvey Robinson came aboard, that was a pivot. Mr. Robinson has been a godsend. Becky Underhill (assistant city manager) joined us, Dr. Hani Tohme (public works), and Ron Burton (assistant city manager) did great work. Once they came into the picture as a team, we laid out some solutions to obstacles and problems we were having. We saw some workable suggestions start to surface. Those four came to the city’s rescue. That was the pivot. It was like turning a big ship, the city of Port Arthur. We were starting to see some degrees of turning as early as January and February.

Q: Is there a specific obstacle ahead for the city that may bar Port Arthur from making substantially more progress? If so, what is it?

A: It’s our tax base. The city of Port Arthur is like a $150 million corporation with an annual budget of $60-$65 million. We need improvements in our streets, with our infrastructure, and some of those improvements won’t come from disaster recovery dollars. They were problems before the storm. We are looking for ways to expand our tax base. We are trying to get people’s property back on line and their property values up. We are working closely with industrial partners to make sure we get a fair shake with them for our tax base. The obstacle is funds, to answer your question.

Q: Talk about specific improvements, administratively and in ways citizens might be experiencing improvements.

A: We have a water and sewer system that is not in the red for first time in 15 years. Mrs. Underhill and the Finance Department have given us a true, balanced budget. This year, we will do about $14 million in street improvements; last year, we did about $500,000. We are finding the money. We’ve doing projects under our enhanced street rehabilitation program on Cedar Street, on 38^th Street, Ninth Street, Pine Street, Eighth Street. Street reconstruction projects are in design and going out to bid in early 2019. We are doing a lot of things in house, too. One of the great ideas Dr. Tohme offered was in wastewater improvements. Remember, there were days when it rained you couldn’t flush the toilets in this city.

That was a problem with aging infrastructure and old water lines. Instead of just doing patchwork, Dr. Tohme proposed coming up with a crew to replace old infrastructure where needed. Since then we’ve added almost 6,000 feet in wastewater lines around the city — fresh lines. Some citizens are beginning to talk about the results. Our industrial partners helped — Valero kicked in $250,000; Motiva, more than $1 million. Now we’re looking at improvements on Rice Farm Road, at Stonegate, in Port Acres.

Q: How would you grade city government for responding to Port Arthur’s needs in 2018? How would you grade the city for effort and effectiveness in coming back from Hurricane Harvey?

A: I’d have to give us a high B or a low A. There are folks who, at different times, might say it was an F. But I see the progress. I see the effort that people have given to the city and its citizens. Nobody comes to work and says “I want to be a failure.” Many people in our city government have inspired me. One city employee I know, a manager, she still has a trailer in front of her house. She’s still trying to figure out her own situation. But she comes to work every day with a smile on her face, working hard at her job. We need to give our city staff, our schoolteachers, and other workers a thank you for getting our city back up on line in the midst of dealing with their own problems in the devastation.

Q: How has the federal government performed in aiding Port Arthur? What more could the feds do?

A: If you asked me in January, it had been too slow. Now that the funding is here, we will ask for more money. When we go back to ask for another pot of money, we hope it will get to us and get to us quicker. We still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, the feds have worked out all the kinks. The city has received the final FEMA reimbursement of $1.3 million for debris removal incurred after the storm. FEMA and the state have recently obligated $1.5 million in reimbursement for emergency response costs — police and fire costs. The city is continuing to work with FEMA to secure reimbursement for other costs incurred for personnel and equipment during the storm, and damages to city facilities.

Q: How has the state performed in getting aid to Port Arthur? What more could the state do?

A: One thing I appreciate was they were always honest. They kept me abreast on timelines and expectations. I appreciated that because whatever they told me, I was going to tell citizens. The state stuck to their word, generally. They said the response, the attention we have now, is a lot greater than in the past. The response has been quicker than in previous storms.

Q: Any idea how many people are still out of their homes? Are there any certain numbers about how many were out of their homes at the worst time?

A: All we can get is county figures. There are about 700 trailers still out in Jefferson County.

Q: Talk about the people of Port Arthur, their resilience and how they have faced up to the challenges of the hurricane?

A: On Aug. 31, 2017, when the water receded, people were instantly gutting and mucking their houses. As a city leader, I was proud of the way we have fought our way back. You can see signs of recovery. This Christmas, there were more lights up. Our people are coming back. The spirit of Port Arthur is still there, still kicking, still alive. We have a lot of characters in this town, and a lot of character, too. I thank the citizens for being aware of what is going on. They no longer teach civics in the schools, and people are not as aware of how governments function. When we started getting flooded, people started to become aware of city services, city assets. We had some citizens who didn’t know what a culvert was or how culverts affect flooding. People have become much more aware.