Give Mayor Derrick Freeman this much credit: While Houston’s mayor has bickered with Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush over disbursing Hurricane Harvey aid, Freeman has kept a more collegial relationship with the Texas official who may have the most to say about where federal money may eventually go.

After Freeman and Bush and others met at midweek at Port Arthur City Hall, Bush lauded Port Arthur’s mayor for leadership in post-Harvey recovery planning, called him “heroic” and said Freeman was a state leader in boosting local recovery.

In a meeting that lasted a longer-than-expected 75 minutes, Bush, Freeman and others discussed the path forward as Texas in general and Port Arthur in specific seek to emerge from Harvey hell. Bush said only about 2,000 Texans remain in transitional housing supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; perhaps 300 of them from outside the Houston area.

Texas was seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel,” Bush, grandson and nephew of U.S. presidents, said. All of that is good news.

Bottom line, though, is the bottom line. How federal assistance will be divided in Texas has not been fully decided. Houston officials have lamented they have a problem with what they see as Bush’s lack of communication with them and with the uncertain distribution of money.

Freeman expressed no such concerns.

“We have the state’s attention,” Freeman said following the meeting, expressing faith in Bush’s good intentions. “We have their ear. We look forward to a successful relationship with them.”

Freeman said federal funding in Port Arthur would include regional dollars for homeowner assistance, buyouts and eventually money for local infrastructure needs, which will include such things as roads, bridges and pipelines. We appreciate his confidence and hope all that comes true.

Worth considering, as Bush mentioned, is the enormity of the storm’s impact. Harvey was the most expensive storm in U.S. history, which Bush said has “complicated” federal response; with huge sums of federal dollars being discussed for Harvey remedies, it’s important to get things right. Because the storm’s worst impacts were largely confined to one state, it’s important to get it right the first time. The rest of the country won’t want to revisit federal aid for Texas repeatedly.

Harvey’s ill effects fell on Democrats and Republicans alike. It afflicted the poor and the wealthy and everyone in between. The good will that Freeman and Bush exhibited may create conditions that benefit both men and, more importantly, this community.

We can’t know the outcome for Port Arthur when it comes to outside assistance. We hope cooperation with the land commissioner will prove helpful but there’s no guarantee.

For now, though, Freeman is showing a steady hand. It can’t hurt.