By David Ball

david.ball@panews.com

Derrick Freeman, mayor of Port Arthur, said the $10 million in state aid will be a good start in debris pickup.

It is estimated it will cost $25 million for trash pickup in the city. A check from Gov. Greg Abbott will account for 40 percent to pay contractors and keep them here instead of wandering off to either Florida or Houston.

In fact, Freeman said Houston lost 16 debris pickup trucks to Florida and Port Arthur managed to nab three of the trucks en route to the east. Contractors favor the green, vegetative waste in Florida that was created by a windstorm. They say it’s easier to pick up and more profitable rather than the debris caused by flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey.

The governor’s check is a grant that’s a 100 percent match from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“The governor told me there’s plenty more where that came from,” he said.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper hand delivered a check to the Port Arthur mayor on Monday.

There has also been talk around the state about tapping into the $10 billion rainy day fund.

Freeman said both the governor and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told him three weeks ago in Beaumont they would not have to call a special session of the Legislature to use the fund. They can take funding and replace those funds when the Legislature meets again for their regular session in 2019.

Freeman would like to see a special session focused on Harvey relief and not other items that were addressed during the special session this year.

“I call on whoever has the checkbook. Right now that’s Gov. Abbott. I don’t play party politics,” Freeman said.

It’s estimated there is anywhere from 1.2 million to 1.5 million cubic yards of debris in Port Arthur. Thus far, 157,000 cubic yards have been picked up.

“We were picking up four to five loads per truck. Now it’s seven to eight loads per truck. We’re hoping to have everything picked up in four to six months. We’re asking citizens to please be patient,” he said.

Freeman next addressed displaced residents.

He said there are 330 people staying in tents at the Bob Bowers Civic Center. Others are staying with families and friends. FEMA and the Texas Department of Emergency Management administer the tents.

“We don’t know how we’re going to work it. In the past we would buy a whole bunch of affordable housing and place them together. In the past it was one size fits all. Now people have options (for housing),” he said.

There were 1,500 residents still staying in their flooded apartment units. Now that number is down to 250. Freeman said he would like to get that number down even more because it’s a health hazard living in an apartment with mold.

His mother has been picking up apartment residents and bringing them to shelters.

Freeman is also inviting Port Arthur residents who are living in other parts of the state to come home.

“We’ve been missing them and we want our people back home. That was my fear of the people who went to Dallas and Garland that they would be lost up there. We have resources and things to come back to,” Freeman said.

Freeman hopes the disaster response will help diversify Port Arthur’s economy too. He added that the three refineries, Motiva’s, Valero’s and Total’s expansion projects are still on schedule.

He said Motiva Enterprise’s response to Harvey has been “tremendous” while Valero’s and Total’s responses have been “disappointing.”

“Motiva has provided food and water and cooked for people,” he said. “Motiva hires Port Arthur folks, the others don’t.”