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Voters in Port Arthur will have a chance to elect a new mayor in the upcoming May 3 election. Early voting is from April 22 to April 29.

Currently there are four candidates; Charlotte M. Moses, Allen “Opie” Valka, Chuck Vincent, and Charlie Lewis Jr.

The candidates took part in a Question and Answer session with Port Arthur Newsmedia. Here are their responses. 

 

Name: Charlotte Moses

Age: 61

Occupation: Realtor

Political experience, if any: 2013-2015 Economic Development Corporation(EDC), 2015-2023 City of Port Arthur City Council At-Large position 7

 

Q: What inspired you to run for office?

A: I’m running for Mayor for the City of Port Arthur because I deeply believe in our city, and the potential it offers to our community for growth. I believe with the experience and knowledge I bring to the city council our city can move swiftly to get things done effectively & efficiently. Growing up here, I’ve seen both the struggles and the strength of our residents. I’m inspired by the work ethic of our city staff, fire and police safety, small business owners, the community, the volunteers the people who give their all without recognition. My desire is to be a mayor who listens, leads with integrity, and builds a city where opportunity and quality of life are shared by all. I’m not running for a title — I’m running to be a voice for the people and a catalyst for progress.

Q: Residents have long expressed the need for street repair. How would you address this need?

A: I know our streets are in rough shape — potholes, crumbling pavement, and delayed maintenance are frustrating and sometimes even dangerous. I hear it from residents every day, and I’ve experienced it myself. It’s not just an inconvenience — it’s about safety, accessibility, and the long-term health of our neighborhoods and local economy. Poor streets hurt small businesses, damage vehicles, and slow down emergency response times.We currently have a plan in place to address the needs of streets in each district.

We need a proactive, not reactive, approach to that plan. A full infrastructure assessment was conducted in 2023 whereby an x-ray machine examined each street in our city & categorized by priority the worst streets throughout our city.  I recommend the following two steps to address our city specifically.

Creating a transparent repair schedule utilizing the specific district council members working with the at-large district members so residents know what’shappening and when it’s happening.

• Train & develop more street crews to handle the streets that need resurfacing.

• Vet & Partner with local contractors to handle street reconstructions & rehabs. Work to keep those jobs and dollars local in our community

As mayor, I’ll work with city council to create channels for residents to report problems directly and track progress in real time.

Q: How do you suggest addressing the city’s need for water and sewer system infrastructure upgrades? 

A: Addressing a city’s need for water and sewer system infrastructure upgrades requires a strategic and multifaceted approach.

• Perform a complete water and sewer system assessment
• Implement a progressive plan and prioritize based on community risk.
• Engage our community in our findings with transparency.
• Develop a Funding Strategies that would best fit the city’s needs.

Most of the bullets listed above have been implemented by our current City Manager, City Council, and City Staff. I would simply work in a collaborative effort to continue the process in meeting the needs of our community by listening to our citizens.

Q: What is your platform?

A: My platform is:

• Guidance for the Fulfillment of Plans
• Galvanized Focus on People
• Generational Future of Prosperity for Port Arthur
• LET’S GET IT DONE”!

 

Name: Charles (Chuck) Vincent

Age: 63

Occupation: Owner of Vincent’s a/c and refrigeration company for 27 years

Political experience, if any: I ran for Mayor of Port Arthur in 2019 and placed 3rd, ran for an at-large seat in Port Arthur in 2020 against Donald Frank, I have been appointed to the Police Chief’s Advisory Board five times, the last two years at the request of the chief

Q: What inspired you to run for office?

A: One reason I decided to run for Mayor was because of a tragic life event that affected my family. My sister was hit by a car at the age of 16. For over a year my sister was in the hospital with major, and at times, life treating injuries. The Port Acres Community came together for my entire family by providing food, clothing and money to keep our electricity and water on. My Mother and Father had to miss work for months to care for her. The men at Texaco gave up vacation time to my dad so he could stay at the hospital 24/7 with my mother. Johnny Alford allows us to charge our groceries knowing we could not pay. Back then we had milk delivered to the house. Often, we would have extra milk in the refrigerator because my brother and I ate a lot of cereal. I remember the first Christmas my sister came home. The community came to our tiny house and through the window sang Christmas Carols to my sister. It profoundly affected my life and that of our family. It inspired me to one day repay my community. I coached little league baseball later in life. Became an active in my church and Knights of Columbus. Became a founding member of our local community group. Took part in our local crime watch group and many other things as my way of showing the love so freely given to my family. I can think of no better way to serve my city than becoming Mayor.

Q: Residents have long expressed the need for street repair. How would you address this need?

A: The street repairs have been an ongoing problem since Hurricane Rita, they have yet to be fully repaired. Due to government policies certain requirements had to be met before they could be reimplemented and done .This presented many challenges. We had more storms that compounded the deterioration of our roads. This city has over 100 miles of roads. That is more than other cities around us. Having met federal guidelines, street repairs started and to this day have-not been completed. Why? Well first we do not have enough street repair crews to do it. Before we can get them done properly construction projects from industry tear them up more. We must hire contractors if we want to get them all done in a timely manner. Will it cost more? Yes, but the period to do them all will be years less than doing them in house. We will get a warranty on the work done also. Our crest crews simply cannot do what needs to be done. We also need to make industries that are doing projects to put up bonds to protect our roads from damage caused by the trucks and equipment tearing them up. Right now we have more than 5,000 trucks daily traveling the main roads and even residential roads just trying to get across town and around detours. It has affected not only the roads but the citizens’ vehicles with unneeded damage that they cannot get reimbursed for.  We can also put a tax on all these commercial vehicles that would go towards maintaining our roads. 

Q: How do you suggest addressing the city’s need for water and sewer system infrastructure upgrades? 

A: The infrastructure in the city is more than 100 years old. It needed repairs long ago. Past city government did not put in place the needed money and now they have to. The extra strain on the water and sewer and trash is unprecedented in this city. It cannot and will not sustain this rapid growth. Things must be handled now. It is time to stop multi-million dollar beautification projects while our infrastructure is crumbling. We have had major water and sewer lines affecting homeowners and businesses. The council has decided to put that burden on the citizens instead of taking it out of the budget. Yes, the water department is an enterprise, but it cannot generate the money needed for the repairs and future growth. It is time that the biggest industries pay more than the percent they now pay. Time to stop any future growth until we fix what we already have. Our city crews are already overworked just trying to keep up ,which has led to major overtime costs. It is time to get the grant writer’s pencils sharpened and get new grant writers if we must. Since the county and DD7 are in the city they too must all come to the table for some major workshops. We will have to go after the federal money because they too are making demands that must be met. We have had major fines from the State of Texas because our city leaders did not address things before now. We must hire qualified people that can and will make the hard choices that we now face.

Q: What is your platform?

A: I pledge to bring common sense back to City Council, build community involvement, and put qualified people in place to do so. I pledge to make people accountable and hold H.R. to the standard of hiring the right people rather than the rampant nepotism that has become common practice in Port Arthur. 

 

Name: Charlie Lewis Jr 

Age: 49

Occupation: Vice President of (TRRCS) Texas Railroad and Refinery Cleaning Services

Political experience, if any: former Vice President of Wheatley Early Childhood Development Center, PTA vice president at Tyrell Elementary, vice chairman of Pleasure Island Advisory Board 

Q: What inspired you to run for office?

A: I’m inspired to run for office because at this time the citizens and the City of Port Arthur needs someone who will put them first when making decisions. 

 

Q: Residents have long expressed the need for street repair. How would you address this need?

A: I would address the need for street repairs along with the Council members to start or continue street repairs as soon as possible. 

Q: How do you suggest addressing the city’s need for water and sewer system infrastructure upgrades? 

A: I would address the need for infrastructure upgrades by working along side the sitting council members to start the process in a way that would insure that we would not double work ourselves. 

Q: What is your platform?

A: My platform is: working to improve *infrastructure 

• Strengthening the relationship between law enforcement and citizens 
• promote beautification and revitalization 

 

Name: Allen “OPIE” Valka

Age: 50

Occupation: Owner of Opie’s Towing & Transport

Political experience, if any: 

 

Q: What inspired you to run for office?

A: I became a concerned citizen and business owner about 5 years ago. I started watching council meetings and visiting with concerned citizens like me, and realized the city needed a change. Our community needs full transparency to their questions and the actions of our leaders. I would like to be part of that Change to help our citizens receive honesty to their concerns. 

 

Q: Residents have long expressed the need for street repair. How would you address this need?

A: Question 2 and 3 belong together because repairs need to start with the drainage and sewer systems first and then move to the next stage which should be the street repairs. If we start with streets we end up tearing up streets to repair the drainage and sewers that were in need of repair to begin with. 

Q: How do you suggest addressing the city’s need for water and sewer system infrastructure upgrades? 

A: (see above answer)

Q: What is your platform?

A: I would like to help be the change our community needs by working with our city departments to address our citizen’s needs. Some of the things I would like to help with is lowering water rates, our growing homeless population and  infrastructure. I also do not want wind turbines in our community.