Plans to annex industrial properties outside Port Arthur Extra Territorial Jurisdiction are no longer needed.

The Port Arthur City Council announced at their meeting they have an agreement with Industrial District Agreements between the city and industries at their regular meeting on Tuesday night.

The IDAs were scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2016 for the following industries:

• BASF Total Petrochemicals LLC
• BASF Corporation
• Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP
• Chevron USA, Inc.
• Flint Hills Resources Port Arthur, LLC
• Praxair, Inc. at Motiva location
• Praxair, Inc. at Valero location
• Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA, Inc. and Total PAR, LLC

Mayor Derrick Freeman said at the November 15 meeting the possible annexation then pertained to Industrial District Agreements between the city and industry as an exchange, such as providing Port Arthur residents with jobs, in return for them not being annexed.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Freeman thanked industry for finding a balance and being a partner with the city.

In other business, the city council passed a resolution in support of Officer Rickey Antoine to enter a contest to be on the Dr. Phil Show.

Patrick Melvin, departmental head of the Port Arthur Police Department, said Antoine is a shining star of the department who he wanted to nominate as an officer making a difference in the community.

Melvin said when he was researching for his Port Arthur Police position, he discovered an Ask A Cop article from Antoine on the Internet.

Antoine also hosts a weekly radio program on The Breeze radio station where he fields questions in addition to Ask A Cop articles in The Port Arthur News.

“The weekly radio show is the epitome of community policing,” he said.

He also teaches the Drive Safe program.

Melvin joked in his research he learned it was incumbent on him to drive the speed limit in Port Arthur.

“This is about the community acknowledging an officer making a difference,” he said.

Antoine said the nomination was not about him, but about his fellow officers he works with. He also thanked former councilman and The Breeze owner, Stephen Mosely, for spearheading the effort.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman, said the year before the city received a grant for traffic control, there were 17 auto fatalities and 3,500 crashes. Antoine started the department from scratch and now fatalities and crashes are “way down” in the city.

Lewis hopes insurance rates in the city will also go down and residents can keep more money in their pockets.

City Manager Brian McDougal said Antoine defines the badge and the city needs more officers like him.

David Ball: 409-721-2427