All that is needed to finalize some Industrial District Agreements is for industries to put their John Hancock on the form.

The council approved executing IDAs between the city and local industries at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council on Tuesday morning. The IDAs expire at the end of the year in lieu of annexation.

The contracts must be signed by Dec. 28. If not, there will be a special meeting at 10 a.m. on Dec. 28 to get the contracts signed.

Those IDAs include: BASF Total Petrochemicals LLC, Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc.; BASF Corporation; Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP; Chevron USA, Inc.; Flint Hills Resources Port Arthur; Praxair, Inc. (Motiva location); Praxair, Inc. (Valero location); Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. and Total Par, LLC; Oxbow Calcining, LLC; The Premcor Refining Group, Inc. and GT Logistics LLC and Golden Triangle Properties.

The city held two prior public hearings on annexation in November.

Mayor Derrick Freeman explained an IDA as a partnership between the city and major industries that are in the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction of the city. Unless an IDA is made, the city will receive no property taxes from the industries.

The city’s operating budget is $65 million a year and $30 million of that comes from IDAs.

The city was in the process of annexation. The two parties were still negotiating, before an agreement was reached. Letters were sent out to those who would be impacted by the annexation.

The provision of services, such as infrastructure, fire and police, etc., would have to be supplied to the newly annexed areas.

A lengthy discussion ensued regarding the designation of The Port Arthur News as the city’s official newspaper.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, accused The News of being unfair and biased against the Port Arthur City Council instead of presenting facts to the citizens.

Osman Swati, District 6 councilman, countered Doucet saying he can’t attack different entities because his feelings are hurt. Furthermore, Swati said he was concerned about legal issues since the charter states the city’s legal notices must be placed in a newspaper of wide circulation in the city.

Doucet didn’t tell what his proposal was until later in the discussion. He wanted the city attorney, Val Tizeno, to express their concern about The Port Arthur News’s articles to be fair and non-biased with a videotape sent to the owners of The News so they could hear everything that was said at the morning meeting.

An ordinance to hire a lieutenant and two sergeants for the Port Arthur Police Department was tabled. Harvey Robinson, interim city manager, said he needed to further discuss this issue with Chief Patrick Melvin.

If approved, the police force would increase from 128 to 131.

Emergency or disaster agreements with the Holiday Inn-Park Central, The American Legion Post 7, Market Basket, Derrick Oil Company and Sprint Waste Services were approved. Doucet was curious why during this past disaster, Tropical Storm Harvey, the city couldn’t get any rooms at the Holiday Inn.

Tizeno said the city had a contract with the Holiday Inn, but because they were underwater they couldn’t use it as an emergency operations center. Once the hotel was back online some of the rooms could be used for city employees.

John Beard Jr., former Port Arthur city councilman, spoke on the Valero Port Arthur Refinery industrial expansion and their public accountability.

It was previously reported in The News Vice President and General Manager of Valero Port Arthur Greg Gentry talked about a possible new operating facility within the plant under Chapter 313 agreement. According to him, it would create additional products and additional jobs and require an estimated 500 construction workers to build it.

“It would be an expansion of values and bring more tax base to the city, county, drainage and district,” Gentry said. “And we’d hire more employees for the operating facility.”

Gentry said he didn’t have exact numbers, but estimated 30 to 40 including 20 operator positions.

Beard said Texas Commission on Environmental Quality didn’t schedule a meeting to receive public comment. The deadline to schedule a meeting was 5 p.m. Tuesday. Beard urged the city council to contact TCEQ and schedule a meeting.

The city council will send a letter to TCEQ to schedule a public meeting with them.