A Port Arthur City Councilman was getting information straight from the horse’s mouth Wednesday evening.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 City Councilman, met with constituents of Dominion Ranch subdivision to hear their concerns about frequent flooding.

He said the city needs to bring a vacuum truck to clear debris in the drainage. He said District 4 has more problems with drainage than any other in the city and the needs of each subdivision will be evaluated. He added that it’s not just Dominion Ranch he has to deal with.

A resident said this was the first time for Doucet to visit Dominion Ranch. He responded he was in the addition the last week of August during the flood from Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey as he rode through the district. Another resident said Dominion Ranch wasn’t included in a Facebook list for District 4 for the flooding on Jan. 27 and it bothered her. Doucet said he came out in January and if anyone has an issue to call him.

He added he was the only councilman to post an update on Facebook.

Some residents felt the city didn’t know the subdivision existed.

Doucet said the public works department will flush one drainage system and check to ensure nothing is blocking the system. They will also pipe-burst lines to see if debris is going back into the storm water system.

“I believe this needs to be an engineering thing (rehabbing the drainage system),” he said.

One resident asked if he could be sure the neighborhood wouldn’t flood again since they’ve been having issues with drainage before Harvey. Doucet said he knows water starts to accumulate there with any type of hard rain. He added that he was curious if a nearby detention pond built by Jefferson County Drainage District 7 was holding capacity.

Residents said during the Jan. 27 flooding a city worker manually turned on the sewage pump and the floodwater receded within an hour. However, these pumps did not turn on automatically, using a float switch, as they’re designed.

Resident Troy DeVillier explained the switch comes on when the water reaches a certain level. He believes the electrical connections for the switch flooded out at the grating at the bottom of the sewer pump station.

Doucet said this happened to other areas too. The city is working on acquiring mitigation grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to raise the pumps higher so they won’t flood out and install natural gas pipelines instead of relying on fuel trucks. But the city can’t do anything without money.

One resident replied a grant is not needed to fix the electrical connection.

“If the pump is not submerged, we don’t have to worry if the pump will work or not,” Doucet said.

The resident said that won’t happen before hurricane season.

DeVillier said what happened to the electrical connections should have never happened and it was an improper installation.

At times the conversation became heated and Doucet said he was about to terminate communications because of disagreements.

One resident asked when to expect trash trucks. Doucet said he will meet with the city manager and maybe postings can be made on the city’s website when and where the trucks will be.

Toward the end of the meeting, residents asked if the city would be ready for hurricane season. Doucet said the city was doing their part by identifying critical area susceptible to flooding to minimize the impact of a hurricane or a 100-year flood. Dominion Ranch is one of those priority areas, he said.

The priorities are trash pickup and getting storm ready by the start of hurricane season that begins on June 1. He said he tells the truth and they’re making decisions to be best prepared by hurricane season.

He added that interim city manager, Harvey Robinson, has prior experience with hurricanes.

Another resident said she spoke with someone who lives in Vista Village subdivision who said they don’t flood as frequently as Dominion Ranch. Doucet offered to take any of the residents for a tour of District 4 to compare.

Doucet said a city employee will accompany him to Dominion Ranch and survey and identify the areas that are plugged.