The public information officer for the city of Port Arthur is leaving her job after 1½ years.

LaRisa Carpenter notified the news media through the following email:

“I wanted to let each of you know that I have submitted my letter of resignation, and my final day with the City of Port Arthur is April 25, 2018. Working for the City and Port Arthur residents has been my sincere pleasure. I look forward to advancing in my career, and will see many of you again in the near future!”

Carpenter will take a position with the Lower Neches Valley Authority office in Beaumont.

Carpenter grew up in Beaumont, Lumberton and Fannett and graduated from Monsignor Kelly High School in Beaumont in 1995 before she joined the U.S. Marine Corps. She worked in public affairs in the Corps and in broadcast and print journalism, including being a reporter with the base newspaper at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

She spent eight years in the USMC and reached the rank of E-6, or staff sergeant.

Carpenter was discharged in 2004 and moved to Japan for three years. She worked as an office manager and as a public affairs specialist in a marketing department.

She later moved to the U.S. East Coast and worked as an area coordinator for the Marines. She was responsible for 13 units and as an intermediary with the Marine Corps. They provided community services with an emphasis on morale, scheduling events, welcoming Marines home and assisting those on deployments.

Other positions included a marketing director job in New River, N.C., and events coordinator for Duplin County, North Carolina.

She worked for the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Texas first as education coordinator and then as director of marketing and communications before being hired by the city of Port Arthur in late 2016.

Interim City Manager Harvey Robinson did not return calls about how the city might replace Carpenter.