PORT ARTHUR — Some stern words were exchanged between Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman and City Councilman Willie Bae Lewis on Tuesday night.
It was during Willie Bae Lewis’ last city council meeting as a council member. The District 5 council seat was eliminated by voters two years ago.
Councilman Lewis blamed the former city manager and Mayor Freeman for failing to move city equipment to higher ground during Harvey.
“He failed to do that, so this is the result of it, we lost $24 million in equipment...we will never overcome that,” said Councilman Lewis.
Councilman Lewis said he wanted to point out what went wrong during the Hurricane Harvey preparations last year during the Council meeting on Tuesday.
He said he wanted to make sure mistakes were not repeated for this hurricane season.
“The mayor is responsible to see that the manager follows the state laws and city ordinances, it did not happen, he can get upset all he want that’s not going to change the $24 million,” said Councilman Lewis.
In response to Lewis' claims, Mayor Freeman made a reference to $30,000 in city funds that Lewis wanted to spend for programming on a radio station during Hurricane Harvey.
"The only thing you were worried about sir was stalling, to get votes so you could give “The Breeze” $30,000 when we are in the middle of an emergency,” said Mayor Freeman. “So for you to slither up here and say that, it sounds very, very, very disingenuous.”
12news reached out to Mayor Freeman for comment but he did not return our calls.
Councilman Lewis said Mayor Freeman’s claim is not true because the $30,000 funding for the radio station was already voted on and approved during a past city council meeting.
"The mayor is comfortable lying, he is very comfortable lying, he makes up stuff, that’s what he do, he very seldom tells the truth he makes up stuff as he goes along,” said Councilman Lewis.
Councilman Lewis said he believes hurricane preparations for this year will be more organized but believes the city would be in better shape if the equipment was moved to higher ground during Harvey.
During a future meeting, the city council will be going over the Hurricane preparations for 2018.