PORT POLITICS

PORT COMFORT— Samples of the sediment that will be dredged to widen and deepen the Matagorda Ship Channel could be taken as early as May for analysis.

Two Calhoun County residents are hoping to unseat a longtime Calhoun Port Authority board member in an upcoming election.

POINT COMFORT—The Calhoun Port Authority plans to give Max Midstream Texas exclusive rights to sell bunker fuels to all users of the port, according to a memorandum of understanding port board members swiftly approved Wednesday.

POINT COMFORT — Applications opened Wednesday for three seats on the Calhoun Port Authority‘s board of directors that are up for election.

POINT COMFORT — The Calhoun County Navigation Industrial Development Authority approved issuing millions in revenue bonds to Max Midstream Texas at a meeting on Wednesday.

POINT COMFORT — The Calhoun Port Authority is “pushing hard” for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release a jetties deficiency report they need in order to have a chance at U.S. Congress approving the Matagorda Ship Channel Improvement Project by the end of the year.

Max Midstream Texas is investing $1 billion into a project that will put the Port of Calhoun on the map for crude oil exportation.

After several months of discussion, the Calhoun Port Authority adopted bylaws on Wednesday for the first time in its history.

The Calhoun Port Authority approved a ground lease agreement with Max Midstream Texas on Tuesday that will allow the Houston-based company to use about five acres on the North Peninsula.

POINT COMFORT – A desalination treatment facility could be in the the Calhoun Port Authority’s future to provide an additional water source for industrial usage.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun County Port Authority is one step closer to getting federal approval to widen and deepen the Matagorda Ship Channel.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority went into a closed session for about an hour Wednesday during its monthly meeting to discuss the employment and role of David Knuckey, its director of engineering.

POINT COMFORT – Night fell on the Calhoun Port Authority office Monday as the board discussed a rough draft of bylaws for nearly two hours during a special meeting.

POINT COMFORT – Board Director Charles Hausmann got approval from the board on Wednesday to start looking for proposals to create a port master plan, which he said will help promote the port to more industry.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority board voted Wednesday to reject a bid from RLB Contracting Inc. to dredge the port’s berthing areas and instead pay the government to complete the work.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority Board, which has been under scrutiny since hiring a disgraced congressman as a lobbyist in 2018, voted on Wednesday to stop emailing its agendas to the public.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority Board met in closed session for almost an hour Wednesday to discuss acquiring more real estate for development.

The Calhoun Port Authority, which secretly hired a disgraced congressman as a lobbyist much to residents’ chagrin in 2018, stopped emailing its meeting agendas to the public this week.

The Calhoun Port Authority spent more on a conference in San Francisco this year than it did on one in South America last year.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority tried to close an unflattering chapter of its history as well as its books Monday.

Calhoun County is trying to get into the party planning business.

POINT COMFORT – Newer Calhoun Port Authority board members admonished its staff after they had to change the scope of a contract not once, but twice.

POINT COMFORT – The Calhoun Port Authority Board met Thursday to discuss a Texas Open Meetings Act lawsuit, but the result was the same as previous meetings.

POINT COMFORT – People crowded inside the Calhoun Port Authority on Wednesday to bear witness to a rare transition of power for the public entity.

PORT LAVACA – The board member who directed port staff to hire former Congressman Blake Farenthold as a lobbyist was trounced Saturday, and so was his staunch ally.

PORT LAVACA – Incumbent board members said the No. 1 issue facing the Calhoun Port Authority is the Matagorda Ship Channel’s failing jetties.

Before Calhoun Port Authority board chairman Randy Boyd hired disgraced Congressman Blake Farenthold, the board made a strikingly similar move.

An appellate court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against the Calhoun Port Authority, ruling former Congressman Blake Farenthold’s resignation as a lobbyist had made the case irrelevant.

Calhoun Port Authority board members Wednesday again refused to settle a Victoria Advocate lawsuit that contends the board broke the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Calhoun Port Authority Board Chairman Randy Boyd outspent all of his opponents combined by more than 5 to 1.

The Calhoun Port Authority rejected Monday a longstanding offer to end a Texas Open Meetings Act lawsuit filed by the Victoria Advocate.

Calhoun Port Authority Chairman Randy Boyd, whose seat has gone uncontested for more than a decade, has gone on the attack by placing multiple advertisements in the Port Lavaca weekly newspaper.

POINT COMFORT – Residents may cast their votes for the upcoming Calhoun Port Authority election in one of five places.

A man who voted to retain disgraced U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold as the lobbyist is now fighting to retain his seat on the board of the Calhoun Port Authority.

The Calhoun Port Authority Board’s has spent so far $360,000 to fight a lawsuit alleging it violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when it hired former U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold as its lobbyist.

Longtime Calhoun Port Authority Board Chairman Randy Boyd now has four challengers for the May 4 election.

Calhoun Port Authority Board Chairman Randy Boyd has held the leadership role for more than a decade despite a rule that the chairman serve for only a two-year term.

A Republican congressman plans to introduce legislation inspired by and named for former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold to prohibit members of Congress from following in the disgraced legislator’s footsteps.

A fourth man has entered the race to represent District 4 on the Calhoun Port Authority board.

Calhoun Port Authority Board Chairman Randy Boyd has election challengers for the first time in more than a decade.

Paul Lauterbach isn’t particularly excited about running for public office.

Disgraced former Congressman Blake Farenthold submitted his resignation as lobbyist for the Calhoun Port Authority, officials announced Thursday.

More than a year after Blake Farenthold was blasted by Republicans and Democrats alike for using taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment claim, a new bill would mandate that members of Congress be personally liable to pay for such claims.

The board of the Calhoun Port Authority met with its attorney in closed session for more than an hour on Wednesday but took no action afterward.

The Victoria Advocate is asking the 13th Court of Appeals to order the Calhoun Port Authority to stop paying former U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold as a lobbyist until a judge or jury decides whether his hiring was illegal.

The Calhoun Port Authority spent about $19,000 to send three board members and their wives to an October conference in Chile.

POINT COMFORT — Board Chairman Randy Boyd floated the idea of the Calhoun Port Authority not collecting taxes during a meeting on Wednesday.

Calhoun County Port Authority board members ignored or refused to answer why they give themselves retirement benefit that no other Gulf Coast port board provides.

The 13th Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi has granted the Calhoun Port Authority an extension in the Texas Open Meetings Act lawsuit it is embroiled in.

Judge Bobby Bell denied on Wednesday the Calhoun Port Authority’s latest motion to dismiss a Texas Open Meetings Act case filed by the Victoria Advocate.