Mayor Darrio Melton claims STJ used ‘alternative facts’ in report about filing an FOI for city financial records

At 8 p.m. Friday, Selma Mayor Darrio Melton released a lengthy statement responding to a story in the Selma Times Journal about having to file a Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to city financial documents.

In the Times-Journal story, which you can read here, they listed numerous unsuccessful efforts to get the public documents from city officials and included comments from City Council members about their lack of access to these financial documents.

Here is the mayor’s release in its entirety:

Mayor Responds to Selma Times Journal and Council Members

Just a week ago, I stood in the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center and shared the state of our city. I began the address with many thanks to those who make Selma the city she is and I thanked the city employees who contribute to our success. I also stated that for over two years, we have witnessed alternative facts, misrepresentations, factual distortions, and personal attacks. There should be no place in Selma for such antics. For too long, everything that has been printed has not been true and factual. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you read it, you are misinformed. The effect of too much information is the need to be first and no longer the need to be true. So the responsibility of the press is to tell the truth, not just to be first. Currently, we live in a society that prefers to release information first. They really aren’t concerned who gets hurt or destroyed; they really don’t even care if it’s true at all. Just say it and sell it. They work hard to destroy the image of the city because they can’t have their way neither can they be in control.

One week later, the alternative facts, misrepresentations, and factual distortions have reared their heads again. So let me give you the facts.

Alternative Fact – The Selma Times Journal sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Selma City Hall in an effort to get documents related to the city’s financial situation. To date, the city has not responded to the request. Multiple attempts to correspond with city hall through Selma City Clerk, Ivy Harrison have been unsuccessful.

Fact – The Selma City Clerk has not received a voicemail, email, nor has spoken with anyone from the Selma Times Journal until a certified letter was received by city hall today. I spoke with the city clerk and she is disappointed about the factual distortions. The Selma Times Journal has a representative at each council meeting and the clerk states that even at the council meeting, no one has asked her for documentation. There is a Request for Information Form in the clerk’s office and as of today, that document has not been submitted. Although there is a charge for receiving the documents, in their certified letter, The Selma Times Journal is requesting that fee be waived. Upon submitting the proper form and payment of the fee, all documents will be released.

Alternative Fact – According to Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson, multiple financial documents that the council has requested have not been submitted, including a list of names, titles, and salaries of all city employees, detailed invoices and purchase orders and daily deposit updates. Jackson noted that the mayor has recently provided the council financial documents that previously had been inaccessible and Selma City Council President Corey Bowie agrees stating, “We have recently started receiving the financial statements.”

Fact – Since day one, the Finance Department has given the mayor’s office and the city council monthly financial statements that include detailed revenues, deposits, purchase orders, accounts payable invoice reports, detailed ledger reports, budget performance reports, payment registers, and expenses. These reports are given monthly. Since the council continued to misrepresent what they have been receiving monthly for over the last two years, on November 1, 2018, my office sent the entire council all of the financial documents (over 3,000 pages) that have occurred since my tenure which included: bank deposit reports, detailed ledger reports, business license activity reports, and purchase order reports. These are the same documents they have always received from the treasurer monthly. In an even greater effort to show transparency, on this past Tuesday, January 22nd, I informed the council during the mayor’s report that I was meeting with the company that handles the open checkbook software in order for the city to exhibit real time numbers on the city’s website and would be accessible to the public on a daily basis. There was some resistance, however I have scheduled the company to present at the next council’s work session.

Fact – A few members of the council are attempting to micromanage the executive office. The two positions that are in question are two department heads. Departments cannot exist without leadership. One department in particular, Human Resources, is a main function of doing business. All employees have basic rights in the workplace. Employees must have access to human resources. If the council wants to defund department heads, there are at least two steps they must take. (1) Pass a resolution or an ordinance, or defund in the budget those positions and (2) defund the entire department. The truth of the matter is that the council has unfairly targeted my very small staff and has placed the city in a liable condition for potential law suits. I am working hard to provide services for the city and to protect the city from preventable litigation. In a last minute attempt to justify their defunding of those two department heads, the council stated that they defunded those positions for budgetary purposes. Yet, they simultaneously voted to restore 13 other positions and are attempting to bring back 68 employees without new revenue to sustain those positions. These actions by the council can be interpreted as discrimination, harassment, or retaliation and there are other department heads that have expressed that they feel targeted as well.

If council members are truly concerned about the city’s finances, I’m asking that they join with me and halt all travel at the city’s expense. While the council is requesting information about defunded positions, I’m requesting that they join me in focusing on innovative ways of raising revenue in order to fully fund and staff city government.

Since day one, when I asked about the city’s finances, appropriators have fought change and progress. Now some want to point the finger and say foul. It has been 20 years since a thorough review of the financial operation has been performed and that led to two indictments and two convictions. I urge the council to move swiftly to have a forensic audit conducted; I have nothing to hide. The fact is, over a year ago, the council voted for a forensic audit but later retracted stating that they wanted the treasurer to return to work. 

I am a firm believer in truth, even when it’s uncomfortable and unpopular. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” 

I’m urging members of the council, media, and citizens of this great city to suppress personal feelings and embrace the spirit of cooperation and professionalism. We don’t always have to agree but we owe it to each other, our great city, and to our children (our future) to be honest, truthful, and respectful of each other. These are the facts.

Let’s move forward,

Mayor Darrio Melton