The Selma City Council voted to purchase a citywide camera surveillance system from local communication company Selcom, and Mayor James Perkins Jr. said he isn’t happy with the decision.
The council has pondered the purchase of a citywide camera system for months, but the decision to award the bid to Selcom seemed to come suddenly, with the council voting at their Nov. 14 meeting to place approving the bid to the consent agenda, where more routine matters are usually cleared away with little comment.
Three companies presented their camera systems to the city council in September, and a review panel reviewed and rated the systems. According to comments made during the Nov. 14 meeting, Louisiana-based Active Solutions rated highest, but they withdrew their bid. That left Alabama Power Company that was rated second by the review committee, and Selcom, which came in a close third.
The APC system is used in more than 100 cities, housing authorities or homeowners associations. Their proposal called for the city to lease the camaras rather than purchase them outright.
Selcom is used in several locations in Dallas and Lowndes counties. The heart of the system is the Skycop camera, which is used in Memphis, Tennessee. The city will purchase the equipment for about $400,000.
Perkins was visibly upset by the way the bid was awarded. “You can’t do that,” Perkins said. “Selcom is not the next lowest responsible bidder; Alabama Power was. What you did was to violate the law.”
City County President “Billy” Young told Perkins from the dais that there was “no violation of any law” because Selcom’s system met the requirements, they are a local company and they offered the lowest bid. Perkins repeated that the decision was wrong because APC’s system rated higher.
“You’re out of order. Way out of order,” Perkins said as he left the meeting.
The system was put out for bid a second time – this time – because in the first round of bids, Perkins and law enforcement preferred the APC system, and a majority of the council preferred the Selcom system. The city asked for bids again, and a committee with members appointed by the council and the administration was created to review and rate the systems.
Councilmember Clay Carmichael noted that while the upfront cost for the Selcom system is higher than the lease payments for the APC system, the city has federal American Rescue Plan funds that it can spend on the cameras now, and it will not have funds in future years to cover APC’s leasing fee of more than $100,000 a year.
The mayor and council also clashed over the timing of communications, each side saying the other does not send their items in a timely manner. This has been an ongoing sore point between the council and the mayor, but things came to a head Nov. 14 when the council initially refused to consider any items on the mayor’s report because the council received it just before the meeting, and the council didn’t have time to read the 167-page document. Perkins and Councilpersons Michael Johnson and Atkin Jemison pointed out that the council was inconsistent because they took up other items they had just received. The council ended up considering and approving several items in the mayor’s report.
Perkins told the council that when they initially declined to consider anything on his agenda, “I felt insulted and disrespected by the president of the council (Young).”
Young responded, “Yelling at someone, making false accusations against someone, are a sign of disrespect. As nicely as I can say it, you disrespected me and the entire city of Selma in your behavior. You don’t make decisions off something you’ve not had a chance to read.”
“It seems the only way to get your attention is to yell at you,” Perkins said. “The council’s behavior totally disrespects and disregards this administration, and it’s not acceptable to me under any circumstances.”
Young said, “This meeting is the Selma City Council’s meeting. Those that speak are guests. We respect our guests, and we are due respect as well.”
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