Selma City Council to consider changing form of government, occupational tax, garbage pick up

Several important issues – including the city’s form of governance, an occupational tax, garbage collection and long-term debt – are slated to be discussed at Tuesday’s Selma City Council meeting.

The Selma City Council will look at taking the first steps toward changing the city from a mayor/council form of government to a city manager form of government. Under a city manager form of government, the mayor would serve as the president of the council, and the council would employ a city manager to handle the day-to-day operations of the city.

Council President Pro Tem Clay Carmichael said at the council’s Aug. 8 work session that hiring a city manager “would take politics out of the day-to-day operations” of the city.

“The city manager would be worried about running the city, not worrying about getting on Facebook or the radio,” Carmichael said.

On his “Fix It Friday” show on Facebook Live Aug. 9, Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. called the proposal “MAGA strategy,” referring to the Make America Great Again slogan used by former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“This is removing your ability to choose mayoral leadership,” Perkins said. “Every city our size (that has city manager form of government) wishes they didn’t have it, especially with our demographic.”

It was Perkins who brought up the issue when he presented the City Council with a proposal to reduce the size of the council from eight councilpersons and a council president elected at-large to five councilpersons. Perkins said if the council didn’t approve his proposal or make their own proposal, his proposal would automatically take effect.

City Council President Billy Young expressed doubt about the mayor’s interpretation of the law concerning redistricting, but “to avoid further confusion,” he said the City Council needs to vote on the issue.

Young said at the council’s Aug. 8 work session that he wants the city treasurer to research an occupational tax on people who work in Selma but live outside the city limits. Twenty-five Alabama cities have such a tax. Young brought up the idea of an occupational tax a few weeks ago. He suggested Aug. 8 a tax of 1.5%, which would be collected by the employer and sent to the city.

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He said he will ask the city treasurer on Tuesday to research the issue. An earlier story on Black Belt News Network said Young intended to ask for a vote on Aug. 13. That was in error. At this point, Young is only asking the treasurer to research the matter.

Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. agrees that the city needs more money, but for two years he has proposed increasing ad valorum taxes. Perkins has proposed holding a special election on increasing property taxes. He said he wants to make a property tax increase more acceptable by having the city take over home garbage pickup, which was outsourced to private contractors in 2009.

Perkins said at recent public meetings that the city could provide better and more consistent service than the current private provider, who picked up the service when the previous contractor left the market. The city netted about $500,000 after expenses when they last operated the service, according to a proposal Perkins presented to the city council.   

The city could get back into the garbage service by leasing three trucks (two new, one used), purchasing 6,000 95-gallon containers and hiring between six and nine workers, according to the proposal.

Perkins plans to bring the issue to the council on Tuesday. City Councilperson Jannie Thomas said at the Aug. 8 work session that she wanted the proposal to go to the council’s Public Works Committee.

As the council and the mayor work on next year’s budget, one of the main stumbling blocks is paying back a loan that dates back to the George Evans administration. The loan payments have ballooned to $188,000 a month, which is more than 10% of the city’s budget, and the city hopes to refinance the loan to reduce the monthly payments. A representative of the investment banking firm the city has hired to help them refinance the loan is scheduled to address the city council on Tuesday.

The council will also consider approving contracts to redo the Ralph “Shug” Jordan track at Memorial Stadium and to remove asbestos from some derelict houses so they can be torn down.

Perkins has also asked the council to pay almost $18,000 to a private attorney who has represented him and the city treasurer in a lawsuit. Perkins said on “Fix It Friday” that City Attorney Major Madison did not represent them because he was also a party in the lawsuit.

The council will also consider a proposal to develop the abandoned Dallas Academy from Lathan Co. of Mobile, along with InVictus Development. Both companies have done business in Selma. The proposal calls for turning the property into residential units, meeting rooms and an art studio.