Selmont should either be annexed into the city of Selma or the Selma Fire Department should be compensated to continue providing service to that community, the acting fire chief told the Selma City Council Feb. 10.
Interim Assistant Fire Chief Walter Dailey told the council that the volunteer fire department that serves Selmont has declined to the point that the Selma Fire Department is the sole provider of fire and rescue services for that community.
Selma Fire and Rescue has a mutual aid agreement with the Craig Field VFD and with other fire departments in the county. But Dailey said the agreement for the Selmont area is no longer viable. He said Selma is taking on the expense and liability of serving Selmont for free.
“Each response to the Selmont area requires deployment of apparatus, personnel, fuel and consumable materials for which the city receives no compensation whatsoever,” Dailey said in a letter to the council. “When Selma Fire/Rescue units are committed to emergency scenes in the Selmont area, the city of Selma experiences dangerous shortfalls in minimum manning levels with its own jurisdiction.”
Dailey said annexing Selmont would “establish a tax base to support the services being provided” and “provide a legal and financial framework that justifies the deployment of city resources in this area.”
If annexation is not feasible, “Selma must receive direct financial compensation for the emergency services being provided to the Selmont area.”
Selma Mayor Johnny Moss III told the council at their Feb. 10 work session that he was bringing the issue to the council’s attention. It was referred to the Public Safety Committee.
Meanwhile, some Selmont residents are working to make Selmont Alabama’s next municipality with its own government, services and tax base.
If incorporated, Selmont would assume responsibility for police protection, initially through a contract with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. Fire protection would be built from two existing volunteer fire departments, community organizers said. One of those volunteer fire departments is the one Dailey said was no longer viable.
In other business, Dailey also asked the council to spend $81,000 to purchase new equipment used to fill the air tanks firefighters wear on every call.
The city is working on a bid to hire a provider of residential and commercial waste collection. Martin Environmental is currently providing garbage service without a contract. A draft of the bid states that bidders must have experience in servicing a city with up to 6,000 households and at least 100 front-load dumpsters.
Bidders will be rated on their qualifications, soundness of approach, efficiency, integrity, adaptability, customer focus and cost to residents. The contract would be for two years with an option to extend for up to three additional years in one-year increments.
The contractor will be responsible for billing customers, and the city won’t pay unpaid fees, according to the bid.
Moss asked the council to get him any changes to the bid by the end of this week.
The city council will consider moving four container homes into the Arsenal Place neighborhood on Condley Avenue east of Division Street in east Selma.
The adapted shipping containers are an affordable housing option, and students affiliated with the Dallas County System of Services will do the plumbing, electrical and inside work, according to a flyer on the program included in the city council information packet.
Each container home is 40 feet by 8 feet and will have a bedroom, bathroom, living area and kitchen.
The council will soon consider designating zoning for the site of an apartment complex off Citizen’s Parkway as R50B. The city annexed that property into the city but failed to assign the zoning designation. The developer said he needed that designation to proceed.
At their meeting, the council approved emergency sewer repairs at Kingsley Drive and at Ramsey, and it paid to remove a tree that fell from the city’s right of way onto a house.
The council also approved an alcohol sales permit, but Councilman Clay Carmichael said that the council should consider if there are too many such businesses in town. He said the city is left with “empty buildings if the business closes” because there is too much competition.
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