Selma mayor cites progress and defends city employees at State of the City address

“Progress tells the true story of a city moving forward,” Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. said at the State of City Address on April 25.

Perkins said the city has “made measurable strides across every department,” and he used the speech to recognize community partners and to take a few jabs at the Selma City Council, with whom he shares a tense relationship.

The speech was well attended by city employees, who heard Perkins compliment and defend them.

City departments that are “understaffed and underpaid and in many cases underappreciated answer the call to get things done the right way,” Perkins said.

Perkins noted that city employees helped Selma recover from Hurricane Zeta in 2020 and the January 2023 tornado that damaged 40% of the city’s housing. The city also worked through a pandemic and a supply chain crisis.

Through it all, employees endured “social bullying, misinformation and attempts to assassinate the character of people doing this work,” Perkins said. “For this understaffed, underpaid, overworked team, this performance record is nothing short of amazing.”

Accomplishments were also made possible through relationships with government agencies and foundations that have invested more than $150 million in Selma over the last four years.

“Relationships are strong,” Perkins said. “Many see clearly a bright and promising future, and they come here with hearts and checkbooks wide open.”

Perkins said increasing the minimum pay for city employees from $7.35 an hour to $12 an hour allowed the city to recruit more staff. He said the public works department had 10 employees when he took office and now has 38 full-time and six part-time employees.

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As for public safety, Perkins revisited an ongoing disagreement between him and the city council. Perkins has said that the police chief and fire chief should be under his control. The city council hires the police and fire chiefs and the city treasurer.

“In any city, for the mayor to not have direct influence over who leads the police and fire departments cannot work,” Perkins said. “It has to be fixed.”

More broadly, Perkins said the “tension between the city council and the office of mayor” must be addressed.

“We have a very conservative council,” Perkins said. He said he has his “foot on the gas,” and the city council has “their foot on the brake, and we’re just burning rubber.”

“We must rethink how we see ourselves,” Perkins said. “Do we want to plan to stay small and underdeveloped, or do we want to grow and reach our potential? If we focus on results and focus on relationships and doing things the right way, we can and will rise.”

Perkins said the city council’s refusal to accept his plan to bring garbage collection into the city was a lost opportunity to increase revenue at a time of rising costs. He also chided citizens for illegally dumping their garbage on city streets. “You citizens must stop being litterbugs,” Perkins said.

Major accomplishments included the expansion of broadband internet, paving of 70 blocks in downtown Selma, $4.7 million invested in homes, $26.2 million invested in water projects and replacing the track at Memorial Stadium.

“Now is not the time to stop loving on Selma,” Perkins said. “Even though we’ve accomplished much, much more is to be done.”