A motion to pay Cooper Brothers Construction $31,000 for final work on the Riverfront Amphitheater resulted in a tied vote during Tuesday’s Selma City Council meeting.

Cooper Brothers president Tom Bolton addressed the council during a work session Monday, asking for a final payment of $41,600. He said the payment was more than 90 days past due and is needed to pay subcontractors who helped with the project.

Some council members contested that amount, saying late penalties should be deducted from what’s owed.

The city’s contract with Cooper Brothers calls for a $1,000 per day late penalty after Feb. 14. An architect with the city of Selma completed a punch list for Bolton saying the project was 12 days late.

Councilwoman Susan Keith made a motion to pay Cooper Brothers $31,000. That amount would have included more than $10,600, or between 10 and 11 days, in late fees.

Corey Bowie, Benny Tucker and Cecil Williamson joined Keith in supporting her motion. Angela Benjamin, Bennie Ruth Crenshaw, Michael Johnson and Sam Randolph voted against approving the payment. Greg Bjelke abstained.

Selma Mayor George Evans said he expects Bolton will ask the council for payment again in the future.

“I’m sure it’s not over,” Evans said after the council meeting.

Many of the questions from Monday’s work session carried over into Tuesday’s meeting, including exactly how late the amphitheater was completed and who’s to blame for that.

Bolton said the city’s planning and development office, under former department head James Benderson, caused some of the delays.

Council President Corey Bowie said he felt the most the city could subtract would be $12,000 or 12 days.

“One word — accountability. I think both parties could have addressed this a lot better,” Bowie said. “Once our architect signs the punch list. I guess that pretty much binds us. We can learn from this situation.”

Williamson agreed that $12,000 was the most the city could withhold.

“You could say Mr. Bolton owes us five months, but the fact is our own architect has really hemmed us in by saying he only owes us 12 days,” Williamson said.

Other council members didn’t agree that the city was obligated to pay anything.

“Now we are getting into the realm of paying people who owe us money,” said Benjamin, who repeated the claim that whatever delays the city caused were far overshadowed by the contractor.

Crenshaw worried about what precedent the decision would set.

“We are forgiving debt. Every person that comes before us with a contract for completed work will look back on what we are about to do tonight,” Crenshaw said. “We don’t want to announce, ‘You can take as long as you want to and you can take your time and we won’t penalize you.’ I think we should have upheld whatever the penalty was.”