By Chelsea Vance
The Selma Times-Journal

Sea Coast Disposal held its ninth registration day Saturday at its new office located on Highland Avenue.

Over the last several months, Sea Coast held eight registration days in each of the eight wards around the city of Selma. Saturday’s ninth registration day — called an emergency day — was added after a little more than half of citizens had signed up for garbage service.

“We’re giving people an opportunity to sign up so that they can get their carts by Feb. 1,” said Sea Coast Disposal project manager Dale Purdie.

Regular business hours for Sea Coast Disposal are from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but Purdie thought that it was crucial set up on Saturday due to approaching deadline cutoffs and scarce sign-ups.

Residents have until Jan. 31 to make sure that they are registered. Those who have not signed up at this point will be subject to fines from the City of Selma for not being in compliance with a city ordinance.

Payment plans are available. Instead of paying a quarterly fee of $60 every three months, residents can pay $20 a month. The initial payment of $40 for the months of February and March can also be split into payments, but residents must have a zero balance by Feb. 15.

Payments types accepted include cash, credit cards, debit cards, cash EBT cards or checks.

Angela Green, a customer service representative with Sea Coast, said only four people had registered Saturday at noon. She said there has been a continuous decline in the number of people registering since the first sign up day when 600 people signed up.

“We have had another sign up day since then where there were about 300 people that signed up, but since then the numbers have gotten significantly lower,” Green said.

There have been approximately 3,500 homes who have signed up for the service so far, but Purdie said there are about 6,500 households in the city.

“It’s important for everybody to sign up so we can help get Selma back clean. All of these areas are terrible, but if they get the carts they will have a place to put the garbage and we’ll service them,” Purdie said.

Sea Coast Disposal is located at 212-B Highland Ave.

For more information, Purdie can be reached by office at (334) 874-7320 or by cell (334) 715-5771.