In July 2018, the City of Selma’s Code Enforcement Department notified the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute that it had 45 days to bring its crumbling Water Avenue building up to code or the structure would be demolished – more than a year later, the building remains intact and the gaping wound in its river-facing façade continues to grow, despite now being obstructed by trees and growth when observed from the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In a letter placed on the door of the building last year, the owners of the building, later identified as former Alabama Sen. Hank Sanders and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, were informed by the City of Selma’s Code Enforcement Department that they had 10 days to notify the department of plans to bring the building up to code and that the cost of demolition would fall to them.

Further, the letter claimed that the condition of the building was “a danger to the public’s health, posing a health risk to occupants and neighbors” and that said danger may result in “the injury of occupants or neighboring structures” posing a “fire hazard” and possible causing “injury or damage by collapsing due to its condition.”

The department came to be concerned with the structure after Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson, who represents the ward where the decrepit building is located, requested that the code enforcement officials inspect the building’s condition.

At the time, there was concern from the Historical Society that the city had no recourse to remove the building since it is designated as a historic landmark and city officials failed to run the plan by the Historic Development Commission.

The original National Voting Rights Museum and Institute was established in 1990 by Sanders and wife Faya Rose Toure, Louretta Wimberly, Marie Foster, Dr. C.T. Vivian, J.L. Chestnut and Perry Varner.

Sanders stated Wednesday that he is not on the museum’s board and is not “officially connected” to the museum and has “no authority” to speak on its behalf.

The Water Avenue location opened in 1993 and the museum was moved across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to its current location in 2010.

But a lot has happened between the delivery of the letter a year ago and today – the City of Selma’s Code Enforcement Department has been decimated, obvious by the lack of citations for overgrown yards and strewn litter, which has resulted in a public health issue continually being battled by city leaders, as a result of a round of city lay-offs that took place last year.

That is the main reason that the “dilapidated” and “hazardous” conditions at the building have not been addressed, Jackson said, noting that code enforcement officials had been working “diligently” to remedy the problem a year ago.

Without code enforcement officials educated and trained in the legal processes required to take actions against nuisance properties, Jackson said the city is in somewhat of a blind spot and unclear on the process to move forward.

“You actually need that department that has in-depth training and understands those laws to ensure that we’re not putting the city at a greater liability just be trying to follow these ordinances,” Jackson said. “We have to follow the letter of the law…and not miss any steps in the process.”

According to Jackson, there are “several steps” to go through before declaring a property a nuisance and she has been discussing the issue with Selma City Attorney Woodruff Jones in the hope that he can detail the process so that city officials can take action.

Part of that process is ensuring that property owners have every opportunity to take appropriate action and bring structures up to code.

“Once you tear down a structure, there’s no further remedy for that property owner,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to ensure that they’re responsive and they’re actually adhering to the ordinances.”

Jackson added that the property is likely more dangerous than it was a year ago, as there has been no update on whether or not owners have taken action to ensure that the building doesn’t collapse and, potentially, take other downtown structures with it.

“When you’re looking at dilapidated structures, they don’t remedy themselves by themselves,” Jackson said. “A year later, there’s a greater sense of urgency that this building could cause a problem to the surrounding buildings.”

However, there is at least a glimmer of hope that the effort to address the decaying downtown building, as well as the overgrown lots and littered sites across the city, will soon get some teeth – the Selma City Council discussed a proposal Tuesday night to possibly enlist three Alabama Peace Officer Standards and Training (APOST) certified Selma Fire Department (SFD) officers to take on the duties of code enforcement officials.

While Jackson is optimistic that the move could go a long way in improving various areas of concern across the city, she knows that the officers will need serious training to do the job correctly.

“We just want to make sure that, if those officers are going to be tasked with those things, they get a little more time to be trained in those areas,” Jackson said, noting that other municipalities have faced lawsuits related to the enforcement of city codes. “If we get those three officers and get them trained on code enforcement, I think we’ll be in a great position moving forward to have this issue and others remedied.”

The National Voting Rights Museum and Institute did not respond to a request for comment.