Examiners from the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts arrived in Selma Wednesday to begin plowing through a variety of city financial documents and, according to Chief Examiner Rachel Riddle, they will be here for the next several days.

“In situations like this, we don’t have a timeframe,” Riddle said.

The department requested a wide variety of documents from the city, according to Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade, including “payroll reports, organizational charts, copies of debt instruments, accounting of discretionary funds, bank statements, checks written on accounts payable and payroll” and more.

For her part, Wade welcomed the examiners’ appearance at city hall.

“I can only see a benefit to them being here,” Wade said. “I think it is great timing and something that is very needed.”

However, the exact reason for the department’s visit is unclear.

Prior to this year’s legislative session, the department could only enter a municipality at the request of a local governmental agency, but a bill brought before the legislature by Alabama Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, was passed into law that allowed for the department to enter a municipality if it suspected “fraud or mismanagement.”

Though Riddle would not say whether or not the department entered for that reason, she noted that the department doesn’t routinely enter municipalities for auditing purposes.

“It would be tailored,” Riddle said. “It wouldn’t be like a routine audit.”

Riddle noted that the city council could request a review by the department, but such a move would require the body to pass a resolution, which has thus far not happened.

Further, Riddle noted that the mayor could request an investigation but she would not say if Selma Mayor Darrio Melton had contacted the department.

For his part, Chestnut was surprised that his Municipal Audit Accountability Act was put to use in the Queen City.

“I never thought that this would be the place where it was implemented first,” Chestnut said. “That’s a shocker.”

Chestnut drafted the bill on a napkin during this year’s legislature orientation.

At the time, Riddle was addressing the legislators and Chestnut, inspired by an episode of the television series “American Greed,” listened intently and began drafting the language for a bill that would empower the department to investigate questionable accounting practices in municipalities across the state.

Chestnut worked with Riddle over the following weeks to make the bill more “user-friendly for her department” and eventually came out with a “fair and reasonable” piece of legislation.

“I have a lot of faith in that department and their findings,” Chestnut said. “I’ve seen firsthand what they do and what they find and how forensic they are in their work.”

According to Chestnut, the department will begin looking at municipal accounting documents if there is a “credible complaint.”

During that time, they will do a “cursory review of accounting practices” and, if they find anything questionable, will proceed with further action.

“That’s probably why [Riddle] is being mute on that right now, until she knows that it’s crossed that line,” Chestnut said.

For Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson, who has long led the charge at Selma City Council meetings to take a serious look at the city’s financial practices, the department’s involvement locally is a good thing.

“It has long been an abiding concern of mine, and also of the citizens of Selma, about wasteful spending and the lack of financial accountability,” Jackson said. “We welcome the state auditors’ review and assessment of the city’s spending and financial records to help us identify the problems and recommendations for improvement.”