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Mayor James Perkins Jr. and the Selma City Council disagreed on entering into a contract with the Dallas County Commission for litter control.

Due to the dissent over the litter cleanup, the county commission has backed out of the agreement. 

The county commission did not discuss the issue at its meeting Monday.

In August, environmental services director John Creel approached the city council about entering into a contract to share resources to clean up numerous dump sites that were located in the city. 

Council members responded that they were open to the agreement.

Probate Judge Jimmy Nunn then sent an email to Selma city officials confirming that they would not pursue the partnership. He cited that commissioners were uneasy that both branches of government were not on board with the proposal.

“The Dallas County Commission met on Monday October 14, 2024 to discuss a proposed proposition to enter into an agreement with the City of Selma for litter control within the City of Selma,” Nunn said in the email. “After careful review by our Commission during its work session, the commissioners all agreed that the county was not in favor of moving forward on this project of litter control in the City without having a unified agreement between the mayor and the city council.  The Commissioners do not want to come in between the two branches of government (legislative and executive) while there are differences on how to proceed with litter control in the City of Selma.”

Perkins said in a memorandum to the council and the commission that they felt the $320,000 allocated for litter control would be best spent by the city.

“After careful review of the proposal to contract with the county to engaged in litter control within the city limits, I conclude that it is not in the city’s best interest to enter this agreement at this time and therefore, I cannot lend my support for this proposal,” Perkins said. “I appreciate the City Council being willing to allocate $320,000 for the purpose of better litter control within the city. However, I think those funds can be better served by simply adding that amount to the Code Enforcement and Public Works Departments’ budget so that we can strengthen our internal capacity to do this work. As always, I stand ready to work with the county government on projects that are mutually feasible. Again, thank you for continuing our strong working relationship.”