The Selma City Council will soon decide the fate of the historic St. James Hotel.

After running the hotel since March and thousands of dollars later, the city council is faced with the decision to sell the hotel or close its doors.

“We’re either going to sell it or close it. We will not be hiring a management company. We just can’t afford it,” said councilwoman Susan Keith.

“We cannot afford to pour any more money in the hotel or to spend any more money on the hotel. It’s just something we can’t do. It is heartbreaking. It just depresses me. It makes me want to cry, but it is just the point we’ve come to.”

The city council agreed to make a decision on the hotel by Sept. 30, but they have since opted to give people more time to put proposals together and present them to the council.

The new deadline for proposals to be submitted is Thursday, Oct. 8, and the deadline to present them to the council is the following day, Friday, Oct. 9.

According to Keith, the council will make its decision on Monday, Oct. 12, the day before the next Selma City Council meeting.

“We are going to extend it one more time, and this is it, bend, break or bust,” Keith said. “We are willing to do that in order for the best interest of the hotel, the city and Water Avenue. This is the last time.”

Keith said after running the hotel for seven months it is time to make a decision and focus on other needs in the city.

“We’ve got so many other things to consider. We’ve got three big holes in the street that we have to deal with, so it’s not fair to the citizens that are having to deal with the day to day,” Keith said.

“It is such a two-edged sword when we live in a historic town like Selma. We know how important the hotel is, we know how important tourism is, how important the riverfront is going to be and the potential it has, but on the flipside we have the day to day reality of what we have to have in order for people to be able to live and go to work.”

Keith said the city has around six proposals so far and more could come in by Oct. 8.

Whatever decision is made, Keith feels like the hotel is headed in the right direction.

“There is no place to go but forward. I feel like the hotel will come through this. I don’t think the hotel will close and stay closed forever if we don’t get a good proposal,” Keith said. “I think that we will. I think that there are some real good things on the horizon for Selma.”

Keith said anyone interested in submitting a proposal can send them to the City of Selma City Clerk’s Office, 222 Broad St., P.O. Box 450, Selma, AL, 36702.