By James G. Smith

I do not derive any particular pleasure or satisfaction at finding fault with decisions being made by some on the city council. However, I do so as a concerned tax paying citizen of this city for the past 51 years. If there were a case study of, “How not to run a city,” Selma could very well be the model.

If there is one thing you can depend upon in Selma, it is to expect the unexpected from the city council. Or, to say it another way, you never know what they will do next. It leads you to a lot of head scratching and muttering; what in the world could they have been thinking? I believe most everyone was caught off guard with the sale, if it pans out to be, of the St. James Hotel for a fraction of its appraised value. Needless to say, the hotel has been an anvil around the necks of the few remaining taxpayers in Selma for a very long time. There has already been ample ink on the subject for the council to know the frustration with this property.

There was a glimmer of hope for taxpayers when an appraisal was ordered for the property. It was my thought that finally some movement was afoot to market the hotel nationally with a realtor.

Something that should have been done when the first management firm threw up their hands and walked off.

It was quite clear the city had no business competing in the hotel business or negotiating the sale of it either. It begs to ask, why get an expensive appraisal and then pay no attention to it whatsoever?

Another issue as problematic is the approval of funding for the AmeriCorps grant.

Here is a program of apparent unknown scope and benefit to the city using students being paid as much as a majority of long time city employees.

Now, I have no information or knowledge of the benefit packages of full time employment, so therefore, unable to comment on the added incentive of being full time.

However, it struck me as being insensitive to the dedicated and faithful full time employees of the city. I have long advocated pay increases for the police department, and it seems all city employees are deserving of step raises.

Does the money allocated to the AmeriCorps grant affect the amount of raise for our deserving full time city employees?

I do not recall any specific numbers being presented in the amount of raise promised the police or other employees. Seems I recall City Treasurer Ronita Wade cautioning the council about overextending the city with the AmeriCorps grant. Why would the city council go against sound advice from someone whose job it is to pay the bills?

The number one priority should be public safety, not the St. James hotel or the AmeriCorps grant. Public safety is essential to the community, as is city services and functional infrastructure.

If Selma will take care of these items, industry and businesses will be more likely to choose Selma thereby creating jobs and opportunity for all.