Those in attendance Monday night to hear Selma Mayor Darrio Melton’s state of the city address got a good example of why Selma’s city government has been a model of dysfunction in the past year.

Using buzzwords such as “fake news” that has become any politicians’ go-to phrase, and an easy way out for something they are displeased or uncomfortable within the media, the mayor did touch on some positive points.

Yes, it is time to pull ourselves together as a community and learn to work better with each other.  Yes, it is time to make common sense decisions that are in the best interests of all who live here. And yes, corruption definitely has no place in Selma, especially in city government, where those elected have the legal, and moral, responsibility to do the right thing – even when no one is looking.

We agree that the problems the city now faces with finances, debt, crime, litter [and the list goes on] did not happen overnight, which means it will also take as much time, if not more, to fix them.

And we agree with Melton that we should be functioning as one Selma, working together regardless of what ward you live in. Selma is small enough where we’re all neighbors, and unless we’re looking out for each other, we’ll all go down with the ship.

Both Melton and the city council have had ample opportunities to express their frustrations and thoughts on the current challenges our city faces, but there comes a point in time where you have to stop complaining and start working – and putting differences aside for the betterment of our community and all who live here.

The blame game has been played countless times by this mayor and many on the city council. Enough is enough. No longer is it acceptable to point the finger at someone else and say they caused the problem. Because guess what? When you ran for office you made the decision that whatever the problems were when you were elected, you would fix them. And the voters who elected you trusted that you’d do just that.

The voters elected each of you in the hope you would work together, and to make the important decisions for us. That is why you, mayor and council, are here.

If you all cannot work together cooperatively to do the job you were elected to do, maybe it’s time to move on to something you can do. The people of Selma deserve better than what they’re getting, which at this point isn’t much to feel good about.