Following an executive session during Tuesday’s Selma City Council meeting, in which council members departed to discuss ongoing legal issues privately, Selma City Councilman Sam Randolph called for the resignation of Selma Police Department (SPD) Chief Spencer Collier.

“We need to go in a different direction,” Randolph said. “We have got make a change in Selma.”

Randolph blasted Collier for “ruining innocent people’s lives” and causing unnecessary lawsuits against the city.

Randolph’s comments come on the heels of a video that surfaced in recent days showing Selma police officers tasing a woman after allegedly handling Selma attorney Brandon Wooten in a similar manner.

No information has yet surfaced regarding the details of Wooten’s arrest or the woman’s tasing.

Selma City Councilwoman Angela Benjamin stated that the incident, which has caused uproar among portions of the city, would result in more legal trouble for the city, this time in the form of a lawsuit against the police department.

Benjamin urged Randolph to collect all of the necessary information related to his proposal so that the council could make a decision at an upcoming meeting.

Elsewhere in the meeting, council members heard from Chris Graham, Acting Chief of the Selma Fire Department (SFD), about the department’s ongoing struggles.

Selma City Council President Corey Bowie had previously drafted a plan for reorganizing the department, which he had hoped would be voted on during Tuesday’s meeting, but Graham seemed confident that his department currently lacks the manpower to adequately man all of Selma’s fire stations.

Graham noted that Station 5, which was recently closed, is in fact staffed by fire investigators.

Randolph disagreed, saying that a fire station manned by investigators who are not allowed to respond to calls is not the same as an open and properly functioning station.

Graham noted that the department currently only has 19 firefighters on hand – some of have been lost over the past several months, while a handful are on sick leave.

Further, Graham added, he is expecting a couple more firefighters to resign in the coming months.

Despite that, Graham said the department has room in its budget to hire 10 new firefighters and he is hoping to send eight recruits to firefighting school in September.

“Effectively, we’re moving in the right direction,” Graham said.

For his part, Graham is hoping to move the three fire investigators into dual roles as code enforcement officers.

Multiple council members wondered why the investigators couldn’t also fight fires, but Graham said such a role would be a conflict of interest for investigators.

Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson said it was “bad business” to have 19 officers, three of which were ineligible to fight fires.

Jackson floated the idea that the department might move those investigators into firefighting roles and revert back to allowing the Alabama Fire Marshall’s office to oversee fire investigations as it had for more than two decades prior – Graham stated that such a move would likely result in a further loss of manpower.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the council approved the consent agenda, which included the following proposals:

• to allow AT&T to modify cell towers on Karen Street and Marina Drive;

• to approve the first reading of a lounge retail liquor license for Club 27;

• to approve a special events liquor license for “Jazz on the Grazz,” scheduled for June 15;

• to approve the first reading of a lounge retail liquor license for Dripz Lounge;

• to approve $25,000 be moved from one account to move forward with the inventory clerk, which has already been earmarked in the 2018-2019 budget;

• to approve the use of $45,000, which will be pulled in $5,000 increments from each council members’ oil lease funds, to pay for grass cutting expenses.

Jackson voted no on all three of the proposals related to liquor licenses and Selma City Councilman Michael Johnson abstained.

Councilwoman Jannie Thomas brought dancers from her church, Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church, to perform for the council.

Benjamin praised the young women for bringing a “sweet spirit” to the council meeting and Councilman John Leashore said they were “almost like angels.”

“They’re the angels of the 21st Century,” Thomas said.

The council also heard from Leith Wilson, leader of the local Boy Scouts troop, regarding the upcoming Leadership Camp the troop will be hosting in conjunction with the SPD.

Wilson stated that the troop has been hosting the event for the last three years, which provides an outdoor learning experience for young people between the ages of 12 and 16.

Wilson encouraged council members to nominate young people from their wards to take part in the event, which will take place between June 24 and June 28, with a “Bridging the Gap” program slated for June 26.