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Dear Editor,

“The best time to plant a tree was yesterday, the next best time is today.” I want to speak up about something that has been very important to this community in the past, now, and in the future. This is not something that just started, and it’s not something that can be completed in a day or two, or even a year. It will take years, but we’ve got the power to do something about it right now. They say the best time to plant a tree was yesterday, and the next best time is today. I want to take the same thought process with cleaning up litter. The best time to clean this city up was yesterday, but the next best time is today. Today is the day.

The county commission, to my understanding will decide whether or not they want to work with the city of Selma in cleaning up our city at their meeting Monday night. The county has the authority by state law to create a litter control officer, and they’ve done just that. This litter control office works directly with ADEM to clean up large dumping areas, like we have all over town. The county gets $50k in grants annually to help, plus ADEM will come in alongside them to clean up large areas with contractors that would cost $50k or more at no cost to the county or city. We have several of these types of areas. The public works committee has heard from our county litter control officer and has agreed to a proposal for under $300k to put 4 people in our streets cleaning litter, one to administrate the grants, and for all of them to work with ADEM directly to clean up the city’s mess. Probably the most important thing about this that people don’t see or understand is that these areas of old tires and dumping grounds are leaching carcinogenic chemicals into our water table. Please understand this. We share a water table with the county. Our water affects their water and vice versa. There are cancer causing chemicals in our water table that go undetected, and the best way to clean that up is to clean our garbage out of this city. This is not a slight against Selma Water Works and Sewer Board because we have some of the cleanest water in the state, nor is it a slight against the Dallas County Commission because they have to weigh their actions politically with what’s best for the county. I just want to make the citizens aware that we have an opportunity in front of us to change ours, our children’s, and our grandchildren’s future. This is a health issue, as much as it’s a living issue and an economic issue. Clean streets mean so much more to us to eradicate blight and improve our living conditions and ability to attract new citizens and businesses. The Selma City Council voted unanimously this past June to move forward with negotiations. After we met last month and voted on a budget to include this expense, the mayor stated in a memo that he is against it and that we should use these funds for public works and code enforcement. That’s understandable to think that way; however, I think it’s narrow-minded because public works and code enforcement are not authorized by state statute to do what the county litter control officers can do. I stated above the financial benefits we get from this in the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cleanup, and we cannot afford to wait another day. I’m begging for our elected officials to come together over this and make a change! Today is the best day to begin cleaning up our city!

Clay Carmichael, Ward 3

Council President Pro Tem