We want to be the first in line to shake the hands of Selma’s mayor, police chief and city council. An open discussion about the security issues in Selma may prove to be a watershed moment in our city’s history.

For those who don’t understand what Mayor James Perkins Jr. and Police Chief Robert Green accomplished on Monday, we’ll explain.

Perkins and Green both want what’s best for the city of Selma. Perkins has his eye on every department in this city &045;&045; that’s his job as mayor. Green has his eye on every street in the city limits &045;&045; that’s his job as police chief.

Both Perkins and Green are hard-nosed when it comes to ideas and implementation of those ideas. And both believe they can do what’s best for the city.

When you have two people who care that much about the same thing &045;&045; but who don’t share the same brain &045;&045; there will be conflicts in the resolution. That, it seems, happened with Perkins and Green. Both felt they had the best solution, and often those solutions were different.

That conflict nearly led to a stalemate in city government and the operations of the police department. Monday, the conflict all but disappeared.

Perkins and Green, flanked by three city council members, announced they had put aside the issues that mean little and have devised a plan to improve the security of our city. Perkins, it appears, will allow Green to implement a plan. Green, it appears, will work closely with the mayor to make sure the plan is successful.

To both Perkins and Green, we thank you for a job well done. We thank you for understanding the needs of the city and for caring enough to work through differences.

Perkins deserves a large amount of credit for putting faith in his police chief. Green deserves a lot of credit for understanding how to work for the mayor. As a team, there’s no limit to what our leadership can now accomplish.

The next stage, obviously, is to see our streets become safer. Completing a task like that does not happen overnight, but we believe improvements will be made at a faster clip.

It is up to the citizens now to offer full support to Green and his officers. The citizens must also pat Perkins on the shoulder for his willingness to push the police department to greater heights.

Selma is a great city. It became even greater Monday.