The director of Selma’s General Services Department has been reappointed as an investigation into alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds continues.

General Services Director Marcus Hopkins was reappointed to his position at Monday’s City Council meeting. According to Mayor James Perkins Jr., Hopkins was placed on 30-days administrative leave without pay in mid-September.

Hopkins was placed on administrative leave after Perkins became aware in early September of an alleged financial transaction involving a number of General Services employees and an individual resident. Perkins said the resident contacted him personally to question the transaction.

After meeting with Personnel Director Valeria Jones and those employees involved in the transaction, which involved $300, Perkins said he placed the employees on administrative leave without pay. The unpaid leave ends today.

Perkins said that Hopkins was reappointed because his sanction for being involved in the transaction was finished. Following the unpaid leave, Hopkins will be placed on administrative leave with pay until the conclusion of an in-house investigation.

The in-house investigation is expected to conclude in two or three weeks.

In the press release, Perkins stated that he had forwarded a letter to the State of Alabama Public Examiner’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, state attorney general and the Alabama Ethics Commission requesting a full-scale investigation.&uot;

Relating to the investigation, Councilwoman Rita Sims Franklin stated at an open council meeting that she received a packet of information in the mail, which she opened in the presence of her attorneys. The attorneys then handed the packet over to state agencies.

According to Perkins, a file of information pertaining to the investigation was given to his office recently by outside agencies and his office was told to handle the investigation in-house.

The vote to reappoint department heads, including Hopkins, came after an executive session, which lasted about 90 minutes. Council members James Durry, Sam Randolph, Jean Martin, Nancy Sewell, Bennie Ruth Crenshw, B.L. Tucker and President George Evans voted in favor of Hopkins’ reappointment. Council members Glenn Sexton and Franklin opposed his reappointment.

Martin said Hopkins was re-appointed by a majority vote of the council. &uot;I voted to re-appoint him because I thought it was the best policy in these circumstances,&uot; Martin added. &uot;I agree with the mayor.&uot;