A park in Selma’s Ward 8 — a park where children play — near Division Street, has drawn the concern of some as recent rains have caused a drainage ditch in the park’s center to become a place for standing water and potential hazards.

Now, Ward 8 council member Corie Bowie is wondering what has happened to a work order placed to help clean and control this park problem.

“I put in for a work order some time ago and all I need to do is follow up with the work order. I’ll do that on Monday,” Bowie said.

He said the gutter was cleaned out at some point, but he will see what he can do to reconcile this problem again.

The lack of power has also drawn the ire of some area residents, but Bowie said that is not due to the city “turning off the power” or having insufficient funds to pay for power, but thanks to vandals.

“That has been a problem since I came into office,” Bowie said. “I added a fence at the park to keep out criminal activity … to my knowledge there were some criminals who damaged the park’s electrical system.”

Bowie said he will ask the Selma Police Department to increase patrols in the area, as well as focus on asking the drainage ditch receive attention from the city’s parks and recreation department and the city’s public works department.

“I will definitely look into this,” he said.