The city of Selma is having a good, old-fashioned town hall meeting in July so that residents can express their concerns and ask questions to the city council and mayor. The meeting is held annually but this year, council president Corey Bowie said a plan of action would be formulated following listening to what residents have to say at the meeting.

The meeting will be Tuesday, July 16 at the Carl Morgan Convention Center and it will allow those in the community to express needs to the council in order for the two groups to make one cohesive plan for the city.

“I want to encourage the public to come out because we are the leaders but we also need help from the citizens so we can work hand in hand to make Selma the best that it can be and help to resolve some of the problems,” Bowie said. “The overall goal is to form a collaborative effort between the citizens and the municipal government to come up with a plan to resolve some the problems that we have been facing.”

Last year the event was moderated by Albert Turner from Marion, but this year Bowie said he has several local prospects for the job in mind.

Bowie said the discussion after the meeting between the council members will turn to making a plan of action to combat problems discussed — problems he expects to be centered on code enforcement and public safety among others.

In recent meetings, council members have expressed their concern about the low amount of code enforcement citations being written compared to the high amount of complaints they receive each week regarding violations. Council members like Ward 2 representative Susan Keith say calls about code enforcement violations make up more than 50 percent of complaints she receives in her ward.

Bowie said though representatives from each ward will be present, concerns will not be dealt with on a ward-by-ward basis.

“It is best to hear from the citizens at large so that the council can pull together with the resources that we have to come up with a comprehensive plan to see what we can do to eradicate some of the problems,” Bowie said.

In addition to being able to freely commentate and voice concerns, residents who attend can also submit written concerns to a suggestion box and a complaints box at the town hall meeting.