Changes are coming to how garbage is collected in the city of Selma. Starting in January, a new company, Sea Coast Disposal, will be in charge of garbage service.

There are a lot of questions about that transition and what customers can expect.

A town hall meeting was held Thursday at Selma City Hall to start answering some of those questions.

Selma Mayor George Evans, along with representatives from Sea Coast, discussed the time line of when citizens can start signing up for service as well as how the company will operate.

Sam Issacs, operations manage for Sea Coast, said the company will host a sign-up day for each ward. Each sign-up event will last from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Ward one residents will sign up on Nov. 21, and each Saturday following will be for wards two through eight. The last signup event will be Jan. 9.

Isaacs said Sea Coast will have a Selma office where the old Wal-Mart was on Highland Avenue. Isaacs said Selma residents will also be able to sign up online if they miss the sign-up event for their ward.

Some changes customers can expect are an increase in price and different pick-up days. The cost for residential service will go up from $15 per month to $20.

Pickups will be Tuesday through Friday. The only change will be wards that had pickups on Monday will be moved to Friday.

Sea Coast will start delivering carts Jan. 25, and the first day of service will be Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Those are answers to some commonly asked questions.

Several town hall meetings are planning across the city to discuss the changes. We encourage residents to attend one of these in coming weeks.

The dates for the other town halls are:

4 Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. at Sophia P. Kingston Elementary School

4 Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. at Cedar Park Elementary School

4 Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center

4 Jan. 4 at 6 p.m. at Payne Elementary School

4 Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. at Morgan Academy

4 Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. at R.B. Hudson Middle School