By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

The Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce is asking the city to sign a two-year contract instead of its usual one-year contract, but the current council has decided to let the council-elect make that decision.

“It’s going to be something that we address with the new council due to the fact that it was the end of this council’s tenure,” said Selma City Council President Corey Bowie. “And I guess it may be something that the new council can pick up with and move forward with it.”

The chamber’s contract, which is month to month, is usually for 12 months, but the new contract is for 24 months.

The contract, which is worth nearly $160,000 for two years, calls for monthly payments and is paid for from the city’s tourism budget.

Mayor George Evans said the contract with the chamber is worth every penny because of the work they do to promote Selma.

“In a city such as ours with all the history we have, they are important … and any city that does not have one, that city is going to fail,” Evans said.

“It’s very important to have the chamber in a partnership with the city. I have to thank them the work they do in helping me as the mayor.”

Evans said the chamber has been responsible for helping events like the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, which saw more than 100,000 people in Selma, be a major success.

But there are also a number of other things they do for the city, like creating literature to help promote attractions in Selma, such as the Edmund Pettus Bridge and historical buildings like Brown Chapel.

The contract requires the chamber to provide a number of services to the city like maintain a department of tourism in the chamber’s building, seek attractions to bring people to Selma and create brochures and other materials.

Mayor-elect Darrio Melton and new council members  will be sworn into office Nov. 7.