The Selma City Council held its first work session of 2019 Monday and discussed a variety of topics that will make up the agenda for Tuesday’s night council meeting.

Councilwoman Miah Jackson stated that she will bring forth a motion at the full council meeting to allow for local financial advisors to review the more than 700 pages of financial documents the council has access to.

Jackson noted that the advisors will be working pro bono and prefer not to be identified.

In conjunction with that, council members requested that the advisors look over the cost benefit of laying off workers, since it is still costing the city money to have them not at work, as well as income and expenditures.

“I’m just ready to see the city move forward,” said Councilman Carl Bowline. “The financial problems are not one person’s fault.”

Bowline noted that he is anxious to find out “where the power lies” after a scheduled court date next Monday between the council and the mayor.

A discussion of reimbursement payments derailed into a discussion about filling potholes, with multiple councilors suggesting that they take matters into their own hands. The council briefly discussed the laid-off workers, who have been out of work since November of last year.

“We need to get some of these workers back,” said Councilman Michael Johnson, noting that baseball season is about to begin, which brings in “a lot of revenue,” and the current staff is not equipped to adequately handle it.

Councilwoman Jannie Thomas discussed the ongoing attempts to acquire construction bids for the burned down Dallas Academy building, a process that some alleged has been “derailed” by city hall.

“It’s time for us to get this taken care of,” Thomas said. “It’s at a standstill.”

According to Thomas, the city clerk is supposed to handle the process of filing insurance claims and seeking bids, but the clerk has been sidelined by Personnel Director Sean VanDiver, who has taken over the process.

Council President Corey Bowie held his agenda item, a Citizen Review Board, to be discussed further at a later date. However, Bowie did mention that he would like to move forward with allowing the Selma Fire Department (SFD) to begin paying new fire inspectors.

According to Bowie, the inspectors have been hired and trained but have not yet gotten to work. When councilors attempted to ask the SFD chief for clarification on the topic, they were reminded that the chief is under a gag order from the mayor’s office.