The Selma City Council held a special called meeting Tuesday to map out plans for replacing Selma Fire Department (SFD) Chief Toney Stephens, who resigned at the end of April citing a “hostile work environment.”

The council started by first officially accepting Stephens’ resignation with a unanimous vote.

Councilman Sam Randolph stated that the council should take the initiative of appointing an Interim Chief, since the power to appoint that position falls on the council, but Selma City Council President Corey Bowie said the issue of an Interim Chief would be taken up during a Public Safety Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 15 at 5 p.m.

Further, Randolph called on council members to take action against Mayor Darrio Melton’s administration for perpetuating the problem of hostility in city departments.

“It’s all because of our leadership,” Randolph said. “It starts at the top. It just doesn’t make any sense what’s going on in our city. It’s not fair to our city. We need to do something about this violence in our workplaces – the mayor already destroyed 68 families.”

Bowie recommended that the council open up an interview process for the new chief and establish a committee of advisors, some of which would be recruited from beyond Selma and Dallas County, to assist in the interview and hiring process.

Selma City Councilmen John Leashore and Carl Bowline both expressed apprehension over bringing “out of towners” into the equation, but Bowie insisted the idea was a good one since these advisors, one with 40 years of experience as a chief, would know what too look for in a quality leader for the local fire department.

Both motions were approved unanimously.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Selma Police Department (SPD) Chief Spencer Collier addressed the council on Tuesday’s incident at Selma HIgh School (SHS) and again called for the council to support his School Resource Officer (SRO) proposal, which would place certified officers in two Selma schools.

Collier said the SHS incident, in which violent threats were made against a student via social media and resulted in the school being placed on lockdown, indicates the need for the program – due to the nature of incident, Collier said the SPD used 100 percent of its manpower to properly address the situation.

“Today’s events show the significant need for this program,” Collier said.

Multiple council members were still wary of the proposal because the financial documents they had requested regarding the amount of alcohol and tobacco tax money currently being sent to the school system – provided by the state and allocated by the council – were only delivered shortly before Tuesday’s meeting.

Before leaving for her own meeting, Selma City School Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams also spoke on the benefits of the program.

“We are a very high needs district,” Williams said, noting that some schools are going without guidance counselors and other support staff due to a lack of funding and that the school system is the second largest employer in the city. “I look at us as partners.”

Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson still had reservations and opted to take a deeper look at financial statements in light of the city’s “dire” situation.

“I want to make sure the citizens of Selma are safe as well,” Jackson said.

Collier stated that one officer has already been moved into an SRO position, meaning the city is only on the hook for 1.5 officer units, and a pending grant may cover the cost of one additional officer.

With Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade back on the job after a months-long forced hiatus, council members were anxious to put her to work uncovering financial documents.

Leashore requested an update on the status of the General Fund but Wade stated that she was informed upon arriving at work Tuesday morning that payroll had been removed from the Finance Department’s jurisdiction and she did not have access to it.

That being the case, the information she could gather would be incomplete – payroll is one of the largest pieces of the General Fund puzzle.

Wade stated that she had put in a request to be granted access.

“Some of the things these people are doing is out of control,” said Selma City Councilwoman Jannie Thomas. “We have to do what we have to do to get this city back on track.”

For her part, Jackson requested information of all expenditures beyond payroll, insurance and utilities that have gone out since the council approved a measure  last year that requires all expenditures be approved by the council.

Jackson also asked Wade to look into the possibility of new equipment being used at the city’s landfill, stating that the council never approved the purchase of such equipment, and asked that she provide the council with the monthly financial statements it is supposed to be receiving.

The last report was submitted in February.

The council also voted to split the more than $180,000 in oil lease money 10 ways and look into using some of that money for cutting grass in various places throughout the city.