The City of Selma’s Code Enforcement Department received a letter of notification from Pearlie Walker about the status of the old National Voting Rights Museum on Monday, July 16.

On July 13, the City of Selma’s Code Enforcement Department gave the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute 45 days to bring their 1012 Water Avenue property up to code or the city says it will demolish the building. They placed a letter on the building. The owner also had 10 days to notify the Code Enforcement Office of its plan to bring the building up to code or destroy it. The deadline expired on July 23.

Selma Code Enforcement Officer Lola Sewell said the department received a letter from Walker on July 16 “to extend the deadline and asked for more time.”

The Code Ordinance Office sent a response letter to Walker, requesting to speak with the engineer and contractor for her plans on the building.

Sewell said she hasn’t heard from Walker since.

“Hopefully, she will call us back with the correct information,” Sewell said.

Walker did not return comment from The Selma Times-Journal.

The building is in violation of Selma City Codes 6-101 and 6-103 and Alabama State Code, section 11-53 (B)-1. The violations were noted after Selma City Code Enforcement Officer Samantha Livingston inspected the building. The back has a large hole on the river-facing side of the building. The city’s letter said the cost to demolish the building will be the owner’s responsibility. 

According to documents from the Dallas County Courthouse and Faya Rose Toure, wife of Senator Hank Sanders, the National Voting Rights Museum owns the building through the 501-C3, a non-profit organization.

 “I hope that something can be done to save this historical site,” Toure wrote in an email. “If it is demolished, it will leave an unsightly ‘hole’ on Water Avenue. As I understand it, the Museum simply does not have the financial resources to make the repairs or perform the demolition. If the Museum Building is to be saved, the City of Selma and the public must save it.”

The original National Voting Rights Museum was founded in 1990. Its founding members include Hank and Rose Sanders, Louretta Wimberly, Marie Foster, Dr. CT Vivian, JL Chestnut Sr., Connie Tucker, Amelia Boynton, Albert Turner, Attorney Carolyn Varner and Perry Varner. The museum moved to Highway 80 East in 2010.