During Tuesday’s Selma City Council meeting, Tom Bolton, Chief Development Officer for Priority Soldier, Inc. addressed the council regarding plans to establish the Black Belt Veterans Resource Center (BBVRC) in Selma.

The resource center envisions taking control of a number of properties to offer a variety of services to veterans in the area, including medical care, counseling, transportation services, housing and more.

In an executive summary from the organization, plans include turning the former Homewood State Certified Assisted Living Facility into a potential home for veterans and spouses, transforming the old Good Samaritan Hospital into a home for homeless and transitional veterans, utilizing Sky Hill Animal Society for emotional service animals for veterans and more.

During the meeting, Bolton said local veterans are currently traveling to Montgomery to visit the Veterans Affairs office there and often have to wait six to eight hours only to be sent home without receiving care.

“We want to do this for our veterans,” Bolton said.

Bolton was seeking a resolution from the council stating that the city is behind the effort and Selma City Council President Corey Bowie announced that the council had already drafted a resolution.

Selma City Councilmen Sam Randolph and John Leashore, both veterans themselves, stood alongside Bolton as he received the resolution and praised the council’s commitment to serving veterans.

Velma Shufford, whose son was murdered in November of last year, also addressed the council, simultaneously requesting that the city contribute an additional $3,000 to a reward fund for information on her son’s murder and criticizing community members for not speaking up.

“Selma is too small for nobody to speak up,” Shufford said. “They got the wrong mama because I’m not going to let it rest. No one should murder someone cold-blooded. Our community is falling apart because we are the demise of our own neighborhoods.”

Shufford has secured a $1,000 reward from CrimeStoppers for information related to her son’s killing and has submitted a petition to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to secure an additional $5,000 for relevant information – the city’s contribution would bring the total to $9,000.

Shufford voiced frustration over residents’ refusal to come forward with information on murders in the city and the Selma Police Department’s (SPD) apparent delay in taking action.

Bowie stated that a resolution was being drafted, which would secure the reward money for information relevant to any of the more than 20 cold cases in the city, including Shufford’s son, who will be specifically named in the resolution.

Following Shufford’s remarks, which nearly brought Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson to tears, Doug Buster, of the Cemetery Preservation Group, briefed the council on plans his organization has to repair and renovate Selma’s three city-run cemeteries.

Buster stated that the group plans to clean and repair headstones and walls in the cemeteries and is hatching a plan to allow local organizations to adopt portions of the cemeteries for routine maintenance while so many of the city’s employees are out of work.

Though Buster said the work would likely take “several years” to finish, the council approved a motion to allow city attorney Woodruff Jones to work alongside Buster to draft a partnership contract.

In its consent agenda, which was approved despite opposition from Leashore regarding the payment of legal fees, the council approved the following measures:

• Retire Shorty, a K9 with the SPD, to his long-time handler, SPD Officer Matthew Smyly, for $1;

• Designating July 5, 2019 as an extended holiday for city employees;

• Payment of $2,154.50 for legal fees;

• A Class 1 retail liquor license for Club 27 and Dripz Lounge;

• A Special Events retail license for Saturday’s “Jazz on the Grazz” and the upcoming Empower Music Festival;

• Enter into an independent contractor agreement with Candi Duncan to oversee this year’s Art Camp;

• Allow Jackson to work with the City of Gadsden on behalf of the City of Selma to ensure the city is in compliance with federal and state codes regarding traffic lights;

• Increase gas tax budget by $125,000 to cover the cost of traffic signals, street repairs, cave-ins and painted lines.