The city of Selma is now running the historic St. James Hotel because the hotel's management company terminated its contract.
Gourmet Services of Atlanta had been running the downtown landmark since 2007. Now the city is organizing volunteers to help operate the hotel until a new management company or individual can be found. A member of the volunteer committee, Patty Sexton, says phones will be answered, reservations made and rooms cleaned. She told the Selma Times-Journal (http://bit.ly/17Uvw5k ) that the city has invested too much in the hotel and it is too valuable to let anything happen to it.
The 42-room hotel was built in 1837. The St. James promotes itself as one of the last riverfront hotels still operating in the Southeast.