October 25, 2025
Councilmember Publicly Criticizes Mayor Over Meeting Dispute
SELMA — A Selma Town Council member has publicly criticized Mayor Byron McAllister, alleging that he improperly prevented her from speaking during the closing moments of last month’s council meeting.
During the regularly scheduled meeting on August 12, Councilmember Susan Watson requested to speak before the meeting adjourned. However, Mayor McAllister, who presides over the council, refused to recognize her, effectively silencing her attempt to address the board.
Watson later explained that she had intended to ask fellow council members about holding a special meeting to receive updates on several ongoing town projects from Town Manager Alexis Carter. Because the mayor denied her the floor, she said, the request was never made.
Watson addressed the issue during the September 4 town council meeting, where she read a prepared statement during the public session, voicing concern over the mayor’s actions.
Councilmember Susan Watson’s Comments
What is Civil Discourse? It is respectful, constructive communication about public matters with the aim of fostering understanding and finding common ground, even amidst disagreements. It’s about engaging in conversation with mutual respect, listening attentively, and focusing on issues rather than personal attacks. Civil discourse is crucial for a healthy society, for enabling informed decision-making and for bridging divides.
You know, one of the most difficult things about civil discourse is being placed in that position where your response to a situation could tarnish the image of the board that you are serving.
At our August 12th meeting, I was placed in that position. I knew, that according to the rules of order, I could press for a “point of order” ruling but in that split second, I chose to “take the hit” and move on.
My own integrity and that of this town had to outweigh my emotion around being treated so unfairly. Now, after that gavel dropped I did defend myself.
What is most hurtful though, is to know that others on this board actually spoke out in support of this “discipline” and made a judgement about it’s justification without having a thorough understanding of The Rules of Order. I want to encourage everyone who sits at this table, now and in the future, to start reading blogs and explanations around the rules.
I also want to mention, that for the good of this council and those to come it is important that we decide if we are going to follow our adopted formal rules or if we are going to operate in the same relaxed way that we are currently conduction our meetings.
According to the Legal Counsel of the NC League of Municipalities this is the core of the problem with how I was treated. The fact that we, as a council, have not been required to wait for acknowledgment from the chair in order to speak has set a precedent of a more relaxed way of doing business. It is fine to operate in this relaxed fashion but a chair cannot hold one member to the adopted formal rules and not the others. According to the league you simply cannot have it both ways. To do so would be applying the rules arbitrarily and with discrimination.
The League also confirmed that my opportunity to speak to the manager would not have been appropriate during my council’s brief. The council’s brief has, as a standard practice, been used to promote the good of our town. At the time that I was attempting to speak to our Town Manager, we were already in a conversation with her. That was, indeed, the appropriate time to speak to her.
So, suffice it to say, that with civil discourse, your hope is that your colleagues will treat you with respect and consider your feelings in the public arena, but this is not always the case. So, I ask this council when have any of you not been allowed to speak?
I can’t recall one time that any of you have been so disrespected.
According to the League, the only reason I could have been shut down was if I was being disruptive or unruly or trying prolonging the meeting in some way. I was not doing any of these things.
Yes, according to all rules of order, the chair does have the authority to control the meeting. But, I want to encourage our leadership, all of us, to consider the true nature of what it means to control a meeting. Control is the key word here. I am currently the chair of another much large board.
I consider control to mean the act of keeping discussions pertinent and on topic not a tool to exert authority with malice or spite over a board member with whom you are frustrated or happen to disagree.
Look around us. Several small towns are under scrutiny for overspending, fraud and misappropriation of tax dollars. I was being sent a message on August 12th and it was delivered out of spite and malice in my opinion and it was also delivered with a horrendous amount of arrogance.
That message was to stay in my lane, to stop asking questions, to stay quiet and blindly vote along with this board. That is a message that I am quiet frankly going to ignore. It is my job as a seated council member to ask the hard questions, to bring transparency to our citizens, to keep Selma out of the news and to uphold my oath to be prudent with the matters that concern Selma. You have my promise to continue to do just that.
Reached by email on Friday, Mayor McAllister released the following statement:
“I was happy to see Councilwoman Watson use the appropriate time, during ‘Council Members Report and Recommendations’ to share her opinions and feelings. It is important for our elected officials to share their stances and ideas about a myriad of issues to help guide Town direction. As we work to hone a first-class experience in Selma, NC, input about operations is needed. Information about our dealings with stakeholder boards like ElectriCities and our Upper Coastal Plains Rural Planning Organization will also be invaluable as we tackle the challenges of growth.”
The exchange has sparked discussion among residents about transparency, procedural fairness, and communication among elected officials.
It remains to be seen whether the council will revisit the rules governing how members are recognized during open sessions.
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17 Comments
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Seems like somebody needs to get out of her “feelings”. This just seems so petty. Grow up.
seems like the “elected mayor” needs to listen!? we pay him to do so. flip that coin if she was in his position and did this to him..oh my !
Apparently she was told to do it at the appropriate time. Was Susan elected or appointed?
Didn’t the town manager just get a big raise? Why? All she wanted to know was updates about updates on several projects the town manager is supposed to be active in. Did the mayor give the town manager the raise did anyone one else get a raise? Something to think about.🤔
depends, is $30,000 a year big or average these days? plus 400$ a month for use of personal vehicle and $4,000 to take the NC BAR exam.
Doesn’t matter, Selma is trash anyway.
This happens in other areas of government, namely the police department. If an officer decides that being hit in the rear makes both parties responsible for their own damages than that’s the way it will be. Even though we know 98% of the time if you’re rear-ended the car in the rear was 1) filling too close or 2) traveling to fast for conditions.
So, when a complaint is made by a counselwomen because she didn’t get to end the meeting with her final thoughts, then the Mayor, like the Policewoman, get to make the Final call no matter who’s right.
Reading these comments, first off, it doesn’t matter if she was appointed or elected. Being on the board, she should be allowed to have a voice!
Also, by no means was this Petty, it’s facts! In my opinion, Susan is honest and obviously working for the citizens of Selma. That fine lady was raised here, has served many residents with much care and compassion through her family owned Funeral Home. She has my utmost respect! I have never heard any unkind words come out of her mouth and I applaud Susan for the comments she made at the Council meeting! For the Mayor to tell her to stay in her lane, speaks volumes about our Mayor! Shame on him!
Susan Parrish Watson is and always has been an outstanding, intelligent, and compassionate person! Obviously, most of these comments are from people who do not know her in any shape or form!
Thank you Susan for speaking up and giving the Mayor a little education of the facts! Communication and transparency is the key to the success of any town!
Rock on Susan! 👏👏👏
The Mayor is truly a professional and an asset to this town. Sounds like the councilwoman felt her feelings were hurt and wanted everyone to know.
PS: I guess you think that Susan took the picture as well! 😂
I had an aunt with eight children. She always said, “There are three sides to every story – your story, my story, and then there’s the truth. So, as always the truth will prevail. Just wait and see.
Parrish Funeral Home has always been nice to me, and they handled my pre-planning, already, for my cremation in the future.
As one that is native to the Selma township, after my journeys in the professional world have rested, the question I have is do I want to have a presence in Selma? After much thought and networking, my family decided that at least 50% or more of our time would be invested in Johnston County.
When I heard Susan was on the town council, my mind was satisfied the decision my family made was positive. The Parrish and Rose families have been friends all my years. My two nieces who are my daughters I hope would model their public manners after Susan.
Governance needs transparency and advice and consent. Selma is between Daytona Beach and New York City. Our time is now for the leaders to meet with vigorous debate to make our community stakeholders see an opportunity for physical needs to be met, personal safety in our community and community acceptance.
When the head is corrupt, the body will be corrupt. My goodness people. Has the political landscape in this nation not shown that this statement is true? Order and rules should be followed. Why is the term “feelings” only used in reference to Susan? Why was the “shoe on the other foot” only used in reference to the mayor? How about all get their heads out of their rear ends and state the facts? If the rules of the council meeting were not followed or consistently enforced- therein lies the problem. Someone honestly said, “grow up.” Everything we have known in this nation is changing, and there is a current administration-RIGHT NOW-in real time-implementing actions that have not been seen since World War II. And it will only worsen because absolute power corrupts absolutely. Let’s scale this back down to Selma. Order has to be the structure of council meetings. Order has to be consistent. Order has no bias or gender, no feelings or opinions. If you cannot stand on that order- Town Council, Mr. Mayor- let someone else have your positions.
Please watch some past meetings. Please get involved before you make unwise remarks. Some people see what they want to see. You can attend these meetings as well. Help make our community better.
YouTube, search Selma Town Council
I watched the August 12th meeting! WOW Susan Parrish Watson had the most interesting questions but was overruled by the Mayor. Then in closing, he allowed all the other board members to speak, but he skipped right by Susan and she is the Chair of that board! The Mayor was totally disrespectful of Susan and I was appalled!
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Watch Mayor McAllister’s body language as the picture speaks volumes. It is what it is!