PERRY, Ga. — At Tuesday’s work session meeting of mayor and council, Ansley Fitzner — city public works superintendent — came forward with a slideshow featuring concept designs for Phase II of Legacy and Heritage Oak parks.
“What we’re looking for tonight, really, is any feedback and discussion on these elements and whether these are some concepts you’d like to move forward to the next phase of design or if there’s something else you’d rather see in these two areas,” Fitzner said.
Legacy Park is located at Main Street, General Courtney Hodges Boulevard as well as Carroll and Commerce streets.
She explained that its potential Phase II design was driven with the realignment of Main Street in mind, with the road curving where the old Jaycees building used to be located.
Some major changes could include sidewalk connections from existing park space down to the historic building site, which would go on to be a City of Perry museum. There would also be adjacent patio space and restrooms as well as a sidewalk connection down to Rotary Centennial Park across Big Indian Creek.
A natural stone cascading water feature would be located near the Sinclair station. The changes could also include a relocation of the Confederate monument from the old courthouse building — what will be the new City Hall — down to this area. A notable citizens wall would also serve as a retaining wall for the lawn space next to it.
Fitzner said to remember this is all still in the concept phase, and she does not currently have a timeline for completion.
“Being that this is just a concept, it still at least needs basic engineering and probably some structural architectural work for the different buildings, so I don’t really know [a timeline],” she said. “I would think it would be several months out before we would have something ready.”
Council member Joy Peterson said she appreciated the potential new location of the Confederate monument, but she would want Perry citizens to be made aware well in advance if it was to actually end up being relocated.
“I think it’s just a beautiful relocation of the Confederate monument,” Peterson said. “[I know it’s] been a huge issue, seemingly more so for people outside of Perry than within — and I think this is a beautiful alternative … I hope because we are so aware of people’s strong reactions to things like this, that we’ll make it publicly known before the equipment shows up to remove the statue so that everybody knows what’s going on and that it’s going to a much prettier location than where it’s at right now.”
Fitzner said there would be a public notification process, and the new location — with it being near the historic cemetery and the future city museum — could be a more appropriate location.
New additions to in Heritage Oaks Park Phase II would mostly include a restroom building, a 10-foot wide concrete walking trail, a dog park as well as the extension of water and power to this area for festivals and other events. A paved concrete walkway from the parking area would also be added.
Finance Director Mitchell Worthington said the city has the option to purchase some 2022 model year pickup trucks from local dealers. He was given consensus to move forward, and the council will go on to discuss this again at Tuesday’s meeting.
Lee Gilmour, city manager, spoke on a new potential animal policy and resolution.
The first portion of the resolution would include the city working with any designated group that comes in to adopt an animal. The second portion states that city staff must evaluate animals for dangerous behavior or a history of such things, and if they find that is the case, they would not allow that animal to be adopted.
The city manager would establish the adoption hours based on available staffing and public interest. Right now, the city is considering Saturdays for adoptions, potentially a time of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The city would make use of various social media platforms to make the public aware of animal up for adoptions.
Due to state law, any animal adopted out of a city facility must be sterilized, or if the animal is not of sexual maturity, the city must determine a process for making sure the people that adopt that animal go on to have them sterilized.
“The only fee that the city is proposing to charge right now, because of extent of the cost, is the sterilization cost,” Gilmour said. “We’re not talking about adding any other type of cost.”
He said the city might consider contributing something to that respective cost. These fees would be non-refundable, and once the animals are adopted, they could not be returned. Gilmour recommended if the city were to assist in the sterilization, it should not include more than 10% of the cost.
Mayor Randall Walker said he would like to see the city pursue receiving grants from the state to cover some portion of the spay and neuter costs instead of placing some of that cost on city taxpayers.
These considerations would be up for more discussion and vote at Tuesday’s meeting.
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