PERRY — Before the flurries of snow started to fall Wednesday morning, the Perry City Council had a flurry of its own Tuesday night.
The first order of business was to make an appointment to the Perry Housing Authority. The Authority had the opening since Dec. 31; however, Council members received the resignation of Penrose Wolf in November and had been looking to make an appointment for quite some time.
Council received several recommendations, one of which was from the Authority itself. Mayor Jimmy Faircloth entertained a motion to appoint Cheri Adams to the Authority, which was then made and seconded. Council approved the appointment unanimously.
The mayor then moved on to the next item on the agenda, which is appointments by the mayor and the council members from Districts 1, 2 and 3.
“For the benefit of the audience, each of these appointments serve during the term of whomever appoints them,” Faircloth explained. “Last year was an election for myself and this half of the table,” he said while motioning to Council Members Phyllis Bynum-Grace, Robert Jones and Randall Walker, who is the mayor pro tempore for 2018.
By Georgia law, because each incumbent qualified for office with no one else qualified to run against them, no write-in candidates qualified and no referendums were held, each incumbent was deemed to have cast one vote for him or herself. Therefore, no election need be held in Perry, and each incumbent was re-elected by one vote.
Under the agenda item, five different organizations were listed. The first appointments, which were to be to the Downtown Development Authority, were tabled due to more information being needed.
However, the mayor and three council members did make appointments to the Perry Planning Commission, Perry Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Authority, Perry Public Arts Commission and Perry Public Facilities Authority.
The four elected officials each made their appointment to each organization (see graphic).
There were also mayor and Council joint appointments to the Perry Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Authority, which were tabled until a later date. Faircloth then read the list of people to be appointed to the Perry Main Street Advisory Board; however, two of those people were also to be replaced. Bynum-Grace raised a concern with one appointment, Allison Hamsley, the executive director of the Perry CVB, because of Hamsley’s position with that organization and citing it was a possible conflict of interest.
Hamsley is employed by the CVB, not the City of Perry, and assistant city attorney Matthew Hulbert said there is no legal conflict of interest. However, due to Bynum-Grace’s concern, Hamsley’s appointment will be delayed until the next Council meeting. The other three appointments unanimously passed as recommended.
During the pre-Council meeting, a lengthy discussion ensued about the proposed use the city’s part-time special events coordinator for the Peaches to Beaches event. Director of Economic Development Robert Smith spoke against allowing the coordinator’s use in the event.
According to Hamsley, the CVB is not legally supposed to be a part of the event itself, but several years ago the then executive director decided to help with the event. Ever since, the CVB has been a part of the event even though Hamsley said the organization does not have adequate staff.
Council agreed that the coordinator’s time would be better spent on City events, and also suggested that the CVB not help with Peaches to Beaches after the 2018 event in March. Notice will be given to the other organizations involved that if he event will continue, it will have to be done without staffing from the CVB or city, except for special presences as requested such as police for safety issues.
In other business, Council:
• Unanimously approved the minutes of the Jan. 2 pre-Council and Council meetings. Jackson abstained from the vote due to his absence from those meetings;
• Unanimously approved proposed job classifications in the Department of Public Works career tracks by adding two new positions. Now, people in Public Works will advance from division supervisor I to division supervisor II and then to senior division supervisor;
• Unanimously approved two parts of coffin stacking. As discussed in the pre-Council meeting, two graves, which are owned by individuals and not the city, were to have a coffin lain in the grave when one person passed away and then later, the deceased’s spouse when that person passed would have a second coffin placed in the same grave. The city failed to catch two instances where a family had planned to stack coffins, so the first part of the vote was to allow the families to stack those coffins as planned. The second part of the vote was to amend city policy that prohibits coffin stacking. The city’s policy shall now allow two adult coffins per grave;
• Unanimously approved the Community Development Block Grant Language Access Plan, which shows that the city is able to handle requests from residents who do not speak English as a primary language. Robert Smith, director of Economic Development, said the city has some bilingual employees who can help with translation if the need arises;
• Unanimously approved the Perry Fire and Emergency Services Department to apply for a grant to help pay for new equipment. Because it is a federal grant, the city would be required to match 5 percent of the grant money. The grant is for the amount of $339,616, so the city’s portion would amount to $16,172;
• Unanimously approved the Perry Area CVB in partnership with Golden Isles Parkway to host the annual Peaches to Beaches Yard Sale Event March 9 and 10. Street closures include Main Street between Jernigan and Ball streets, Jernigan Street between Carroll and Main streets, and the city parking lot between Main and Ball streets. The East Gate Shopping Center will be included as an entrance but will not be closed off because the city does not own the property;
• Unanimously approved the low bid of Allan Vigil Ford of Morrow for a half ton pick-up for Landscape Manager in the amount of $21,394. The truck will be a 2018 Ford F150, but the low bidder does not qualify for the 7 percent local vendor preference; and
• Unanimously approved a resolution in support of HB419 in regard to noise ordinance from fireworks. The resolution does not prohibit the sale of fireworks in any way, but it does allow the city to act on fireworks according to existing noise ordinance policy.
Faircloth advised everyone to stay warm and off the roadways in light of the coming snow. The next city work session will be Monday, Feb. 5. The next pre-Council meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 6, with the Council meeting to follow that evening.
The public was then dismissed from the Council meeting so that mayor and Council could go into executive session to discuss pending litigation.
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