PERRY, Ga. — At Tuesday’s city council meeting, City Manager Lee Gilmour brought forward a resolution committing to certain water and sewer rate adjustments to service a $50 million loan from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.
According to the public access agenda package, the money is required for the engineering and construction of the East Perry Wastewater Treatment facility. The 30-year loan would require an estimated annual payment of $2.4 million.
“The Authority is the best, and possibly only, source of funding and after FY 2026, the council may not have to increase rates as high as estimated based on operational costs and customer growth,” the document read.
The provided example bill showed a $74.85 current average monthly service bill (no natural gas), with a water/sewer rate adjustment of 7%, or $1.19. The percentage of total increase to the city services bill would be an estimated 1.53%.
The council unanimously approved the resolution.
Subject to further review, council unanimously approved the contract assigning the construction manager at risk for the East Perry Wastewater Treatment project.
Alyssa Madon, owner of Canine Clubhouse, approached the podium regarding a concern between her business and the City of Perry.
According to documentation provided by Madon, her business was notified the city would be completing sewer work through her property between the dates of Oct. 20-28.
Since Canine Clubhouse tends to “high-energy” dogs, offering boarding and daycare needs, the sewer work would interfere with the provided services. She also said that the city officials involved were not clear on their communication regarding the project, resulting in confusion and a loss in funds.
“Due to the sewer project, we were forced to have to cancel doggie daycare for the allotted workdays,” the documentation read. ” … We ended up having to cancel doggie daycare through the whole month of November, totaling five weeks of closure.
“With five weeks of doggie daycare cancelled, our small business lost a total of $4,800. We are asking if there is any way that the city could reimburse us or credit our account, as we had to close part of our business down for the city to work on our sewers.”
City Attorney Brooke Newby commented on the situation following Madon’s remarks.
“There was a request that was submitted for legal review, relative to the city’s right to enter and also perform construction work on an easement; it’s our legal right to do so,” Newby said. “Also, the owner of the property granted that right years ago for the city to exercise those rights to be able to come in and make those improvements that are needed to the sewer system for other sewer systems.
“I would be concerned about setting a precedent. For this particular case, if we were to look at what that may impact the city going forward, whenever we would need to enter onto other private property where we do have a legal easement, to be able to construct and improve, not just maybe our sewer system, but also our water lines and our gas lines.”
Councilmember Joy Peterson commented next, saying that since Madon’s business was affected, this called for a different kind of attention.
Mayor Randall Walker asked City Manager Lee Gilmour if filing an insurance claim was the next best step.
“I’ll follow up and see what happened on that,” Gilmour said. “Standard practice is, we go by what our insurance carrier says relative to this.
“We do not control the schedule or make requirements of these contractors when they come in for these big projects. We encourage them to work with the affected property [owners].”
The mayor apologized for the inconvenience, advising Madon to file an insurance claim with the help of Gilmour. The city would then take the appropriate steps following that filing.
Gilmour brought forward a resolution appointing Holly Wharton, previously the community planner for the City of Perry, to become the city’s next economic development director.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re able to promote a very qualified person internally,” Gilmour said.
Council unanimously approved the resolution.
Council unanimously approved a fee adjustment resolution following an evaluation regarding solid waste and stormwater charges. This resolution also involved the change in zoning fees mentioned in the previous work session.
Newby spoke on a code amendment to the Code Section 18-5, relative to speed limits and PTV operation within the city’s downtown area.
Council unanimously approved to reappoint Trish Cossart to the Main Street Advisory Board for another three-year term.
Bryan Wood, community development director, spoke of a text ordinance to amend the Land Management Ordinance relative to the Downtown Development Overlay District design guidelines (unanimously approved), a text ordinance to amend Code Section 6-10.2 of the Land Management Ordinance relative to access roads for subdivisions and to establish lot drainage standards (unanimously approved).
City Attorney Brooke Newby brought forward an ordinance amendment relative to Right of Way Applications and Permitting (unanimously approved).
City Manager Gilmour spoke on an ordinance to amend the FY 2023 Operating Budget (unanimously approved).
The public is invited to attend city council work sessions, pre-council and council meetings. Mayor and council meet the first and third Monday and Tuesday of each month at the Perry Events Center, 1121 Macon Road.
View the live-streamed meetings by visiting the City of Perry Government Facebook page, and find the meeting agendas and information packages at perry-ga.gov/escribe-agendas-minutes.
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