On the evening of Friday, March 1, the Perry Mayor and Council met for their first work session of 2021. Work sessions were scheduled in January and February, but due to COVID-19 prevention, they were canceled. Council moved through Friday’s agenda without much delay.
City Manager Lee Gilmour started the meeting off under the Items of Review section with an authorization for the establishment of a new water retention pond and storm water connection charge on Langston Road. “The city will be paying from the general fund and will be paying for the purchase of the property itself,” he said. Gilmour also explained that the estimated cost for this project ran between $700,000 and $760,000. The council reached concurrence with the city manager on this project, with all votes going in favor.
Gilmour then moved on to his next topic of discussion: issues pertaining to residential street parking. During a Perry Council meeting that took place on December 14 of last year, Perry Council requested for the city manager to do research on how other cities, the same size as Perry, were dealing with residential street parking issues. What Gilmour found was that any plans developed by other cities to deal with this issue “have been met with a present resistance.” Therefore, city administration made a collection of suggestions. Firstly, that the council abstain from creating any enforcement ruling on residential streets unless a successful petition came forward to request change. Their second suggestion, according to Gilmour, was that, “homeowners need to enforce neighborhood covenants.” And finally, the third suggestion was that certain streets—both major and minor collectors—have parking only on one side, unless “there is currently sufficient space for parking,” explained Gilmour. The council reached unanimous concurrences on these suggestions.
Staying within the office of the city manager, Assistant City Manager Robert Smith brought forward a plan to assist in the maintenance of fire hydrants around the city. Currently, the hydrants are maintained by Perry Fire Department. “The city needs to look toward a more concerted, focused effort pertaining to the maintenance of our hydrants,” Smith explained. He went on to state that due to an increase in calls, the fire department has been having a harder time performing this maintenance. The goal of the city manager’s office is to create updated database containing information on the hydrants on the city, and they do that by contracting the maintenance to Utilivision Inc. The council, when asked to vote, reached unanimous concurrence.
Economic Development Administrator Ashley Hardin introduced a number of options for updated and newly installed pedestrian lighting for the hotel/motel areas in the city of Perry. Council elected to wait until they could do their own research before making decisions on which lighting fixtures to choose.
City Attorney Brooke Newby brought forward a decision for the council, this one pertaining to legislation that allows the delivery of unbroken packaged alcohol to people’s homes. State law allows this, with some stipulations such as age and certification-requirements. Council opted to remain aligned with state law rather than superseding.
After a few short council and staff items, the meeting was adjourned.
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