Council cancels fall sports

City Manager Lee Gilmour asked council to give their input on the subject of the Department of Leisure Service’s fall sports program for youth and adults during Tuesday’s regular meeting of Perry Mayor and Council.

Director of Leisure Services, Sedrick Swan, advised council that the department had been watching the actions of the Georgia High School Association and planning around them, noting that the GHSA had pushed back the start of the high school football season. Swan explained that it was also the position of the Department of Leisure Services to push back the programs and adjust the schedule.

Swan noted that Peach County, which the city has a partnership with, has decided to cancel their fall sports programs. Swan shared that the department had planned to consider other alternatives, such as youth tennis and other sports that required less contact until the best direction could be determined for the city.

“Just to be honest and frank, I don’t see how we could pull this off safely, but I just wanted to do all that we can for our citizens to see if we can offer the service,” Swan said later in the discussion.

Councilman Daryll Albritton posed the question of football registration, inquiring as to when the fees are paid by the participants as well as when the equipment, such as uniforms, are ordered. Swan replied that fees are paid at registration, which Swan noted concluded last Saturday, and that the ordering process for things like uniforms had been pushed back. Swan also clarified, at the request of Albritton, that the usual beginning of the season was at the end of August or the first week of September, adding that soccer began in September also. Albritton expressed that he felt that a decision might need to be made that night regarding the subject of the sports programs, or at the next council meeting, citing concerns of reimbursement of monies paid by participants.

Agreeing with a previous comment made by Councilwoman Phyllis Bynum-Grace as well as those made by Albritton, City Manager Gilmour shared that he did not foresee a change coming from now until September, and that he did not want the city to be in the position where the money for the programs was spent, but then had to be canceled, assuring that the city would not be keeping money for programs that were not going to take place.

“As far I can tell, there is no indication that any of these programs are going to be in a relatively safe environment to proceed,” Gilmour iterated, continuing that he believed that it would be best to “bite the bullet” and cancel the fall sports programs, which Swan clarified would include soccer, football and cheerleading. Council concurred with this recommendation.

“We really hate to do that, and these are really difficult decisions that we are having to make. I hate that we have to make those decisions, but in the vein of protecting the youth of our city, I think it’s the only thing that we can do at this point in time,” Mayor Randall Walker said.

In other business, City Manager Gilmour offered recommendations regarding the International Fire Code appendices after follow up information relative to the issue was presented to council at Monday’s work session. Gilmour explained that council had received four examples that showed the difference between the appendices and the standard requirements under state code. Gilmour pointed out that when it came to the subject of downtown improvements, there were great savings and better options in having the appendices rather than the standard codes.

Gilmour also pointed out that Fire Chief Lee Parker had presented a list of cities comparable to Perry that use the appendices either in a formal or informal way.

Gilmour recommended that council “retain the difference of the hydrants” at 300 feet for commercial, and 500 feet for residential, as well retain the 400-foot structure perimeter examination, both of which are already in the Perry code. Gilmour further recommended that the city adopt appendices B and C, as well as require that there be a mandatory meeting between owners, owners’ representatives, and the city to review what the city’s requirements are, when building a structure that is not a basic single family home or duplex.

“Currently, the community development department, in conjunction with the fire marshal, is willing to meet with folks anytime, anywhere. One of the problems I’ve noticed is, sometimes due to an anxiousness about getting started, or not familiar with the process, owners or developers or contractors proceed with what they think is best, and then they get caught with code violations—and not just with appendix B or C, just general building requirements,” Gilmour explained, further noting that this recommendation included that if there was not a meeting to occur between these parties, then no permit should be issued.

Lastly, Gilmour advised that there could be appeals or disagreements to what comes from the city fire marshal. If that were to happen, the city would then send those to the state fire marshal for a determination.

If council was to concur with these recommendations, Gilmour said the process for an ordinance regarding the issue would need to start again. He pointed out that the ordinance on the meeting agenda regarding fire codes did not include the appendices.

Council gave permission for the process for the ordinance to start from the beginning, and the matter will come back before them for a first reading at a later date.

Also on the agenda, council passed a second reading of a text amendment relative to murals unanimously. Director of Community Development, Bryan Wood, explained that the text amendment would remove the current provisions for murals and set up a separate section outside of the sign ordinance to address the subject. According to Wood, this process would require murals proposed inside the downtown district be reviewed by the Main Street Advisory Board, while mural propositions outside of downtown would be reviewed by staff. This amendment included different standards for the murals, as well as time period attached to the mural permit, and an appeal and renewal process. Other processes included were ones for mural maintenance and violations to address damage, fading, etc.

City Manager Gilmour later advised council that, in light of the passing of this text amendment, a resolution should be passed, ending a previous moratorium placed on murals by council. A resolution was passed by council to end the moratorium on murals with an effective date of July 21.

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