Perry discusses EPA’s Brownfields Grants

At Perry City Council’s regularly scheduled work session Monday evening, the city’s finance director, Mitchell Worthington, brought news that a 12-inch sewer main under Houston Lake Drive had collapsed near the Sunset Avenue intersection.

Because of the risk of road collapse and additional sewer backup, the main was fixed temporarily to continue its flow. Worthington mentioned city officials had received two quotes regarding damage cost, which were $115,630 and $126,000. City council members will vote at Tuesday’s regular council meeting regarding an emergency contract proposal to potentially accept the lower-priced option.

Chad McMurrian, the city’s engineering services manager, outlined 2022 priority list revisions regarding damaged roadways around Perry. He said the street reviews were based on severity in different sections of highlighted streets and a higher priority had to be set on the more severe cases.

Some of these cases include: Airport Road, paving on Plaza Drive, cracks on Main Street near the railroad, realigning and repaving of Main Street, potholes and asphalt work on Oldfield Lane, and the eastern part of Tucker Road near Keith Drive. The work on Tucker Road will also include repaving a section just before Devonwood and replacing a storm water culvert underneath. This construction should begin soon and be completed in November.

The old Stanley property just off Macon Road has the potential to be fixed up using up to $500,000 in federal grant money, according to Assistant City Manager Robert Smith. Since further environmental inspection showed contamination in different areas of the site, Smith asked the council to move forward with the application process for a Brownfields cleanup grant application.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields is a federal program that “provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties,” according to the EPA website. The former furniture store site has been demoed and the soil stabilized using sod and appropriate irrigation.

Keith Ziobron, a senior principal and branch manager with CARDNO, outlined the estimated budget of the Stanley project expenses with the council. Ziobron and CARDNO are serving as a consulting source between the city and potential bidders for the project, assisting with cutting unnecessary expenses.

CARDNO is a global infrastructure, environmental and social development company serving both private and government clientele.

“Our goal is to work with our clients, to minimize their financial exposure and capitalize on other opportunities,” said Ziobron. “It’s just a matter of making sure the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

The Brownfields Cleanup Grant could provide the city an “80/20” offer, where the grant will provide a check to cover expenses up to $500,000 while the city would have to match up to $100,000 (20%), or whatever corresponding numbers would result if the project didn’t tally up to those expense maximums. This budget will include initial professional site testing, fencing, soil removal and concrete removal among other things.

The council also asked Smith to bring forward an additional potential Brownfields application at Tuesday’s meeting. This grant would include a $500,000 maximum payout and no required match from the city. City officials would use the money to review other sites around Perry and potentially make them more marketable.

Smith said it’s a better move going through the EPA instead of an independent bank for these funds because any other lender besides the EPA would require some type of environmental property inspection anyway.

Perry City Manager Lee Gilmour mentioned there was only one position in the city for transient merchants, or a vendor without a dedicated business within a city but receives license to set up shop in a particular area. He said that one position is on Sam Nunn Boulevard, between I-75 and Mason Terrace Road.

There’s some area for merchants near the state fairgrounds, but officials from the Georgia National Fair requested no additional vendors be present since it would cause surrounding competition between them and the fair’s vendors here recently.

Gilmour said the transient merchants, in general, show up for large events like the national fair, the recent motorcycle rally, as well as the recent Trump rally. He said there could be issues with vendor licensing if the application isn’t submitted with ample filing time.

He said this can lead the police department and code enforcement division to make these vendors tear down shop, as well as hinder city customer service workflow.

The administration’s recommendation is to cancel the transient merchant process within the city and possibly offer vendors an opportunity to sell on major surrounding roads.

“I think it’s the free market system,” said Councilwoman Joy Peterson of District 2 Post 2. “I think we’re denying that an opportunity.”

Mayor Randall Walker said he’s supportive of Perry’s brick-and-mortar businesses and their owners.

“These transient merchants aren’t paying property taxes,” said Walker. “Our citizens here that are in business are my first focus.”

The city’s finance director, Mitchell Worthington, also proposed a vote regarding additional police vehicles added to the department’s current fleet. The 2022 fiscal year budget featured nine new cars approved since the department added four new officers recently and five new vehicles were required as part of their replacement program.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic caused supply chain issues, Prater Ford, Inc. is offering the city the new 2022 models for the price of the 2021’s at $40,753.14 per vehicle.

During the council member’s time for comment, Councilwoman Peterson mentioned she had an event in the works with the city governmental chamber where key figures in the community could meet with relocated and recent Perry business owners and partners, serving as an “open communication opportunity between the city and its members.” The date of that event will be Nov. 17 at 3 p.m. An address will be reported timely when available.

Mayor Walker closed out the meeting with reports of some coming events, including a redistricting meeting with the Regional Commission on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. in Macon. An address will be reported timely when available.

Perry’s third annual Oktoberfest will be at Rozar Park on Oct. 23 from 6-10 p.m. Make note that the State of the Community being held on Oct. 26 at 11:30 a.m. at the Board of Education’s annex building.

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