Council holds short, productive meeting

PERRY — In a brief meeting Tuesday, Perry City Council passed two ordinances and completed a flurry of other business.

After the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Jimmy Faircloth opened the floor for presentations and recognitions.

Tian Foss, executive director of Houston County Family Connection, presented the mayor and Council with a game based on Monopoly, which is the first fundraiser Family Connections has done. Because of the City’s support, it has a spot on the board. The board can be purchased at Gottwall Books at the locations in both Perry and Warner Robins as well as the Museum of Aviation.

Foss also personally thanked Fire Chief Lee Parker and Chief of Police Stephen Lynn for their assistance at Teen Maze held on the Warner Robins campus of Central Georgia Technical College in November. Foss said the maze will take place again in the spring with students from different schools participating.

City Manager Lee Gilmour recognized Sara Nottingham and Todd Ennis for earning the National Certificate of Public Works Management.

Gilmour said earning the certification requires the completion of a 90-hour classroom program. He said Nottingham and Ennis dedicated a lot of personal time and dedication in order to complete the program. Faircloth said completion of the program shows the level of commitment and excellence city employees dedicate to their jobs and themselves.

Finally, Gilmour introduced to Council Perry’s new landscape manager, Ansley Fitzner. She earned a bachelor’s of landscape architecture degree from the University of Georgia and then began her career as a landscape crew worker at Hilton Head and worked her way up to crew leader. She also worked for a landscape company in Atlanta before joining the City of Perry’s landscape team.

In a public hearing, Bryan Wood, director of community development, addressed Council about amending Articles 1 through 10 in the Perry Land Development Ordinance. The amendments are to make the document more user friendly as well as update regulations, Wood said. Several departments worked together in order to amend the document.

Also in the public hearing, Wood explained a request for a special exception for a residential business. The business, owned by Ailya Jenkins, would do hair styling at the owner’s home. As she is not a licensed cosmetologist, she is not allowed to dye hair or provide other services that full beauty salons may offer.

Jenkins spoke to Council explaining that she would only take on a few clients a month to style their hair, which can sometimes be an hours-long process. She has no employees and can only take one customer at a time, which means that her residence has ample parking for customers.

After the public hearing closed, Faircloth explained that if amending a document, Council is not able to take action immediately. However, he said, there are exceptions such as in the case of in the case of the hair styling business in which Council can take a vote after hearing comments from the public in favor of or against an issue.

With the presentation by Wood and further explanation by Jenkins, and hearing no comments against the proposal, Council voted unanimously to allow the special exception for a residential business.

Council also held the second reading of an ordinance amending the Perry Code by deleting Article III, which is about the transient occupancy tax, and adding a new Article III. Transient occupancy taxes apply to hotels and other various businesses that house travelers short term. Council approved the ordinance unanimously.

It also heard the second reading of an ordinance to amend the Perry code section dealing with solid waste collection and disposal. Council also passed this ordinance unanimously, so now businesses will have a set time frame in which to make sure any dumpsters visible to the public are enclosed behind a fence or gate to be hidden from view and that they are placed on a solid foundation.

Council then heard from Gilmour about amending the Perry fee schedule. The schedule has not been changed since 2013, and Gilmour recommended an increase in the totter fee from $20.40 a month to $20.70 a month to reflect close out costs. Council unanimously approved.

In other business, Council:

• Heard of the need for an appointment to both the Perry-Houston County Airport Authority and Perry Housing Authority. Faircloth said that although names have been suggested, Council has yet to make any selections;

• Adopted the minutes from the Nov. 20 work session, Nov. 21 Pre-Council meeting and Nov. 21 Council meeting unanimously. Councilmen Randall Walker and Robert Jones both abstained due to absences;

• Heard the first reading of an ordinance to amend the Perry Land Development Ordinance as described by Wood earlier in the evening;

• Heard the first reading of an ordinance to amend the Fiscal Year 2018 Operating Budget;

• Unanimously approved a resolution re-appointing David G. Walker as prosecuting attorney and John Hulbert, Matthew Hulbert and Brooke Newby as assistant prosecuting attorneys for the Municipal Court of the City of Perry;

• Unanimously approved a bid to repair the roof of the Perry Volunteer Outreach building at 803 Commerce St. to the sole bidder Pittman Waller Roof Co., Inc. in the amount of $11,660;

• Unanimously approved a bid to make renovations to the Animal Control Administration Building to the sole bidder JW Shuttlesworth LLC in the amount of $52,481.97.

HHJ News