Perry Council considers prohibiting transient merchants in future

On Monday evening, September 20, Perry Mayor and Council met at the Perry Events Center for its second work session of September. The ongoing topics were discussed in a timely manner, as the council stuck with their scheduled agenda.

The council members began to establish their 2022 meeting calendar, which will be released in the coming weeks. Following up on a September 20 work session, the administration recommends council allocates an additional $10,000 to the Development Authority of the City of Perry’s FY-2022 budget for façade grants. It was also recommended that the current Downtown Development District Façade Grant program’s guidelines and eligibility requirements exclude landscaping and signage.

Also at the meeting, the mayor and council greatly discussed the prohibition of transient merchants. Bryan Wood is the director and head of community development in Perry. Wood said in the past, occurrences have shown light on an issue with transient merchants coming to the city of Perry. “People come to towns for events to sell items such as T-shirts, but they usually don’t have a permanent place of business, said Wood.

Referring to codes by the City of Perry, any firm, corporation, or person, as principal or agent, or both, which is not a regular retail or wholesale merchant with a permanent place of business in the city, but rather one (1) who displays samples, model goods, wares or merchandise in or upon any lot, building, room or structure of any kind, whether fixed or mobile, for the purpose of securing orders for retail sale or such items of like kind or quality for immediate or future deliveries. Recent issues show that some transient merchants do request approval early enough ahead of time. However, many other transient merchants request approval as late as a day or two before. The delay in approval causes many issues with the procedures and process of receiving their certified license. This also causes a late delay in hiring efficient and suitable police officers to regulate the transient merchants.

Many local figures do not believe these transient merchants are bringing in enough monies and funds to cover the issues that come along their being allowed to sell. Among those who do not believe the transient merchants are bringing in enough funds is Bryan Wood himself. Wood mentioned that a recent motorcycle event and Donald Trump rallies are past events that saw this trickling effect.

“We are going to be requesting council consider prohibiting them; we don’t think they bring in enough funds to cover the amount of time it takes to address them, and we are not sure if they promote the image that Perry wants to have,” said Wood.

After a few short council and staff items, the work session was adjourned. Wood’s remarks will be considered at the next Perry Council meeting.

Perry Mayor and Council meet in a regular session on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 6:00 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 5. Items that were discussed during Monday’s work session will be discussed at length during the next council meeting. The general public is welcomed to attend.

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