Perry Council makes redistricting decisions

Because of Perry’s growth and 2020 Census results, Mayor Randall Walker and council, along with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, worked out a plan for redistricting the city of Perry at the city council meeting Tuesday.

Laura Mathis, executive director with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, and her staff brought maps forward to the council — including a three-district plan featuring two council members per district and a five-district plan featuring one member per district with one representative at-large to join one of the districts.

Mathis explained that the Plan “1B” would maintain the city’s current position at three districts, while making six council members an election requirement. Each district would receive two members.

“In developing this three-district plan, it maintains a majority-minority District One,” Mathis added.

The five-district plan would make each district smaller, and the number of citizens represented in each one would also decrease, she said.

Councilman Willie King and Councilwoman Phyllis Bynum-Grace called attention to the city’s diverse growth, and representation for people of color was essential to keeping the city on an inclusive path.

“We want to be able to have representation in each district,” King said. “We had to fight to get it to this point, so we don’t need to exclude it no more.”

King went on to say he felt that the three-district option with two representatives in each district was the best solution, in his opinion.

Bynum-Grace said she wanted to see a portion of Oldfield Lane to be rethought in terms of redistricting.

“Who better understands what my needs are better than me or someone like me?” Bynum-Grace asked.

Councilwoman Joy Peterson said she thought the five-district plan would be the tougher option considering it would leave just one person overseeing one whole district.

“I think sharing responsibilities in a district — having a person to share it with — is important,” Peterson said. “Being the lone person in a sizable district would be more difficult, but it would just change the dynamics of the whole thing.”

Lee Gilmour, the city manager of Perry, reminded the mayor and council of the Dec. 10 deadline that must be met for state legislature to review the potential redistricting plan.

The state Office of Legislative Reapportionment would be in charge of overseeing the plans before the state legislature reviewed them, according to Mathis.

The mayor and council went on to approve the Plan “1B” in a unanimous vote.

Earlier in the meeting, Perry’s finance manager — Mitchell Worthington — brought attention to a problem with a stormwater pipe running parallel to Valley Drive. He said the pipe runs under the driveway leading to a city pump station, and it had rusted the whole length along the bottom.

He said city officials had contacted local vendors and received one bid from TNT Utilities totaling $15,000 in repairs.

Ansley Fitzner, the city’s public works superintendent, said the new pipe added to that location would be made of polyethylene instead of the current metal and would prevent corrosion.

The council voted unanimously to approve an emergency contract to TNT Utilities since the nearby gas and sewer lines could be affected if the issue wasn’t handled quickly.

The city’s network connectivity capabilities need an update, according to assistant city manager Robert Smith.

During the pre-council meeting on Tuesday, he said city officials have drawn up a plan for a facility fiber connectivity project with help from Hargray Communications, and the plan would help in improving communication and internet access for employees of city government facilities.

“We’re increasingly providing more and more services — and more and more of these services are being provided digitally,” Smith said. “We’ve been experiencing some issues communicating across our various facilities, and it seems these have increased as of late.”

The solution would be a dedicated fiber network with gigabit capability and a dedicated bandwidth for the government systems, Smith said. This solution would cost the city $55,000 per year, but Smith said it’s a solid investment for improving the city’s network.

Councilman Willie King mentioned the prevalence of hackers and asked if this solution would keep the network at risk.

“Because it’s a physical connection — so it doesn’t rely on the internet at all — hackers would actually have to climb the pole, cut the fiber, [and] break into your network,” according to Mike Baker, a sales engineer with Hargray Communications. “So it’s virtually impossible for them to do that.”

The council approved the fiber connectivity project to move forward.

Also during the pre-council meeting, Fitzner with city public works mentioned she had received a call recently from a concerned citizen regarding bagging yard debris using plastic bags.

She said for every five bags residents use to bag yard debris for roadside pickup they receive a $3.50 credit on their utility bill total. She added that Lowe’s has a nearly $3 option to use paper bags.

Officials with the local landfill said they have no problem mulching yard debris along with the plastic bags it’s contained in, according to Fitzner. She said it’s her department’s recommendation to continue with the use of plastic bags to hold yard debris for roadside pickup, considering the cost.

According to Perry Fire and Emergency Services Chief Lee Parker, the Perry Fire Department recently chose the winners of their annual fire safety poster contest. He said officials with the department picked the winners based on artistic quality, creativity and clarity.

Parker said the winners included Kelli Pomazal (honorable mention) and Paxton Wood (runner-up), both students of Langston Road Elementary School. Ella Cannon of The Westfield School took the first place prize, and Parker said she’d be riding on the fire truck during the Christmas parade. She’ll also receive a ride to school on the truck some future morning, and she and her class will have a pizza party with members of the fire department.

Later, Parker said the Insurance Service Office will be lowering the city’s rating to “3” as of Dec. 1, and his department is working on an official release to notify residents of the next steps in addressing the change with their fire insurance providers.

Perry Police Chief Steve Lynn introduced Sgt. Jacob Laster in regard to an award received from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in the Governor’s Challenge for 2020-2021.

Laster explained their goal was to eliminate roadway injuries regarding seatbelt use and impaired drivers.

Lynn went on to introduce the department’s recently hired part-time logistics technician, John Howell.

“I just wanted to say how grateful I am for the opportunity,” Howell said. “I’m looking forward to assisting Perry P.D. in any way I can and hopefully become an asset for them.”

Mayor Randall Walker read a proclamation recognizing the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27) as Small Business Saturday in the city of Perry.

Following this, Perry’s downtown manager, Jazmin Jones, said people should follow the “Shop Downtown Perry” Facebook page to stay updated on upcoming events. Participants of Small Business Saturday will be able to receive tokens for participating and given a chance to win 250 “downtown dollars,” she said.

Saturday, Nov. 20, will be Holiday Open House and will also give people a chance to shop and see the downtown area, Jones said.

Sedrick Swann — Perry’s leisure services director — said the three- and four-year-old basketball league is off to a great start with 400 participants and 22 on a waiting list. He added they have players coming from as far north as Macon and as far south as Unadilla.

“They pass a lot of rec. departments to get to Perry,” Swann said. “So I think that’s a testament to us trying to move forward and do great things.”

The city will be dedicating Andrew Heights Park at 700 Charlse Avenue at 4 p.m. on Thursday — according to Perry’s senior communication administrator, Tabitha Clark.

She said the park’s dedication is part of the Downtown Development Authority’s master plan to provide more inclusivity in the downtown district.

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