Perry talks stormwater districts

On Monday at Perry’s work session, the city council concurred on several topics, including considering parcels to be removed from the stormwater utility district.

City Manager Lee Gilmour said that removing the parcels is the right thing to do for the city.

“The original setup for the stormwater utilities district was all of the parcels in the city. Going back and reviewing that, there are some parcels that are adjacent to the county in an unincorporated area, and water drains off in that area the city has nothing to do with.

“We are recommending to take them out of the district. It’s an issue of fairness, and if you don’t provide any service to the parcels, then we really shouldn’t charge them for anything because it’s a utility fee and not like a tax.”

Some of the parcels that meet the criteria to be removed from the stormwater district include Guardian Centers, Cross Point Baptist Church, Heritage Baptist Church and the Abba House, among others.

In other business, the council agreed to increase the speed limit from 35 to 45 mph on Airport Road and between Perry Parkway and US 341.

“It is going to be a better reflection of what the current traffic patterns are right now,” Gilmour said. “Those portions of Airport Road are farmland on the side, and that is one thing that police and fire looked at. There are no public safety issues for that section we are recommending.”

Also on Monday, the city talked about a leisure planning meeting follow-up regarding the recreation priority committee and what their duties will entail. Some of the duties will include scheduling and coordination of activities at City’s parks, program youth and adult organized sports activities, supervision of the Perry Arts Center and develop and coordinate senior citizen programs.

Mary Beth Bass, Economic Development Coordinator said that having the committee will be made up of different people and that it will help the city.

“It’s part of our overall strategic planning process that we have been going through with mayor and council and we will have six key issue or priority areas and each will have a subcommittee that are made up of department heads, staff council and outside agencies,” Bass said.

“What they will be doing is putting together strategies, policies around leisure and recreation, the mayor and council can use that to guide their work over the next 18 months or so. ”

Bass said that this process started back in April and mentioned the need to solidify the vision for Perry and start putting some meat on the bones about having a strategic plan for the city in all areas. The committee will have up to eight members and goal is to start their work in Jan. for two to three month intensively and then make recommendations to council.

Lastly, Gilmour presented to the council an idea of bringing a potential dog park to Calhoun Park in Perry. He said that it would be located behind the tennis courts at the park and mentioned that dog parks in demand these days with communities. Gilmour plans on proposing this new topic with a layout plan

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