Starting a business in the city of Perry

Houston County has been coined as one of the most progressive counties in the state of Georgia. Perry, one of the three cities in the county, has experienced exponential growth in the past few years, and data points to the direction of continued expansion moving forward. With more growth and people moving to the area come new businesses. New businesses mean a thriving economy, but it also means more people asking the question, “How do I start?”

One of the first steps to establishing a business in the growing Perry community will be to find the point of contact for all of your business related concerns and questions. The Houston Home Journal spoke with Perry City Manager Lee Gilmour and Economic Development Administrator Ashley Hardin to better understand the city’s method of walking new business owners through the process.

When prompted who to first contact, Gilmour provided three names: Ashley Hardin, Community Development Director Bryan Wood and Downtown Manager Jazmin Thomas. According to what the needs of the business owners are, they would need to contact one of those people to begin planting their roots.

Gilmour shared that as the community development director, Wood and his staff can consult with the people and “say what’s advisable, what historically has been done, what’s the process you need to do…whatever the case may be.” As the downtown manager, Thomas would deal with business directly related within the downtown limits and address any restrictions related to that.

“Everything is all online,” Gilmour informed. “But usually a faster way, which we recommend, would be to contact one of those people. They will follow up based on the information that they provide through databases and such.”

“We are seeing more businesses come to Perry,” Hardin verified. “We’re seeing people because of COVID; they’re coming to Perry and living and working remotely or seeing people come and start businesses because they lost their jobs somewhere else due to COVID. Or, they had some kind of connections to Perry.”

As the city’s economic development administrator, Hardin can help a new business owner identify locations through her vast selection of commercial realtors and narrowing down the needs of the particular business. After assisting with the site location, Hardin then can help with recommendations to various banks and lenders for financing. Another service provided is the connection to the Chamber and other business start up assistance programs for education and mentorship purposes.

“A lot of what I do is kind of creating the dots, and then connecting the dots for people as well,” shared Hardin. “Some of what I do is behind the scenes…and nobody knows about it. I just am happy knowing that I helped something really great happen in Perry.”

Hardin also revealed that the year holds a lot of promise for growth. “We’ve got a lot of commercial properties under contract right now. We’re going to see some really great things happen in 2021.”

Though within Perry city limits, many of those commercial properties are not within the downtown district that Jazmin Thomas would specifically handle.

“For a while, we had a lot of open space, but they all have filled in—or a good portion of them,” Gilmour shared. 

Hardin confirmed the lack of space. “Right now we don’t really have a lot of places to put people downtown. Downtown is full; our vacancies are less than 5%.” As a testament to the growth Perry has recently experienced, Hardin stated that the vacancy percentage sat at 30% just three years ago.

However, she also addressed that General Courtney Hodges Boulevard has potential for business growth. “We do have a few vacancies left on Courtney Hodges; new office space there. We’re going to see some other new Courtney Hodges redevelopment this year.” Putting more details in perspective, Hardin shared, “We have a new sites and buildings database and currently we have four buildings on it, and 24 sites. So we have a lot more land than we do physical places like buildings to put people.”

Over the past year, the economic development team has come together with the Chamber to create a comprehensive business guide for starting a new business. Included in the guide is a step-by-step process that a new business owner should follow to properly establish their business in the city.

The business guide provides a checklist for initial business startup activities, which reads as the following: 

• Set up corporate structure (LLC, S-Corp) through your attorney or CPA 

• Create a business plan and/or marketing plan (website, social media, etc.) 

• Plan your financing (If additional capital is required, commercial lenders require owner investment-have your finances in order) 

• Identify your location and determine if its zoned appropriately (see Zoning) 

• Sign lease/purchase property 

• Obtain necessary permits for building construction/renovation 

• Are you ready to open your doors? 

• Obtain your sign permit (see Signs) 

• Obtain a building inspection for a Certificate of Occupancy 

• Obtain city business license (also called Occupational Tax Certificate at the Taxes and Licenses Department at City Hall)

Each point has further explanation detailing the importance of each step, items to address and contact information for necessary parties with each category.

“It’s pretty comprehensive,” Hardin expressed. “We tried to make it simple, not something that’s too painful.”

The guide also provides a quote from Mayor Randall Walker, stating, “Perry is growing rapidly and has more than 18,000 residents with a 5.15% annual population growth rate. The City issues, on average, 40 single-family home building permits a month. The growth rate exceeds that of the State of Georgia and the U.S.!”

With that information, starting a new business in Perry could be a great investment for new business owners. For more information on what is needed for your specific business, please contact Ashley Hardin at 478-988-2755, Bryan Wood at 478-988-2720, Jazmin Thomas at 478-988-2761, Lee Gilmour at 478-988-2700, or visit the city of Perry website’s business start up guide at https://perry-ga.gov/economic-development.

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