Perry agrees to join county in Sandefur Road improvements

PERRY -- The city wants to partner with Houston County to revamp a portion of Sandefur Road.

At its Monday work session, the Perry City Council agreed in principle to pay for half of the cost of repairing, resurfacing and restriping Sandefur Road between Lake Joy and Houston Lake roads. The county will pay the remaining half.

The road itself lies in the city, although the land adjacent to it is not. The total cost is estimated to be between $285,000 and $315,000.

The council will vote on the project at its regular meeting Tuesday, and members appeared Monday to be in agreement.

Councilman Randall Walker said the city likely wouldn't be able to do the project itself anytime soon without help from the county.

"With the county willing to pay for half of it right now to go ahead and get it done, I think it's a no-brainer for us," Walker said.

The city's portion of the project will come from the special purpose local option sales tax.

The agreement was the result of a meeting last week between Walker, who is mayor pro tem, Mayor Jimmy Faircloth, County Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker and Commissioner Larry Thomson. It was among several potential joint projects discussed.

One that did not get an immediate OK from the council was a proposal from the county related to fire services. Stalnaker suggested that Perry provide fire services to county residents currently served by the Meadowdale Fire Department. Stalnaker said it is a low-call area that only received 69 calls in 2015.

In return, the county would pay the city $500 per call. Faircloth said he has questions about whether the city could legally do that considering that it charges a fire fee to city residents. County residents served by that fire station would be getting the city service without paying the same fee.

After Monday's meeting, he said it might be that the only way for the city to do it is to charge the fire fee to the county residents being served. That would be in lieu of the $500 per call. The fee is in addition to property taxes and is charged for improvements made to property, based on a scale.

The council also agreed to work with the county on striping South Perry Parkway. Most of that roadway is in the city, but a portion falls in the county.

The total project is expected to cost $80,000, and the county will pay $20,000 of that.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Perry agrees to join county in Sandefur Road improvements ."