Be warned, residents of and visitors to Perryville, Chief Charlie Parks has an ordinance, and he is not afraid to use it.
Discussed in the regular session meeting of the City Council was the growing problem of pet owners who walk their dogs downtown but don’t clean up the excrement the dogs leave behind. Mayor Anne Sleet proposed an ordinance that would allow police to issue a citation and collect a $50 fine for each occurrence.
Also considered was amending some current ordinances to save money and time.
Parks performed an impromptu search of existing ordinances and found that the same one proposed already is on the books.
Parks also asked to have published the following:
“The City of Perryville will be strictly enforcing all city ordinances for tall grass; yards with excessive trash; blowing grass clippings into the roadway; abandoned vehicles in yards or on streets; and any other violations during the grass cutting season from April 1 through Oct. 1, so please keep your yards mowed and all unnecessary trash picked up and all junk vehicles moved away so we can keep our city beautiful and clean. If you own property in Perryville and do not live here, please make sure someone is taking care of your property to avoid violations.”
Council also moved a few steps forward in a no-pay contract with Tim Simpson as artist-in-residence. Simpson already serves in that role but having the title in an official capacity would allow Simpson to apply for grants and offset expenses for the free services he already provides.
Simpson is lobbying for the third floor of the Community Center, currently used as storage, as an artist’s studio.
Drafting an agreement free from any city liability and installing an additional upstairs door to bring the space into code compliance is expected to take less than two weeks. The council agreed to this plan once the details have been addressed.
