Jody Lassiter
PERRYVILLE — The co-owners of an antique store in Perryville are making a surprise proposal to take over the leases on many of the historical properties there when the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association disbands within the next few weeks.
The association leases include historic Merchants Row properties, including one currently used by Paul Webb and Jerry Houck, co-owners of Les Parri Vieille Antiquities. They asked the council if there might be a door opened for them to submit a proposal.Perryville KY news, Perryville City Council, economic development
The lease on the community building that houses the city’s Perryville Revitalization Main Street Program also is set to expire July 1.
The association also plans to turn over to the city properties the PBPA currently owns. These include the Opera House, the Johnson House, and the Bond & Mill property.
Discussions by a committee formed to look at the issue led to the decision to consider a shorter-term lease — no more than five years — of the buildings, instead of the 99 years that had been in place.
Council members Harold Jones, Jennifer Bodner and Matt Bottom were joined by city attorney Lynne Coleman and Mayor Anne Sleet in those discussions.
Bodner said shorter-term leases would allow the city better oversight to ensure the condition of properties.
Jones also suggested placing the community center in the package instead of having this building separate from the others, as it is now.
“A single contract would make it easier to administer,” he said.
Perryville Revitalization Main Street Program not only exists to promote businesses downtown but also has offices on the second floor of the community building, so director Vicki Goode has a practical interest in assuming the leases, Bodner said. She added it was the only entity that had expressed interest in taking over the leases.
This changed Thursday night.
“As business owners down here — not anything against Vicki or Main Street — I have a huge investment at stake, and I feel I should be putting something into the mix,” Webb said.
“This, what we have here, is a diamond in the rough, and I just want to make sure our interests are considered,” he said.
The council agreed the door is open for additional proposals, but emphasized time is of the essence and asked the new proposal come to the committee within the next few weeks.
“We are not going to open it up for bids or anything,” Bodner said.
In other business, the council voted to approve the five-year solid waste plan as proposed by Boyle County Solid Waste Director Donna Fechter.
The council also heard from Economic Development Partnership President Jody Lassiter, who asked for and received the city’s agreement to allow the EDP to continue acting as a free, outsourced economic development service.
He revealed the EDP is in talks with a New York group representing a “small-batch distillery,” which is looking hard at Perryville as a potential new location.
The council also approved a bid packet for a garbage contract to include language making smaller companies able to compete.
Tim Simpson’s request for an official “artist in residence” title was approved.
The 2011 audit report was presented followed by a first reading of the 2012-2013 budget ordinance.
A special session for a second reading of the budget is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today, with the next regular meeting moved to 7 p.m. July 12 because of the Fourth of July holiday.
