By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
In the days ahead, drivers familiar with this area can expect some surprises, like seeing Perry City Limits sign in Kathleen where Hwy. 127 meets Hwy 237, or further west on Marshallville Road than the sign is now.
There’ll be a Perry City Limits sign marking one portion of Sandefur Road in the middle of Houston County and signs will also be relocated further north and south along I-75 in due time, and those traveling from Hawkinsville will see a Perry City Limits sign all the way out at the Hwy 247 spur.
Does this mean Perry is growing by leaps and bounds or that the home and businesses you see from your car window after spotting one of those signs in now annexed into Perry?
No, it does not. It means that the road you are driving has been annexed into Perry at an earlier date and is under Perry’s jurisdiction
Perry Public Safety Director George Potter, in discussing the situation with the Perry City Council on Monday night, explained that the city has annexed those roads and their rights of way beyond the areas where adjoining property is within the city.
(The city has annexed land, for example, where schools such as Mossy Creek Middle School and Matt Arthur Elementary are located, in order to provide services for those schools, but surrounding areas are not in Perry.)
“We provide services all along those major arteries,” Potter said, noting also that traffic stops on those annexed highways made by the Georgia State Patrol are frequently within Perry’s jurisdiction, though the current city limits signs do not indicate that. This has meant that fines that should be paid to Perry are being paid to Houston County. The lack of city identification on those roads also poses a problem for 9-11 response, he said.
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