The City of Perry is forming a new committee to review the City’s firework ordinance.

Several Council members and Mayor John Andorf expressed they’ve received more complaints about fireworks compared to years prior at the most recent City Council meeting this past Monday. Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn spoke at the meeting and reported his department received 66 firework related calls, three regarding property damage and issued three citations over 4th of July weekend. Three community members spoke in favor and against fireworks in the City

Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson says there’s a variety of reasons for the increase in fireworks, “It was acknowledged that it’s kind of a different year for everybody with this pandemic going on. It was acknowledged that people were probably just blowing off a little bit of steam this year and that it was worse than prior years. It’s also a little bit of a matter of the 4th of July falling on a weekend. With next year’s 4th of July being on a Sunday, we’re kind of expecting a little bit more of an issue Friday night, Saturday night going into Sunday, then Sunday night with people off the next day.” 

To get ahead of another possible problematic holiday, the Council formed a committee featuring Council Members Randy McCaulley, Barb Wolling, and Chief Vaughn to discuss how the City should handle fireworks moving forward. This committee is expected to update the Council at the next meeting scheduled for August 3rd.