Sven Peterson (pictured above)
Four organizations within the Perry community came together on Tuesday for an event to share information with residents.
The City of Perry, Perry School District, Perry Economic Development, and the Perry Chamber of Commerce joined at the Hotel Pattee for the first-ever “Perry Power Hour.” According to Chamber Director Lynsi Pasutti, the program is intended to provide the latest happenings from each of those groups.
City Administrator Sven Peterson was the first presenter as he highlighted that the Perry Parks and Recreation Department has resurfaced the basketball court at Wiese Park as well as the American Legion Hall in order to host community events, and has built an indoor athletic training facility at Pattee Park. He mentioned that city is working to revitalize the downtown area with reconstruction projects including the alleyway behind Wells Fargo, the parking lot on the corner of Warford and 1st Streets, then reshaping two blocks of Warford Street from 1st Street to 3rd Street and 2nd Street from Willis Avenue to Warford Street, which will cost about $4 million.
Up next was Perry Schools Superintendent Clark Wicks who started with the Elementary’s “Fun Day,” that was held in May, encouraging kids to be active outside and learn to engage with each other. He moved on to review that 151 seniors graduated for the Class of 2025 and the week of the ceremony, the students were able to walk through the halls of all the schools to be celebrated. Wicks said that this summer, the school district is putting up two new playgrounds for the elementary school, and has a budget amount of $10.2 million.
The third presenter was Perry Economic Development President Jeff Huitt as he discussed the addition of the Italian-based company ADR Axles that is placing their North American Headquarters in Perry later this year. He added that he was proud that the economic development fundraised the money to help build Hotel Pattee.
“I know personally that I’m proud to come in here, and I try to come in here on a regular basis, and come in and see the local people that are here. We hold a lot of meetings here, and I think we all take for granted a little bit this beautiful hotel that we have in town to host people, because we can really brag on it, it’s beautiful.”
The presentation finished up with the chamber, as Pasutti went through statistics of 2024 including posting 400 member events on the chamber community calendar, more than 13,000 event page views, as well as 76 jobs postings resulting in over 3,000 views, and upward of 300 people are subscribed to the Perry Chamber Happenings Around Town newsletters that is issued every week. She concluded that a lot of summer events are coming up with the farmers markets, 4th of July celebration, and the annual chamber golf outing. The next Power Hour event is scheduled for September 23rd.
Clark Wicks (below)
Jeff Huitt (below)
Lynsi Pasutti (below)
