Born to an ethnic Czech American family in Cleveland, Perk dropped out of high school at 15 and later took correspondence courses to earn his high-school diploma.

[1] As mayor, Perk benefited from his good connections with President Richard Nixon, allowing Cleveland to obtain federal funds to aid neighborhoods and to help crack down on city crime in the era of Irish American mobster Danny Greene.

In 1975, voters passed a 1% sales tax to create the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, know locally as RTA.

[6][1] In 1972, three years after the Cuyahoga River fire and Mayor Stokes's efforts to clean it up, Perk formed the NEORSD-or the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

[8][9] After leaving the U.S. Attorney's office for an unsuccessful run for County Prosecutor in 1972, Jones was brought in to the Cleveland Legal Department to assist with NEORSD matters.

Perk had stated that he was counting on running against the incumbent senator, Howard M. Metzenbaum, who had been recently appointed to the seat by then Governor John J. Gilligan.

Subsequently, in 1977, Perk suffered an upset defeat in the non-partisan primary for mayor, finishing third behind Dennis Kucinich, a former political ally, and Edward F. Feighan.

[6] On October 16, 1972, he accidentally set his hair on fire when he attempted to use a welder's torch for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the American Society for Metals at the Cleveland Convention Center.

[6] In another incident, Perk's wife, Lucille, famously rejected an invitation from First Lady Pat Nixon to an event at the White House in order to attend her regular bowling night.

[6] Perk also appointed Richard Eberling in 1973 to chair a committee to redecorate the mayor's office in City Hall, a move that proved unpopular with numerous sources.

Eberling was later found guilty in the death of Ethel M. Durkin, a Cleveland area widow; he also linked himself to the Marilyn Sheppard murder in Bay Village, in 1954.

Circumstantial evidence also links Eberling to at least four other murders committed over a period from 1946 to 1970 that involved his stepfather, his purported girlfriend, and both of Mrs. Durkin's sisters.