I don't know what those perl scripts are doing, but still...
Use cron, and write your perl scripts to be one-shot deals. cron will run your script on time every time, so you don't have to fork 'em.
Have your Perl scripts check for a lock file. If it exists, delay for a whort while with sleep to make sure the other finishes. When there's no lock file, write one, do what you need to do, and then delete it.