The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

The Peru Town Board was in Executive Session discussing unspecified personnel issues for almost 90 minutes at its Thursday, October 7, 2010 meeting. In public session the Board discussed acceptance of the new federally-funded School Street sidewalk. The contractor (Tracy Trombley Construction) tamped the sidewalk using a vibrating machine. Mechanical tamping is prohibited under the terms of the federal specifications. The matter has been referred to the N.Y.S. Department of Transportation. The Board is hopeful that the D.O.T. will approve the sidewalk.

In other actions/reports:

The Board set meeting times and dates for its budget workshops.

• Wednesday, October 13th – Highway Department
• Monday, October 18^th – General, i.e. Town Hall, Board, etc. The workshop will begin with a presentation by Tish Biesemeyer of Burnham Financial Services on the outlook for health insurance costs.
• Thursday, October 21^st – Water and Sewer
• Wednesday, October 27^th – Final Budget Workshop to discuss any remaining issues

Learned that the Laphams Mills Park fence should be completed no later than Monday, October 11^th.

Supervisor Peter Glushko reported that a model dog licensing law has been received. The counselors will review that law before passing any new local ordinance.

Approved an $80 ad in The North Countryman newspaper for the paper’s annual fire department tribute edition.

Discussed the $24,961 NYS Records Management Grant which the town was recently awarded. Two individuals have expressed interest in performing the records management work; however, the Board feels an obligation to award the grant to the individual who wrote the grant and comes highly recommended. Fifty-percent of the grant monies should be received in about four weeks.

Grant writer Adele Douglas advised the board that an 80-20 recreational trail grant has been advertised. It could fund an excavating machine which could be used for both park and trail work. The rental cost for this machine is $2,500 per month and the town anticipates about six months of future work. Highway Superintendent Michael Farrell will investigate the cost of a new machine to determine if applying for the grant is feasible.

Supervisor Peter Glushko reported a typographical error in the tentative budget. An $80,000 figure in the mailing expense account should have been $10,000 reducing the total amount to be raised by taxes to $794,000.