The Peru Gazette

The Peru Town Board held its regular meeting on Monday, October 26, 2009 and scheduled a public hearing on the town’s preliminary 2010 budget. The public hearing will be held on Thursday, November 5^th at 6:30 p.m.  As proposed, the budget promises a decrease in general fund spending and a modest increase in highway and water department spending. Both town general and town highway tax rates will decrease.

The preliminary 2010 budget proposes a general tax rate of $2.07/M down from $2.16/M last year. The preliminary highway tax rate is $2.44/M. Last year the highway rate was $2.51/M.  Water district #1,2 &3 rates are proposed to increase from $1.47/M to $1.84/M. The water district increase is related to financing the capital improvements made to water plant last year. Sewer rates will decrease from $.35/M to $.16/M because certain capital improvement bonds have been paid off.

General budget total expenditures decreased from $1,350,944 to $1,322,851. Highway Department total expenditures increased from $1,306,914 to $1,421,755 primarily because of the need to replace a tandem plow truck and the Denton bridge. The entire preliminary budget can be seen on the Town of Peru website.

In other actions the Board: Read more »

The Watertown Daily Times reports

Click here for the Diocesan Directive

The Watertown Times reports

The New York Observer reports

By Christa Reyell 

On behalf of the Catholic Daughter’s of St. Monica’s Court 2598, we would like to thank everyone who participated in St. Augustine’s Parish 3^rd Annual Walk of Faith held on October 11, 2009 making it a huge success.  Together, we raised $1214.42 to help support The North Country Mission of Hope and The Jamaica Project. 

Feedback from walkers and participants attending was pleasing. The views from St. Patrick’s Oratory were amazing, the coming together of our parish and community was welcoming, and the weather was perfect. Read more »

Here is Superintendent A. Paul Scott’s news release

The Peru Lions Club held the 15th annual Stanley Hughes Golf Classic at the Barracks Golf Course on September 13^th.  Thanks to the sponsors listed below more than $4,000.00 was raised. The money will be used to support local programs in sight conservation. These include eye exams and glasses for those who could not otherwise afford them. Part of the proceeds will also go to support a new pedestrian trail in the village of Peru. The Lions Club is supporting the project organized by the “Friends of the Little Ausable River Trail” whose aim is to improve the quality of life for the residents of Peru. On behalf of the club we would like to thank them for helping to make this year’s event a success. Ed Eisele, Dave Dalton, Jim Kieslich Golf Tournament Committee Peru Lions Club Read more »

The Watertown Times reports

The Town of Peru’s Highway Department will be going back to their regular hours of operation
 
7:00 am to 3:30 pm, Monday through Friday starting today, 10/27/09.
 

The Press Republican reports

See the Peru Central School website for more information

Public Hearing on Water-Sewer District Extension at 6:30 p.m. followed by Regular Meeting 

AGENDA TOWN BOARD REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 26, 2009 @ 7:00 PM Read more »

The Press Republican reports

By John T. Ryan

An Editorial

If you are a Peru resident who doesn’t care for the taste of chlorinated water or you’ve been concerned about those periodic Town of Peru warning letters regarding disinfection by-products you may have gone to local unmonitored “springs” and filled your containers with that great tasting “spring” water. My advice is to stop!  After many months of procrastination, I brought a sample of the “spring” water I’ve been consuming to a local lab for testing. While the water tested negative for ecoli bacteria, it tested positive for coliform bacteria and the lab advised me to immediately stop drinking the water unless it was boiled. I took a second sample to the lab and received the same laboratory report. The water came from the popular “spring” a few hundred feet from the Harkness Methodist Church. The water is not safe to drink. Read more »

The PostStar reports

The WSJ’s opinion 

The New York Observer reports

The New York Observer reports

The Post Standard reports

By John T. Ryan

The Town of Peru Zoning Board of Appeals approved five of its six agenda items on October 21, 2009.  One item was tabled because the person filing the application was not present. 

 The Board:

• Approved Raymond Desso’s application for an area variance for the construction of a garage at 15 Locust Drive. 
• Approved George Knight’s special permitted use application for three apartment units at his 2998 Main St. property opposite Stewarts. Knight presented drawings depicting parking for six vehicles. Dr. Charles Dilzer spoke and was highly complimentary of the work Knight has done in restoring this building and the adjacent home known as the Fitzpatrick property. The board approved the Knight’s plan which still must go before the Planning Board for site plan review.
• Approved a variance request for Karen Duval at the corner of Red Fox Lane and the Blake Rd. Duval needed to adjust lot lines between two adjacent properties.
• Approved Eric Duquette’s application to operate a catering business as a home occupation at his home at 325 Route 22B (the former Green residence). Duquette plans to remove the outdoor boiler on the property, an old garage and various additions that have been made to the rear of the 1800’s era home. He said the home will be restored to the look it had in the 1960’s and will be brought up to code. His family-operated business will cater very small events such as birthday parties. His wife is trained in home economics and hopes to host evening classes for small groups.
• Approved an area variance requested by Ralph Ciocca for his Dashnaw Rd. subdivision. The variance will give Ciocca a 50-foot road access to two lots on the large property.
• Tabled a non-conforming use application for an office at 3691 Rt. 22 filed by Tam Phung.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports

The PostStar reports

The Watertown Daily Times reports

NCPR reports

The Times Union reports

By Adele Douglas

If you’ve driven by the old Heyworth Village location and wondered what was happening down there, it’s just another example of the town’s crews being hard at work. Chad Frechette of the Highway Department is filling-in around the base of the 1836 Heyworth building.  The lovely new red roof on the building (color selection by Carol Allen) was partly paid for by a grant through Senator Little’s office.

Mike Farrell, Chad Frechette, Brian Duprey, Tom Rock, Orville Keyes and Scott Houser have been on-site over the past couple of weeks as part of the town’s contribution to an Environmental Protection Fund grant project to develop the site for passive recreation and historic interpretation.  Click here to see the Heyworth/Mason Park Plan

So far town crews have trimmed trees, set-out silt fence, removed the old asphalt and cleared out around the base of the building to allow mason Ed Reynolds to re-point the lower section of the building. 

It’s thanks to Mike Farrell and the Highway Department crews, and Greg Timmons and his Water and Sewer and Parks crews, who make many of these grant funded projects possible.  By fitting the work on these special projects into their regular schedules it allows the town to use their hours and the use of town equipment as a match for state or federal grant funds, instead of cash.  Another example of this is the playground project at Little Ausable Park that was completed a couple of years ago.  

Matt Houser and Mike Hanlon putting together the 500+ piece puzzle that became the new playset at Little Ausable Park.

Town crews will also be helping with the new School St sidewalk and the Little Ausable River Trail, both planned for construction next year. Thank you gentlemen for working so hard and saving us money while we get some great projects accomplished!