Conditions on Main Street are troubling people in Peru.
By Mary A. Standard
Special to the Sun Journal

PERU – Residents Pat Pelletier and J.R. Worthington complained to selectmen Monday night about conditions of Main Street.

Pelletier said that from the top of the hill on Main Street the shoulder to the road is in his driveway. He said there are several feet of sand from the winter still there, and the shoulder needs rebuilding. He also said ditching needs to be done.

Worthington said the asphalt is breaking up because it has been undermined due to poor ditching.

Someone else reported that several sections of edging on newly tarred roads is also breaking up.

Road Commissioner David Gammon was not present to answer the complaints.

Selectman Jim Pulsifer suggested the board check out the conditions with Gammon, especially the newly completed roads.

Peggy Turner of Families in Crisis Task Force asked selectmen what the social service agency could plan on for next year in regards to using Rockemeka Grange Hall.

The hall is owned by the town, which is nearly out of money to heat and maintain it for the rest of this year. The task force, which serves area towns, was given permission to use the building two days a week for a total of 10 hours to run its food pantry service.

Turner said the task force is not using the hall 20 hours a week as Pulsifer stated last week.

Pulsifer said the board had not originally expected the agency to run a monthly luncheon. He also said he resented the fact that the Task Force said the board was trying to balance the town budget on the backs of the Task Force.

He said he had no problem with the Task Force using the building.

The town raised $2,500 in January to pay for operating the maintaining the two-story hall, but due to the amount of use and the long, cold winter there is only about $280 left for the year. Board Chairman Norman DeRoche said last week that money will be taken from surplus to keep the building open through December.

Selectman Andy St. Pierre said he didn’t want to see the Task Force leave the building. If the town decides to fund the building for the Task Force’s use, he said, then the money should be in the budget.

Turner said the agency workers clean the building and pay for plowing in winter and sand.

She asked if the water could be used because signs were posted that said not to use the water.

Pulsifer said he will get the water tested again, but using the water for cooking and washing is not a problem. The well does need repairs to the cover, he said.

In other news, building permits were approved for Kevin Hostetter, Wanita Wilson, Wanda and Bruce Holmquist and Brian Lufkin.

Pulsifer said residents should get an approved building permit before starting construction on any addition. This would save the builders major expense if the permit was not approved.

Household hazardous waste collection for Peru residents will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Northern Oxford Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center on Route 2 in Mexico.

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