PERU – Peru selectmen discussed Packard Road Monday night when a resident pointed out that school buses will not use the road.
Andrew Arsenault presented the selectmen with a letter he received from John W. Turner, superintendent/principal of the Peru School District. Turner indicated that since Packard Road was unsafe for the school bus, the Arsenault children would be picked up and discharged at its intersection with Tower Road.
The Arsenaults have had frequent discussions about their road with Road Commissioner David Gammon. Gammon was on the agenda to discuss other matters at this meeting, but he was not in attendance. Selectmen Chairman Andy St. Pierre pointed out that Gammon had failed to appear at the last six or eight meetings. When Selectman Kathy Hussey called Gammon and requested that he come discuss the Arsenaults’ problem, he agreed to come and showed up shortly thereafter.
The Arsenaults said that when they built their home they had a good “tar” road. Spring storms in 2002 damaged their road. Gammon replaced culverts and did other work on the road that summer. Damage done to the pavement during the maintenance operations, combined with the storm damage, led to his decision to remove the pavement and make this a gravel road.
Gammon and Arsenault agree that the grade of the road is too steep for a satisfactory gravel road and that the road needs to be paved.
Since the road was turned to gravel, the road has frequently been impassable for standard vehicles, Arsenault said. Often attempts to maintain the road have made it worse, rather than better. Arsenault said that on one occasion, when he complained that recently completed work had left the road impassable, a former town employee threatened him with bodily harm.
Each morning the Arsenaults must walk their children approximately a half-mile to the bus stop and, for safety, wait with them for the bus. Each afternoon they must wait for the bus and their children. Frequently they must leave their automobile at the intersection and walk, as it will not negotiate their road.
Gammon suggested several possible solutions to the problem.
Since there is no money available to repave the road this year, Gammon said other steps will be taken. He will investigate placing recycled asphalt on the road and rolling it to compact the material. Gammon will report back to selectmen at their next meeting.
The selectmen and Town Clerk Vera Parent discussed the balances remaining in various accounts. The account for operating Rockemeka Hall is nearly exhausted. St. Pierre said that the board will not overdraw any account.
The Peru Historical Society and Families in Crisis, which regularly meet in the town-owned building, will be invited to the next selectmen’s meeting.
If an additional source of revenue is not found, the town will be forced to close the building.
The town has a road used by the Peru Fire Department to access Mill Pond as needed to fill its firetrucks. The town wrote the owner of land abutting this road indicating that his tenant is apparently responsible for damage and obstruction of this road and trashing of adjacent town property.
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