PERU – Twenty-five people attended Saturday’s public hearing to discuss referendum articles to be voted on next Saturday.

Last year, Peru voted to eliminate its traditional town meeting and replace it with a public hearing followed by a referendum. Selectmen’s Chairman Bill Hine said the change was in hopes of getting 2,000 voters instead of the 40 who normally showed up at town meetings.

An article authorizing a $400,000 bond for roads was the center of most discussion. The bond issue is estimated to cost the town $501,820 with interest over 10 years. The money will be used for several major road improvement projects. Hine said, “If we keep going the way we are, we’ll never get roads done.”

While Road Commissioner David Gammon had issues with how the projects would be administered, he said it would take 88 years to get to all of the town’s roads at the rate they had been going.

Hine said larger contracts would allow the town to get more for its money than smaller annual contracts. He said the town was exercising due diligence by hiring a professional inspector to oversee a project of this magnitude. He pointed out that this might be a good year to do this work, since cutbacks in state paving would leave the contractors looking for work and possibly offering lower bids.

Hine said he was, “Not sure the road commissioner is always on the same page with us.”

Gammon replied, “Most of the time I ain’t.” Gammon made it clear that he “doesn’t agree on having an ‘out of towner’ handling town roads.”

Bob Dolloff said a claim that the town was debt-free was misleading since it was liable for the school debt. Town Clerk Vera Parent said that while the town was ultimately responsible for the school debt, the debt was in the school’s name.

Tracy Arsenault complained that the proposed work did not include East Shore Road on Pleasant Pond. She said that road has steadily deteriorated since she moved to Peru. “I was told my road would be on there and it isn’t,” she said. Several joined her in complaining about the road and the town’s failure to follow up on promises to fix it.

Hine said that it would cost $750,000 to fix East Shore Road right, and Gammon said that it would cost more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars to just grind and pave it without addressing the underlying problems with the road.

Hine began the meeting with the articles on nonprofit organizations seeking funds from the town. That was done to accommodate organization representatives who wanted to speak. In general, the organizations have other sources of funds but ask towns to participate to show support in the form of matching funds or covering expenses not funded elsewhere.

Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice Foundation assured selectmen and voters that it will only invoice Peru for the $1,363.50 it requested, even though the article, due to a misprint, authorizes payment of $3,163.50.

The budget total will be $612,422.79 if all articles pass. Last year’s budget was $600,610.80.