PERU — Friends of Peru Elementary School met Tuesday to brainstorm ideas on how to save the building. Nick Waugh, chairman of the committee, said he hopes the site will be a self-sustained community center.

Voters on June 28 decided not to spend any money to keep the old school building open. Previous ventures to generate funds to maintain the building, including renting space to the University of Maine in Augusta, fell through.

The committee is now attempting to find solutions to keep the 1937 building functional.

Both Tim Holland, committee member, and Nick Waugh stated their drive for the site was because the building has always been the heart and center of the town, a true sense of community.

During the meeting several residents supported that statement and showed interest in keeping the structure. Nancy Knox mentioned how she and her late husband had strong ties to the school, including her children attending kindergarten through eighth grade.

Pauline McKinnon recalled being on the school board during the 1980s and working hard to keep things running. She attended the meeting hoping to help again, but was concerned about the cost.

“It comes to a point if you can afford to even keep it,” she said.

Ideas mentioned included fundraisers, renting space, annual events and even starting a nonprofit business to run the building and activities. Bringing back events such as Summerfest was mentioned. Waugh’s initial vision was to rent space in the upstairs rooms and use the money to operate the building. He hopes the downstairs portion could be used for community programs and events.

Waugh also mentioned about securing grants and donations. The key point was how to make the building self-sustaining and not a burden to taxpayers. One of the major mandated commercial building requirements is a sprinkler system. The cost for the water supply and pump house is $237,000, with an additional $65,000 for the installation of the system.

Some residents are opposed to saving the building. Bob Dolloff said he believes the cost of keeping the old building open is not in the best interest of the town.

“It’s already an old building and as time goes on it will only get more costly to operate.”

Rick Vaughn said he believes the building should be torn down and the land used later for a new town office complex or larger fire station, if the town grows in population.

Selectmen have no future plans for the vacant building or plans to demolish it. Anyone interested in helping or making donations to the Friends of Peru Elementary School are asked to contact Nick Waugh at 562-7287 or via email at [email protected]