The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

The Town of Peru finally has a dog control contract with the Elmore SPCA. The Peru Town Board approved a 2015 contract at its Monday, January 12, 2015 meeting. The Board and the SPCA have been at loggerheads over contract language for several months, but Monday the SPCA presented a revised contract that the Board enthusiastically approved after a positive review by Town Attorney Donald Biggs. click here to view ELMORE SPCA CONTRACT 2015

The Board also approved almost all its required 2015 Organizational Meeting agenda items such as elected official and appointee salaries, Town Board liaisons to departments, meeting dates, mileage rates and a procurement policy. Click here for Organizational Meeting resolutions   Click here for Procurement Policy  Click here for Rules of Order

The Board did not renew its contract with Engineering Ventures and its engineer Peter Gibbs. Counselor Kregg Bruno and other board members have expressed concern with Gibb’s failure to respond promptly to phone calls and inaccurate cost estimates for several projects. Bids on the Highway Department garage roof and Town Hall front steps came in much higher than Gibbs estimated. Gibbs was present at Monday’s meeting. He admitted his company could have done a better job, but he said he would like to continue serving the town. Gibbs stated, “I would love to do some more cool projects for the town. Supervisor Glushko said Gibbs has provided engineering services since at least 1998. Glushko said, “You’ll have to convince me that we need to make a change.” Engineering Ventures and AES Engineering of Plattsburgh have submitted proposals to provide 2016 engineering services. The Board delayed making a decision until its January 27^th meeting when they expect Counselor Bruno to be present. Bruno was excused from Monday’s meeting.

The Board is also poised to approve an energy supply contract with Ambit Energy. NYSEG is its current supplier. Supervisor Peter Glushko has heard positive comments about Ambit made by Town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Bernard Bassett and other supervisors. At the Board’s December 8^th meeting, Ambit Business Consultant Colleen LaFountain told the Board that Ambit would save the town a minimum of 2% compared to NYSEG and because it has 15 or more electric meters the Town’s highest use facility/meter would receive free electricity as long as the contract is in force. Counselor Brandy McDonald researched Ambit’s reputation at the Board’s request. He reported that he had not discovered any negative information. It is extremely important that any Ambit customer renew the Ambit contract annually in order to realize the promised savings. Supervisor Peter Glushko said he would place a resolution to finalize the agreement on the Board’s January 27^th meeting agenda. It will take 30 to 60 days to make the change from NYSEG to Ambit.

Mailboxes damaged by Highway Department snowplows came up under “Other Business.” Responding to a Letter to the Editor from Mr. Robert Melhorn of the Laphams Mills Road that appeared in the January 10th Press Republican, Supervisor Glushko said Highway Superintendent Michael Farrell visited Mr. Melhorn’s residence as soon as he learned about the incident and that Mr. Melhorn was not home and the mailbox was not available to be examined. Glushko said he did not “blow Mr. Melhorn off” as the letter contended saying that Melhorn approached him about four minutes before the St. Augustine’s Saturday Mass began, so there wasn’t time to discuss the incident. Glushko said the town will pursue the matter and will pay for the mailbox repair if it conformed to U.S. Postal Service regulations. Michael Farrell said he could be reached at his cell phone number 369-4845.

In other actions the Board:

Approved a $7,600 contract proposal from Donald Bell for work to be performed at the Lyons Road Schoolhouse, the historic property owned by the Town of Peru. Bell will level the floor, install a 6’x6’ beam in the center of the floor and repair the stone foundation. Bell is certified to perform work on a structure on the National Register of Historical Places.

Learned that the annual New York State Training School for town officials will be held in New York City from February 15-18. Attorney Donald Biggs said he might want to attend this year. Counselor Donald McBrayer attended last year.

Supervisor Glushko informed the board that the NYS required internal audit of all departments must be completed by January 20^th. Each counselor will audit one or more departments.

The Town Hall entrance doors will be framed in the next few days.

An Employee Handbook Workshop will be held at 6:30 p.m. on January 28th.