The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

Continuing his effort to move Peru Town Court to the Town Hall’s lower level Counselor Kregg Bruno employed a less strident approach at the June 22, 2015 Town Board meeting. Addressing Town Historian Ron Allen, Bruno stated, “The location of the judges’ chambers all rely on you, sir… you don’t have to move unless you want to. I have a proposal that I’d like you to look at.” Bruno handed Allen a written description of his proposal that he said would result in Allen having added display, storage and cabinet display space. He stated, “It would be a great thing to be able to show your stuff off and we have plenty of help to move anything you want…If you don’t want to move you don’t have to…With all the stuff you collected over the years and everything you’ve done, I think you deserve more than being located in the basement of the Town Hall.” Bruno added that he had never been in Allen’s office until the previous week. He told Allen, “I think it would be great for more people in the town of Peru to see your items.”

Counselor Brandy McDonald asked Bruno if he had a cost estimate for shifting the judges’ chambers to the lower level. Bruno responded, “We had a price of about $12,000 including labor. Today Jim (Judge James Kirby) and I decided we would do the labor as volunteer labor, so the cost would be about $5,000.”

Supervisor Peter Glushko asked Ron Allen to take Bruno’s written proposal home and to think about what he proposed. Supervisor Glushko and Counselors Brandy McDonald, James Douglass and Donald McBrayer have not publicly stated if they favor Bruno’s proposal.

The JCEO office currently located at the rear of the lower level would have be moved into Ron Allen’s current downstairs office if the change takes place.