The Peru Gazette

Two Peru Town Board seats are open. Kregg Bruno is seeking reelection on the Democratic Party line. Eric Duquette is seeking election on the Republican Party Line. Since neither the Peru Democratic nor the Peru Republican Party nominated opposing candidates, they do not face opposition.  

The Peru Gazette is grateful that they took time to respond to our questions and thanks them for being involved in local government. 

Kregg Bruno 

1. Summarize your educational background, primary employment, a little about your family and your past community involvement. How will/does your background make you an influential board member? 

Currently I’m a small business owner, Bruno’s Custom Tile Works, and also a member of the Peru Town Board.  I have lived in Peru for 34 years and been active in youth sports at the Town level as well as High School coaching. My knowledge of running a business will help with the many bids that the Town has to procure to get work done.

2. Why are you running for reelection to public office? 

I’m running for reelection to continue to help the Board make Peru the best place to raise a family in a great community.

3. What Town issues concern you the most?

Biggest issue are infrastructure of roads and bridges along with water and waste water concerns. These are big ticket items that affect the taxpayers the most.

4. The Town recently completed a multi-million dollar sewer system upgrade and faces an even more expensive upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant. About only 550 hamlet users will bear the cost of both projects. Do you have specific ideas how Peru can grow its sewer system user base? 

I hope that the community keeps growing to help with the financial need of the water and sewer districts.

5. Do you think the town board should encourage affordable housing development, especially inside the water-sewer district? If yes, how could the town board encourage this development? 

Affordable housing and senior housing is a big concern for me. I think we need to take better care of our residence that have helped build this great community.

6. Peru’s two major housing developments (Buttonwood and Orchard View, i.e., Washington Street) are at a standstill. Do you have ideas how to get these projects moving and similar projects moving? 

The issues with housing development seems to fall more on all the restriction from the State Department, such as DEC and Army Corp of Engineering.  They have very strick guild lines making developments expensive to produce. 

Eric Duquette

1. Summarize your educational background, primary employment, a little about your family and your past community involvement. How will/does your background make you an influential board member? 

I graduated from St. Johns Academy in 1984 and completed a 4-year apprenticeship through Canton ATC Program in coordination with the Local #1042 Carpenters Union Division. I am currently self-employed and own Duquette Building and Remodeling. Based here in Peru. I have been in business since 1991. Along my ride for the past 37 years has been my wife, Heidi Duquette. We have two children. Our oldest child is our daughter named Lindsay who is married to Casey Blair. They have two children named Owen and Leeland. Our second child is our son named Adam who is married to Olivia Duquette. Over the years I have been involved with various charities, fundraisers, and helping my local church. As a builder, I have also developed a 12-lot subdivision and worked closely with town officials. Having a long running background in building and development, I feel I have a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to the town of Peru.

2. Why are you running for election to public office? 

I have co-owned and operated a business for the past 12 years with my wife Heidi, in the town of Peru. In doing so, I have become encouraged to help promote growth and ensure that our well-grounded community continues to flourish.

3. What Town issues concern you the most? 

Most recently, balancing the budget and addressing school and land taxes are top on my list of concerns.

4. The Town recently completed a multi-million dollar sewer system upgrade and faces an even more expensive upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant. About only 550 hamlet users will bear the cost of both projects. Do you have specific ideas how Peru can grow its sewer system user base? 

As a developer, a beneficial way to grow our sewer septic base is to bring in new developers and work effectively with our existing developers. Encouraging an influx of new housing, businesses, apartment complexes, senior housing, etc. will most likely need sewer and water. Therefore, our sewer and water base will increase and should lessen the cost to our existing users.

5. Do you think the town board should encourage affordable housing development, especially inside the water-sewer district? If yes, how could the town board encourage this development? 

I would be interested in revisiting the idea of affordable housing. It would be very effective to research other towns that have already worked on and completed such projects.

6. Peru’s two major housing developments (Buttonwood and Orchard View, i.e., Washington Street) are at a standstill. Do you have ideas how to get these projects moving and similar projects moving? 

Unfortunately, there are variables that I don’t know of that could be contributing to the standstill on some of these developments. Could it be the market, higher material costs, difficulty in bank lending, possibly? Visiting this issue is important and high on my list as well. We need to reach out to those developers and get this feedback.