The Peru Gazette

The Regular Town Board Meeting was held on Monday, April 26 at 7 P.M. All Board personnel were present.
An audio recording of the meeting can be found at:
http://d1091839.domain.com/PeruTown/TBM-04-26-10.WAV
Minutes for the Regular Meetings on 3/22/10 & 4/12/10, and Special Meeting on 4/1/10 were approved and can be found at: http://www.perutown.com/min10.htm

The meeting started with a presentation by Leeward Babbie who announced the grand opening of Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum on June 12th, & 13th . Mr. Babbie thanked the Town Board, Code Enforcement Officer Paul Blaine, and the people of Peru for the help and opportunity to finally see his dream become reality. He also informed the Board that Town Supervisor Pete Glushko was requested and accepted to cut the ribbon at the celebration. Mr. Babbie explains that the museum, located at 250 River Road, is an agricultural, hands-on learning museum that will feature many rare pieces of agricultural equipment, old tractors, farm animals, and demonstrations. He than passed out a brochure that can be found at: http://d1091839.domain.com/PeruTown/BabbieRuralFarmMuseum.pdf
For more information about the Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum visit their website at: http://sites.google.com/site/babbieruralfarmlearningmuseum/

In other action the Board:

• Discussed the status of the hours for the Secretary to Zoning/Planning. Code Enforcement Officer, Paul Blaine was present and expressed concern about the discussion to possibly reduce the Zoning/Planning Secretary hours to twenty hours a week. Mr. Blaine then passed to the Board Members letters of support from the Planning Board, Zoning Board, and the Comprehensive Planning Committee that expressed similar concerns. Mr. Blaine explained his office has the most interaction with the people of Peru, and with the coming changes to zoning, wants to make sure his office doesn’t suffer as a result of any such decision. Town Supervisor, Peter Glushko explained the Board has made no definite decisions regarding hours. Mr. Glushko explained the Board is planning on implementing cross-training among all support personnel for purposes of efficiency, and to help “fill in the gap” when needed. He indicated this might include some hour reductions upon further review, but at this time no such decision has been made.
• Discussed the soon to be implemented Employee Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy. EAS (Employee Assistance Services) will be taking the existing 1995 policy and updating it to meet the town’s current needs. One change being considered is to have all employees tested. The current policy only applies to drivers and safety sensitive positions; this was originally a cost-saving decision in the 1995 policy.
• Passed a Motion to set a Workshop date on May 5 at 6:30 P.M. for the proposed Dog Control Law and Noise Ordinance.
• Passed a Motion to change liaisons. Sue Polhemus will now be the liaison to Planning/Zoning, and Brandy McDonald will now be the liaison to Parks/Recreation.
• Discussed the Water Quality. W/S Superintendent, Greg Timmons explained to the Board the state has lowered the standards for halocetic acids. Halocetic acids are the result of organic material and its interaction with the chlorination process. Mr. Timmons said the water needs to test below 80 when averaged out over 4-quarters, but we’re always running on the borderline of 80 with the halocetic acids test. This issue could be addressed in a couple ways including trying different filter media, or using ultraviolet light for part of the decontamination process. Timmons indicated he is working with the Town Engineer, Peter Gibbs to find the most suitable solution. The 2009 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report can be found at: http://d1091839.domain.com/PeruTown/towndocs/PeruWDAWQR2009.pdf
• Donald McBrayer asked the Town Clerk, Kathy Flynn when the people of Peru will be able to pay their taxes online. Flynn indicated January 2011.
  

The Meeting was adjourned at 8:55 P.M.