by Alex Brooks
Concrete was poured on Monday October 19 for two projects aimed at making the Petersburgh Town buildings handicapped accessible. Jay Burdick poured a new walkway leading up to the Town Hall, and a new concrete pad was poured at the entrance to the Veterans Memorial Community Center.
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In August, the Town had been stymied. After contracting with Burdick to replace the Town Hall walkway, they had found that all estimates to fix the front of the Veterans Memorial Hall had been more than the Town could afford. Since then the PVMCC Board has found ways to get the job done, and with this slab already poured, they are well on their way.
Asa Zoesman found and successfully applied for a $2,000 grant from the Home Depot Foundation, which arrived in the form of a Home Depot gift card. The Town Highway crew cut the pavement and excavated where the slab was to be poured. Asa Zoesman, Jeanne Ferland and Walt Walters did the work (volunteering their time) of forming and pouring the slab at the entrance to the Veterans Hall, and Jay Burdick donated the concrete.
The remaining task is to pour some asphalt to join the new slab with the existing asphalt. The PVMCC is still talking with contractors about getting that piece of it done, and is also lining up the money to pay for it. A fundraiser is planned for Friday October 23 at the PVMCC. Gerald Russell is planning to devote some of his Veterans Service money to this project, and he also has about $270 that was raised through a lasagne dinner to build a handicap ramp for a veteran at his home, but it was not used because the Veteran moved out of the house before the ramp could be built. He wants to repurpose this money for the handicap access project at the Veterans Hall.
PVMCC President Jeanne Ferland said they do hope to get the project finished before the cold weather comes on.[/private]