A combined crew of workers from the Perry Water Works and Perry Public Works were busy Monday morning restoring water service to the former Stitches in Time building at 1203 Second St. in downtown Perry, but it took digging up a portion of Warford Street to do it.
“Every service has a stop box where we can shut off the water,” said Matt Holmes of the Perry Water Works. “This one just happens to be buried under the pavement.”
Working with Holmes were Jeff Hix and Steve Heck of the Perry Water Works and Perry Public Works Department crew members Matt Halling, Matt “Fizz” Van Pelt and Alan Kelleher.
Restoration of the interior of the three-story, 118-year-old building started about 10 weeks ago. The provisional plan for the commercial building foresees a restaurant on the ground floor and eventually five two-bedroom apartments on the second floor and six more on the third, according to Zach Thomas of Perry, who is leading the retrofitting of the building.
Less simple of solution is the water issue facing the Perry Alano Club, which provides space for 12-step recovery meetings at its buildings at 1211 Lucinda St. and 1213 Lucinda St. Neither building has its own water service connection and meter, but each is instead served via the connection at 1209 Lucinda St., the former home of the El Buen Gusto restaurant.
“Neither one of those buildings has their own fresh water,” said Larry Laborde of Perry, treasurer of the Perry Alano Club. “We’ve been buying water from El Buen Gusto, which gets water off of Second St. Now El Buen Gusto’s gone, and that shows great concern to our board, who’s trying to expand the opportunities for alcohol and drug abuse recovery in Perry here.”
Laborde spoke in the open forum of the Perry City Council meeting April 2 and asked the city for direction and assistance in resolving the issue. He said Nevitt Real Estate, which is handling the sale of the El Buen Gusto property, is cooperating in keeping the Perry Alano Club supplied with water, but a more permanent solution is needed.
“What we’re after is our own meter,” Laborde told the council. “There’s no water going down Lucinda Street so it turns out that to get our own water, we’re going to have to get it either from Third Street or Second Street. To get it from Second Street, we’d have to tear up Second Street so that the equipment could be dropped down, I guess, five feet in order to route a pipe over to our building. Or we could get it from Third Street, which would be easier because there’s a lot there with no building on it, where they could dig down and send it under the parking lot of the Raccoon Valley Bank in order to get us water.”
Laborde estimated the project could cost between $10,000 and $12,000. The Perry Alano Club received a $6,500 gift toward the water project from the 100+ People for Perry group at its Feb. 26 meeting.
“We don’t come totally hat in hand,” Laborde told the Perry City Council.
Since the April council session, Laborde met with Water Works Superintendent Hank Schmidt, Public Works Director Jack Butler and City Administrator Sven Peterson “and discussed some options,” according to Peterson, who said Laborde is seeking quotes from contractors and was made aware of the city’s revolving loan fund as a possible source of liquidity.
“I think it’s such a tremendous benefit to the people of Perry to be able to fight back against alcohol and drug abuse in this community,” Laborde told the council in April. “What we’re after is fresh water and our own meter.”
Perry Mayor John Andorf thanked Laborde for making rental space available for meetings of the various 12-step recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
“We appreciate your efforts,” the mayor said.
