There are concerns about Peru’s substation on Water Street. The city has been trying to move it out of the flood plain and onto Center St. But City Engineer Eric Carls says there’s more to it. He says a major improvement needs to be done.
The city has been waiting on a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant they applied for to help with the project but haven’t been notified if they got it for the last two years. The city is looking to create a plan to move forward even if they don’t get the grant. Carls says like with other projects, supply chain issues are causing problems. It could take between eight to twelve months to get some of the supplies needed to make improvements to the substation.
Although everything seems to be okay right now, Carls says if the substation does go down, there would be significant costs to run it for a short period of time. It could also affect some residents.
Alderman David Waldorf says the council has been pushing this down the road for way too long and a plan is needed. City Finance Director Justin Miller gave the council some numbers with what the city has if they need to pay from different funds.