The village of Panama discussed the issues on the shoulders of the road following the recently completed sidewalk project. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

PANAMA — The sidewalk project in the village of Panama has finished, but some issues remain with the shoulders of the sidewalk that has been done.

Mayor William Schneider reported that the concrete for the sidewalk has been put in, and the rest of the project looks nice. For the shoulders though, Village Trustee Todd Eddy said some of the shoulders are an inch or two down from where they are supposed to be and some have bumps.

“That should’ve all been leveled or tapered from the sidewalk down, because it’s going to settle anyway and it doesn’t look like he packed it,” Eddy said.

The issues with the shoulders could also potentially cause problems for the sidewalk plow in the winter time. Schneider added that there were a few other hiccups during the project as well, including some village residents not knowing it was happening and not realizing that part of their driveway would be unusable during the time it was going on.

“We worked through those hiccups,” Schneider said. “So, I guess in the future when it happens again we will have to give residents notice.”

The contractors, DirtWorx, were reported to have gotten the project done very quickly, having it done in about a day. A few driveways on Wesleyan Street will also need a few repairs done when DirtWorx comes to fix the shoulders, but Schneider said the company has a good reputation among municipalities and that the rest of the project went well. DirtWorx is currently in the middle of another project but has been notified and will return to fix the issues after that.

One resident on Wesleyan Street did complain to the village because she did not want the new sidewalk in front of her house, but the village explained that because of a right of way it needs to be there, and the sidewalks need to be ADA compliant, which is five feet. Schneider said the resident thought the sidewalk would take up a lot of her yard, when in reality it would only take a few inches.

The village is set to do a second project concerning Wesleyan Street, with plans to mill and repave the street. Milling for the street is set for Aug 16, with a tentative paving day being Aug 20 depending on the weather. If needed, the paving day will switch to either Aug 19 or 22, pending the forecast, and the road will be closed on the day it is paved.

“The curve on the western end part of it needs to be fixed because it is tilted the wrong way,” Schneider said. “So, he’s going to fix that when they tear it down and repave it back. He is going to post signs telling residents when the road is going to be closed.”

Additionally, Schneider said the work will be done as quickly and efficiently as possible, though he knows people will most likely still complain about the road being closed for the day.

One other thing the village is set to notify residents on soon is the addition of both garbage and recycle bins that will be coming from Casellas Garbage Service and put in each garbage pick up spot. The bins are set to be placed in about mid-August or early fall.