Panama Village Hall’s new sign is pictured on the outside of the building.
P-J photo by Sara Holthouse
PANAMA — From newly implemented Village Hall and “No Parking” signs to the possibility of others to come, signs were brought up multiple times during the most recent Panama Village Board meeting.
After a few months of planning, the Panama Village Hall sign has officially been put up on the outside of the building.
“I just like being able to say if someone is looking for Melanie (Eddy, code enforcement officer), there’s a big blue sign that says Panama Village Offices,” Village Trustee Kim Davis said.
There is a possibility of painting around the sign a little bit in the future to fully cover what remains of the sign that used to label the building as the village’s hardware store. The new sign itself is said to be very noticeable now.
Other signs discussed included the newly implemented “No Parking” signs on the side of Rock Hill Road for Panama Rocks’s recent Wild America Nature Festival. The signs were reported to have worked very well. The board said the owner of Panama Rocks, Jonathan Weston, also put out a few smaller signs and that people parked on side streets instead of the side of Rock Hill Road across from Panama Rocks.
“The issue with the signs is very interesting,” Mayor William Schneider said. “The county wanted them put in there, so we have that, but we also have to go back and look into … and see where we can find if that was already put into village law about the no parking on that one side.”
The “No Parking” signs cannot be permanent unless it is in the law, Schneider said. He added that when he first came to Panama there were signs that were taken out because of issues with the snow plow. The current signs are up on a temporary basis until the board figures out whether it is a law, and if it is not, the plan is to make it one.
The board also discussed issues with pulling out of the festival, with ideas of not parking in the first two spots next to the field or having a volunteer direct traffic.
The final sign discussed was a yellow diamond caution horse sign. “I want to see the diamond caution sign with the horse on it down by the horse farm,” Schneider said. “I want people to know to take it slow, because that’s the problem is they start to put the hammer down there because they know they’re coming out of a 40 to a 55.”
Schneider also brought up an incident in which horses got out and were running around. He plans to talk to Town Highway Superintendent Brian Manwaring to see if they can work on getting the caution sign placed.
In other news, Panama’s Senior Citizens Day is set for Aug. 19. Activities will include a parade at 11 a.m., Bingo, a movie, an antique car show, vendors, sales at different businesses throughout the day and an outdoor concert.
The board is considering creating a law allowing Code Enforcement Officer Melanie Eddy to hand out tickets for certain offenses, rather than bringing everything to court. The board plans to follow a similar model to what is already in the works in Jamestown, with a focus on making sure it makes Eddy’s job easier and does not become a problem.
The date for Christmas in Panama has been set for Nov. 18, with plans to get the word out to vendors beginning already.