By Collin Anderson
Last Monday, the Panaca town board held its regular meeting. Since there was no public comment for the board to hear, the meeting moved on to the usual approval of agendas and the payment of bills. There was a notably empty seat among the board, indicative of the empty board member position that has yet to be filled, and since no one has applied, the board decided to hold off on that discussion until an applicant could be found.
The big subject of the night was the possibility of finding a new home for the post office. The idea had been kicked around in previous meetings that the current post office/town board meeting area/storage could be shuffled around a bit to give the postal workers more room to work with. This would come with the added bonus of giving the people of Panaca more room for boxes. The downside of this option lies in the fact that a recent study of the building found asbestos in the walls, which would require a lot of work to remove before anyone could remove walls or cut doors to better accommodate the new post office area.
Another idea that’s gaining traction is the possibility of building a whole new post office somewhere in town. This would give the postal workers a more updated building; it wouldn’t require cutting into walls containing asbestos; and there would be less environmental hazards overall. The issues facing this proposal are that finding land at an affordable price in Panaca is difficult, and that such a move would require the postal service’s approval before any decisions could be made.
In the end, the board decided to get more information and see what the postal service had to say on the matter before proceeding with any major decisions. Following this, the board heard the maintenance reports, including a small issue involving missing fuses and the availability thereof. Once these reports were finished, the board adjourned for another month.
