January 24, 2008
Panaca Town Board Complains to County Commission

Photo by Dave Maxwell Prime Panaca pothole

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Potholes in Panaca prompted Town Board Secretary Janice Barr to speak on behalf of the Board to the Commissioners Jan. 22. She said, “We feel the County Road Department doesn’t spend enough time in our town. We never see them.”

She said the presence of large potholes in various places on roads and streets in Panaca are creating problems. One case she cited, involved a handicapped woman, riding a motorized wheelchair along the edge of the road, on 4th Street between the LDS church and Panaca Middle School, who was nearly injured when the roadway caved in to a large pothole and tipped the wheelchair over, throwing the woman onto the gravel. Mrs. Barr said the pavement had been eroded underneath the edge allowing for the collapse, and should have been fixed beforehand.

She said the County is responsible for having the potholes fixed, “but it never gets done.” “We feel we are one of four major communities in this county and we should get an equal amount of time from the road department and we don’t,” she said. “People call me,” she said, “to complain about the roads not being maintained and there are a lot of things that need to be maintained.” She said talking to County Road Maintenance Manager, Steve Chouquer, hasn’t helped much, “because it doesn’t get done.”

County Commissioner, Bill Lloyd, said it was his understanding that the potholes were being caused by utility companies cutting into the roadways to do work and it was the utility companies who should fix the roads after completing their work. However, Mrs. Barr said the complaints were mostly about maintenance of the roads. “We want to know why we’re not considered part of the maintenance upkeep for these roads? We just feel we’re left out,” she said.

Lloyd said he would direct the County Road Department to get the roads fixed when spring arrives. County Manager, John Lovelady, said that Panaca is on the road department’s work plan for this spring.

In other action at the meeting Commissioners:

• Awarded the bid for construction of the Alamo Children’s Park at $821,000 to Pearson Brothers Construction, with work to possibly begin in March.
• Approved a request from Attorney Barry Newman of Washington, D.C., to increase his contract by an additional $75,000 from Lincoln County Nuclear Oversight Funds.
• Approved the adoption of the Lincoln County Addressing Policy with stipulations that modifications could be added to the policy after a meeting to be held in late January between County Planning Director Clint Wertz and several impacted county agencies.
• Approved a professional services contract with Gnomon, Inc. of Carson City, NV. to develop a GIS database and E911 GIS dataset for Lincoln County, to go along with the addressing project, at a cost not to exceed $16,500.