PANAMA — Voters in the Panama Central School District supported a $5 million Capital Improvements Project aimed at improving facilities within the district.

District residents voted 65 to 15 to support the project that Superintendent Bert Lictus believes will likely begin June 2021.

“I’m excited,” Lictus told The Post-Journal regarding the community’s support. “I’m excited to know the community is supporting the school and our efforts to keep the building up to code and safe while moving forward to the new learning standards.”

Lictus previously described the project as mainly targeting maintenance needs for school facilities.

The district-approved project includes renovations to a secondary science lab, replacement of roof sections, renovations to bathrooms, updating lighting in the pool room and work to repair parking lots on school property.

Some roof sections set to be replaced are out of warranty and were installed more than 20 years ago. Additionally, site work will be completed to the roadways leading to the district’s onsite baseball and softball fields are slated for upgrades to improve longevity. Other work will focus on the district-operated sewer plant and general upgrades with the HVAC systems and associated technology.

Lictus said the next step is to schedule meetings with architects in order to prepare the specifications for the project.

“We’ll be doing that in the next couple weeks,” he said.

Once the architectural plans are complete, the school district will submit its proposal to the state Education Department for approval. Lictus added that the SED review process typically can take up to 14 weeks. He believes if the district’s plans are submitted by July, the state will conduct its review process in the fall.

If approved by the state, Lictus said the school district can then begin the bid process for the project. Estimating that the Capital Improvements Project will begin by June 2021, Lictus said the project could be completed by fall 2022.

“Once we actually put the shovel in the dirt, it looks like about a year and a half to do the work,” he said.