PANAMA — The village of Panama is reminding residents of the current burn ban on garbage, following complaints.

The state Outdoor Burn Ban is in effect from March 16 to May 14. Mayor William Schneider said the board needs to place reminders on their Facebook page after some people came to him about it.

“I had a couple of people complain to me about village residents burning garbage,” Schneider said. “So, I think in our little reminder we need to remind people to please use our garbage service instead of burning your garbage.”

Additionally, Schneider said burning garbage is actually more harmful to the environment than putting it in the landfill, as in a landfill it can make fuel to be used for energy purposes. Several people have complained over the week before the meeting.

“People who are burning wood, like campfires and stuff, that’s a different story,” Schneider said. “But it is very evident when people are burning garbage.”

Burning garbage usually gives off a smell, enough that the school had an incident where they had to send out their resource officer to find out where the smell was coming from. Schneider said in that incident someone might have been burning sticks and got tagged for someone else who was burning their garbage.

“It was one of these spring days and it was getting sucked into the ventilation, because the ventilation was starting to do a reverse cycle that they do in the winter time,” Schneider said.

It was discussed that burning wood and sticks is common practice and not a concern under the burn ban. The main complaints did not come from the incident with the school, but over the last week before Panama’s April meeting. Schneider said the moisture in the air causes the smell to be worse, and they have to find an avenue to deal with it if it continues to happen.

Other discussion from the board included;

– The village has been given eclipse glasses from the county that have been distributed to the local businesses and are available for free. A sign was also put up by the state in the village next to the main road reminding people of the eclipse.

– The board continued to discuss the sidewalk project and how much certain measurements of sidewalks would cost. They made the decision to commit to at least 200 feet of sidewalk at the moment.

– The board looked over the annual budget. The budget hearing is set for May 7 at 6:45 p.m., to be held before the May board meeting that night.