Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — On Thursday, the Knox County Commissioners met with officials from the Kokosing Construction Co. to further discuss a proposed public-private partnership between the company and the county. The groups met initially on Jan. 17 to discuss preliminary details which then led to Thursday’s public hearing at the Knox County Service Center. Commissioners Bob Wise and Tom McLarnan were present, along with Barth Burgett, Steve Green and Doug Holthus from Kokosing; Knox County residents Bob Small and Robin McKee were also present.

The discussion centered around a grant that was made available for certain public-private partnerships and would fund upgrades on diesel-powered vehicles to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter. Because the application is due on Feb. 11, the commissioners did not have adequate time to advertise for the full 30 days as normal, but they still wanted public input on the matter.

“We thought that this was something that we should try to work with Kokosing on,” said Wise.

“The Ohio Department of Development and ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) obtained a grant from CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) for a project called DERG: Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant,” said Green. When the applications are reviewed and the money awarded, the money must then be put up for public bidding. Money will be awarded to the proposals that have the best ratio of cost to reductions of tons of particulate matter, noted Burgett. The total amount of money to be awarded is $19.8 million, with $9.8 million to be awarded in February, and $10 million to be awarded in July, said Burgett.

Possibilities for reducing diesel emissions include retrofitting existing equipment, or possibly upgrading entire engines on equipment, if possible, according the Burgett. With the public-private partnership, the public partner must be located within a non-attainment area, and Knox County qualifies as an area that can receive such a grant because it is a non-attainment area.

Because the grant money is public, the public side of the partnership must accept bids and choose the best one. Kokosing officials said that the county would be reimbursed for any costs incurred during this process.

One worrisome aspect of the grant for Kokosing is that they believe that if the money is not awarded, CMAQ and ODOT will simply reabsorb the grant money.

It “sounds like everything we’ve heard is positive,” said Wise. Bob Small noted that “It looks like a win-win for the county.” The commissioners and Kokosing hope to finalize things on Feb. 7 when Commissioner Allan Stockberger is present.