MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said the street department has enough salt to keep city streets clear, but supplies are below the desired levels.
The mayor said the city’s supplier has relatively low supplies, and is selling salt as it’s mined. He said he has spoken with representatives from ODOT and the county who told him their supplies are not what they would prefer them to be.
“It seems to me that the last two or three years the reserves were always sufficient. If more salt was needed, more trucks would deliver it,” he said. “I think because of the severity of the winter and the need for salt in a lot of highly populated areas, that has led to depletion of salt stockpiles in northern Ohio,” he said.
The city buys its salt through the state purchasing program, which offers municipalities a discounted price on certain equipment and supplies. Mavis said that in the past, the county has given salt to the city when needed.
“Everyone helps each other out if the situation demands it,” he said.
The mayor said he wants to make it clear that the city has the salt to handle winter weather, but added he would be less optimistic had a shipment of salt not arrived on Friday. He added that on Friday, when street department employees hit the streets to tackle the latest wave of winter weather, they used salt mixed with a very fine gravel material as a way to stretch supplies. This material helps create better traction for vehicles on snowy and icy roadways.
He said the city stopped this practice a few years ago because of the mess left behind in the spring. The fine gravel leads to dust and dirt on the streets, which has to be swept into the storm sewers and ultimately removed with a large vacuum.
Regarding the search for a city engineer, the mayor said a special subcommittee of Mount Vernon City Council participated with the administration in interviews of two potential candidates on Friday. Mavis and Safety-Service Director Dave Glass conducted the initial interviews. He said the administration deemed it appropriate to have council’s participation, since city officials are striving to find a candidate who is the best fit for the city.
He said the city’s engineering department will be impacted by retirement in the not-so-distant future, and the administration feels it is time to fill the position, which has been vacant for about three years. Mavis added it will be more convenient to have a full-time engineer in City Hall with whom administration officials can consult on a regular basis.
Last year, the city hired a contract engineer from Richland Engineering to complete certain day-to-day engineering services, but the Richland engineer was only able to visit the city once a week.
“I think it’s important that I be able to go downstairs [to the engineering department] and be able to talk about projects and receive professional estimates without waiting,” Mavis said. “Sometimes we need to make immediate decisions whether we can move ahead with projects.”
Mavis said Glass, who worked for many years in the engineering department, is still serving as safety-service director, and he will be able to provide support to the new engineer.
“Convenience, the ability to build the department and the ability to work with Dave Glass will help [the new engineer] build a good foundation for the city’s future development,” he said.
In other city news, the mayor said the administration plans to repair a deteriorating concrete patch on Gay Street, just north of the intersection with East High Street, when the weather becomes suitable. The plan is to remove the concrete, remove the bricks around the patch, restore the base with compacted material, then replace the bricks. Ideally, this will help create a smoother surface and help eliminate the depression at that spot in the roadway. He added that, hopefully, this repair job will last until the city is able to convert South Gay Street from brick to asphalt later this year.