MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Commissioners had several meetings Thursday which ranged from bids for sludge removal, to improving development prospects in the area, to clearing up potential future property disputes with a developer on South Main Street.
The first item on the agenda in the morning was opening the one bid for sludge and bio-solids from the well field near Howard. The one bid that the commissioners received was from Burch Hydro, and Mike Burch was present with the commissioners when it was opened. The bid, which was for the removal of 2 million of gallons of waste, was $96,600. The bid was based on a rate of $46 for every 1,000 gallons of waste removal. Also, the bid was slightly under budget, which was $100,000.
Burch said that work cannot begin immediately because there is still testing and paperwork to be completed, specifically with the EPA. Ron Simpson, superintendent of the Knox County Department of Water and Wastewater, was also present and said that he would work with the prosecutor’s office to draw up an official contract.
After the bid for sludge removal was approved, Simpson presented a proposal from Jackson & Sons Water Services of Mansfield to rehabilitate the pump at well No. 3 near Howard. The bid for rehabilitating pump at well No. 3 was $14,960. Simpson said that the project to restore the pump to its full capacity would take approximately two weeks. Also, Simpson noted that the total cost might be extra if the actual pump needed to be rebuilt or replaced.
In another meeting during the morning, Fritz Drake, representing DLZ, met with the commissioners to talk about the Heart of Ohio Trail bid. DLZ was not chosen as the winning bid for construction on the trail, and Drake explained the purpose of his visit. Drake said that he knew that DLZ was shortlisted for being chosen for the project, and said that “it’s a policy of our company when we do get shortlisted on a project, and we don’t win it, we go see if there was anything glaring that we did or if there was anything so outstanding that the winner did.” Commissioner Bob Wise responded by saying that the bids were very close and competitive, but they settled on another company because the other company had been involved with the project for a longer time.
Commissioner Allen Stockberger agreed with Wise in that the bids were very competitive, and continued, saying that the other company “had a greater familiarity with the project ... and that kind of tilted the balance in their favor.”
Fritz then asked “is it fair to say we were second?” Stockberger said that he wasn’t sure if DLZ was second in the bids, but later Wise said that he thought they were. Fritz ended the meeting by saying that he hoped that the commissioners and the county would consider the services of DLZ in the future.
In the final meeting of the morning, the commissioners met with Steve Wears of the Area Development Foundation. ADF is currently in the midst of a direct mailing campaign to companies in the hopes of attracting them to Knox and Coshocton counties.
The mailing consists of three parts: first a puzzle is mailed to the companies. After that, a large empty water bottle is mailed with flyers and brochures advertising the area to companies; the size of the water bottle represents the amount of water that the average person consumes in one day. These first two steps of the marketing scheme have been completed. The third and final phase of the direct-mailing campaign, which will begin today, is a cardboard suitcase that is sent containing more information about Knox and Coshocton counties, a small bottle of water, and a DVD highlighting the resources of the two counties. After the three items are mailed, follow-up phone calls to the companies will commence within a week. According to Wears, 400 companies have been targeted so far, and he thinks the project is progressing well and wants to add another 100 companies to the campaign.
To add more companies to the project, Wears was requesting additional funds from the commissioners to buy more lists of companies and their contact information, as well as to buy and mail the actual materials. The amount that Wears is searching for is $3,000 to $4,000. Wears noted that any money provided by Knox County would be matched by Coshocton County.
After discussing several options, the commissioners agreed that they would match any funds that were pledged by the city of Mount Vernon, because a company moving to the area would likely be to the economic benefit of the city as well as the county. The commissioners also suggested that Wears approach some other large corporations in the area in his search for funds. Wears agreed to report back to the commissioners at a later date and said “I’ll go to the city and see what I can come up with.”
The board of commissioners had one meeting in the afternoon with two representatives of the Fergus Companies, John Fergus and Bruce Schultz, to discuss property lines on land immediately south of the bridge on South Main Street. The meeting was also attended by Kim Marshall, director of the Knox County Park District.
After meeting with the commissioners last month, Fergus and Schultz revised some of their plans and drawings to include the easement on the old railroad line which eventually meets Main Street. A revision to the plans was the re-drawing of a planned parking lot to the southeast of the bridge crossing to accommodate the old railroad easement.
All parties agreed to work together in the development of the property, and the drawings were agreed to be sent to the mapping department, as well as attorneys for approval. Fergus said that once his company has a development project in a community, he hopes to have the chance to return in the future.
