MOUNT VERNON — The weather has been kind to the city of Mount Vernon this fall.
According to Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, the Curtis Street brick replacement project was expected to be completed Friday evening, allowing traffic back on the side street between North Main and Mulberry streets. The good weather also allowed the city to get further along on the Blackjack Road improvement project than expected.
Mavis said the contractor has replaced all the bricks, and completed the drainage and sidewalks on Curtis Street. The contractor, Rietschlin Construction, was able to use about 40 percent of the bricks that were previously on the road. The city used bricks from the Chestnut Street project from a few years ago to replace the broken or chipped bricks. Mavis said the one-block street used somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 bricks.
Work was also wrapping up Friday on asphalting Blackjack Road. The city put in new water and wastewater lines along the road south of Moundbuilders Guidance Center and restructured the road so that it matched up with Industrial Park Drive on the north side of the street. Contractors were able to put in the semifinal dressing on the road Friday and are expected to work on the berm today. Mavis said there is still some grading left to be done, as well as a final layer of asphalt, which will be laid in the spring.
“This is exactly where we hoped we would be. We would not have gotten the semifinal dressing on without good weather,” Mavis said. “We feel real good about this.”
Mavis also said the city began the culvert replacement project on East Pleasant Street on Monday. The culvert over Curtis Run is being replaced with a box culvert and the project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Mavis said the asphalt will not be in place until the spring, but a layer of gravel will allow traffic over the culvert by the end of the year.
The city will begin its final round of leaf pickup Monday. Workers have completed two passes around the city and expect to be finished picking up leaves that are swept to the curbing by Thanksgiving. Dave Carpenter of the city street department told Mavis the city will be about 100 loads short of normal for leaf pickup in the city. A variety of factors, including a dry summer and the September wind storm, was cited for the drop in the amount of leaves.
City officials were busy Friday completing the applications for two grants for the assessment and cleanup of hazardous areas in the city, including the old American National Can plant. The $200,000 assessment grant would help the city determine if the 44-plus acres around the plant, or other areas in the city, contain any hazardous materials, while the $200,000 petroleum product grant would help determine what petroleum products are still around. If the city receives the grants, which are expected to be released in the spring, it would then be able to determine what needs to be done to clean up the property and could then apply for Cleanup Ohio funds.
“It’s taken us two or three years to get to this point and we’re probably another three years away from any more. We’ve got to assess, plan and then clean up the area,” Mavis said.
The parks department is expected to begin working on the holiday display on Public Square late next week. Mavis said the Nativity scene will be a part of the complete display.
Now that the bowstring truss bridge is in Foundation Park, city officials are beginning to plan for the refurbishment of it and how best to display the historical artifact. Mavis and city engineer Cameron Keaton met with Don Timmer, a retired bridge engineer, and Bill Burgett of Kokosing Construction, and discussed the possibilities for the bridge. Because of load limits with pedestrian only bridges, Mavis said they may have to narrow the bridge from its current 15-feet width to about 8 or 10 feet in width.
Mavis said city officials and council members will meet with the county commissioners for their annual meeting on Monday, Nov. 24, from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m.
