MOUNT VERNON — As 2008 winds down, Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis has his eyes squarely on the future. The city has begun preliminary talks about projects that are scheduled and some they hope to be scheduled in 2009.
“Now is the time to think about next year,” Mavis said. “I recently met with Cameron Keaton and Dave Glass and we looked at the big projects coming up, the biggest of which will be Gay Street.”
The city has completed some of the design work on the resurfacing project and met with officials from the Heritage Centre Association about the impact closing one lane at a time on Gay Street will have on the downtown, especially during events like First Fridays.
Mavis is hoping the bidding can be done by the first of the year so construction can begin in March. He said the goal is, weather permitting, to have the project done by the middle of August.
A project still on the drawing board is the crossover road between Coshocton Avenue and Yauger Road. Most of the preliminary work is completed, but the city is still waiting on word from Knox Community Hospital officials about the possibility of using the hospital entrance and exit roads. Mavis expects to hear from KCH soon and thinks they could get the project designed within three months and it be ready to go to construction sometime in the late spring or early summer. The road beside KCH is just one of two options available to the city for the crossover road. The other, which was discussed first, is to use the drive on the west side of Lowe’s.
Mavis also noted the city is awaiting word from Public Works on the waterline project on Vernonview Drive. If that project is funded, the city can begin work on it next year as well.
The restroom building at Foundation Park and the Community Development Block Grant project in the Sychar Road area are two other projects on tap for ’09. Mavis also said the $12 million wastewater treatment plant project is scheduled to be designed in 2009 with construction running through 2010-11.
In other news:
•Dave Carpenter reported that the city street department spent $44,000 this summer repairing portions of the brick streets around the city. Mavis said the results of the program were very good and the city is looking at possibly adding curb repair to the program next year as there are several streets where the bricks and roadbed are in good condition, but the curbs are crumbling, which allows the bricks to slide around.
•Mavis said there were no residents in attendance, but several councilmembers were at the first public hearing for the gas aggregate program. Tom Bellish of Buckeye Energy, the company in charge of the aggregate program, explained to council members the different options available. The next public hearing will be Monday prior to the council meeting and Mavis hopes to have the negotiations complete so the program can take effect by April. He did note that city residents currently with Columbia Gas will automatically be in the program unless they opt out, but those who have a different carrier will have to opt into the program if so desired.
•Mavis reported the third and final round of leaf pickup was completed on Thursday.
•City Hall is still without a heating and cooling system as parts had to be reordered because of damage.
•The city’s shade tree commission helped plant 73 trees around the city in the past few weeks. Most of those were in city parks, but several were planted in the tree lawns along city streets.
•City officials and council will meet with the county commissioners on Monday at 5:45 p.m. in the commissioner’s office. The two groups meet annually to discuss areas of common interest.
•Mavis reported that because of the meeting with the commissioners, there is no time for a committee meeting on the city’s proposed legislation requiring landlords to name their tenants. Therefore, there will be time for discussion during the council meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m.
