MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis reported the MIA/POW vigil is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 17, on Public Square from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mavis said more details, such as who will be speaking, will be forthcoming.
Mavis also reported the city was looking into tornado-proof shelters for mobile home parks. Two have been built in Licking County.
“The grant for those come from FEMA,” Mavis said. “The grant was written by Jim Mickey, who is on staff at the Licking County Planning Commission.”
Mavis said Licking County has built two of the six shelters for which they received grants. These were in mobile home parks where the owners were willing to pay 25 percent of the cost.
The domes are concrete structures capable of standing up to tornado-force winds, and would provide safe shelter to mobile home residents in case of a tornado or other severe weather which might do extensive damage to the mobile home park.
In other news:
•The city’s resurfacing project has started a few days early. Equipment has been moved in and milling of the old surface has begun. Mavis said the work would be completed by the end of September.
•The Riverside Park drinking fountain is being redesigned slightly. Geoff Oliver of the city park department is working on it, taking off some old modifications and adding a new bowl. Mavis said when the work is completed, the fountain would be re-installed right side up in a new location at the park.
•The city held the traditional end-of-summer breakfast for city summer youth workers last Tuesday. Mavis said the young workers did a tremendous job helping keep the city clean during the summer and their efforts were appreciated.
•There are no more private cab companies operating in the city, Mavis reported. One company went out of business a while ago, and when Mavis contacted the other two, he was informed they, too, went out of business.
•The entrance to Foundation Park will be closed Monday so workers can lay sanitary sewer lines inside the park.
•Mavis reported the Wooster Road water line project was finished except for some minor landscaping and restoration work the contractor is completing.
