MOUNT VERNON — The city of Mount Vernon recently received some good news about the former American National Can property.

Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said the city received a letter from Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel stating DOD will formally recommend the city receive a grant for the assessment of the property. Mount Vernon has applied for a $299,865 grant from Clean Ohio Funds for the project.

The DOD will send their recommendation to the controlling board, which will eventually determine whether the grant will be awarded. The city will find out Feb. 22 from the controlling board.

“We’re pleased to get the letter and recommendation,” Mavis said. “But, we really can’t celebrate until Feb. 22.”

The assessment will be of no cost to the city and will take approximately 10 months to complete. Mavis said it will include 15 shallow monitoring wells, two large monitoring wells, ground-penetrating radar and 70 soil borings in the 44-acre property along the Kokosing River. That information will be compiled with the assessment already completed on the project and it will then determine what needs to be done to clean up the property and what it will cost.

“That (assessment) will tell us what needs to be done. What we have to dig up or remove will all be determined by the assessment,” Mavis said. “We’re pleased to get this far with the project. The 44 acres sit directly atop the city’s aquifer. We have concerns about how it might impact the future of our water.”

The water drainage from the Sandusky Street area also goes through that property and the city’s dike along the Kokosing River runs adjacent to it. Mavis said that once it is officially cleaned up, there will be 22 acres of the property suitable for industrial or manufacturing development.

Once the assessment is completed, Mavis said the city will apply for other grants that would enable it to clean up the property. He said it may take four to five years before the property is suitable for development.

On another note, Mavis is already looking forward to summer in the city. He recently met with officials from the city and from the water park board and they have determined they will put a large frog slide and water spraying fountains in the baby pool. The project, which is anticipated to cost around $25,000, will be open for bids and the project completed by the time the pool opens this summer.

Along with the frog, several other projects will be completed at the pool this year. Mavis said they will be redoing the fence to include part of the blacktopped area for a basketball court and will add a second entrance for those with passes.

“At noon when we open for business, there’s a lot of people lined up to get in with passes and those who want to purchase tickets. We’re constructing, off the sidewalk at the south end, another gate that will be open only at the beginning of the day so people with passes can go through. Hopefully, that will help streamline people entering the pool,” Mavis said.

The city is also looking at creating a second parking area in the wooded lot north of the park’s pavilion and City Parks Director Geoff Oliver is also working on a walking trail around the 19-acre Hiawatha Park complex.

In other news:

•Mavis said City Council has set Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. as the time for its annual budget meeting. If things are not concluded on that day, they will meet again Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.

•The city was able to correct a small problem with the sewage drainage on South Gay Street. The lateral to the residence had been disconnected and city workers reconnected it with a minimal of digging of asphalt on Gay Street.

•Mavis reminded residents of the pothole hotline as the weather begins to break. City streets begin developing potholes as the roads thaw and the city will be attempting to fill them with a cold patch mix. Residents who see large potholes can call 393-9501 to report them.

•Oliver will be at the council meeting Jan. 25 to give a plan for increasing the size of the Veterans Walk of Honor on Public Square. The bricks are nearly full of names and Oliver has an idea on how to create more room without interfering with any trees.

•City Hall will be closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.