Mount Vernon to spend $2.4 million in grant funds on sidewalks, traffic signals, riverbank restoration

MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon City Council authorized the City auditor to earmark a little more than $2.4 million in grant money from state agencies, private foundations and a watershed district.

The appropriations will fund rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing, street and sidewalk repair and construction, two intersection-signal updates on Main Street, snow removal in a specific area and tree planting.

Residents will see work funded by the grants around the city. In approximately a month, an intersection upgrade will begin at Columbus Street/South Main Street using a $264,000 Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Safety Grant, City auditor Terry Scott said.

Law Director Rob Broeren confirmed that most of the work will take place in the right-of-way. His office spent time working on breaking up the property so that it qualified for the ODOT grant. Extensive lane closures are not expected.

Another $338,000 from an ODOT Safety Grant was appropriated to fund the North Main Street/Chestnut Street intersection upgrade project.

The city received a $150,000 Community Development Grant that will fund most, if not all, of the Sandusky Street sidewalk project, Scott said.

A $750,000 appropriation was designated for the Fiscal Year 2020 Community Housing Improvement Housing Grant program to fund rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing.

The City also appropriated the $300,000 from an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grant and a $200,000 Muskingum Watershed District grant for restoration of a riverbank on the Kokosing River and to repair a breach in the dike, Scott said.

A combined $108,595 from an Ariel Foundation Grant for the Knox Community Hospital Forest Planting partnership and the 2021 Shad Tree Planting program will put more trees in the city.

An asphalt multi-use path gets $87,304 in funding for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to provide American Disabilities Act-accessibility and improved transportation sustainability in the Ariel-Foundation Park area.

Once again, the Ariel Foundation provided a $10,000 grant for snow removal services in a targeted area of the city, Scott said. The grant has been continuous for the past several years.