MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon will temporarily decommission a 2-million-gallon water reservoir to rehabilitate the structure later this year.
Interior repairs and valve work are necessary on the reservoir, assistant City engineer Jason Epley told the Mount Vernon News.
Discussions are underway to make sure the City can take it out of service and not create any shortfalls to the water system. The City has two water towers and this water reservoir.
“When you take one of the three of our kind of storage sources off, you know we’re being very cautious to make sure that we can maintain our water pressure throughout the city for probably at least a few weeks while this work is done without that two million gallons that we normally would have,” Epley said.
Kokosing River Restoration
Phases 1 and 3 of the Kokosing River Restoration project are nearly complete, Safety-Service Director Rick Dzik said.
Final grading and seeding were being done at West Lake in Ariel-Foundation Park to complete Phase 1, he said. The lake had merged with the river, so it needed to be separated.
Phase 3 also included East Lake.
“That one’s gotten to the point where it’s too big to repair with that one; they’re just stabilizing the riffraff,” Dzik said.
That happened with the two lakes in the park, so the City is trying to make sure the lakes continue to be usable, he noted.
Bike trail
A final inspection of the bike trail that runs under Main Street was being performed on Monday. Before this trail was built, residents had to cross Main Street at a busy intersection to continue along the bike trail and over to Ariel-Foundation Park. Now they can go under Main Street.
“Obviously, the intersection is still there; the crosswalks are still going to be there; but we’re guessing it’s going to be much, much less congested with bicyclers, walkers and all that kind of stuff with this new trail available,” Dzik said.
Parks
The Parks Department did cleanup work at Ariel-Foundation Park from storm damage.
The volleyball court in Hiawatha Park has opened and is ready for use.
Staff are getting Hiawatha Water Park at 100 Sychar Road ready for its reopening on May 29 after being closed for a year because of the pandemic.
Dzik asked that anyone who is interested in being a lifeguard reach out to the City for an application.
Police Department
The body cameras and dashcams approved by City Council several weeks ago have been ordered. Dzik said it will probably take a few weeks to ship the equipment and get it set up.
