MOUNT VERNON – The Chestnut-North Main Street intersection may reopen this week once painting new lines is completed and power has been restored to traffic lights.
Painting was scheduled for the Chestnut/North Main Street intersection on Friday. Mayor Matt Starr said the City needs to wait for American Electric Power (AEP) to hook up power for the intersection. Cameras will be set up this week, with calibration and lines painted for turn lanes.
Hopefully, the intersection will be open by the end of this week, Starr said.
The fire line to the Schnormeier Event Center was installed by a contractor. The water line was installed to the building with final grading, topsoil, mulch and other touch-up work. A trench across the parking lot with water lines will be completed.
“That’s a major milestone for the City and the Foundation Arts Conservancy, to make sure that we can have fire suppression in the Schnormeier Event Center,” Starr said.
A new fire hydrant was also installed.
Starr said the City listened to residents along Oak and Catherine Streets, deciding to wait until the school year ends to start a road and infrastructure project.
“We got to thinking about it and, yeah, let’s just wait until school ends so we’re not fighting with buses and more traffic,” he said. “Those streets are really narrow, and so there’s very little wiggle room.”
The plan is to start on May 24.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is almost ready to start its Route 3 repaving project from Mount Vernon to the Ashland County line.
Crews started lowering manhole casings and water valve boxes and filling areas in with asphalt.
The City’s contractor for the Sandusky Street utility improvement finished all the punch list items, such as seeding the topsoil.
Civil Service
The top 15 firefighter/paramedic applicants who passed the written civil service exam on April 28 will undergo a physical agility test on May 22.
The Knox County Career Center gymnasium will host the test.
“Really, we want to thank the Knox County Career Center, because this is the first time that we’ve been able to offer it locally,” Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
The final hiring list, based on the test results, will be established on May 24.
Street Department
The City’s Street Department has used 16.16 tons of asphalt for patching.
The North Main Street portion of the five-point intersection project opened on Friday. Some dirt work and topsoil was needed to complete the project. Intermittent road closures are possible this week during working hours. Traffic light signals will be upgraded this summer, Starr said.
Parks Department
The City cleaned and filled the big pool at Hiawatha Waterpark, Starr said.
Public Buildings, Land and Cemetery
Flags are going up around the downtown area and the Public Square, with flowers soon to follow.
Fire Department
Three new air conditioning units were installed at the fire department building to replace units that died, leaving sections of the building without air conditioning.
Strategic planning
Starr took strategic planning to Dan Emmett Elementary School last week, asking fifth-grade teacher Patti Goeppinger’s class what the city’s priorities for the next 10 years should be.
