Mount Vernon has hired its first female paramedic firefighter, and she’ll be sworn in when she starts work on July 13.
Kayla Corbin was hired not because she is a woman but because she is a very good firefighter and earned top scores in tests for the position, Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
The city employed Karol Eckle as a paramedic from 1983 to 2008 before emergency medical services joined forces with the fire department, Starr said.
The city has received 14 applications for part-time firefighters as it increases staffing to also man the Gambier Fire Station in its contract for College Township fire and EMS coverage. Interviews will begin in July. Renovations continue on the fire station.
The fire department responded to two service calls since the city signed a contract with College Township on June 9.
Streets
The city received a bid for its paving projects from Smalls Asphalt for $700,483. Paving probably won’t begin until fall, Starr said. Plans include Pleasant, High, Calhoun and McKinley Streets, a Nature Works path at Ariel-Foundation Park and Eastern Star Road.
The contractor for the Ohio Department of Transportation continues to pave State Route 3, working on North Main Street last week.
“I’m very proud of that project because we had our work done well ahead of schedule for them to just come in and seamlessly work their magic to finish that out,” Starr said.
Engineering & Utilities
Crews from Engineering and Utilities departments took part in confined-space training, which Starr said is important for quality-assurance work and for safety purposes.
“It's a standard of excellence that makes sure that we have safety in mind any time we need to get into confined spaces,” he said.
That will be important when crews get inside the city’s underground reservoir to assess its condition. It hasn’t been cracked open since the 1950s, Starr said.
Engineering also found a leak at Progress Park, which Starr called the ground zero for downtown economic development. The 10-gallon per hour leak was fixed.
“We can only suspect that it was just going in the ground, and then making its way over to the river,” Starr said.
As more leaks are fixed, less water has to be produced at the water treatment plant, and costs will be reduced.
Police Department
Interviews for the community-advocate position begin in early July with hiring anticipated later in the month.
American Recovery Plan
The city will form a coalition of members of city government and the community to figure out how to use funds from the American Recovery Plan Act. The funds can be used for economic development, water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure and communication infrastructure such as broadband.
“This coalition will perform in a similar fashion as the former city finance study group,” Starr said.
