Mount Vernon hires new clerk of council, shifts duties

Mount Vernon hired Todd Hill as a replacement for its former clerk of council, choosing the experienced journalist and former clerk for Bacyrus.

Hill served as clerk for the Crawford County city of approximately 11,764 residents that sits along the Sandusky River.

“We changed the position from less clerical duties to more public and employees’ information duties. He will be leading the city’s efforts on press releases, social media management and other public information tasks,” Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.

Hill also brings experience as a journalist to the role.

He already started work on some projects for the City Council on Aug. 20, his first day at work. Hill was being appointed as clerk of council by the City Council at its Aug. 23 meeting.

He replaces Tanya Grassbaugh-Newell, who left the city to take a job with Mount Vernon Middle School.

Engineering

The Ohio Department of Transportation requires the city to inspect 10 bridges annually. The inspections have been completed and showed all are in good condition.

“There will be some minor maintenance to each one, like the deck ceiling and some expansion joints,” Starr said.

Work continues on the water reservoir and the Oak and Catherine streets projects.

American Rescue Plan

The city’s study group for American Rescue Plan funding met on Aug. 18 and identified four main categories to consider for financing: utility assistance, community social services, child care and business capacity/financing and utility infrastructure, Starr said.

The study group’s next meeting will be at 4 p.m. Sept. 16.

Starr said he has reached out and spoken with some of the different townships’ trustees to figure out ways to maximize funding for countywide projects, like child care of social services.

“We're hoping that every township will kick in a little bit on some of these social services areas and some of the infrastructure, as well as shared infrastructure projects,” he said.

Leadership Development

Starr said the city had a good session for leadership development training last week.

“This is important because the last time that we trained our leaders or department heads, foremen, assistant directors, all the way up to the C suite was in 2003,” he said.

The city plans to continue the training one day a month for the rest of the year.