MOUNT VERNON – The North Sandusky Street construction project moves into the cement stabilization process that is critical for the road.
Installation of the storm sewer was being completed last week, Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
Water lines and everything else were completed on the east side of Sandusky last year.
“So we will not have to go and do anything under the surface on the west side. So, the west side should go a lot faster,” he said.
The project is expected to be completed in November to be compliant with the state safety grant and CDBG grants, he said.
Congressional staff visit
The city administration held a meeting with staff from the office of Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ashland, -in Washington, D.C.
“We told them what we were planning to do with the American Rescue Plan Act funds, or the general direction where we're heading at this particular point in time,” Starr said.
They also discussed projects the city submitted to the state for funding that fall under Ohio House Bill 168, through which the state will make grants for infrastructure improvements using ARPA funds from the federal government.
Mount Vernon has seven projects that are water-, wastewater- and stormwater-related at different places around town for which it is asking for a little more than $5 million from those funds. These places are in desperate need of upgrades, Starr said, including the wastewater treatment plan where the city needs to move things along in the treatment of phosphorous.
“We like these projects because they actually are being reinvested into customers that have been paying into the utility. It's nice that we get some upgrades to them in parts of the town that needed it for quite some time,” he said.
The cost share for the city is approximately $1.7 million.
The city also discussed plans to reroute traffic for the Route 13 corridor that Starr said would take approximately 50% of the trucks out of downtown Mount Vernon. He said the city continues to apply for grants as it works in preparation of getting the project started.
“I was really glad that we were able to do the preparation on the Kokosing River restoration project in preparation for that, where we stabilize the embankment stop to the erosion. And we're in much better shape for the rest of those dominoes start to fall,” he said.
Problems from a recent lightning strike that took out power in downtown Mount Vernon and burst a hole in a water main hit the City Council chambers also. The city is having problems with its legislative software that records and streams council meetings.