MOUNT VERNON – North McKinley Street is expected to remain closed to through traffic for a water line replacement until Friday.
The location is where it cuts across Pleasant Street by Pleasant Street Elementary School.
“The contractor is going to be accommodating the school bus and the school traffic. But emergency traffic will not be able to pass all the time,” Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
The city is waiting on Columbia Gas to finish its work before it begins paving a bit farther east on Pleasant Street. The city will proceed with paving even if it has to complete Pleasant Street in two parts, he said.
“We want to make sure Columbia gas is done so we don't have to go back and dig it up again.” Starr said.
Sidewalk, intersection projects out to bid
The city has several projects out to bid, including Sandusky Street sidewalks from Franklin to Pleasant Street. The new sidewalks will be installed on the east side of Sandusky in a project funded by a CDBG grant.
“It’s very important if people on the east side of Sandusky Street want to keep their brick sidewalks,” Starr said.
They need to call the Engineering Department to let the city know.
A bid bust occurred when submitted bids came in well beyond 10% of the city’s estimate for the traffic light at the Columbus Road and South Main Street intersection, requiring the Engineering Department to put it out for bids again.
The cause of the bid bust was attributed to the cost of steel increasing by a great amount, which was not anticipated when plans for the intersection first began, Starr said.
“We had an estimator start over and come up with a new estimate, and it's right around the $226,000 area,” he said.
Clintonville project begins tree removal process
A public meeting was held at Faith Lutheran Church to discuss the Clintonville Phase One and Two projects involving water, sewer and storm water lines. Work was to begin this week on Fern and Grange in the area where the city has been out of compliance with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
One half of the neighborhood has signed temporary right of way agreements to give the city access to get in to work on the projects.
“We're going to go back out with more letters. We're going to contact the people who we haven't heard from yet but we need to know, can we get in there? And are there things in your property that need to be preserved, or do you want trees cut down?” Starr said.
The timing is critical because the city has begun staking and will start tree removal this week.
Special meeting on employee pay
The Mount Vernon City Council will hold another special employee relations committee meeting on Oct. 4 to follow up on the Sept. 27 meeting in which a pay and compensation study’s conclusions were discussed.
“This is an extensive piece of the business that the council has to take a look at because it's very difficult because it's a balancing act of precious taxpayer dollars when deciding how much employees are worth, the longevity in their career, their experience, their education and their skill,” Starr said.
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