MOUNT VERNON – The city’s Street and Public Works departments, with some help from Utilities and Parks staff, worked for 48 continuous hours during the last snowstorm, clearing streets and alleys.
Seven drivers from the Street Department, three from Public Works and another three volunteers from Utilities worked 12-hour shifts to maintain coverage, Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
“That was great to have that many people out and about constantly,” he said.
The crews used a mix of salt with No. 9 gravel and sprayed that with some brine. Some material was left in the salt barn and another 400 tons are on order.
“Last week was pushing the snow around,” Starr said. “This week was removing it from the downtown and the alleyways and the intersections, and then also getting to the city-owned sidewalks.”
Crews were still working on Friday to finish. They also performed maintenance work on the trucks.
“We need to do some repair work,” he said. “We're cleaning them after up after being brutalized for a little while anyway.”
The Parks Department helped with the cleanup, coming in on Sunday after the storm.
Pearl Street sewer, stormwater work
Layton Excavating continued work on the Clintonville project on Pearl Street, Starr said. The sewer and stormwater project was designed to cut the overflow at a nearby lift station. (Clintonville refers to the Clinton Road drainage basin area.)
The city is under an EPA mandate to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows in the project area by September of 2023.
The project includes installing new sewer and stormwater lines and converting some old sanitary lines into stormwater lines.
City forges ties with regional leaders
A day after meeting with the Middle Ohio Regional Commission in Columbus, Starr expressed hope City Council would approve Mount Vernon’s membership in the organization.
“The main theme, because of the announcement that Intel is coming to Licking County, is on how important our region is connected to each other in order to be able to fully capitalize on the impact that plan is going to have regionally,” he said.
Knowing who to call and contact and just being in the same room with many of the other decision-makers at the same time is extremely important, he said.
Fire Department fills vacancy
Fire Chief Chad Christopher said he filled an upcoming vacancy caused by the retirement, effective April 3, of Capt. Joe Spurgeon.
Thomas Cooper began his first day as a full-time employee on Feb. 8. Prior to that, he was a member of its part-time program, Christopher said.
Cooper holds a Firefighter II classification and EMT certification. He also is enrolled in the Grant Hospital Paramedic program.
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