MOUNT VERNON – The BHP Care Now Clinic at 206 South Mulberry St. held a ribbon cutting to signal it has begun to serve people who are experiencing urgent behavioral health needs or emotional distress.
The clinic serves individuals 12 years and older who will receive brief, targeted care by a qualified behavioral health professional, Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
“That's a really important part of our continuum of care in Knox County, and it's extremely important that we're able to fill that need; there's quite a bit,” he said.
The Police Department’s community advocate came down and spoke with BHP staff.
“It was nice to see everybody,” Starr said. “Law enforcement, fire, EMS were there; the Knox County Sheriff's Department and certainly the BHP board and the workforce who are going to be carrying out the services were all there as well. So really excited to have this particular service in town.”
Fire Department emergency response training
The Mount Vernon Fire Department took advantage of the high waters caused by flooding in the Kokosing River to do some training on its rescue boats.
“After waiting around eight months for our 30 hp Mercury boat motor, MVFD finally was able to put our rescue boat in service,” Fire Chief Chad Christopher said on Friday. “In anticipation of the forecasted flooding, crew members were able to utilize the high river water of the Kokosing yesterday for very valuable training.”
Training includes water safety, boat operations, patient removal, patient care and utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a protocol to coordinate emergency response across multiple agencies, the USDA said.
“Future improvements to the rescue boat were identified throughout the training that will be put into place such as lighting and additional rescue equipment,” Christopher said.
Utilities Department connects housing development to waterline
The Utilities Department’s big project last week was performing a waterline tie-in on Upper Gilchrist Road for Gilchrist Estates, where Schlabach Builders is constructing homes.
“That's a big, big deal to make sure that that utility infrastructure is in place for those new homes,” Starr said.
The department also worked on some sewer backups.
Street Department responds to icy conditions
Crews came in at 1 a.m. on Friday to deal with the icy roads.
Earlier in the week during warmer weather, they made preparations for a flood watch.
“The crews went in and checked every single catch basin to make sure they were clear of ice and snow so that they could handle Thursday's rain. It rained a ton also,” Starr said. “And so far as we know, the plan works so good.”
Parks Department repairs bleachers
Parks Department staff have been working on the bleachers at Memorial Park, some of which were in really bad shape. Crews retrofitted the bleachers with a vendor putting railing on the sides and back to improve safety.
The floodgates at the viaduct bike trail were closed as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday due to the high water at the underpass.
They also continue to do maintenance on equipment in preparation for spring.
Streets/Public Works oversees maintenance
The Street and Public Works Department has been doing maintenance on the plows and trucks that Starr said kind of got beat up over the past couple of weeks. “But we're ready to go,” he said.
Engineering Department installs sewers
Layton Excavation is continuing to install sanitary sewer through the backyards between Fern and Clinton Road.
Palmer and Son will finish installing a waterline and meter pits on Lewis Street.
And the city expects Dirt Dawg Excavating to start redoing the driveways on Catherine Street very soon.
Videos are live and online
Mount Vernon’s latest videos are live and online at the city’s homepage, mountvernonohio.org. Visitors to the site can take a video tour to see who helped make it possible, both businesses and other groups that helped.
“But you can get a feel for what Mount Vernon is all about,” Starr said.
