MOUNT VERNON – The city has begun purchasing properties for a new courthouse in downtown Mount Vernon next to the Municipal Parking Plaza.
A $700,000 purchase of 3 East High St., the Kline building, was completed May 4.
“That northeast block of Public Square would all be city property,” Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News.
Properties at 4 and 6 East Chestnut St. are under contract by the city. Negotiations are continuing for 10-16 N. Main, which is attached to the East Chestnut properties.
The building committee, headed by Judge John C. Thatcher, favored this location for a new courthouse.
“This offers us a lot of advantages from economies of scale,” Starr said. “The parking garage is already there. There would be a centralized generator backup that will be centralized, probably some sort of a centralized HVAC or something similar to that.”
City Council gave its approval to negotiate with the property owners at its April 25 meeting.
The Chestnut Street property was appraised at $52,380, according to the Knox County Auditor’s website. The property at 10-16 Main St. was appraised at $114,570. And 18 Main St. was appraised for $161,100.
“Rick [Dzik] and I had the personal goal of at least acquiring property by the end of the year,” Starr said.
The city already has fixed a water leak at the High Street property. It is looking to make sure it takes care of the tenants. Design engineers will be contacted soon.
The city will tear down the existing buildings and start new construction. It will honor the architectural signature of those buildings, he said.
“The courthouse and the annex from the City Hall, these need to last a very, very long time,” he said.
Lifeguard shortage limits pool hours
The city has had difficulty finding lifeguards to work at Hiawatha Water Park. It has 21 returning lifeguards, with an additional 14 or 15 participating in a class.
“That is not enough to get us through two shifts throughout the summer months,” Starr said.
The city has too few lifeguards available to provide morning swim lesson instruction.
Pool operation hours will be from noon to 7 p.m. Adult lap swim will continue. And the H2O high-intensity training will be scheduled at 7:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.
It’s not just Mount Vernon that has this problem, he said. A report from the American Lifeguard Association said at least one-third of public pools in the U.S. risk being shut down or changing hours to accommodate this summer’s staff shortages, MSN reported.
Utility disconnection policy changes
The city’s new policy on water disconnection that gives customers more time was published in the May newsletter distributed with bills. Details can be found in the newsletter or by calling the utility office at 740-393-9504.
The lime removal project has begun. Farmers interested in free lime can call the utility office to be placed on a list.
“We've been looking at a lot of our water systems and coming up with a prioritized list of some of the things that we need to make happen to make sure that we continue to provide safe water,” Starr said. “At the wastewater plant, we're also looking at ways of handling the residual sludge.”
Utility Director Tom Marshall is exploring alternatives, he said.
Crews are out working on several water and sewer line projects to replace failing components of the city’s utility infrastructure. The city asks drivers to slow down and give them a break.
“It's hard enough working in a confined space,” Starr said. “When you’ve got cars zipping by you quickly, it's even more nerve-racking.”
Work order tracking
Safety Service Director Rick Dzik is leading the adoption of a new software system for city work orders that will handle the heavy lifting of tracking assignments and managing work orders that come in through the different departments.
Starr said it gives the city more data and a better way of managing the information. Staff are looking at how it might be interfaced with reports from the community.
Events listed for Ariel-Foundation Park
The events at Ariel-Foundation Park are public now. Anyone who was interested in seeing more about the concert series is welcome to visit the Ariel-Foundation Park website (arielfoundationpark.org), Starr said.