MOUNT VERNON – Mayor Matt Starr said the homeless camp cleanup near the High Street bridge after a brush fire was a success.
Dan Geiger provided a roll-up dumpster and helped spearhead the cleanup, Starr said.
Tim Hortons and Domino’s Pizza provided food and drinks, with Russ Metzer of Domino’s also helping at the site. The city provided a second location for additional debris.
“Most of the work was done with Merit Court program volunteers and so we just really appreciate the effort that they provided in helping us clean that up,” Starr said.
The land is a sort of “no man’s land” as part of it is owned by Clinton Township and part of it by the state, he said. The city administration and Law Director Rob Broeren are looking at what can be done to protect this corridor entrance to the city. Starr said his preference would be to clean up these small islands of Clinton Township that are surrounded by the city.
Police Chief Robert Morgan explained that Merit Court is an advanced probation system that helps people who have gone through the court system.
“It’s more than just checking in with your probation officer once a week or once a month,” Morgan said. “They have programs, they have community service projects together. They have an education component to it.”
Fire department responds faster than national average
The Mount Vernon Fire Department responded to 6,250 emergency incidents in 2022, Fire Chief Chad Christopher said. It was a 5.44% increase from 2021. Emergency services calls accounted for 86% or 5,357 calls. Fire calls made up 14% of the total, with 875 incidents.
The average response time throughout the entire fire district, including the city and townships, was 6:37, he said. That’s faster than the national standard, which for EMS was 7:06.
“Obviously, in town, our runtimes are a lot shorter than that, but when you average in our whole run district, we’re below the national standard, which is good,” Christopher said.
He said they’ve seen an increase in brush fires in the community and the county.
“People want to get out and start burning brush earlier, but they’ve got to be really paying attention to the wind conditions that are happening,” he said.
Christopher advised residents to watch the wind conditions. If it is windy, do not burn any brush, he said. Keep your brush piles small. Don’t leave the fire and have some type of extinguishing agent, like a rake handy, in case it gets out of control.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources burn ban will go into effect for the townships in March, April and May from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, he said.
Youth Leadership Council learns about firefighting
The mayor's Youth Leadership Council met on Thursday and focused on the fire department. Participants got a chance to understand what goes into firefighting and also to tour the city facility.
Kids learn how to throw axes
On Thursday, PAK United held an event at Summit Axe Throwing, with about 30 kids and their parents in attendance, Morgan said.
Paul McNeal from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and Dena Hess from the Woodward Opera House helped organize the event, along with officer Jeremiah Armstrong, Morgan said.
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