MOUNT VERNON – The City Council recently approved entering into leases with two businesses that are located in the downtown buildings the city bought for its future courts and police department offices.
Stephen Carpenter wants to keep his Mount Vernon Clock Co. business at 16 N. Main St., but he is moving out of the section beside his storefront that he was using for storage, engineering consultant Emily Platt said. Carpenter will focus on his storefront for the next year, and then has plans to move after that, Platt said.
Almost Famous Sweets and Sodas wants to expand its business to include events, and plans to use the vacant space next to its business at 5 E. High St.
“They are planning to do about two months of renovations inside of it," Platt said. "No major knocking down walls but completely updating the space for the next two months and then they're hoping to kind of open it to the public and start having events there."
Councilman Mike Hillier asked how the city is handling maintenance at these city-owned buildings for the businesses that lease the space. Most of the time those requests go through the city’s Public Building and Lands Department, Platt said.
Safety-Services Director Rick Dzik said that work may be stretching the department thin, especially because it is down an employee.
Law Director Rob Broeren said the city has the money from the leases that could be used for this work.
Council OKs real estate services for highway relocation
Downtown was the focus of a resolution the City Council approved to authorize the Safety-Service director to identify and select qualified firms to provide real estate services for the South Sandusky Street/State Route 13 relocation project.
City Engineer Brian Ball said he and Councilmember Mel Severns made a trip to the Ohio Department of Transportation to ask for funding and a $3.3 million grant was approved for the project.
“Our next step is to hire two qualified companies to help us with the real estate appraisals, check appraisals and acquisitions for this project,” Ball said.
Health commissioner reports on trends, buildings
Knox County Public Health Commissioner Zach Green reported to the City Council on health trends in the county. The county agency is looking at influenza, rhinovirus and other trends. They plan to use the latest polio detection tool that examines wastewater.
He also stressed Lyme disease awareness as June through September is when they typically see the most positive cases of that tick-borne disease.
The agency bought the lower block of property at 200 W. Vine St. The finance team and a few administrators have offices at 201 W. Vine St., with a bid package being prepared to renovate the 4,000 square feet of the Strang Glass property at 202 W. Vine St. They intend to have it fully operational by the end of the year, he said. It will have 10 medical beds and behavioral health facilities.
City appropriates grant funds for depot roof, community liaison
The city had received several grants and donations that Auditor Terry Scott asked the City Council to approve as supplemental appropriations. Those include a $30,749 grant for a community liaison for the Police Department and $15,750 from the state in a Justice Administrative Grant for a license plate camera.
The biggest grant was $400,000 from the Ariel Foundation to replace the CA&C Depot’s roof. Another $11,500 was appropriated in the snow removal contract with the Ariel Foundation.
A FEMA Fire & Life Safety & Mitigation Grant of $187,847 was received to fund a vehicle exhaust system for the fire station and for fire supply hose replacement.
DORA boundaries unaffected by event areas
Experience Mount Vernon Executive Director Lacey Filkins told the City Council that its DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) boundaries can only be changed through legislation that requires a public hearing. The DORA events held last year should not have had smaller boundaries than the overall boundary, according to Ohio Revised Code, she said.
Even if an event boundary was smaller, qualified liquor license holders outside of the event boundary that are within the DORA boundary can still sell DORA beverages – beer and wine in plastic DORA cups. And people may leave the event boundary with their DORA beverages if they remain within the DORA boundary.
Experience Mount Vernon wants more permanent signage because the DORA area is permanent.
Councilmember James Mahan said that $1,500 was received from DORA cup sales, which means 1,500 cups were sold.
The $1 per cup revenue goes to the Knox Substance Abuse Action Team (KSAAT) for alcohol abuse prevention initiatives, Filkins said.
