MOUNT VERNON – A park facilities naming rights policy adopted by the Mount Vernon City Council could lead to $500,000 in fees over 10 years.
“If we sold them all except one ball field that is already on the clock for naming rights that we’re not going to touch, we are looking at close to a half a million dollars over the next decade,” Recreation Director Tanner Salyers said during the July 24 City Council meeting.
Salyers, who also serves as the Knox County Recorder, confirmed for City Councilmember James Mahan that an application from a company or sponsor that was not consistent with the city’s core values would be rejected by the Recreation Board in a public process.
Naming rights would “time out” after 20 years, he said. But some benches and pavilions have standing names.
“There are some legacy things that we just don’t want to touch. We don’t want to worry people about that,” Salyers said.
He said there are still two dugouts per ball field, a concession stand and press boxes available for naming rights.
Knox County reports up to 58 cases of Lyme disease
Knox Public Health Director Zach Green told City Council that the county has 58 confirmed or suspected cases of Lyme disease.
“Blacklegged deer ticks continue to be predominant in our communities, and that’s not going to change," Green said. "So we need to be very aware of education with Lyme disease and the fact that we do have the ability to combat it as long as you detect it early enough."
He also told City Council that the organization’s new location at 206 S. Mulberry Street in Mount Vernon will add more treatment rooms, as well as more behavioral health, mental health and substance abuse disorder counseling rooms within its 4,000 square feet of space.
“Ultimately, my five-year goal is to have everyone downtown,” Green said, but he added a lot more time and “a heck of a lot more money” are needed.
The agency has 60 individuals on a waitlist for behavioral health services. Green said they are actively pursuing additional behavioral health counselors.
Epidemiologists are looking forward to collaborating on influenza testing of wastewater starting in the fall.
ODOT funds SR13 widening project designs
Mount Vernon received $173,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation as reimbursement for contract engineering for design work on the State Route 13 widening project.
Originally the city expected ODOT to pay 80-90% of that cost but had not given the city any funding, Auditor Terry Scott said. This payment represents ODOT’s share of the design work costs. Scott said the City Council could expect another $50,000 coming to the city for the same project on a future meeting agenda.
New Community Authority creation set for next month
The City Council plans to create its New Community Authority, appoint its four members and accept Mayor Matt Starr’s three appointees at its next meeting.
“Usually the way this works is, the city appoints four and the developer appoints three and they serve in that ratio basically until the development is finished under our structure,” Area Development Foundation President Jeff Gottke said on Monday night.
To create the organization, the city uses the cemetery property where a new maintenance building is under construction. That makes the city the developer, so the mayor appoints the developer’s board representatives, he said.
A new development coming to the city would go through the same process, starting with a petition to the New Community Authority board. The board would vet the petition and send it to the City Council for approval
“The other thing they do is basically count the money as it comes in and then pass it over to the city auditor," Gottke said. "So the county auditor would transfer it to the board, and then the board would then basically write a check to the city auditor."
The developer for Liberty Crossing already said it would participate. The expected 4 mills per $100,000 of appraised value on each new home would raise approximately $4.5 million over 30 years just from this development to fund the infrastructure needed because of the new development. It will be more as more developers join, according to Gottke.
Gottke offered to propose members for the New Community Authority board, advising the City Council that it should include members who understand finance or development.
