MOUNT VERNON — The city’s recent restructuring of its public buildings and lands, streets, and cemetery departments streamlined cross-coverage of personnel, but it intensified an existing problem: access to tools and supplies.
Tools, spare parts, and supplies for Public Buildings & Lands (PBL) are stored everywhere. Literally.
They are in offices, supply closets, and mechanical closets. Those offices and closets are in City Hall, the parking garage, and the Plaza Building. Even the police department and adult probation have ladders and supplies tucked into unused corners.
Employee office space is also scattered. According to City Engineer Brian Ball, one area has constant noise from pumps, water heaters, and other mechanical equipment.
“A five-hour exposure to the noise probably does not meet OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards,” he told city council members on Monday.
The same problems extend to the cemetery department. Additionally, the cemetery staff has one garage that is used for vehicle service, office space, and as an employee lunch/break room.
To solve the problem, the city purchased a mobile unit where some tools and supplies can be stored. Now, Ball and Tom Hinkle, director of public works, are asking council to build a maintenance facility that will hold not only the mobile unit, but also provide space for both departments to store parts and supplies as well as a service area separate from employees’ lunch room.
“The PBL does not have, nor has ever had, a facility,” Hinkle said. “This facility would benefit the cemetery side as well as the PBL side.”
The city owns 14 buildings and takes care of 15 more properties.
“Some of these buildings have a lot of age to them … We’ve got to take care of the outside of the buildings,” Hinkle said. “As the PBL keeps growing, we’ll need more supplies, tools, and we need a proper building to work out of.”
Council allocated $450,000 in the 2022 budget for a maintenance building. That number, based on 2021 costs, is now up to $600,000. Because of increasing costs, Ball and Hinkle asked council’s permission to bring legislation to the next council meeting authorizing them to bid and award a contract for the project.
“Even if we award a bid next month, we may not build it until next year,” Ball said, adding that items needed to finish the project, such as insulation, bathrooms, and concrete floor, can be included in the 2023 budget. “If we get the building under roof, we lock in the cost of the building.
“The building will not be usable, but at least we will not be subject to increased costs on a whole level.”
The building will be about 72-foot-by-48-foot and located at Mound View Cemetery west of the office, near the location of existing fuel tanks.
Council agreed to having legislation ready for the July 11 council meeting and will hold a short Streets and Public Buildings Committee meeting to review it before its council session.
Legislatively, council took the following action:
•Gave a first reading to legislation accepting the Municipal Planning Commission’s recommendation to accept the development plan for the Ohio Eastern Star Home planned neighborhood development
•Waived a third reading and adopted the recommendations of the Tax Incentive Review Council to continue the tax abatements for the Woodward Opera House, Owens Corning Insulating Systems, Replex Plastics (Pisces Properties LLC), and Sanoh America (Chesterland Productions PPL).
•Gave a first reading to legislation authorizing the safety-service director to send out a Request for Qualifications for firms to rehab the city’s water/wastewater clarifier #1
•Gave a second reading to legislation authorizing the safety-service director to acquire recarbonation panels for the city’s water/wastewater department
Stormwater Credits
In a Utilities Committee meeting, council revisited the issue of granting stormwater credits to residents who might be paying higher rates than they should.
Emily Platt of the city’s engineering department said that since the Knox Pages article ran, she received two phone calls from residents wanting to check on their correct rate.
She also discovered that there are only about 20 residences that might be getting overcharged, not 70 as was originally feared.
Utilities Chair Tammy Woods asked whether 20 was a reasonable number for the administration to contact. Safety-service Director Richard Dzik responded that answers are still needed before the city does that:
•What is the process for the city to waive the fee for residents applying to the Board of Zoning Appeals? Will it be through legislation or via authority granted to the administration? (Residents in an Office/Institutional zoning district must apply for a conditional use permit to use their home as a residence.)
•What is the definition of a business?
The latter question arose when it was discovered that one resident who received a stormwater credit was running a business out of the home. However, the business did not have any traffic or other issues that annoy neighbors.
The discussion turned to how to treat businesses such as those on Etsy or eBay. Some businesses are clear-cut, such as car repair. Others fall into a gray area, hence the need for definition.
