MOUNT VERNON — The city’s Shade Tree and Beautification Commission continues to improve the city’s landscape with plans to plant more than 400 trees in 2026.
Mount Vernon city engineer Brian Ball said trees provide many benefits.
“Part of the reason that trees are here is because that helps storm water. It helps to slow the rain, collect the water, and has infiltration, transpiration and cooling effects,” he said.
“That’s one of the things we’re doing as part of our municipal separate storm sewer system project that’s out there for the EPA,” Ball said.
Trees also help control soil erosion, save energy by providing shade and wind blocks to homes, and clean the air by absorbing carbon dioxide.
“[Just] as we do asset management for water lines, we’re doing asset management for storm drains and trees,” Ball said.
Ball said the trees that failed during the recent storms were uprooted, rather being broken or hollow.
“Hopefully, over this almost 10-year period where we’ve been doing active tree management, we’ve reduced the power outage and the storm damage by actively managing trees and taking down the older trees and putting back younger trees, trees that are more site appropriate,” he said.
“We’re thinking about is there a water line under it, is there a power line over it? We’re treating it as an asset.”
Street work
Crews are working on Venture Drive, digging down nearly five feet below grade in some areas to repair base failures.
Ball said the road was built at a time when the city had lesser standards and did not do much construction inspection.
“The road was basically asphalt over clay soil. We’ve gone back and removed some of that clay soil, and we are putting in a proper base. We’re replacing the curb and gutters,” he said.
After workers lay base and intermediate asphalt on the east half of the road, they will turn their attention to the west half.
Splitting the work maintains access to the businesses.
“At the end, we will put the top layer of asphalt on in one pass.
So there will be a short time where everything’s closed to do that run,” Ball said.
Crews from Underground Utility Incorporated are pulling up bricks on Burgess and Hamtramck streets preparing for the brick street rebuild.
Martinsburg Road work includes having Kokosing milled back 100 feet in each direction to smooth out the Delano Run bridge approach.
The sidewalk project cannot start before July because it is in state fiscal year 2027.
Ball reported the city is working through design for replacing three failed culverts on Glen Road. Although Pleasant Township maintains the road, culvert replacement is outside of traditional maintenance.
Small’s Paving is smoothing out Blackberry Alley where it connects to Howard Street.
Ball said the city will apply for a residential public infrastructure grant in June for the Crystal Avenue water line project. It has already received part of the funding.
The city will rebid the Riverside Park pickleball and Memorial Park concession stand projects. Ball said the first bids “didn’t align well enough with our pricing, so we’ve made some adjustments.”
Public utilities
Director of public utilities Aaron Reinhart said the wastewater treatment plant “reached a milestone” with designs for phosphorus reduction reaching 60%.
“That’s a pretty big deal. Now we’ll spend the next month or so reviewing all those things, make sure everything’s right,” he said.
The next step is submitting the designs to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for review. When the city receives OEPA approval, it will move toward the 90% design phase.
“Once we hit that, it’s pretty much set. We plan on breaking ground the first of the year on this project,” Reinhart said.
At the water treatment plant, workers are ready to start looking at the disinfection process, moving from the chlorine dioxide to the sodium hydrochloride method.
In distribution and collections, employees have replaced slightly over half of the 4,000 meters.
Reinhart said the department will start looking at replacing commercial meters. Anyone who has a commercial meter and is affected will receive a letter early to mid-May explaining the process.
He also reminded residents they will see water ($1.75) and wastewater ($3.29) increases on their April bill.
Public works
Public Works Director Tom Hinkle said the city installed a new swing set for children and adults next to the Rotary playground in Riverside Park.
Early bird registration for Hiawatha Water Park ends April 30.
Work continues on pump house maintenance, cleaning the pool, and repainting and resealing the water features, including the slides and mushroom.
The splash pad at Captain Hunter’s Landing will open Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day weekend.
Hinkle said Bebout Masonry did an excellent job on repairing the Curtis mound wall, which fell during the March windstorm.
Cemetery workers removed any decorations that families did not remove. If they are in good condition, the city will keep them for several months for families to claim.
Preparations are underway for Memorial Day. St. Vincent de Paul school children will again assist with placing flags on the veterans’ graves.
“While every effort is made to ensure all graves are honored, we recognize that some may occasionally be missed,” the director said. “If that happens, we encourage family members that recognize that to let us know.”
Residents can also contact the Veteran Services Offices to obtain a flag.
The big push for public buildings and lands workers is checking emergency exit lighting in city buildings.
They will soon start checking bollards on Public Square. The plan is to remove, repaint, and replace a few at a time.
Additionally, Hinkle said the fountain on Public Square will hopefully start running by the end of the month.
Request for Qualifications for companies interested in demolishing public buildings at 10-20 N. Main St. and 6 E. Chestnut St. are due May 7.
