MOUNT VERNON — Leaf pickup, new traffic signals, brick street repairs and sewer line work will keep Mount Vernon crews busy through year’s end, city officials said Tuesday.
City crews will begin curbside leaf collection Nov. 2, Public Works Director Tom Hinkle said Tuesday. Residents should expect pickup to last most of the month.
Crews will not give residents a specific pickup day or time. Instead, the city will publish a weekly schedule and update the public at the end of each week.
“There’s just too many variables that we have to deal with during leaf pickup,” Hinkle said.
The city aims to finish before Thanksgiving, but it depends on the weather.
“We may be able to accomplish that five out of 10 times,” Hinkle said, adding that crews sometimes work into the second week of December.
Residents should keep leaves behind the curb in the tree lawn, off sidewalks and away from parking areas. They should not pile them around trees, mailboxes, cars or signposts. Hinkle said the machines cannot operate close to objects.
Residents who prefer not to wait on the city can take leaves to the county compost facility on Thayer Road. Empty the bags of leaves.
Traffic signal upgrades continue on Coshocton
Crews are replacing traffic-signal equipment at three Coshocton Avenue intersections: the TSC store, Walmart, and Upper Gilchrist. The work includes new cabinets, vehicle detection and audible pedestrian crossing buttons.
Hinkle said the process has been long, starting with curb and ramp work, foundations and sidewalks.
“Currently, it’s a lot of the equipment, getting it exchanged,” he said.
Hinkle said the TSC intersection is largely finished. Crews will start the Walmart intersection by Thursday. An officer will direct traffic at the Walmart and Upper Gilchrist intersections because both are busier than the TSC site.
Signals will go dark at times during the work.
“Navigate through those intersections like you were supposed to when you see a dark signal,” Hinkle said.
Hinkle estimates each intersection will take eight hours.
Crews also repaired the decking on the East High Street bridge and milled and filled 2,000 feet along Edgewood Road.
Winterizing facilities up next for parks, public buildings & land departments
The city’s winter hours begin Nov. 15. However, Hinkle said crews may close restrooms and drinking fountains sooner if forecasts call for consecutive freezing nights.
The final Movies in the Parks showing begins at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Ariel-Foundation Park Schnormeier Event Center. Mayor Matt Starr said the Scare on the Square costume parade will return at 4:30 p.m. on Public Square after the movie. Trick-or-treat follows at 5:30 p.m.
Renovations to the municipal center are on schedule.
Tech position open in cemetery dept.
The city will host a civil service exam at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, for a cemetery technician position. Applicants must register by midnight Nov. 3 through the city website or the human resources department. The city has dropped its registration fee.
Turnout has fallen sharply. Hinkle said exams drew about 100 people two decades ago.
“Today, you’re lucky if you get 10 people,” he said.
Meter replacement nearly complete
Public Utilities Director Aaron Reinhart said about 300 residential water meters remain to be replaced out of roughly 4,000 in the city’s H2Overhaul program.
The sewer plant project awaits Ohio EPA’s permit to install, and Reinhart said the city hopes to break ground in February or March. The utility billing office plans to switch to new software in April.
Reinhart said he hopes to have a design plan for the water plant’s switch from chlorine to the sodium hydrochlorite process by the end of the year.
Hamtramck Street brickwork complete
Engineer Jason Epley said the Hamtramck Street brickwork is complete. Remaining work includes short stretches of sidewalk and curb ramps. Crews are still laying brick on Burgess Street as well as sidewalks and drives.
Mulberry Street will close once more so crews can pour concrete and relay brick at the intersection. That work likely will not begin until mid- to late November.
“By the time everything’s opened back up, it’s probably going to be the first of the year,” Epley said.
Kokosing is scheduled to mill and pave Burgess and Greenwood streets starting Nov. 2. Crews will install curbs and sidewalks this week.
Sanitary sewer work on Mansfield Avenue, which serves 55 homes with repeated backups, will begin Nov. 9. Contractors will postpone surface coating and striping at the new pickleball courts until late May or early June because of cold weather.
Demolition is complete on the State Route 13 project. AEP still has to relocate utility poles on South Sandusky Street. ODOT held its pre-construction meeting last week, but the contractor will do only minor work until next spring.
Utilities in the Schlabach and Founders Grove subdivisions on Upper Gilchrist are mostly finished. Crews are working on curb and gutter, streets, and paving.
Concrete is poured in the new salt barn; workers will finish installing the electric and then lay asphalt in the next week or two.
At the Knox Cattle Co. dam, the city is waiting on AK Hydro to review and approve the work.
City seeks input on DORA, sidewalks
Starr said the city is helping update a countywide active transportation plan and a sidewalk inventory. He said a resident’s request for sidewalks on Teryl Drive has been forwarded to planners.
Starr also gave feedback on proposed state legislation regulating electric bikes and scooters.
“We want to avoid any unfunded mandates from the city standpoint,” he said.
He said Mount Vernon is waiting to see what the state does before acting locally.
The city’s survey on a downtown outdoor refreshment area, known as a DORA, closes this week with more than 300 responses received so far.
