MOUNT VERNON — Motorists traveling Mansfield Avenue should get an early Christmas gift this year. The city hopes to finish the north culvert and open the road on Friday.
City Engineer Brian Ball said the contractor will “demobilize” and return in the spring to work on the south culvert.
“We’re going to try to have it open for Christmas holidays because basically we’ve had cold weather and there will be a lot of holidays that would lower production and keep the road closed longer,” he explained.
The city will send a letter to residents after the road reopens.
The city signed a grant agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation for sidewalks on Martinsburg Road. State and federal funds total $361,020; the city will have a match.
City council members appropriated $500,000 for the sidewalk project in 2024 and are currently making the 2025 appropriations.
“Everybody got excited in 2024, but we had to go through some of the ODOT process,” Ball said.
“[Installing] the flashers and crossings was a small safety project that is now completed. We’re in the financial, closeout of that. The bigger project to add sidewalks up to those crossings is now going to start in 2025.”
State Route 13
The city extended acquisition offers to property owners in conjunction with the State Route 13 relocation project. Small parcels include areas for temporary and permanent rights-of-way.
Larger parcels on South Sandusky Street and Phillips Drive include Smitty’s Carpet, Holmes Tire, AMVETS, Landlink, and Domino’s Pizza.
City officials await word from the Transportation Review Advisory Council whether the city will receive a $5.6 million TRAC grant for the project.
Mayor Matt Starr said he likes the project from a long-term perspective.
“I think that’s going to be prime real estate developable for mixed use. That will line up quite nicely with our updated zoning code,” he said.
“It’s already part of a TIF, so the revenue streams should be really good and allow us to take care of some infrastructure in that corridor.”
A TIF District (Tax Increment Financing) is a development tool where some real estate tax revenues flow into the TIF instead of the general fund. TIF money is used for infrastructure improvements or debt retirement on projects within the TIF area.
Floodplain modeling
Contracted teams are surveying the tributaries to the Kokosing River: Delano Run, Dry Creek and Center Run. The city sent a letter to residents letting them know they are in the floodplain of those areas.
Ball said the surveys contribute to the levee study because flooding can come from tributaries, upstream of the Kokosing River, or within the city.
When the city council finalizes the budget, the administration will work on floodplain modeling of the tributaries and updating the floodplain modeling of the Kokosing and how that interacts with the tributaries.
“Then we will start thinking about what sort of changes can we make to the topography, the bridges, and the river bank to reduce flooding,” he said.
Miscellaneous
Four companies responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for design services for the Knox Cattle Co. dam on Yauger Road:
•Diversified Engineering Inc.
•AK Hydro
•Stantec Consulting Services Inc.
•Road To Finish (construction inspection only, not design)
“We’re reviewing those and opening bids on the construction contract on Thursday at 11:30,” Ball said.
The city received $500,000 from HUD (Housing and Urban Development), which enables it to log into HUD’s system directly.
“We’re getting excited about how to work with HUD directly. Everything we do now is three levels from the federal government because you have the state and then a consultant and then us. So this is directly working with HUD,” Ball said.
Harmony Park restroom passed its final inspection on Dec. 17. The city is applying for the occupancy permit.
Once the city council finalizes the 2025 budget appropriations, the city will award the Fairgrounds Road project to Underground Utilities Incorporated. The company did the Stump/Northview project.
Administration
Mayor Starr said the administration continues working through the 2025 budget.
“We have made lots and lots of effort to explain things, not only through oral explanation but in writing. Again, it’s to try to simplify the process, to make it easier to understand, and to give the authority to the department heads in managing their own budgets,” he said.
Public Utilities
Public Utilities Director Aaron Reinhart said designs on the EPA-mandated phosphorous removal project are 30% complete.
“We will be releasing an RFQ for the CMR (construction manager at risk) in the very near future,” he said. “Once we get that in place, we can move on with the designs.”
Roghan Roddey received his Class 2 water reclamation certificate in the wastewater treatment plant, and Spencer Cazier passed his Water 1 water supply certification in the water treatment plant.
Reinhart reminded residents to let their faucets drip in extreme cold to prevent freezing pipes. Freeze credit forms are available in the water billing office.
The billing office will close Dec. 24 and the 25 and Jan. 1, 2025.
Crews responded to a water leak on East Pleasant and Sychar Road on Dec. 12 and worked from 9 p.m. to midnight fixing a broken 6-inch main. The work was done under pressure, so no boil advisory was issued.
Public Works
Public Works Director Tom Hinkle reported that street department crews finished picking up leaves on Dec. 10. Residents can take their remaining leaves to the Thayer Road compost facility.
Crews collected over 189 truckloads, which equates to about 2,500 cubic yards or 756 tons of leaves. It was the city’s first season without leaf rakers.
“We managed to do this without the help of leaf breakers, which did become challenging at times. It just slows the process down when we don’t have leaf rakers available helping us move the leaves to a certain location to be picked up,” Hinkle explained.
“That means it’s spread out further and it slows the machine down because the worker has to operate the machine longer during that area to get the leaves picked up.”
Crews have dealt with four winter weather events so far this year. Two were during regular hours, and two involved 40 overtime hours. The estimated salt usage is 220 tons.
Workers are busy changing the oil in the dump trucks and equipping them with snow and ice equipment.
Conflict monitor testing
The annual conflict monitor testing at the city’s 53 intersections is underway. The conflict monitor checks the traffic signal controller’s operation to ensure that an electrical glitch does not create a dangerous situation at the intersection.
“We run the conflict monitors through a test, making sure that they’re looking for and appropriately dealing with conflicts in the intersection,” Hinkle explained. “During that time, you’ll see intersections go into a flash for a short period of time and then come back out of the flash period, and the monitor will be removed.”
Workers will install a backup monitor to run the intersection until the permanent monitor is tested. Then, they will reinstall the permanent monitor.
“So there’s a minimal flash period that [drivers] will see twice at an intersection during this process,” Hinkle said.
Miscellaneous
Hinkle reported that the city finally received a cabin chassis for a 2.5-ton dump truck it ordered in February 2023. An equipment dealer is installing the hydraulics, controls, and winter equipment. Hinkle anticipates it will be ready in another month.
The department also received a smaller dump truck approved and purchased earlier this year. It is also at the equipment dealer to get fitted for the body and snow gear.
Street crews started the annual stop sign inspection program, checking for reflectivity and damage.
Public Buildings & Lands
PB&L workers are remodeling space in the Plaza Building for the police department’s dedicated drug unit. They also capped off and drained water lines in the former dentist’s office
Several city council members toured the rental buildings on East High Street to assess their condition. During the tour, a water tank burst in the basement.
“They got a firsthand look of the conditions of it to help maybe not only the council but also the public come to some sort of agreement to what to do with these facilities in the near future,” Hinkle said.
“We also had an issue with the sewer backup. … We had to get a contractor in and aggressively snake it out to clean the line out.”
Workers then used a camera to inspect the lines, discovering pipe separation at the joints and rust inside the pipe.
“There’s a good section of it below ground that is still cast iron pipe that will require quite extensive replacement if we continue to utilize those facilities right now. At this point, we are discussing how to or what we should do to deal with that, depending on how much longer we feel we’re going to need to utilize these buildings,” Hinkle said.
Parks and Cemetery
Maintenance is a top priority for both departments. Workers replaced a heater in the Hiawatha Water Park pump house and repaired equipment at Harmony Playground.
Craig Alexander moved from his public works tech position to crew leader.
Public Works and Public Utilities employees attended training classes on a new work order asset management program called Open Gov. The departments will begin using the new software the first of the year.
The public works department also attended Bureau of Workers Compensation training on chain saw safety.
