Council rejects repaving bidsWith a bid coming in 35-percent higher than expected, the City of Mount Vernon won’t be repaving Business 30 now.
The Mount Vernon City Council rejected the bid of more than $775,000 from L.L. Pelling to repave the stretch of Business 30 east of the roundabout to Lisbon City Limits. The City estimated the project at $500,000.
“This is a first for me in 20 years that we have to reject a bid, but the costs were too high,” city administrator Chris Nosbisch said. “We were hoping by bidding this at the same time as Lisbon, we’d see better prices. We’re not in a hurry to complete this work, so it’s best to reject these bids.”
Nosbisch said the City may have to address some trouble areas, but wholescale repaving will not be tackled.
StreetlightsThe Mount Vernon City Council tabled action on placing lights along Spring Meadow Drive Northeast and Candlestick Drive.
Mount Vernon City Council member Debra Herrmann made the motion for the pause to allow other options to be researched by the city for homeowners impacted by the new lights, especially in the middle of Spring Meadow Drive Northeast.
Marketing money The council approved a $10,215 agreement to be a featured community in the Livability Cedar Rapids marketing piece. The project is similar to one that Hiawatha completed in 2020.
The $10,215 item would come from multiple budgets in the city, and focus on the Lester Buresh Community Wellness Center and community events held in Mount Vernon.
At its last meeting, council members were lukewarm about spending about $10,000 to hire a Washington, D.C., based lobbyist to seek federal funds for projects. Mount Vernon City Council member Tom Wieseler stated he preferred spending money on the marketing piece as it provided something tangible to promote the city to future developers.
Mount Vernon City Council member Scott Rose noted if the City is going to be using this to promote the city, it would be best to have the city’s website redesign completed to go with this publication.
Mount Vernon City Council members Deb Herrmann and Stephanie West had questions on how many copies the City has and if they’d have the ability to reprint the articles created for the City for internal promotions, as well as if the project has an online version.