The City of Mount Vernon has set a number of projects as potentially being tackled in the 2024 fiscal year in a Capital improvement plan. The city was discussing the next three years for proposed improvements.
One of the big projects slated to happen this year is water mater radio reads project, with a pricetag of roughly $750,000. Much like the garbage program impacted all citizens in Mount Vernon, this project to replace all water meters will do the same.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch noted aside from freeing up staff members to tackle other projects, switching to water radio meters will allow staff to flag water usage that’s out of the norm for a citizen.
“In the past, if you had a water leak, it might not get identified until you had a massive water bill, and then you’re about a month late fixing the problem and facing another high bill to come,” Nosbisch said. “We could formulate this to catch those spikes within one to two days and let citizens know before they get a huge bill of significant issues.”
Mayor Tom Wieseler notes that the water meter radio reads has been on city’s radar since the late 1980s and is finally moving forward this year.
In wastewater/sanitary sewer, the city had roughly $1 million in America Rescue Plan Act funding that will be spent on televising sewer lines and cleaning necessary sewer lines throughout the city.
For streets and sidewalks, the Palisades Road (estimated $480,000) and Candlestick Road ($31,980) have funds earmarked and are ready to move forward this year, with a public hearing on Palisades Road set for Feb. 6. A full reconstruction of Business 30 has funds available, but is subject to favorable bids coming in to move forward.
Under parks and trails, the improvements to Davis Park ball field lighting ($50,000) and concession stand building ($100,000) have funding streams identified.
The cold storage buildings for public works, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department remodel ($1.2 million) and the LBC generator ($75,000) all have funding lined up.
One of the projects on the radar for the city in the next three years is a potential streetscape project that would impact uptown Mount Vernon’s First Street. The project would be a full reconstruction of the street including sewer, wastewater and other utilities, as well as new pavement and asphalt. The project would take almost an entire year to complete. Public works director Eldon Downs said the entire street may not be closed down for the project, as it could do one portion of street and then the other, but the impact will be felt by uptown businesses.
Another priority the council and community has identified is a new pool, but both options – indoor and outdoor and their projected costs – were included on the plan. The council will only be tackling one of those within the next few years.
The next phase of the Wastewater treatment plant (cost estimate $1.5 million) is on the CIP beginning fiscal year 2025.
A trail project connecting Oak Ridge to Nature Park may move up on the plan if a connecting Linn County trail project moves forward.
Wayfinding signage ($150,000) also remains a priority, but funding may prove to be an issue.