This is the time of the year when there are many “year in review” or “state of the union/state/city” reviews happening. Mount Vernon is no different with Nate’s Sun article of a few weeks ago, “City of Mount Vernon Releasing Report of Accomplishments”. That was followed up by City Administrator Chris Nosbisch’s “2016-2022 Mount Vernon Progress Report”, which was the subject of his forum at the LBC on Thursday, Jan. 19 to interested citizens. This report is available in the lobby of City Hall as well as at the Mount Vernon Bank.
Now it is my turn to not repeat what has already been shared but to list the Top 10 goals I have for the City of Mount Vernon. Many of these have been discussed by Council and City staff with some being short term and some are purely aspirational on my part. These can’t be completed without Council, City staff and public support. Here is my list, prioritized.
1. Provide more quality, sustainable childcare solutions, in conjunction with our partners, the Mount Vernon School District and Cornell College.
2. Expand our residential offerings in the low to medium income housing arena. We need more diversity in our housing stock.
3. Complete the City website redesign. We’ve had only 2 other versions in the last 2 decades. Now we need a more robust and user friendly entrance for citizens to access City information.
4. We need to finish a signage project for our community. A fresh new wayfinding system needs to be set for our vibrant town.
5. Further trails development in different areas of town. This includes linking Nature Park to an area that is under-used for walkers: the Oakridge neighborhood. An aspirational trail link would be the install of a trail head west on Bryant Road-a “seedling ¼ mile”, if you will.
6. Install and develop the planned Stoner Park features on donated land in a growing residential area of Stonebrook.
7. Complete the Visitor Center repairs, within the parameters of Historic Preservation guidelines, to support our Community Development arm.
8. Add lighting to the fields of Elliott Park.
9. Develop a system to accept residential food compost at our Bryant Road site. This will involve education of the community and certification of staff but is a frequently requested ask.
10. Provide additional parking at Bryant Park. Participation keeps going up for our youth programs and parking is frequently at a premium for the evening games.
Chris Nosbisch mentions in his Progress Report the $22,239,390, or over 32% in increased value for the City of Mount Vernon. But that doesn’t include the added value of our community partners. The Mt. Vernon School District added the PAC-Performing Arts Center and the upcoming $6.8M MAC-Mustang Athletic Complex in the last few years. And Cornell added the Russell Science Center plus the upcoming construction of a residence hall in the near future. Those totals will come close to an additional $40M in infrastructure added to Mt. Vernon.
And finally, thank you. The City made a big ask of our citizens in 2022 with the transition of our garbage/recycling services. The system of the past 40 years was dramatically changed and not without some transition pain. It was a big step to take that impacted every household. I thank the City Hall staff and all Mt. Vernon citizens with accepting that necessary decision and hopefully all have gotten used to it by now.
But there will be another big ask of our citizens coming in the next two years. This Council is committed to updating our water meter system to a radio read system that will eliminate manual reading of water usage monthly. While eliminating some labor and adapting to the latest technology, that is not the main reason for the change. This system will identify homeowner problems of a water line leak, or running toilet within an hour instead of within a month, and save the surprise of a huge water bill. But it will involve a third party contractor engaging with every household again. As former Mayor Jim Engelbrecht told me last summer, that was a topic council was looking at during his term, in the late 1980’s.
Here’s to a great 2023.
Guest Editorial: Year end perspective, goals for Mount Vernon
Mayor Tom Wieseler
January 26, 2023