The City of Mount Vernon will be applying for a grant from East Central Iowa’s Council of Governments Community Block Development Group derecho generator grant program.
Citty administrator Chris Nosbisch said the city planned to allow Cornell College to apply for the grant.
“The cost for the generator needed for Thomas Commons was substantially more than the grant award would be,” Nosbisch said.
Nosbisch recommended that the city apply for the grant for Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center.
A generator at LBC would provide a much larger shelter than the Mount Vernon City Hall in case of power loss situations.
The grant would provide roughly $100,000 for the cost of a generator needed following the last category four storm.
Nosbisch reminded council members when the derecho happened, Cornell College wasn’t in session, and noted that if the college had been session during that time period, the needs for 1,000 more in population for electricity or cooling would have been a greater strain on city resources. Adding one more shelter to Mount Vernon would help the city deal with that larger population.