The Mount Vernon city council approved paying for a final derecho clean-up expense bill related to mulching debris from the storm.
The quote for the expense was roughly $46,000.
Public works director Eldon Downs said he had some issues with the quote originally, as a different pile of tree debris from the same company was about $12,000, but the pile from the derecho was significantly more.
“I feel the company could have been more efficient in their work on that pile, but we also needed to get this cleaned up and usable for mulch or other purposes,” Downs said.
Downs inquired after the bill, and was quoted a $36,612 estimate for charges. Two weeks later, the city received an additional invoice for another $10,000.
“The company did a good job and did what they needed to do, and had this cleaned up by late fall before we had a hard freeze, the billing just seems off to me,” Downs said.
Council member Stephanie West said that it was clean up work that needed to be completed following the storm.
“Now that we’re past this last natural disaster, we can go back to our regular composting pattern every year,” Downs said.
Change orders approved for police station
The council also approved two change orders for repair work to the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Station. The totals bring the cost for the project to a roughly $1.18 million price tag, which council member Scott Rose and chief Doug Shannon reiterated was still under one third the cost of building a brand new building for the joint department.
One of the repairs is replacing an exterior door with a metal door that has a slotted window, allowing people to see who is approaching or knocking on said exterior door for the building. That cost was $3,800.
The other change order was replacing acoustic ceiling tiles that were damaged or look different than areas with newer ceiling tiles in parts of the building impacted by renovations, for a cost of $9,069.15
“We were pleased with that quote,” Shannon said. “The contractor came in under what was estimated for the project overall.”
Davis Park ball field lights ready for installation
The lights at Davis Park ball fields have been a project that’s been on the Capital Improvement Plan for the city for over a decade, and it’s now one step closer to being completed.
The lights are ready to be installed in early spring.
Parks and recreation director Matt Siders said the plan is to get the lights installed in late March, as there are some games at Davis Park lined up beginning in April.
Council member Paul Tuerler noted that the need for the lights has been a growing issue for a number of years.
The first payment of $91,010 has been made, and an additional amount plus retainage will be released once the lights are installed.
Mayor updates on current initiatives
Mayor Tom Wieseler gave an update on current items he is working on for council at the Monday, Feb. 5 meeting.
The Mount Vernon Community Betterment Foundation will have one more organizing meeting in April, and has plans after that point to start awarding grants to local non-profit organizations. The first round of distributions for area non-profits will be in July, at the start of the next fiscal year.
Another focus for the mayor has been on emergency preparedness. This month, he attended a training on emergency preparedness for the economic impact of disasters.
It’s an effort that Wieseler thinks more households should be cognizant of, and that there was a training offered by the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation that the city didn’t offer a few years ago that Wieseler thinks should be followed up on.
“We need to get on this a little bit more and push a little harder,” Wieseler said.
Council member Craig Engel thanked the mayor for his work.
“The community expects us to think through things following a disaster,” Engel said. “If there’s a tornado, a fire, a derecho or other disaster, they expect the mayor, city council and city staff to know what to do, and this is important that we keep up to date with this training.”
Early childcare group meeting slated for mid-April
The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Early Childcare Solutions group will be holding a joint meeting for interested parties in mid-April. The meeting will be held at Cornell College.
The meeting will bring together city council members and school board members from both communities so all are aware of the actions taken to address the childcare desert in Mount Vernon and Lisbon and the next proposed steps moving forward. Newly hired superintendent Matthew Leeman has been asked to be present at the meeting, as this is a community issue that will impact the Mount Vernon Schools when he takes over as superintendent. Dates and details of the meeting will be revealed later.