Burn Ban in Effect. All outdoor burning is prohibited in Franklin County.
Downtown parking – The contractor has completed the parking striping on the west side of Kaufman and south side of Main streets. The east side of Kaufman from Main to Scott is now a fire lane. Parking on this side of the street is prohibited. We will include striping the rest of the square in the 2027 budget.
Rutherford School Zone – The cross walks on Rutherford have been striped. The school zone signage and flashing lights should arrive early next week and will be install shortly after they arrive. The maintenance crew will be installing the signage and signal lighting this week.
City Lake Dam – The maintenance team is moving the fence which is at the base of the city lake dam. The location of the fence prevents the staff and contractors having access to mow or clear brush from the dam from the base to the top. Currently access to clear vegetation is only from the top of the dam downward. This is hazardous and costly. Moving the fence will provide the need access. See attached PDF for a visual of the site.
Wastewater Plant – The maintenance crew and wastewater department crew have been clearing the fenceline surrounding the plant. They also repaired an aerator last week.
Water Treatment Plant – The city’s water quality is excellent. The heat is causing and increase in the need for chemicals and requiring additional maintenance on the filtration system, but the staff with help from the utility department is maintaining the plant in good operational order. Continued temperatures in the high 90s impact the quality of raw water coming from the lake.
Budget – We receive the final draft of the truth in taxation worksheet from the Franklin County Tax Assessor’s on Friday. This document provides us the calculation formulas for the property tax revenue. We now can prepare budget estimates which reflect revenues vs expenses and begin meetings with the council to make determinations on what we will need to cut or what we will need to increase on the revenue side.
• The Mount Vernon Gym will be opening in the next couple of weeks. They have a request for EDC assistance which will be considered at the next meeting.
• An operator of two regional auto repair/tire shops is considering the purchase of a building in MV. If this occurs this would be the 3rd location for this company.
• I am meeting with the owners of the new travel center/restaurant which will be located across from LOVE’s today. We will be discussing incentives and timelines for the project.
• I have been working with developers of a proposed housing addition which will be located at the corner of Franklin and Miller Streets. We are in the process of preparing a development agreement with our city attorney, re-zoning, and re-platting the site. This project could begin prior to the end of this year.