Police Station Project Moves Forward as Council Recognizes Community Efforts

There were two recurring topics at the Mt. Vernon City Council meeting on Monday night; one of which finally started a project in motion and one that was not about a resolution or ordinance, but just about the local sense of community. 

After nearly a decade, the ordinance to green light the construction of the new police station finally came to fruition.   After approving it, several council members pointed out that it has taken longer to make it happen than they have been on council (many members said it has taken around seven years to get the project off the ground).

James Mahan moved to adopt Ordinance 2026-04 after its third reading, which put into motion the start of the project at a cost of no more than $29 million.  

After all the main city business had concluded, the administration and many members of the council reflected on not only how long they have waited for the project to be approved, but also how proud they were of all the work everyone related to the project had done.  One of the newer council members took a moment and marveled how his vote went into approving such a large-scale project. 

Also in the general remarks section at the end of the meeting, Councilman Taylor Jacklin mentioned that, after the recent wind storms in the area, he had seen local citizens helping each other with cleaning up and other general post-storm assistance.   After he commended the sense of community that he saw, other members chimed in and said that were also happy to see the togetherness in the city.

Among other topics or events mentioned, Councilwoman LeNan Hager mentioned the Easter-themed event Jerry & Joy’s Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday March 28^th at Hiawatha Park starting at 9:30am; member Amber Keener brought up that the Knox County Visitor Board has its New Adventure Guide now available in print and Mayor Matt Starr talked about the event the ‘Washington Forum,’ which will take place on March 31 at 6pm at the Gathering Place on Edgewood Dr in Mt. Vernon.  The topic of the event will be the Hamilton-inspired “The Room Where It Happens: How Government Works from City Hall to Capitol Hill.”