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THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2026 • $1.50
Happy 250th, America!
Citizen complaints on data centers, maintenance road right of way
Heritage Days celebrates Mount Vernon’s history
Nathan Countryman Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun
nathan.countryman@mvlsun.com
During Monday, July 6’s Mount Vernon City Council meeting, three citizens brought up issues for the council to consider. Citizen Nathan Wolter asked the council to reconsider their action on May 4 on not setting an ordinance pertaining to data centers. Wolter said with the county moratorium on data centers, that developers could continue to try and find a way to place a data center in communities without one. “I urge you to reconsider and start the conversations on setting up an ordinance now,” Wolter said. “By the time these developers are making something public, then you have no where to go.” Rep. Cindy Golding, who was attending the council meeting as well, urged that action as well. Golding had made a bill on data centers to highlight transparency on water and electric resources used by the facilities to be public with any project. It passed out of the committee unanimously, but lobbyists from NextEra and Google effectively killed the bill. Google has stepped aside from the county’s restriction by trying to place one data center near Palo city limits. Golding said she has had multiple Zoom calls on this issue, and is encouraging communities to write and ordinance before they face these issues. City administrator Chris Nosbisch said that staff would not recommend extending services to data centers wanting to be built near the community, that is something the city still controls for stopping these projects moving forward. “I have zero desire to put any infrastructure out for centers that will not pay for themselves,” Nosbisch said. “We’re able to also weigh in on projects and not give staff approval to things developed in the community, especially with the square footage of many of these programs. Nosbisch said he is reticent with ordinances in this issue, as it is something to have to continually adapt and stay on top of, while the lawyers for these corporations look at ways to get around said ordinances. Sonja Cooklin asked about maybe hosting a monthly meeting with mayor or city council members for the public to have ideas presented from outside the box thinkers. MV CITY COUNCIL | 2
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Nathan Countryman | Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun
Bridge Community Bank’s float in the Heritage Days 2026 parade Saturday, July 11. Nathan Countryman Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun
nathan.countryman@mvlsun.com
Mount Vernon’s Heritage Days festival was all about celebrating the community of Mount Vernon, at the same time as honoring Mount Vernon’s and the nations past. Friday night’s activities at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center included a pickleball tournament, live music and food trucks. All night, the overcast skies threatened a bout of rain. Assistant manager Sarah Boots said that the center was ready this year to move some of the celebration indoors to outlast some storms that may have popped up. But that rain threat held off. On Saturday, the Mount Vernon Alumni Association held their annual breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Alumni Foundation director Amie Roberts said she was very pleased with the turnout to the event, of both alumni and community members grabbing bites to eat ahead of the parade. Mount Vernon’s parade theme was Celebrating America’s 250th birthday, with many floats including Bridge Community Bank and Mount Vernon Bank and Trust holding to that theme. The Community Development Group also handed out volunteer awards on the main stage, with Sue Margheim recognized as Volunteer of the Year, John Bardsley Citizen of the Year, Bijou Movie Theater as Business of the Year, Mount Vernon-Lisbon Childcare Solutions Group as Project of the Year and the SELCC Community Gardens program as the Above and Beyond Service Awards (see those stories in the July 23 Sun newspaper). Favorite events like the bags tournament, Lions Club Bingo and car show drew crowds at the event. A documentary on the Lincoln Highway was screened
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John Charlson | Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun
Trulie Breidinger goes into the dunk tank after a patron presses the button during Heritage Days Saturday, July 11. at the Bijou to an almost full theater, which highlighted the travails of the military convoy in 1919 who navigated the highway system from Washington, D.C., to California. Many of the roads west of the Mississippi were still dirt when the convoy came through, and future President Dwight Eisenhower was one of the soldiers on that convoy. Eisenhower became known for his work on expanding federal highways. More photos of Heritage Days on pages 8 & 9
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