Solar Solutions, MRC property parting ways

Plans for tiny-home community in north Mt. Vernon canceled, separation expected by end of June
Solar Solutions, a solar panel installation company based in Ozark, is parting ways with the former Missouri Rehabilitation Center property, 600 North Main Street, in Mt. Vernon. The separation is scheduled to be completed by the end of June.
Trent Thompson, building inspector for Mt. Vernon, announced the end of the arrangement between the two entities during the Mt. Vernon Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday, June 10.
“There were some changes with the MRC staff (at the building),” he said. “Solar Solutions and MRC are parting their ways. So, MRC has hired somebody else to start doing the grounds keeping.”
Thompson said that Solar Solutions still plans to build a battery plant in Mt. Vernon but would need to find a new location to do so. He also said that solar-powered buildings that Solar Solutions built on the MRC grounds would also need to be moved.
“Since the breakup with the MRC, they’ve had to delay that just a little bit,” he said. “The plant is still coming in here, but they’re now having to find room for the buildings they’ve constructed and stored on the MRC grounds.”
Solar Solutions moved onto the MRC grounds last fall, with the company announcing they would make a $3 million investment into a project that included the construction of a village of tiny solar-powered houses at the property. As part of the arrangement with the owners of the MRC real estate, Solar Solutions also took over maintenance of the building’s grounds. At the time, the company planned a larger project that was to “include road development, 50 or more cabins constructed, two recreational buildings, and hiking and mountain biking trails,” Kayla Gosnell, general manager for Solar Solutions, said in an earlier interview.
An inquiry sent to Solar Solutions regarding the change in the arrangement had received no response as of press time.