MT. VERNON — The Mt. Vernon City Council approved a measure to start replacing water meters across the city at Monday night’s city council meeting. The city approved authorizing a loan with Community First Bank of the Heartland to start the project, and money to repay that loan will come from the new one percent sales tax.

Mt. Vernon City Manager Mary Ellen Bechtel says the new meters will improve the reliability of the system and can allow the city to provide better water service.

Bechtel says it will take about nine months to replace the city’s roughly 68-hundred water meters.