2005 Projects
On Friday, May 18, 2005, the Board of Control opened bids for the Beechwood/Lakeshore Storm Water Management Project, 2005 City Crack Sealing Program and Fire Department air cylinders.

There were six bidders for the Beechwood/Lakeshore Project.  After review of the bids, the lowest bid was $181,148.50.  Construction is expected to commence in June.

Three vendors submitted bids for the 2005 City Crack Sealing Program.  The lowest bid was $.659/ pound applied.  This is significantly less than the 2004 bid price and should allow us to address more areas and/or reduce our cracking sealing cost this year.  Program is to commence in June.

The only bid to replace and upgrade 20 air cylinders for the Fire Department was $16,040 and will be provided by a FEMA Assistance to Firefighter Grant.

Phase III of the Downtown Improvement Project is currently being bid and a bid opening scheduled for June 10, 2005.  The project involves replacing additional curb and sidewalk along portions on the west and east sides of SR 616 ( Bridge Street ).

Income surveying of various streets to determine CDBG eligibility is nearly complete.  Once completed, the necessary waiver will be requested from the Ohio Department of Development, bid documents will be prepared, Council can pass the necessary legislation authorizing and appropriating the funds from the City CDBG/RLF program, and authorizing the program to go to bid.  I expect the 2005 City Street Resurfacing Program will be bid in July.

Economic Development
On Wednesday, May 18, 2005 a Public Hearing was held on the city’s Clean Ohio Assistance Fund application to perform environmental remediation on the former coke works site.  The application for $603,000 was forwarded to the Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Urban Development for review on Friday, May 20, 2005. If all goes well, we should receive notice of funding in August and clean-up activities can commence thereafter.

A Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity Planning Committee meeting was held on May 18, 2005.  John Getchey, Executive Director of Eastgate Council of Governments and MRCO Transportation and Development Chairman, announced that the $2,000,000 included in the recently passed Federal Transportation Bill is programmed to be used for activities to improve access between the corridor and I680 and for internal roadway improvements. The bill has been sent to Conference Committee to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions, but the project funding is expected to stay intact.  The Transportation and Development Subcommittee will be working on a strategy to leverage the funds to obtain funding from other sources (i.e. Ohio Public Works, State 629 funds, etc.).  In addition to access improvements to I680, internal roadway construction and a lower connector bridge between Struthers and Campbell are priority projects.

The MRCO Environmental and Finance/Grants subcommittees have identified additional projects eligible for Federal Brownfield Program or Clean Ohio Fund assistance and will be preparing applications.

Other tasks being pursued by MRCO Planning Committee members are a review of zoning/building regulations of the cites of Struthers, Campbell and Youngstown applicable to the corridor property, an assessment of the utility infrastructure, and  increasing private sector participation and contributions to the redevelopment initiatives.

The County hopes to hold a dedication ceremony for the access bridge at Walton Avenue on Monday, September 19, 2005 to coincide with the 19th anniversary of Black Monday.

The CASTLO Board of Directors has approved a resolution establishing a policy the CASTLO will, in addition to leasing buildings and property, also market and consider the selling and leasing to purchase of buildings/land in the industrial park, on a case by case basis, depending on the level of investment to be made and job creation.

Personnel
I anticipate appointing a fire engineer and police officer in the very near future to replace the fire engineer and one police officer no longer employed by the city.  One vacated position in the police department will remain unfilled for the time being.

As you know, both the police and fire contracts are up for negotiations in 2005. The police union has served notice to begin the collective bargaining process. Their contract ends August 31, 2005. We are discussing the possibility of delaying fire union negotiations until later in the year.

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