COLUMBIANA COUNTY Company wins bid to restore bridge

The county now officially owns an antique fixture that has long been part of the courthouse.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A Newcomerstown company will oversee restoration of a historical county landmark.
Columbiana County commissioners agreed to hire W.M. Brode Co. to restore the Teegarden Centennial Covered Bridge along Eagleton Road in Salem Township.
The 66-foot-long structure was built in 1876 and is one of the last of the county's covered bridges.
Decades of use, exposure to the weather and vandals have taken their toll on the bridge, which is no longer open to vehicle traffic.
W.M. Brode bid $295,032 for the job, which was the lowest of four bids submitted.
The project will be paid for with about $50,000 in county road and bridge fund money and from federal and state grants. Work is to begin in the spring.
Properties removed: In other business Wednesday, commissioners adopted a resolution that removes sections of property in the city of Columbiana from Beaver Township in Mahoning County.
Commissioners said residents and businesses in the nearly 377 acres of affected property have been paying Beaver Township taxes.
The resolution commissioners adopted, if also adopted by Mahoning County commissioners, will remove the Beaver Township tax burden effective in January.
The affected property lies primarily on the city's north edge.
Rescued phone booth: Commissioners learned from an Ameritech official that the county now officially owns an antique wooden phone booth in the courthouse's main corridor.
The company is donating the booth to the county and also is donating $400, which is the value of the fixture, to a private, nonprofit agency in the county that helps needy people receive free medical prescriptions.
In March, Ameritech removed the pay telephone from the booth, saying it wasn't producing enough revenue.
The company also said it intended to remove the booth unless the county paid $400 for it.
That prompted an outcry from commissioners and courthouse workers who say the fixture, which has been in the building for decades, adds to the historical building's charm.
Some courthouse employees discussed taking up a collection to buy the booth, but the effort didn't succeed.