MERCER COUNTY Authority to take steps to recover fees owed

THE VINDICATOR/YOUNGSTOWN
The development company has paid $13,000 of its bill but has refused to pay more.
MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Industrial Development Authority said it will resort to legal action if necessary to recover some $30,000 in administrative fees it says it is owed by Winner Development LLC of Sharon.
Those are costs incurred by the authority on behalf of Winner's efforts to secure a $7 million state grant to aid in the development of the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. plant on Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon as a combination industrial/office multitenant complex.
James E. Winner Jr., principal in Winner Development, announced earlier this month that he was scrapping plans to go after the state grant although he still hoped to lease space in the complex to industrial tenants.
Awaiting word: The authority is still awaiting final word from the state on how that grant can be used, if at all, in some other county development projects.
In the meantime, the authority wants Winner to pay for the work it did trying to secure the state grant.
The authority board voted Wednesday to authorize its legal counsel, Atty. Thomas Kuster, to take whatever steps are necessary to collect those fees, including legal action.
The authority has an Administrative Services Agreement signed with Winner on April 25, 2000, calling for payment of costs such as legal fees, travel to Harrisburg and other expenses incurred on behalf of the project.
The authority said it has sent Winner invoices for those costs but has only been paid a part of the expense.
The bill, covering work done in 2000, 2001 and 2002, totals $44,388, and Winner has paid $13,001 of that amount.
That latter number includes a $10,000 fee to file the application for the state aid that Winner paid in January 2001. James Winner has said his company doesn't owe the authority any more money.