& acute;Emergency agency to start construction

The agency has moved eight times in the last 20 years.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Its zoning woes finally settled, the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency is ready to start construction of a new building.
Ground will be broken at 9:30 a.m. April 10 at the building site on Industrial Road, across from the county engineer's office on the city's West Side. Construction is expected to take about three months.
"This brings closure to our rather nomadic existence," said Walter Duzzny, EMA executive director.
Where it's been: The agency has changed locations eight times during Duzzny's 20-year tenure. When he first started, it was in offices on West Boardman Street, a building that is now the county administration building.
Since then, it has been moved to the South Side Annex on Market Street, an office building on South Avenue and the basement of the county courthouse, back to the administration building, and then into the county justice center on Fifth Avenue.
When budget cuts forced closure of the minimum-security jail at Fifth Avenue and Commerce Street in 1999, the agency moved into offices on the second floor of that building. But when the jail was reopened last year, the agency was forced to leave.
Since January, it has been back at the South Side Annex in the city's Uptown District.
"We've been all over the place," Duzzny said.
Delay: Construction of the one-story building was supposed to have finished in November but was delayed because of a problem with zoning.
County officials assumed the land was zoned industrial and suitable for such a building. But just before construction was to begin, a neighboring property owner pointed out that it was zoned for residential use. The county then had to apply for a zone change, which was recently approved, Duzzny said.
Neighbors originally opposed the zone change because they feared the EMA headquarters would bring increased traffic and noise, which Duzzny said isn't true.
Besides offices for the EMA's three-person staff, the building will also house trucks, equipment and a training area for the county's hazardous materials response team, which also has been without a permanent home for years.
The Haz-Mat squad is a division of the EMA and is currently housed in the former Boardman Township road department garage on Southern Boulevard, which the county rents.
Augere Construction Co. of Hudson will be the general contractor for the building project, which is expected to cost about $375,000.
bjackson@vindy.com