Friday, October 18, 2002
Commissioners dedicated a new sewage treatment plant.
DAMASCUS -- Mahoning County commissioners have authorized sale of up to $60 million in hospital revenue bonds to finance renovations and additions to Forum Health facilities at Northside Medical Center and Beeghly Medical Park.
The bond resolution, undertaken in partnership with Trumbull County, was passed Thursday in support of a five-year, $89-million facilities improvement plan that Forum Health announced in June. Their sale will help finance the improvements.
The plan includes a new three-story parking deck and a new three-story home for Tod Children's Hospital and The Heart Hospital at the Northside campus. Radiation therapy and other services will be developed at Beeghly Medical Park in Boardman. The plan also includes expansions of emergency services and cancer and cardiac care areas at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
Commissioner's comments
"It's a commitment to our area regarding health-care jobs. It's a commitment to our area in [construction] trade jobs. It's a good influx of monies into our area," said Commissioner Ed Reese.
The commissioners met at the new Damascus Water Pollution Control Facility, which they dedicated at Thursday's meeting. There, they awarded a $548,531 contract to Utility Contracting of Meridian Road for the second phase of this water pollution control project. The company will expand a sewage collection system that was built earlier this year and ties into the newly dedicated sewage treatment plant.
The new sewage treatment plant is along an unnamed stream, which the Mahoning County Board of Health declared a public nuisance because of sewage pollution, said Joe Warino, Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer.
Damascus-area residents are required to tap into the new sewers at their own expense at a cost of about $2,300 per household. Several financial assistance programs are available for low- and moderate-income families in Mahoning and Columbiana counties who are required to tap in, Warino said.