MAHONING COUNTY CSB members plead for a new building

The agency is eager to relocate, its director says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Children Services Board wants to move the agency to its own building in downtown Youngstown and wants to do it as soon as possible.
"We have the money. We know what we want. We want to service the children in Mahoning County. This building is inadequate for our continued work," Luis Arroyo, a CSB member, told county Commissioner David Ludt during the board's Tuesday meeting.
CSB, housed in the county's South Side Annex, has about $4 million set aside for a building, said Denise Stewart, executive director. "We're very anxious to relocate," she said.
CSB seeks its own secure, handicapped-accessible building, with videoconferencing capability and evening and weekend access, she said.
The agency is interested in occupying the former Masters Tuxedo location in downtown Youngstown.
State officials want to see agencies housed together as "a one-stop system'' for public convenience, Ludt said, adding the project must be cost-effective.
"I think, maybe, the one-stop shopping is a good idea," he said, citing complaints he gets from those who must go from one agency location to another.
The case for separate office
Combining offices may be a good idea for other agencies, but, citing sensitive issues of abuse and neglect of children and domestic violence, Arroyo said, "standing alone would be the best thing" for CSB.
Ludt said county commissioners have made no decision regarding CSB's quarters, but he urged board members to attend the commissioners' next meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday to express their wishes.
"No matter what we've said or done, it's been stalled in bureaucratic foolishness. You heard us last year. You heard us the year before that. Nothing's happened," Mark Brown, a CSB member, told Ludt.
"We've discussed this over a period of probably 21/2 years. We've stood on street corners and looked at blueprints and had all kinds of evaluations made," said the Rev. Joseph Allen, CSB chairman.
"The county's general fund is in trouble. When you're going to put a building up, people don't realize your budget is non-general fund.
"They only see Mahoning County's building a new building. They must have money," Ludt said, adding that a half-percent county sales tax levy is subject to renewal next year.