Board OKs putting levy on Nov. ballot

The board also agreed to buy new furniture for two of its group homes.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Children Services Board has agreed to place a 0.85-mill, five-year renewal levy on the November general election ballot.
Denise E. Stewart, CSB executive director, emphasized the levy is not a new tax. The levy generates about $1.7 million a year.
Stewart said the tax actually expired in 2004 but is collected through this year. The board's action now will go before county commissioners for approval and to have them submit it to the elections board.
In other business
The CSB also handled these other matters at its Tuesday meeting:
UApproved a contract with WorkMed on Market Street, Boardman, to handle pre-employment drug screening and tuberculosis testing for $2,000 for this year, the same amount as last year.
UApproved the annual summer student employment program. Stewart said the board can hire up to six college students for the summer who may be interested in choosing social work as a career. The students will be paid $7 an hour. They will work from the end of May through September.
UAgreed to buy bedroom furniture for the board's girls group home and receiving home, a temporary shelter. The addresses of those facilities aren't made known to afford better protection for the young people kept there, Stewart said. "There has not been new furniture purchased for those facilities in 12 years," she said. Each facility has 10 beds. The total price is $5,214.
UReminded the public that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and that the open house to show the community the CSB's new $7.5 million building, 222 W. Federal St., adjacent to the George V. Voinovich Government Center, is April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m.