Retention wall to protect from floods

Construction is expected to last about 60 days.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Work started last week to ensure that water from Yellow Creek doesn't flow into the Poland Library branch like it did last summer.
In August 2004, water seeped into the bookstore and meeting room of the 4-year-old branch.
Jim Santini Builder Inc. of Washingtonville is the contractor on the $102,400 project to construct a concrete, 3 1/2-foot-high, 2-foot-thick and 210-foot-long wall to keep the water out.
The creek swells where it narrows and rounds a corner, said Janet Loew, a spokeswoman for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. Sandbags were placed along the creek and part of the parking lot to protect the building from further damage in heavy rain.
The wall will start near the Main Street Bridge and will turn around a bend but won't interfere with a walkway.
"The cap will be peaked to discourage people from walking or sitting on it," Loew said.
"It will be painted white to match the building as well as being functional," she said.
Construction is expected to take about 60 days.
Other renovations
After construction is completed, the library board plans to paint and do other work where the damage occurred.
The damaged carpeting was removed after the water soaked in, and other work includes cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting.
"The building is scheduled for maintenance and sprucing up, but we've been holding off on that for the construction to be finished and the sandbags to be removed," Loew said. "There is a regular schedule of maintenance on our buildings."
The library closed for a day last summer while crews removed the water and the damaged carpeting, and cleaned. That work cost about $2,500.
Books line the shelves on the library's upper floors so none of them was damaged.
Workers from Community Corrections Association built a levee last September and placed the sandbags, which have acted as a temporary solution to the flooding.