SCHOOLS Officials concerned about junk vehicles

The school board wants the county's help in making a good impression.
WARREN -- Two city board of education members asked Trumbull County for help Tuesday in cleaning up junk vehicles on Elm Road next to Warren G. Harding High School.
The vehicles, some seized through drug forfeitures and not yet titled to the county, are parked at the former Panther Avenue annex of the sheriff's department.
The county continues to keep a maintenance garage there.
Linda Metzendorf, board president, and Lynn Gibson met with Commissioner Daniel Polivka and county Administrator Tony Carson about the appearance of the property.
Gibson noted that thousands of people pass by Elm Road or visit Harding for various events. "We would like the image to be a positive one," she said.
The new high school that the district is building, behind the current site, will have a drive near the area of concern.
Carson said afterward that the county hopes to consolidate the vehicles into one area, and it has been selling those that it has title to.
The school board members described the meeting as positive.
Construction plans
The school district plans to build all-new schools as part of an Ohio School Facilities Commission project. The design of the new school keeps the building's front entrance and auditorium in the interest of historic respect, the board members explained.
A year ago, the school board purchased properties near Harding to accommodate the new construction: $125,000 for a lot at 806 Elm Road that included a house and a garage, and $300,000 for property at 790 Elm Road and 800 Elm Road. These structures are being razed now.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission is providing 80 percent of the project cost, originally $170 million but reduced by about $17 million when the district decided to build four new schools for kindergarten through eighth grade, rather than five. District voters approved a bond issue to provide roughly 20 percent local share.
The sheriff's road patrol deputies, meanwhile, left the Panther building Jan. 1 and now are stationed at the county jail building downtown on High Street Northwest.
The Panther building had been quarters for the Trumbull County Engineer's Office until its current quarters on North River Road were dedicated in 1978. It served as sheriff's headquarters until jail and administrative operations relocated to the new jail in October 1997.
Since then, the Panther building has fallen into disrepair. Disposition of items there is up to county commissioners.