2 sites in Niles are recommended

The chairman said cost, convenience and square footage are the top criteria considered.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- The One-Stop Committee and Workforce Investment Board have recommended two Niles sites for the combined Job and Family Services location.
Patty Augustine, One-Stop Committee chairwoman, told the workforce board Thursday that the former Sam's Club building near the Eastwood Mall and the former Carlisle's store building in the Niles Village Plaza are the top choices.
The workforce board then followed the committee's advice and extended that recommendation to the Trumbull County commissioners. The meeting was at Augustine's Coldwell Banker real estate office in the Howland Plaza.
The commissioners have spent about five years studying options for where to put the combined Job and Family Services/Child Support Enforcement Agency and One-Stop job training office. All of the other locations being considered are in Warren or Howland.
The agencies employ 250 people in downtown Warren, but the lease for two of three buildings being used runs out at the end of the year. The CSEA office uses county-owned Stone Building space downtown.
Reasons for choices
Augustine said top criteria used to select the Niles sites over the five other options they were given to consider are cost, convenience for customers and required square footage.
"We have to remember this is in Trumbull County," and not just serving Warren, she said.
Augustine said both properties can be bought. Commissioners decided on Wednesday to no longer consider leasing space.
Bruce W. Sekanick, architect representing the commissioners, said negotiations with the Kleese Development Associates, landlord for the JFS and One Stop buildings, appear to have produced an agreement to continue using the buildings on a month-to-month basis.
JFS Director Tom Mahoney said he didn't know exact terms of the month-to-month lease but said he believes it will be at the same price as the current lease.
Sekanick told the workforce committee that his review of savings the county would get from buying electricity from Niles city indicates there would be some savings over locations outside the city that use Ohio Edison -- but there is "no way to quantify" just how much.
runyan@vindy.com