ECS approves lease for space

A Niles man said rehiring the former superintendent after his retirement was a 'rip-off.'
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The governing board of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center approved a 10-year lease Monday with Covelli Properties Inc. to move its offices into the former Carlisle's/Maxwell's building in Niles.
The ESC expects to make the move in July after Covelli remodels the third-floor space the organization will occupy in the Village Center Plaza on Youngstown-Warren Road for $375,000, to be paid by the ESC.
Ronald Knight, president of the governing board, said Dr. Anthony D'Ambrosio has been in touch with county commissioners since early last year trying to find out whether the county would provide new facilities for the agency.
D'Ambrosio, who retired as ESC superintendent in December, determined in the fall that if the county took over the Park-Porter building nearly across from its present location in the county-owned former Wean building on North Park Avenue, it would be two more years before the ESC could move in, Knight said.
The county has said it would be using Park-Porter to house its Job and Family Services and One-Stop job training facility. It agreed late last year to buy the building on the condition that it passed an asbestos inspection, which is in progress.
In the fall, the ESC took inventory of other area facilities and considered six -- four in Warren and two in Niles, Victoria A. Giovangnoli, interim superintendent, said at Monday's meeting.
Need for move
The ESC needs to move from the Wean building by the start of school next year, said governing board member Beverly Friend. Officials have described the heating and cooling system in the former Wean building as "antiquated," indicating sometimes it doesn't work at all.
The 10-year lease will cost the agency $137,473 per year for 19,113 square feet, or $7.19 per square foot, an amount that citizen Dell Kuchta of Braceville told governing board members he believes is too high. He said he is opposed to anything that is going to raise costs for the school districts governed by the board at a time when those schools can least afford it.
Giovangnoli said the county currently provides space to the agency for free, but this is the last year for that. Because of changes in state laws, the county would begin charging for space it provided starting next year, she said.
Lori Simione, ESC treasurer, said the ESC will have to pass on the new rent costs to its schools eventually, but it has been stockpiling funds in the past five years since it learned it was losing its rent-free status. The center provides training and other services to the county's local school districts.
Simione said the ESC will have to start passing on the rental fees to the local schools starting in about five years.
Public hearing
The board also held a public hearing on whether to rehire D'Ambrosio as superintendent. He retired after a 35-year career in education, making him eligible to receive 88.5 percent of the average of his three highest years of Ohio public earnings under a formula a pension official explained.
If the board decides to rehire him as superintendent, board policy says he must be paid at least 10 percent less than the $105,398 a year he made when he retired. The board is expected to vote on the rehiring next month.
"This is nothing more than a rip-off of the taxpayers and it is wrong," Gerald Miller of Niles said of D'Ambrosio's rehiring and collection of pension and salary.
Friend countered that D'Ambrosio's hiring makes the most sense and is the least costly option available. She said paying D'Ambrosio would save the agency the 10 percent reduction in his pay and also the cost of his insurance, since he won't need it.
Knight said it is difficult to find superintendents because there are not many to pick from.