WARREN Council considers use of inspection fee funds

The school building permit and inspection fees are expected to total more than $1 million.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- An ordinance designating permit and inspection fees from the $153 million schools construction project for neighborhood improvement efforts has been given first reading by city council .
The ordinance says the funds should be reserved for administration and enforcement of the housing, building, fire, zoning and property maintenance codes; securing of vacant houses and unsafe structures; residential sidewalk repair and improvement and tree removal; and acquisition of land for public improvements.
The schools construction project will include four new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade buildings, one in each quadrant of the city, and a new Warren G. Harding High School.
Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, a sponsor of the ordinance, said the building permit and inspection fees are likely to total more than $1 million.
"I think it should go back into the neighborhoods, especially around some of the areas where the new schools are being built," Novak said. "This is a one-shot deal. You'll never see probably, in our lifetime, this amount of construction going on in a four-to five-year period again."
Other actions
Council passed an ordinance designed to keep the Trumbull County Department of Job and Family Services and the department's Child Support Enforcement Agency in the city's downtown.
The ordinance concurs with Mayor Michael O'Brien's offer of a $90,000 annual water bill credit to the county for keeping JFS downtown for at least 10 years at current staffing levels. After the mayor made the offer, county commissioners voted to buy the Park-Porter Building, 280 N. Park Ave., to house JFS.
Council tabled an ordinance that would require placement of residential garbage in city-issued 90-gallon containers in such a way that they can automatically be hoisted and dumped into the city's garbage trucks without the driver having to exit from the truck.
The ordinance's sponsor James "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, said he called for the ordinance to be tabled pending further study and amendments. Residents can be assured that trash they put to the curb will continue to be collected, he said. "There's not going to be any loss of services," he said.
As it was originally written, the ordinance would also raise the city's charge from $45 to $50 for the second city-issued container. The first container would remain free. The ordinance would also require placement of leaves in biodegradable bags, such as paper.
Revitalization plan
Mayor Michael O'Brien announced that the city's first comprehensive plan for the revitalization of downtown Warren will be unveiled in a public forum at 6 p.m. Monday at the Comfort Inn on Courthouse Square.
The mayor also announced that the city has requested proposals from six ambulance companies to provide service under contract to the city's police and fire departments. The proposals will be opened at 4 p.m. Feb. 21, he said.
The city wants a one-year contract, with a one-year renewal option, with an ambulance company because the city's emergency dispatchers have often had difficulty finding available ambulances from private companies and have needed to rely on ambulances operated by Howland and Warren townships to respond to accidents and fires, he explained.