County wants covered bridge work to resume

NEWTON FALLS -- Trumbull County will hire a lawyer to get the nearly $1 million renovation of the historic covered bridge here going again.
Progress was stopped Feb. 2 after the county engineer and the general contractor reached an impasse in a contractual dispute.
On Wednesday, Trumbull County commissioners authorized county Engineer John Latell to hire Brickler and Eckler, a Columbus law firm, to represent him in legal action with the company, Becdir Construction Co. of Youngstown.
Randy Smith, Latell's deputy engineer, said the legal help is needed to get the project moving again. Work has stopped on the project and the structure is only partly protected from the elements because the roof and siding have been removed.
The county engineer's office would not elaborate on the dispute.
The bridge, built in 1831 and located on Arlington Street over the east branch of the Mahoning River, is the second-oldest covered bridge in Ohio and the last covered bridge in Ohio still being used in its original location.
Becdir was awarded a contract for $827,506 to replace the siding, roof, deck planking, floor beams, majority of the sidewalk some of the truss timbers and steel piers in the river.
The project was also for adding lighting and surveillance cameras.
Becdir began the work last July. It was being paid for by a federal grant of $1,061,800.
When the project began, its expected completion date was this spring.