OK given on city court planning

YOUNGSTOWN — The city is giving an architectural firm the go-ahead to design plans and determine a cost estimate to build a new courthouse at the former Masters building complex.

Olsavsky-Jaminet Architects will take up to five months for the work. The Youngstown-based company will receive $72,800 from the city court’s facility fund for the work. The company already received $23,000 for preliminary work on the proposed courthouse.

The city board of control is expected sometime next month to hire Strollo Architects Inc., a Youngstown company, for up to $25,000 to act as “an additional set of eyes and ears” and to help come up with a project cost estimate, said Carmen S. Conglose Sr., deputy director of the city’s public works department.

Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr., Youngstown Municipal Court’s presiding and administrative judge, said he expects the work to be done sooner than five months because Olsavsky-Jaminet has been involved with the project for four years. He also said the $95,800 fee from the company is deeply discounted because of Olsavsky-Jaminet’s commitment to Youngstown.

The most important aspect of this project, the judge says, is the cost estimate.

The preliminary estimate on a new courthouse is $8 million.

“That amount isn’t manageable,” said Mayor Jay Williams. “We need a dollar amount before we go further. The $8 million wasn’t specific. It was a general number.”

Willliams has said $4 million to $5 million is manageable.

The judges have collected $14 court fees for the proposed facility for the past eight years. The fund has more than $1 million in it.

Once the cost estimate is determined, city and court officials can develop a financial plan to build a courthouse on the former Masters property on West Federal Street and Vindicator Square, Judge Douglas said.