Judge stays renovations; JFS in limbo

The Oakhill project depends on when the lawsuit ends, a building official says.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Building Commission chairman and the county’s architect say it’s unlikely the county Department of Job and Family Services will move into its permanent offices at Oakhill Renaissance Place until June 2008.

Atty. David Comstock Sr., commission chairman, and Tracie Kaglic, the architect coordinating renovations for JFS’ permanent offices at Oakhill, gave that assessment after Thursday’s building commission meeting.

Comstock explained that Judge Richard Markus, the visiting judge assigned to the Ohio Valley Mall Co. lawsuit to block the county from renovating Oakhill for county offices, has indefinitely stayed any interior demolition or construction work for the permanent offices.

The schedule for occupancy of the permanent quarters “depends on when this lawsuit terminates,” Comstock said. The case is set for trial at 9 a.m. July 23 in county common pleas court.

Temporary move allowed

The judge, however, did not bar JFS from making a move to temporary quarters at Oakhill, which it would occupy in as-is condition until the permanent quarters are ready for occupancy.

The county commissioners voted in mid-March to move JFS to temporary quarters at Oakhill by April 15, but that didn’t happen. They cited complaints from JFS workers concerning respiratory problems the workers associated with mold at JFS’ current Garland Plaza offices.

County Administrator George Tablack declined to comment on what the latest timetable is for the move to temporary quarters.

Ohio Valley Mall Co., a division of the Cafaro Co., is the landlord for JFS at Garland Plaza. Oakhill, which the county bought last summer in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

Kaglic said her last meeting with county officials concerning the temporary move was six to eight weeks ago, and she recalled some phone and data equipment installation work was initiated in the temporary quarters two months ago.

The new quarters

The temporary quarters will be on Oakhill’s basement through fourth floors. JFS’ permanent offices will be on the first and third floors with basement storage.

Kaglic said it would be desirable to move the department’s 300 employees from one building to another only once and to do it over a weekend to minimize downtime.

The commission voted to disqualify an interior demolition bid for JFS’ permanent quarters from Hively Construction Co. of Canfield for $586,500 because Comstock said it was not responsive to the bid specifications. Hively has five days to request a hearing before the commission to appeal its disqualification.

The other demolition bidders are Murphy Contracting Co. of Youngstown, which bid $611,000, and Precision Environmental Co. of Independence, which bid $862,500. Another company, Bauman Enterprises of Garfield Heights, withdrew its $260,988 bid because it made a mathematical error in calculating its bid.

The bids came in substantially below the architect’s $927,728 estimate for demolition, including wall removal and asbestos removal and abatement, Comstock noted. The demolition costs are part of the $4.8 million estimate for preparation of JFS’ new permanent offices.