City moves toward filing claim

The property owner has said he will fight eminent domain.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city took a major step in its attempt to buy a West Rayen Avenue building against the will of its owner as part of a plan to provide a link between Youngstown State University and downtown.

City council approved legislation Monday to place $205,000 in escrow that would be used to pay Joseph Grenga for his property at 128 W. Rayen Ave.

That action is needed for the city to file an eminent domain claim in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Grenga to obtain his property, said city Finance Director David Bozanich. The court claim should be filed next month.

The Grenga Machine & Welding Co. property is needed to extend Hazel Street between YSU and downtown, Bozanich said.

Grenga has threatened a counterclaim and said he doesn’t care what the city offers, he isn’t interested in selling his building. Grenga bought the 10,515-square-foot building in October 2001 for $95,800.

Though Bozanich is confident the city can obtain Grenga’s property quickly through the courts, the building’s owner disagrees, saying it will take the city years and it would lose in court in the end.

Also at the meeting, council:

UApproved a three-month contract, retroactive to Nov. 1, to have USA Parking Systems, a Cleveland company, provide parking to Chevrolet Centre patrons at a monthly fee of $16,575. Council members want the city administration to re-evaluate Youngstown’s yearly parking deal that called for USA Parking to receive $220,000 annually for up to 2,400 spaces.

The city collects fees attached to ticket sales to pay that parking contract. Without a deal, Lou Frangos, USA Parking’s owner, said he’d charge at least $5 a car and make more money.

UPostponed a decision to change the salary of the traffic coordinator position from $58,877.52 to $41,538.48. The proposal, sponsored by Mayor Jay Williams, would have made the position part time and eliminated medical benefits.

No one’s held the job since 1997 when Carmen S. Conglose Jr. was promoted from that spot to deputy director of public works. Conglose maintained the responsibilities of traffic coordinator for the past decade, but he is retiring at the end of the year.

City council members said they wanted justification from the administration for the proposed changes and why the post needs to be filled.

UAuthorized the city’s board of control to hire a firm for the design of a fire station in the Brownlee Woods area of the South Side to replace Station No. 9 on Midlothian Boulevard at Sheridan Road.

The 78-year-old station is in poor structural shape and has mold and rats, said Fire Chief John O’Neill. A new station would cost about $600,000 to $800,000, he said. There’s no time frame for building a new fire station.

skolnick@vindy.com