Veterans services to move to Oakhill

Veterans services will have a more accessible location.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission will join the county Department of Job and Family Services at Oakhill Renaissance Place, and other agencies may follow, says Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners.

“We’re looking at making that a one-stop shop for Mahoning County,” Traficanti said of Oakhill. “The commissioners have been talking about moving probably everybody out of the [South Side] annex,” he said of the county agencies.

After the VSC moves to Oakhill from the annex, Traficanti said the plan would be to move the county’s recycling division, known as the Green Team, the county elections board and possibly the auto title office, from the annex, located at 2801 Market St. in Youngstown’s Uptown district, to Oakhill.

Traficanti said all the moves must be planned by the county building commission.

After consolidating those offices at Oakhill, county commissioners would consider selling the annex, or possibly donating it to the FBI, which participates in the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, he said. The task force is on the second floor of the annex.

On Thursday, the county building commission approved a change in its $611,000 contract with Murphy Contracting Co. of Youngstown to include demolition in 4,000 square feet of first-floor space at Oakhill to accommodate the Veterans Service Commission.

Architect Tracie A. Kaglic said the total dollar amount of that contract won’t change because JFS will require less interior demolition work than originally planned. She said she hopes VSC will move to Oakhill this summer. Interior demolition refers to removal of some walls to prepare for the new office space configuration.

Traficanti and Kaglic said it will be advantageous for veterans to have VSC in accessible first-floor quarters at Oakhill adjacent to another service agency, namely JFS.

“We have handicapped accessibility. We have ample parking. ... I believe it would be a lot more accessible for veterans who are handicapped, who’ve had war-related injuries to utilize that facility,” Traficanti said of Oakhill.

Besides JFS, veterans and others will have immediate access at Oakhill to the city health department, he said. “Having everybody under one roof makes sense,” he added.

The move fulfills a goal of more accessible offices, which Barry Landgraver advocated when he became VSC executive director a year ago, when he called for a more handicapped-accessible, street-level, building front location. At the annex, VSC occupies second-floor offices far removed from the parking lot and building entrance. Landgraver could not be reached to comment Thursday.

“It’s a very short walk for the veterans compared to the walk that they currently have at the annex,” Kaglic said of the new Oakhill quarters.

Oakhill is the 353,000-square-foot former Forum Health Southside Medical Center at 345 Oakill Ave., which the county bought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2006. VSC will occupy the hospital’s former pediatric clinic.

JFS moved from rented quarters on the city’s East Side to Oakhill last July. JFS now occupies temporary offices at Oakhill, and Kaglic said she hopes renovations for its permanent offices in the former hospital will be completed by the end of this year.

Agencies at Oakhill often serve the same clientele, so it’s advantageous to have the services centralized in one building near the city’s downtown, said Lori Murphy, performance management administrator at JFS.

Under this arrangement, “We’re serving our clients more efficiently and more effectively,” Murphy said. “With the renovation, it’s going to be a very nice place for people to come.”