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The General Services Administration is unclear what specific upgrades will occur at the courthouses.
The General Services Administration is unclear what specific upgrades will occur at the courthouses.
YOUNGSTOWN — The federal stimulus package is giving $1.73 million to two federal courthouses, both built less than 15 years ago, in the city’s downtown to make them energy efficient while a request to replace the nearly 100-year-old Youngstown Municipal Court remains unanswered.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $5.55 billion to the U.S. General Services Administration, the manager of federal properties. Most of the money will make those facilities more energy-efficient with a small portion used to renovate them and build new ones.
The Thomas D. Lambros Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, which opened in 1995, is receiving $1,182,000. The Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, opened seven years ago at a construction cost of $21.9 million, is receiving $601,000 in funding through the stimulus package.
Meanwhile, the city’s request for $8 million in federal stimulus funds to relocate its municipal court facility from the second floor of city hall to the city hall annex hasn’t gone anywhere.
Attempts Thursday by The Vindicator to contact the court’s three judges were unsuccessful.
“I wouldn’t realistically expect a request for federal stimulus money for a municipal building to trump that of a federal building,” said Mayor Jay Williams. “But since government buildings in general seem to be on the radar screen, perhaps we may get some consideration.”
The city’s judges recently demanded the mayor provide the funds for a new courthouse. With the city in a budget crunch, the administration is refusing the judges’ demand.
The $787 billion stimulus package is a federal program, Williams said, and “the feds set the rules so any federal buildings would trump municipal buildings. It’s no shock they’re funding federal buildings first.”
The federal buildings receiving money for energy efficiency will have meters installed that would allow them to be closely monitored as to how much water and electricity they use, said David Wilkinson, a General Services Administration spokesman.
The money would also go toward more cost-effective lighting, and improved heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, he said.
Lighting is typically the largest single expense of electric usage at federal buildings. With advances in lighting fixtures since Lambros opened 14 years ago, more money is needed there to be more energy-efficient than at a newer building.
But the GSA is unclear what specific energy upgrades will occur at the Youngstown buildings, Wilkinson said.
“How we go about doing that remains to be determined,” he said. “It’s premature to determine what needs to be done.”
skolnick@vindy.com