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Federal mistake leaves Struthers officials angry
The state gave it, and the state took it away.
STRUTHERS — The city wants to proceed with a project to save money at the waste-treatment plant, but the state is not making that easy, say city and county officials.
They have asked state legislators to find out why the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance distributed millions in federal stimulus money the way it did.
Struthers Mayor Terry Stocker said he is upset that in three phone calls Thursday, he was told the division was allocating an additional $1 million, then $500,000 more for two generators that would run on methane gas at the plant — then was told that was a mistake.
The total cost of the project is $4 million. Struthers believed it had $1.8 million in stimulus money allocated. Thursday’s news about getting $1.5 million more had city officials celebrating, Stocker said.
City and county officials had met at 8 a.m. to talk about whether to pursue a $2.2 million loan at 3.4 percent interest over 20 years to cover the rest of the project. The county reimburses the city for 64.5 percent of plant costs because the plant treats sewage from other communities — that’s why the city needs the county’s support.
The city already had the county on board by the time it received the phone calls about getting more money.
Stocker said the first call came at 9 a.m., while he was still at home.
“I got all excited, came to work, brought in our consultants and waste-water treatment personnel,” he said. He said that a staffer at DEFA called while they were meeting to tell them there was an additional $500,000 available. They were told that it looked like the city would get $3.5 million altogether, Stocker said.
The state indicated the city was getting the additional money because projects submitted to a “green projects list” by other Ohio communities had been withdrawn from that list, Stocker said.
“It’s like getting a call from the Ohio Lottery. That’s how I felt,” said Stocker.
Forty-five minutes later, he said, it all changed. In another phone call, the city was told it had all been a mistake.
Struthers is actually set to receive $1.5 million.
Stocker and Rich DeLuca, the city’s storm water/pollution control manager, say they would like to pursue the project.
DeLuca said the methane generators would save the plant $100,000 a year in utility costs and $50,000 a year for natural gas to run a regular generator.
The stimulus money, he and Stocker pointed out, is designed to promote such “green” projects.
Now, the city and county will have to reconsider whether they want to pursue a loan based on the lower allocation figure.
Stocker said he doesn’t trust that the numbers won’t change again.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “What numbers are we dealing with?”
Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said he is calling on legislators to investigate. “How could a mistake like that have been made in that time frame?” Traficanti said.
They are also questioning why the Struthers project wasn’t allocated as much as the other projects on the list, most of which were funded 100 percent.
“We’re hoping politics isn’t being played,” Traficanti said. “Communities are fighting for the money. Struthers deserves this. The project was ready to go. I want to get to who the decision maker is.”
Bob Monsarrat, head of the environmental planning section of DEFA, was the one who called the city to deliver the bad news about the mistake. He said the city’s total allocation of $1.5 million was misread as additional.
“The staff person misread the information,” he said.
He said the Struthers project was not funded at 100 percent because it was the lowest on the list in terms of “water-quality benefits.”
He said all the projects were funded at 100 percent as long as they were under a $5 million cap. But Struthers, last on the list, was only partially funded because the money ran out, he said.
jstarmack@vindy.com