Third opinion sought on Oakhill heating

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Oakhill Renaissance Place

A Cleveland firm will issue a report on Oakhill heating in 10 days.

Staff Report

YOUNGSTOWN — After discussing in three consecutive meetings this month what type of heating system to use at Oakhill Renaissance Place, and not reaching a decision, the Mahoning County Building Commission will seek a third opinion.

At the end of a two-hour meeting on Wednesday, the commission authorized Architect Raymond Jaminet of Youngstown to hire Karpinski Engineering of Cleveland at $165 per hour to review and evaluate conflicting reports from J.M. Verostko Inc. and CJL Engineering, both of Youngstown.

Karpinski will be paid up to $5,000 to issue its written report and recommendation to the commission in 10 days.

“This is an effort to resolve what I consider a fairly complex and technical problem, and all we can do is look to the specialists. We obviously have two experts here who are not agreeing, and I can’t reconcile the differences,” said Atty. David Comstock, commission chairman.

The three options under consideration are remaining with steam heat from Youngstown Thermal, installing new steam boilers at Oakhill or installing a new zoned heating system featuring multiple, small, natural-gas-fired boilers throughout the building.

CJL, which studied the Oak-hill heating issue for the county about three years ago, recommended remaining with Youngstown Thermal.

Verostko, whose report was presented to the commission this month, has recommended the $2.9 million zoned system, which would be segmented for various parts of the building. In that system, the boilers would be programmed to come on at set times each morning.

The county bought Oakhill in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2006 for use as a county office complex and moved its Department of Job and Family Services to Oakhill the following year. Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.