US injects Valley with $59M stimulus

By Jon Moffett

YOUNGSTOWN — Just where are the federal stimulus dollars going locally?

A federal stimulus Web site – www.recovery.gov – breaks down destinations for federal funds, and indicates who is getting how much for what projects. A map shows Ohio marked with hundreds of purple, blue and green dots, which represent almost 4,000 awards and more than $8.2 billion in federal stimulus contracts, grants and loans.

Zoom in closer and Northeast Ohio has been one of the major beneficiaries of the money, with the Mahoning Valley awarded a nice share.

According to an Oct. 20 update of the recovery Web site, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties have combined for 125 awards and more than $59 million in federal stimulus money. That includes 15 contracts, 80 grants and 30 loans. Mahoning County leads the trio with 51 awards, followed by Trumbull with 38 and Columbiana with 36.

Abcon Inc. of Youngstown is one beneficiary of the stimulus program. It was awarded four projects for the Army Corps of Engineers. According to the recovery Web site, the contracts total about $2.7 million.

Also securing dollars is Jack Gibson Construction in Warren, awarded two projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs. These contracts total about $5.2 million, according to the site.

Donna Ewing, president of Abcon, said the contracts – awarded for projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – are well received within the company.

“With the way the economy is, this has been extremely helpful to us because we were actually able to add a couple of good-paying positions to the company,” Ewing said. “When you are able to obtain work like this in an economy that is so down, it’s definitely a good thing.”

Abcon was awarded two contracts for Ohio projects. One project consists of paving work at parks near Berlin Lake in Berlin Center and Kirwan Lake in Wayland in Portage County. The second is the installation of waterlines on Potato Garden Run Road in Findlay Township.

Out-of-state projects include a dam gate control indicator replacement at Shenango River Lake in Hermitage, Pa., and an emergency generator replacement at Pike Island in Wheeling, W. Va.

“It’s definitely been an uplifting experience, and morale obviously goes up,” Ewing said.

Gibson Construction was awarded two projects in Butler, Pa. The projects consist of commercial and industrial building construction and electrical-wiring installation.

Jim Breese, president of Jack Gibson Construction, said he hopes the work will propel the company during a down economic time. “Any time you put work on, and you can continue operations, it’s helpful,” he said.

The recovery Web site indicates awards by ZIP code, county, state or congressional district. According to the site, various Youngstown organizations, companies and entities have been awarded eight grants totaling more than $10.6 million.

Ewing said the projects help local companies like Abcon from having to lay off workers.

“If you are an employer who cares about your employees, and I do, you never want to do that,” she said. “I find it difficult to lay anyone off. I have many contractor friends who have had to lay off in various tiers of their company. You know they have , and they need the work.”

Jack Gibson Construction had already faced a few layoffs, Breese said. But the work should help bring some workers back.

“The ones that were on part-time are now full-time and the ones that were laid off will be brought back.”

He added, “We’ve got employees that have been with the company since they started working. It’s hard to lay anyone like that off, and we’re as happy for them as they are to come back to work.”

Ewing said Abcon placed its bids for “quite a few” projects earlier this year. Both Breese and Ewing said they received word of their companies’ awards by Sept. 30.

“We were fortunate that we were able to get awards for four contracts,” Ewing said.

Breese said his crews are currently working on the first phase of the project, and work on the projects is scheduled to begin soon for Abcon.. Ewing added that crews are already excited to begin.

“For the workers, this has been excellent,” she said. “They definitely have benefited and are excited to start.”

jmoffett@vindy.com

Stimulus money | Mahoning Valley awards

How money from the federal stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is divided as of Oct. 20, in the Mahoning Valley:

Mahoning County

Awards: 51

Contracts: $9,512,385

Grants: $24,064,487

Loans: $2,855,500

Total: $36,432,372

Trumbull County

Awards: 38

Contracts: $5,230,000

Grants: $11,203,466

Loans: $1,563,000

Total: $17,996,466

Columbiana County

Awards: 36

Contracts: $1,800

Grants: $3,702,838

Loans: $1,179,365

Total: $4,884,003

Source: www.recovery.gov