Panel OKs contract for utilities upgrade

Special to The Vindicator

COLUMBUS

The state Controlling Board signed off on a contract with a Ravenna firm to provide design services for a $1.6 million utilities upgrade at the former Ravenna Arsenal in Newton Falls.

The lawmaker panel, without comment Monday, approved the contract with Neighborhood Development Services Inc. for the federally funded project.

The funds will go toward the installation of thousands of feet of water, sewer and natural-gas lines to accommodate a tactical training base at Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center.

The training base plans call for current buildings at the site to be converted into barracks, dining areas, headquarters and other facilities to serve 2,000 soldiers, according to documents.

The former Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant was built in 1940-41, and about 15,000 people worked at the facility during World War II. It ceased making bombs and other ammunition in the early 1970s.