Youngstown council plans to speed up demolition process

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown is changing how it handles a key portion of its residential demolition program in order to speed up the process, city officials say.

City council tonight authorized the board of control to hire a company to handle asbestos testing, construction inspection and serve as the city’s administrator of residential demolitions.

Demolition “contractors have to wait for environmental inspections,” Mayor Charles Sammarone said. “They need to have someone available to do that. That process can be slow. This is a better way.”

While it’s not on the agenda of Thursday’s board of control meeting, DeMaine Kitchen, the mayor’s chief of staff/administrative assistant, said the board will vote Thursday to hire CT Consultants, a Youngstown firm, for the work.

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com