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campbell Wheels in motion to build steel mill
By jeanne starmack
campbell
A company that wants to build a steel mill in Campbell’s old industrial property is working to become a vendor for companies that would buy its steel.
Robert Carcelli, a spokesman for Sherman Metals Technology LLC, said this week that the federal Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers is helping Sherman Metals become recognized as a new vendor for companies such as Westinghouse, General Electric and car manufacturers.
Carcelli said the federal office is helping Sherman Metals, owned by a woman named Krishna Sharma, become certified as a woman-minority-owned business.
“It’s a very complex process,” he said. “This will help her get a lot of contracts from the car companies. They have to meet quotas in minority diversity programs.”
Once Sherman Metals has the certification, it will be easier to get letters of interest from companies that indicate they will buy Sherman Metals’ steel if it meets their specifications.
With those letters of interest, it will be easier to obtain financing to build the mill, Carcelli said. He said Sharma could know in two to three months if she’ll receive the certification.
Carcelli said Sherman Metals also is pursuing public financing through the Western Reserve Port Authority.
He said the port authority is a nonprofit that can issue bonds to finance building the mill.
Sherman Metals wants to build a cold-rolling coil mill on 49 acres it owns in Campbell along the Mahoning River. It owns 114 acres all together, Carcelli said, with 65 of those acres in Youngstown.
Campbell was awarded a Clean Ohio grant of $1.9 million in May to clean and restore the property on its side.
Youngstown received a $300,000 grant to do a cleanup assessment for the property on its side. If the property needs a cleanup, the company would search for grants to do it. If it can clean up the property, it could expand operations there, Carcelli said.
Campbell is expecting to receive a contract soon that has to be signed and returned to the Ohio Department of Development. Once the contract is returned, the department will release the cleanup money. Bidding then can start for contractors to do the work.
City Finance Director Mike Evanson said Friday the city has not yet received the contract.
Carcelli said there also is an intent to solicit bids for a sewage lift station. The station would serve the entire brownfields area, he said. He said Mahoning County, which owns the sewage- treatment plant on Wilson Avenue, will solicit bids.