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Council mulls changes to issue
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Mayor Doug Franklin asked city council Tuesday to approve $10 million of the items in his 17-month-old, $25.6 million bond-sale proposal but to take items such as a one-stop government-services building off the table for now.
Franklin said that since “about May,” he and Service Director Enzo Cantala-messa have been looking at ways to change the proposal because of the negative effects of the closing of the RG Steel mill.
“When you have people hurting, that changes the whole dynamic,” Franklin said at a council finance committee meeting.
Franklin mentioned the 1,200 RG employees laid off at the mill over the past several months. The mill has a new owner, but it’s not clear whether it will reopen.
“We want to send the right message with people hurting,” Franklin said.
Franklin and former Mayor Michael O’Brien proposed in April 2011, while Franklin was running for mayor, that the city construct a $10.5 million city building that would consolidate services into one facility; and other projects to be funded with a bond sale.
Franklin said Tuesday he and Cantalamessa plan to give council “another option” for office consolidation within several weeks.
Likewise, Franklin said he would like council to withdraw the part of the bond project that would provide $2.5 million for road projects.
He would like to increase the size of that project “because [streets] have been neglected so long,” Franklin said. More residential streets will be added as well, Cantalamessa said.
Franklin also asked council to withdraw the $2.6 million proposal for building renovations.
The parts of the bond project Franklin hopes council will approve at tonight’s meeting are the refinancing of $1.7 million of police and fire pension debt and $6.8 million in water-line debt. Those are expected to save $2 million over the life of the loans, Auditor David Griffing said.
Franklin also asked council to proceed with the borrowing of $580,000 for a fire department pumper truck and $790,000 worth of computer hardware and software.
Fire Chief Ken Nussle said the current rescue pumper truck is a 1997 model that needs to be replaced.
Jim Black, the city’s data processing director, said the city still uses a “green screen” software in its main-frame computer that was installed in 1985. He finds that “quite ridiculous,” he said.