Funding OK’d for former city fieldhouse

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The city’s board of control agreed Thursday to spend $7,054 for boiler equipment and labor expenses at the former South High Fieldhouse and Stadium.

Sammarone said the city should look at “mothballing” the facility, closed for about five years, and use the money it’s “wasting on a building no one is using” for youth- recreation programs.

The city has tried to sell the facility that fronts Market Street for years without success. City council approved legislation in January 2008 declaring the complex as “no longer necessary for municipal purposes” and authorized a sale.

Robert Burke, the city’s park and recreation director, said Thursday the city spends about $10,000 annually for utilities for the fieldhouse, but didn’t know the total cost of the facility to the city. Sammarone said that figure sounded much too low.

Five years ago, city officials said the city was losing about $150,000 annually.

on the fieldhouse.