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The company owning the former Woodside Receiving Hospital and its demolition contractor face charges
YOUNGSTOWN
The city filed charges against the company that owns the former Woodside Receiving Hospital and the contractor who demolished the structure for failing to haul away the remains of the South Side facility.
Arraigned Monday in municipal court were William A. McKinley, owner of McKinley Industries on Idora Avenue, the demolition contractor, and ACV Realty of Canfield, with Carl Vaccar, its head, in court on behalf of the company.
McKinley and ACV each were charged with a misdemeanor count of not following demolition and removal procedures at the East Indianola Avenue property.
They will be back in court for a pretrial hearing Dec. 1.
Demolition work started last summer with the building taken down this spring, said Abigail Brubaker, the city’s code official and interim building and housing inspector.
However, nothing has been done to remove the debris, she said.
The city told Vacaar in May that the debris needed to be removed, Brubaker said. The city then let him know in August that he had 30 days to get the site cleared, which didn’t happen, she said.
“So we filed charges to make sure it gets done,” Brubaker said.
A message left Monday by The Vindicator with Andrew Zellers, ACV’s attorney, was not returned.
But McKinley had a lot to say.
“You had 14 federal marshals and seven cars pick me up at the worksite for a misdemeanor,” said McKinley, while laughing about the issue. “What are our tax dollars doing? All the crime going on in Youngstown, and you’re messing with me over this. I was taken to the county jail, and they let me out on a [own-recognizance] bond. If that’s a crime, what’s a real crime like? It doesn’t make sense. I got arrested on the job at Woodside.”
Brubaker said McKinley may have been dumping debris from other jobs at the site when he was arrested.
The work at the former Woodside facility has taken longer than anticipated, McKinley said.
“I’ve got three pieces of equipment, and one isn’t working,” he said. “I guess we’re not moving fast enough. I’m going to finish Woodside.”
Woodside, a state mental hospital that opened in 1940, closed in 1996 because the state reduced funding for such facilities.
The location then became Lincoln Behavioral Health Care, a privately-owned residential facility for counseling for juveniles.
In July 2008, The Vindicator reported that about 70 youths were moved out of the facility and employees were laid off with a company spokesman saying Lincoln was negotiating with a national company to take over the business.
Instead, it closed shortly after the move. Since then, the structure deteriorated, becoming an eyesore.