Commissioners OK purchase of Canfield site for water tower

May 7, 2015 at 11:19a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners this morning approved the $105,000 purchase of the Canfield Township site for installation of a new 500,000-gallon elevated water storage tank.

The site is just south of state Route 224 near the exit ramp from northbound state Route 11.

The installation, designed to improve water supply and pressure for residents, businesses and firefighters in the Canfield area, is expected to cost $2.5 million to $3 million.

Bill Coleman, sanitary engineering office manager, said the county hopes construction will start in mid-to-late fall.

The project will be funded by a $750,000 Ohio Public Works Commission grant, with the remainder of the money coming from Aqua Ohio, which provides water to that area.

The commissioners also approved a $7,500 sponsorship grant from the county Convention and Visitors Bureau’s hotel bed tax revenues to Eric Ryan Productions for the Downtown Jazz Fest on the evening of July 11 in Central Square.

The commissioners also approved payment of $9,743 to Murphy Contracting Co. of Youngstown for its emergency work to remove loose terra cotta on the west side of the 104-year-old county courthouse after a chunk of terra cotta weighing more than 50 pounds fell from the building’s roof to the ground this past winter.

Nobody was injured when the chunk fell early this year in the ally behind the courthouse, said James Fortunato, county purchasing director.

Murphy checked the entire courthouse perimeter for loose terra cotta, he said.