Courthouse work delayed; dog pound construction on schedule

By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The return of the copper statues to their rooftop perch at the Mahoning County Courthouse likely will be delayed until spring, but construction of the new county dog shelter on Meridian Road is on schedule for completion next summer, according to the county’s architectural consultant.

“The roof isn’t quite finished yet,” at the courthouse, explained Architect Paul Ricciuti, the county’s consultant.

“Half the roof is finished. The rest of the roof is watertight. We’re running out of [good] weather,” he added.

Roof replacement is part of the restoration of the 105-year-old courthouse.

The project was delayed by the need to remove and replace unforeseen asbestos roofing discovered this fall in the statue pedestal.

The $6 million courthouse restoration likely will grow in cost by about $500,000 because the county would like to perform additional work next year, said county Commissioner David Ditzler.

The extra work would include brick and window repairs in the interior window wells, where original wooden frames have rotted, cleaning the building’s granite exterior and upgrading its exterior lighting.

The scaffolding at the courthouse will be dismantled in about two weeks and won’t need to be re-erected next spring, Ricciuti said.

As for the dog shelter, Helen Copich Durflinger, project architect, said that $3.8 million building likely will be under roof before Christmas.

The shelter at 1230 N. Meridian Road will have a metal roof with wooden trusses.

“The weather has been perfect, so it’s allowed us to keep on schedule,” Durflinger said.

“They’ll be able to work through winter. It’ll keep right on schedule with the roof on,” Durflinger said of the project.

Durflinger said she is pleased with the work of all companies engaged in the construction, especially that of Lencyk Masonry Co. of Boardman, which is erecting the shelter’s cinderblock walls.

“These are the best masons I’ve ever seen on any project that I have been on in the past 30 years,” she said.

Ricciuti also said the shelter is on schedule for completion next summer and that his goal is to have the building under roof before Christmas.

It cost the county $6,000 to remove four truckloads of unforeseen buried trash from the site to a landfill, Ricciuti said.

He added that a mound of about 5,000 cubic yards of excavated earth behind the building may be donated to a project that needs fill dirt.