Woodside Lake dam sold — for $50 cash

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown man bought the crumbling Woodside Lake dam and part of that lake for $50 at a cash-only Mahoning County auditor’s auction this morning in the county courthouse.

The buyer, James I. Salter II, a general contractor with Salt of the Earth Construction Services, of McGuffey Road, declined to comment after the auction on his intentions for the 9.63-acre lake and dam property along South Meridian Road in Austintown.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which inspected the dam last April 19, said the dam and its spillway are in poor condition and steps must be taken to repair the dam within the next year before conditions worsen.

The Woodside Lake property was one of 20 tax delinquent properties offered for sale on today’s auction list in as-is condition to the highest bidder.

The properties on the list had failed to sell in two sheriff’s sales and were forfeited to the state for County Auditor Ralph Meacham to sell as the state’s agent.