US stimulus funds pay for 850 new Youngstown lights

By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The city is using $91,649 in leftover federal stimulus money to replace about 850 lights at city hall and the attached police station with energy-efficient fixtures.

The board of control on Thursday hired B&J Electric Inc., a North Lima company that submitted the least-expensive proposal for the work among the five businesses seeking the work.

The city received $600,000 in federal stimulus funds — formally called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — in 2009 to make heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements to a 31,000-square-foot space at the city-owned 20 Federal Place.

The work was done to attract VXI Global Solutions, a call-center company, to the downtown building at 20 W. Federal St.

The city has about $155,000 left from the stimulus money, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works. That was the engineer’s estimate for the light-fixture improvements, he said.

The city needed approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to use the stimulus funds for new lights at city hall and the police station, located on West Boardman and South Phelps streets, Shasho said.

The work will begin next month to the five upper floors of city hall and to all areas of the police department, he said.

The city will ask the Department of Energy if it can use the nearly $65,000 that remains in stimulus funds for additional energy-efficient light fixtures in the two buildings, Shasho said.