A power outage Tuesday afternoon caused participants in the monthly sheriff’s sale to move out to the front steps of the Mahoning County Courthouse to complete the transactions. Staff photo / Ed Runyan....

YOUNGSTOWN — In a couple of ways, the Mahoning County Courthouse went “old school” Tuesday afternoon when the power went out about 2:30 p.m.

The sheriff’s sale, which had been going on in the basement, moved onto the front steps of the courthouse — much the way sheriff sales were done in a bygone era.

Also, the Veterans Felony Honor Court that was about to begin in Judge Anthony D’Apolito’s courtroom carried on much as it would have otherwise after the power outage, which lasted about 15 minutes.

No lights were on in courtroom when honor court began, but lots of sunlight streamed through the large windows to keep everyone from being completely in the dark.

The honor court’s goal is to rehabilitate veterans who have been charged with a crime by providing counseling, mentoring, supervision and health services.

The outage was caused by Ohio Edison workers in the Youngstown area who “tripped a breaker” while trying to transfer electricity from one line to another to balance the power load during a time of high electrical usage, said Lauren Siburkis, a FirstEnergy spokesperson.

Siburkis said the power was back on in Youngstown and Austintown within 20 minutes.

Three employees of the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County were in an elevator when the power went out, trapping them for about 10 minutes, said Maggie Henderson, strategic communications officer for the library system.

Firefighters with the Youngstown Fire Department responded to assist the trapped workers, said John Lightly, battalion chief. Firefighters also responded to several other locations after alarm systems were activated by the power outage, Lightly said.