YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners on Thursday authorized the use of approximately $2.1 million of its $42 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to invest in the MYORIS project to speed up the county’s internet access and computer system connectivity across the county’s 70 buildings.

Jake Williams, information technology director for the county, said the project will result in the county having six strands of fiber optic cable that it can operate on its own, eliminating the fees paid to AT&T and saving money in the long run.

MYORIS stands for the Mahoning-Youngstown Ohio Regional Information System.

“Once this is all set up and running, the noticeable difference should be the performance for the end user,” Williams said. He said having its own network also will allow the county to control the speed of the network and grow its information network as needed in the future.

He compared the creation of the county’s own information network to “creating a huge railroad network here in Mahoning County — for our data.”

Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham, who has oversight of the IT department, said the MYORIS project is an existing information network run by Involta, a company that operates a data center on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown, just north of St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

“Involta is running all of this,” Meacham said. “Picture a big cable. We’re buying six strands for now within that big cable. They will put it up, they will maintain it, charge something for maintenance.”

Involta will run “spurs” off of the MYORIS “railroad” to the county’s buildings, Meacham said. The county may add six more strands later as the need arises.

Williams said the MYORIS project is a private network, which is good because it will carry “a lot of confidential information,” Williams said.

The savings comes from no longer paying a monthly bill to AT&T. Meacham said that the $2.1 million the county will pay for this will be paid back through no longer having to pay monthly fees.

Williams said the real benefit of the change will be overcoming the challenges faced every day by the speed of the network they use now.

As an example, when the network is wired and ready, video arraignments using high-definition video can be held in the Mahoning County Area Court in Sebring. That isn’t being done because of the limits of the current network and the unreliability and poor quality of trying to do that, Williams said.

All of the courts throughout the county can then be connected “to where we can share resources and collaborate in ways where they can store their data in our data center instead of paying a third party to store their backups,” he said.

“There are a lot of ways government as a whole in Mahoning County can regionalize and save money,” Williams said.

Involta’s Youngstown data center is a 26,000-square-foot facility that provides secure data storage, according to the Involta website. The data center saves clients the expense of owning, operating and maintaining such a facility independently.

OTHER ALLOCATIONS

The commissioners also allocated $130,000 in ARP funds to replace 10 warning sirens operated by the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency.

The need for the project became apparent after a small tornado hit Boardman on Sept. 4, damaging a plaza near the Southern Park Mall, and most of the warning sirens in the township failed to sound.

The National Weather Service classified the tornado as an EF-0, the weakest level, with winds at 80 mph. The storm hit quickly, resulting in flooding and other damage in various parts of the county.

Andy Frost III, Mahoning County EMA director, said the siren system has a lot of old, antiquated equipment for which it is hard to get parts. “We can’t trust them,” Frost said.

The county also is implementing a new warning system called IPAWS, or Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, which will send out warnings to almost all phones, similar to an Amber Alert.

The commissioners also heard from Diane Fry, Mahoning County dog warden, who said her facility now houses about 90 dogs, which is considerably higher than the typical number of 50 to 60.

She said she does not know the reason for so many more dogs needing to be brought to the facility, but “we’ve never seen anything like this.”

They also heard from Gina DeGenova, chief assistant prosecutor with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, and Macenzee Gaal, a senior at South Range High School, regarding the expanded donation drive being carried out this year by the prosecutor’s office for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

Last year, the prosecutor’s office provided the Sojourner House domestic violence shelter in Youngstown with 3,000 items collected and $1,000 in gift cards and cash.

But this year, with the help of Gaal, the program is being expanded with Gaal reaching out to many additional organizations to obtain donations. Gaal is hoping the drive can secure 10,000 items to turn over to the shelter this year, she said.

DeGenova said the prosecutor’s office is asking for donations such as personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, diapers, formula and other items for babies or toddlers.

The following are the dropoff locations:

• Poland High School, 3199 Dobbins Road, Poland;

• Salem High School, 1200 E. 6th St., Salem;

• South Range Local School District, 11300 Columbiana-Canfield Road, Suite M, Canfield;

• Canfield High School, 100 Cardinal Drive, Canfield;

• Compass, 535 Marmion Ave., Youngstown;

• Beatitude House, 238 Tod Lane, Youngstown;

• Mahoning County Administration Building, 21 W. Boardman St., Youngstown, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday;

• Buckeye Hospice and Palliative Care, 810 Boardman-Canfield Road, Suite 1, Boardman;

• Cornerstone Caregiving, 755 Boardman-Canfield Road, Suite K-4, Boardman;

• Continuing Healthcare Solutions, 100 Vista Drive, Lisbon;

• Starbucks, 4546 Boardman-Canfield Road, Canfield;

• Giant Eagle, 525 E. Main St., Canfield;

• North Lima Nutrition, 11995 South Ave., North Lima;

• Columbiana Nutrition, 18 S. Main St., Columbiana;

• Print Works, 409 E. 2nd St., Salem;

• Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St., Youngstown.