City council to weigh 4th contract with firm

$75K deal for assistance with 20 Federal Place

YOUNGSTOWN -- City council will consider a fourth contract Wednesday with a St. Louis firm to continue providing technical assistance, strategic counsel and other services related to the potential redevelopment and sale of the downtown 20 Federal Place building.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown is sponsoring legislation asking council to permit the board of control, which Brown chairs, to sign a contract for up to $75,000 for Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners to continue helping the city with the 20 Federal Place project. The contract would start May 1 with the firm paid $215 per hour.

"Steadfast has been doing a good job providing us with guidance and direction," city Finance Director Kyle Miasek said. "They bring needed assistance as we move forward with the building."

Steadfast started working with the city on the 20 Federal Place project in 2020 after a $40,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant was obtained to provide technical and marketing assistance.

The board of control then signed a $25,000 contract with Steadfast in September 2021 to help it with the building. A second $25,000 contract was signed in January 2022.

A $75,000 contract was approved by council last July and that money is getting close to running out, leading to the request for another $75,000 contract.

The city received a $6.96 million Ohio Brownfield Remediation grant, announced last June, and is providing $2.32 million of its own money for the work at 20 Federal Place. The city is using part of its money for architectural designs, project management and costs related to seeking additional grants for the building.

The board of control last week approved a $6,979,038 contract for the remediation and partial demolition of 20 Federal Place with work expected to start in mid-April. It will take up to 225 days for the work to be finished.

The future of the building after this work is done is uncertain.

The last estimated cost of redeveloping the downtown building was $96.2 million with Brown and Law Director Jeff Limbian questioning how that money could be raised and if a project of that magnitude is feasible.

The city purchased the building in November 2004 after Phar-Mor, a national retail store company, went out of business. The property was the Phar-Mor Centre, the company's corporate headquarters. Before that, it was the flagship location of Strouss' department store for several decades.

The city has tried unsuccessfully to sell the building in the past.

PLANNING

Council also will consider legislation Wednesday to increase the annual salary of the chief planner from $67,917 to $76,450.

The position has been vacant since March 2009, but Nikki Posterli, the director of the city's community planning and economic development department and the mayor's chief of staff, wants to find a person for that spot.

The salary for that position and for the economic development director, a job vacant for 10 months, are being increased to be the same as the community development agency director's pay.

While the city looks for a chief planner, council is being asked Wednesday to renew the annual contract with Hunter Morrison, retroactive to Jan. 1, to serve as a planning and development consultant for the city. He is paid $75 per hour up to $50,000 per year.

Morrison first was hired in August 2019 as a city consultant.