YOUNGSTOWN — City council hasn’t met in its chambers on the sixth floor of Youngstown City Hall since March 1, 2023, because of issues with the building’s fire escape.

That may finally change with council’s next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 20.

That’s because the long-standing fire escape project could be done in the next week or two.

The only delay before having the structure reinspected by the fire department is the installation of interior illuminated exit signs in the building and exterior lighting on the fire escape, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.

An electrician is needed for the work. Murphy Contracting Co. of Youngstown, the project’s contractor, will do the lighting work, Shasho said.

“We’re hoping to get it finally done very soon,” he said.

Fire Chief Barry Finley said his chief inspector is waiting for the call, which Shasho said will happen after the lighting work is finished.

The fire escape installation work was finished in September.

The old fire escape was shut down by Finley on March 9, 2023, eight days after that last council meeting in city hall, because of structural problems that then became a series of issues causing delays for the project. That resulted in council not meeting in its chambers for the past 19 months.

The fire escape was fabricated off-site and brought to city hall in late July. Installation work finished in September.

The project has experienced a litany of issues from the start and the cost has gone up.

Council voted April 19, 2023, to spend up to $250,000 for repair work and designs to the fire escape though Shasho said that amount was never going to be the final cost. At that time, work was to be finished in a few months.

Council voted to increase the maximum cost to $1.1 million on July 31, 2023, after it was decided to replace rather than repair the fire escape.

City council agreed Dec. 20 to increase the project’s cost from $1.1 million to $1.4 million.

The various issues include needed additions to the project, the city having to resolve concerns from the Mahoning County Building Department about the safety of those inside city hall between the time the old fire escape was dismantled months ago and when a new one will be installed, concerns about the foundation and problems with the measurement on the structure that will connect the fire escape to the emergency doors on each floor of city hall that didn’t match.

There was initial debate between replacement and repairing the fire escape after a Feb. 3, 2023, inspection report determined the fire escape was inoperable. Finley decided March 9, 2023, that the fire escape would be shut down until work to it could be finished.

After Murphy Contracting Co. of Youngstown, the project’s contractor, did repair work, including cleaning and sandblasting the fire escape of bird droppings and rust, it was decided in July 2023 that it would be better to replace rather than repair the aging fire escape even though it would be more expensive.

That not only increased the cost, but it delayed the completion date to January.

But after more problems were discovered, council agreed Dec. 20 to raise the project’s cost to $1.4 million. Work didn’t even start until January — four months behind schedule — and moved the completion date to late February or early March.

Additional issues — including the fire escape’s measurements and that changes were needed so the structure would connect to the emergency doors — delayed the completion date to mid-May. Further delays moved the completion to mid-June — and even more issues have pushed it to September. But without lighting and an inspection, the project won’t be completed until late October or early November.

Shasho said a few months ago that in hindsight the city should have taken its time to have the project properly designed rather than having it designed and followed shortly by work. But wanting to get the fire escape installed, the project was rushed and problems arose, he said.

Since the fire escape was closed in March 2023, city council hasn’t met on city hall’s sixth floor, where its chambers and caucus room are located.

The concern has been that too many members of the public attend council meetings and it would be dangerous to hold them on the sixth floor.

Council meetings have been held since then at either the Covelli Centre community room or the Mahoning County commissioners’ meeting room with the finance committee meeting the same day at the same location starting beforehand.

Other council committee meetings and city bodies also meet elsewhere on lower floors in city hall or off-site such as the Eugenia Atkinson Recreation Center.

The board of control has continued to meet on the sixth floor in the council caucus room.

Meanwhile, the city is paying $609,180 to Schindler Elevator to replace the elevator at the police department that broke in July. The department is attached to city hall.

It will take about another year before the new elevator is up and running.