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Company that sued over construction projects sues again

YOUNGSTOWN — Rudzik Excavating of Struthers has filed another lawsuit regarding project labor agreements on two 2024 Mahoning County construction projects, this time in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, and this time focused on the company wanting a judge to order Mahoning County to return Rudzik’s bid bonds.

The suit, filed Jan. 7, relates to Rudzik bidding on two county construction projects last year but refusing to sign project labor agreements. The county commissioners refused to award the projects to Rudzik on the grounds that the company would not sign the PLAs, the suit states.

Rudzik has defined PLAs in its lawsuits as “collective bargaining agreements between building trade unions and contractors” that “govern terms and conditions of employment for all workers — union and nonunion — on a construction project.”

The suit states that after refusing to award the projects to Rudzik, the county refused to return Rudzik’s bid bonds, which guarantee “compensation to the bond owner if the bidder fails to begin a project,” according to the Investopedia website. “The function of the bid bond is to provide a guarantee to the project owner that the bidder will complete the work if selected,” the site states.

The suit asks Judge Anthony D’Apolito to declare that the county did not follow the law when it “seized” Rudzik’s bid bonds, citing an Ohio law that states that “The bond or bid guaranty of all unsuccessful bidders shall be returned to them by the contracting authority immediately upon awarding the contract or rejection of all bids.”

The Investopedia website states that most project owners “typically require between 5 percent and 10 percent” of the project price as a “penalty sum.”

The county awarded the project to a company that did execute PLAs, the suit states. The suit names as defendants “Mahoning County” in care of the “Mahoning County Board of Commissioners.”

Rudzik also filed a lawsuit Oct. 28 in U.S.District Court naming Mahoning County as a defendant but also former county commissioner David Ditzler and current commissioners Carol Rimedio Righetti and Anthony Traficanti in their official and personal capacities, as well as Gina DeGenova, former county prosecutor, in her official and personal capacities, and Donald Duda, assistant county prosecutor, in his official and personal capacities.

When asked about the lawsuit Thursday, none of the three county commissioners wished to comment.

The new lawsuit alleges that “even though defendant Mahoning County is required by law to “immediately return Rudzik Excavating’s bid bonds, defendant has chosen instead to break the law.”

The suit alleges that the actions of the county and prosecutor’s office in seeking forfeiture of Rudzik’s bid bonds “have had a chilling effect on Rudzik Excavating’s First Amendment right to free speech.”

The October federal lawsuit alleged the defendants are liable civilly for “criminal acts including intimidation, tampering with records, tampering with evidence, mail fraud, attempted theft, falsification, interference with civil and statutory rights and dereliction of duties.”

The suits allege that Rudzik Excavating, which is non-union, voiced its disagreement with PLAs being required on the two projects at Mahoning County commissioners meetings and on radio. The first suit alleged that the county commissioners and members of the county prosecutor’s office “acted with malice, ill will, spite, ulterior motives and with intent to harm Rudzik Excavating.”

That suit is pending.

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