YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners today will officially appoint the county’s new sanitary engineer.

But Bernie Petro has already been on the job for a month and has his work cut out for him.

“We have about 28 projects going on,” he said, “so it’s a very active part of our county government right now.”

Petro started the job April 28, working with Patrick Ginnetti, who has served as both Mahoning County Engineer and Sanitary Engineer since 2013.

“I think Bernie comes with a wealth of knowledge,” said Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti. “He has a lot of new ideas we may use, things that I think will help us out.”

Rimedio-Righetti said the board did not want to make the official introduction of Petro as sanitary engineer until her colleague, Anthony Traficanti, returned from his absence for health reasons.

“It wouldn’t be fair for us to do this without Anthony being there, but we gave (Petro) the authority to do the work, and he’s been working along with Pat Ginnetti,” she said.

Petro comes from WE Quicksall and Associates, an engineering firm based in New Philadelphia. Since 2020, he’s been working to open the firm’s Canfield office.

Among the 28 projects on his plate since taking the job, Petro has spent much of the past week focused on a 24-inch sewer line under a walking bridge in Poland Township.

This morning at 9 a.m., in a staff meeting, Petro will update the commissioners on that matter.

“We were in the process of designing a new pedestrian bridge to put our line on, and the bridge then settled about 18 inches and separated the sewer line,” Petro said. “We are in the process of fixing the line, but first we have to demolish the whole bridge.”

The bridge behind the football field scoreboard at McKinley Elementary School, known as the Graffiti Bridge, has been on the county’s radar for some time, but last week the line ruptured

“For now, we’re bypassing the line so it doesn’t leak into Yellow Creek,” Petro said.

Petro said Rudzik Excavating of Struthers came in on short notice to handle the bypass. When all is said and done, there will be a new bridge in the same spot as the existing one, with a sewer line about 10 feet away, across the creek.

“We’ll put the new line in a steel casing to give it extra support,” Petro said.

He said the bridge project will go out to bid within the next month.

The estimated cost for the bridge is about $900,000, but Petro called that figure a moving target.

Rimedio-Righetti said commissioners are paying close attention to the project and do not want it left hanging over their heads for long.

“I think he’s going to come in with a sense of urgency about that being completed, and he will explain everything that’s involved and let us know what we need to do to proceed,” she said.

Petro said he has not asked the board for any specific funds or resources yet, but that could be discussed at this morning’s meeting.

The agenda for the regular board meeting at 10 a.m. does not indicate that commissioners will take any action on the matter today.