YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Elections was the main topic of conversation Wednesday during the weekly meeting of the Mahoning County commissioners, which was moved up a day because of the Juneteenth federal holiday today.

As he has been for many weeks recently, Rev. Ken Simon, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Youngstown, and chair of the Greater Youngstown Community Mobilization Coalition — which represents 25 African-American and Latin-X organizations — was the first speaker to address the board.

Simon again asked commissioners when they would let the Coalition and the greater community know about any plans to relocate the Board of Elections from its present location at Oak Hill Renaissance Center, or host hearings to discuss it, and if they had considered any other locations in the city, a list of which Simon provided two weeks ago.

Simon and many members of the black community in Youngstown have spoken weekly against the idea of moving the Board of Elections office to the newly purchased Patriot Building in Austintown, the former site of the Infocision call center.

But commissioners said that the matter is far from settled.

“There is no formal proposal to move the Board of Elections (to the Patriot Building),” said Commissioner Geno DiFabio. “So we cannot hold hearings on a matter that has not been proposed.”

Board of Elections Democratic Chairman Dave Betras has called the conditions at Oak Hill deplorable and said the building has become unsuitable for habitation, and for storage of voting machines and other critical equipment and files.

Simon and other community leaders say any relocation of the board outside Youngstown, the seat of county government, would disenfranchise inner-city voters, many of whom already struggle with transportation.

County Administrator Audrey Tillis said the idea of moving the board to Austintown is in no way a formal prospect commissioners are considering, and it was only mentioned as a possibility at a Board of Elections meeting months ago.

“There have been multiple drafts (of ideas for using the space) but there is no formal plan,” she said. “Just a lot of possible scenarios.”

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who spearheaded the acquisition and renovation of Oak Hill, said he understands that the building may no longer be ideal, but said he is determined to keep the Board of Elections and as many offices as possible in Youngstown.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, who voted in favor of purchasing the Patriot Building, along with former Commissioner Dave Ditzler, said she has never proposed moving the Board of Elections to the building.

When it was purchased, she said, it was only intended for the use of the departments of Building Inspection, Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control and the Planning Commission.

Both Planning and Building rent space at 50 Westchester Drive, the building mainly used by the Mahoning County Board of Health. Lead Hazard Control is also located in a building on Westchester.

Rimedio-Righetti said the plan for the Patriot Building was only ever to provide space for those offices that need to be near the Board of Health and already operate in offices outside the city.

Tillis said that moving Building and Planning out would give the Board of Health room to make better use of the building for its own purposes.

Rimedio-Righetti said she understands the concerns about Oak Hill.

“I don’t blame Dave Betras or disagree with him for what he wants to do for his people at the Board of Elections,” she said, but noted that obtaining space for county offices is not easy or inexpensive.

Simon’s list of possible new locations for the Board of Elections and other county offices includes: the Nathaniel Jones Federal Building at 10 E. Commerce St., the W.J. Cobbin Office Tower at 1350 Fifth Ave., the 21-acre site of the failed Chill Can factory on the lower East Side, the former Eastern Gateway Community College Building, or one of the newer Youngstown City School District buildings that will be abandoned when the district reconfigures over the summer. Simon also suggested building on new or vacant land downtown, or on the property adjacent to Oak Hill.

“It’s a matter of $40 million to $80 million when you’re talking about buying a new building today. It’s a very big decision, and we have not made that decision because we want to do what is best for all of the residents of Mahoning County,” Rimedio-Righetti said.