YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Nicole Butler has approved an agreement reached among Youngstown, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and Wabash Power Equipment Co. in which Wabash will allow its mobile steam production trailer to remain in place at SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC of Youngstown until Sept. 30.

At 8 a.m. Sept. 30, Wabash can start to recover its equipment at SOBE “without any interference from the city or PUCO,” the ruling states.

The agreement stalls the removal of equipment past Tuesday, the day Wabash was planning to start to repossess the equipment as a result of SOBE owing $383,214 to Wabash for nonpayment of the rented mobile steam trailer.

SOBE provides heating, cooling and hot water services to 27 downtown buildings, putting them in jeopardy of not having those utilities if the trailer were repossessed. Because of the situation, PUCO’s staff asked for an investigation into SOBE’s “ability to continue to provide adequate services to its customers.”

The PUCO is expected to discuss the request from its staff to investigate at its Thursday meeting.

Youngstown has agreed to pay Wabash $20,000 as part of the negotiated agreement approved by Butler. The payment “shall be approved by the city’s Board of Control on or before Sept. 25, 2025,” the ruling states.

A Youngstown spokesman said Tuesday that in the time left before the equipment is set to be repossessed, the city will “continue to work with potential partners to find a long-term solution as quickly as possible.” The statement said the city will provide more details “as we get a clearer picture” of the long-term solution.

After a federal judge ruled Jan. 29 in favor of Wabash’s motion for default judgment of $383,214 when SOBE never responded to federal litigation Wabash filed May 23 in Mahoning common pleas to repossess and remove the equipment after SOBE refused many demands for the property, according to court documents.

Butler is overseeing the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court litigation. Wabash is based in Wheeling, Illinois.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio granted a default motion Aug. 21 against SOBE filed by Wabash because SOBE breached a lease agreement for a steam plant at its Youngstown facility, 205 North Ave. SOBE signed a lease in November 2019 to use Wabash’s steam plant at $19,500 per month. Butler works for Donofrio.

In a Friday letter to PUCO Chairwoman Jenifer French, Donald Leming, director of the agency’s service monitoring and enforcement department, requested the opening of a case docket to investigate SOBE. That action would allow Wabash to remove the equipment and would have left SOBE’s 27 downtown buildings, including two buildings with 90 residents, without heating and cooling services and hot water.

Leming wrote Friday: “SOBE relies on the equipment to provide heating and cooling services to these customers,” and “without the equipment, SOBE will be unable to provide utility services to any of these customers. Further, as of the filing of this letter, SOBE has not obtained alternate equipment to service customers after Wabash takes possession of the equipment.”

He added: “Staff is concerned that SOBE’s duty to furnish adequate service to its customers pursuant to (a state law) may be compromised.”

Butler filed an entry Tuesday afternoon stating that the new agreement requires Youngstown and the PUCO to “cease all litigation pertaining to the equipment and to agree to withdraw all pending motions to intervene.”

It adds, “The city and PUCO agree to refrain from interfering in any way with Wabash reclaiming its equipment, including but not limited to the filing of in the instant or any other case, any new motions or otherwise asserting any claims regarding Wabash, the equipment or Wabash’s ownership and / or authority under this judgment entry to regain possession of the equipment.

HISTORY

Based in Dublin, Ohio, SOBE acquired the former Youngstown Thermal LLC and Youngstown Thermal Cooling LLC in November 2021 for $250,000. The company had managed the facility for two years prior.

Before taking over, Youngstown Thermal had numerous problems for years operating its cooling system, leaving the handful of downtown businesses that used it without air conditioning during the summer.

Youngstown Thermal was placed into receivership in 2017 after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio was informed by the company’s former CEO that the business had financial struggles that could have caused an energy crisis downtown. Youngstown Thermal couldn’t ensure adequate service to its customers and was in danger of insolvency when the PUCO stepped in.

Youngstown Thermal is the oldest district heating and cooling system in the country, having begun operations in 1895. It was designed to generate and distribute steam to heat downtown businesses using coal as its main source of fuel.