YOUNGSTOWN – The city’s board of control approved a $221,495 construction engineering contract to rehabilitate a small bridge on South Avenue and a $98,072 engineering design contract to replace a main waterline in Boardman. The board voted 3-0 Thursday on the contracts as well as to finalize a $20,000 payment to a company to permit the use of a rented mobile steam plant at SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC in order to maintain utility service to 27 downtown buildings until Tuesday.

The $221,495 contract for planning and construction engineering services is with American Structurepoint Inc., with an office in Columbus, for the rehabilitation of the South Avenue Bridge.

City Council on Sept. 17 agreed to let the board of control increase the cost of the engineering company from $170,000 to up to $225,000. The increased expense is for work to design the relocation of a gas line and because of rising costs.

Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown will do the actual project for $1,695,258.

The gas line relocation forced the city to delay the start of the project to May or June 2026. The project will take about four months to complete with that section of the busy road closed during that time. The city received a $1,065,900 state grant for the project.

The small bridge goes over the Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad Co. train line just south of the larger Peace Officers Memorial Bridge that crosses the Mahoning River.

The board also approved a $98,072 engineering design contract with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown for a project to replace 2,100 feet of an 8-inch main waterline on U.S. Route 224 in Boardman from Southern Boulevard to the west entrance of Boardman Park. The city expects the construction phase to cost $1,482,267.

The city sells water to parts of Boardman and has a waterline under Route 224 that has breaks at times. With the Ohio Department of Transportation planning a major street improvement project next year to a large section of the road, including an island over part of the city’s line, the decision was made to replace the waterline.

The board on Thursday authorized the $20,000 payment to Wabash Power Equipment Co. of Wheeling, Illinois, to allow SOBE to keep using the company’s mobile steam plant until Tuesday.

The city continues to work on a longer-term solution to keep the SOBE plant operating.

Wabash won a $383,214 court judgement against SOBE for nonpayment of the rented plant, which would shut down utilities to 27 downtown buildings.

During a Sept. 16 court conference, the city agreed to pay $20,000 to Wabash until the end of the month to keep the rented steam plant at SOBE’s Youngstown facility, 205 North Ave.