YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control signed a $42,771,942 contract for a massive project to avert wastewater from flowing into Mill Creek Park lakes.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday to sign the contract with Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co., the Youngstown company selected for the project.

The project’s cost was estimated between $28 million and $43 million by MS Consultants Inc., the Youngstown company paid $4.8 million to design most of the work.

After negotiating with the city, Marucci & Gaffney’s price is very close to the maximum amount of the estimate.

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said the city had been working with the expectation that the project would be close to the maximum amount despite the range of the estimated cost.

For the first time, the city chose to use a “construction manager at risk” method for a project rather than traditional bidding.

If the cost goes over the agreed-upon amount, Marucci & Gaffney is responsible for any additional expenses.

During negotiations, additional work was included — rehabilitating and repairing a sewer line from Belle Vista Avenue to Milton Avenue and eliminating an additional sewer overflow near Fellows Riverside Gardens.

This is the first two phases of an interceptor sewer project to keep wastewater from flowing into Mill Creek Park’s Lake Glacier and Lake Cohasset.

The first two phases will be to Lake Glacier, eliminating four — with the extra one added — of 14 overflow lines. The project will replace about 8,000 to 9,000 linear feet of sewer lines that range in size from 36 inches to 60 inches with a new 96-inch sewer line.

There will also be bridge work, river crossings, lowering of the lake’s water level to help reduce overflows and the relocation of utilities, Shasho said.

The work has to start in January, but Shasho said he anticipates it beginning sooner.

The project must be finished no later than May 29, 2028, but Shasho said he expects it to be done in late 2027. That will force the closure of several streets, trails and structures at the park during construction.

On the agenda for city council’s Wednesday meeting is a request to permit the board of control to enter into an agreement to borrow up to the $42,771,942 cost of this work from the Ohio Water Pollution Control Fund.

Shasho said the city is seeking a $5 million Senate appropriation for the project and has requested principal forgiveness on the loan from the state to help reduce the debt. Paying back the loan will require yet another sewer rate increase for city customers.

This work is part of a consent decree the city entered into in 2014 with the federal government.

In addition to eliminating the sewer overflows at Mill Creek Park, the city made major improvements at its wastewater treatment plant.

It will also construct an 80-million-gallon-per-day wet weather facility. The structures in the facility would treat excess combined sewage during heavy rainstorms and then release the water.

The city was initially supposed to build a facility that held 100 million gallons per day, but successfully negotiated with the federal government in court to reduce that amount.

The city also paid a $739,500 penalty Sept. 24 for missing the deadline on the wastewater treatment plant work and for missing an April 15, 2021, milestone to submit the preliminary design report for the Mill Creek sewer project.