YOUNGSTOWN — City Council will consider legislation Wednesday to authorize a $40,000 payment from a settlement agreement reached six months ago for damage caused to Erie Terminal Place during a project at the city-owned 20 Federal Place.

The settlement was reached after a May 15 mediation with the terms of the resolution sent to attorneys for the city and Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown, another defendant in the lawsuit, on May 26 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The settlement called for the city to pay $40,000 and for Marucci & Gaffney, through its insurance company, to pay $80,000 to Erie Terminal Place LLC.

When the money from the city didn’t arrive, Gregg Rossi, Erie Terminal’s attorney, filed a Sept. 24 motion with the court to compel the settlement with a request for interest.

An ordinance for Wednesday’s council meeting, sponsored by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, asks the legislative body to authorize the board of control to pay the $40,000 settlement from the public works budget.

Attached to Rossi’s Sept. 24 filing was a document stating: “It is understood and agreed that this settlement is the compromise of a disputed claim and that the payment made is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of the party or parties hereby released, and that said release denies liability therefore and intends merely to avoid litigation and buy peace.”

Rossi’s motion to enforce the settlement stated James Vivo, the city’s first assistant law director, told him legislation was to be prepared and presented to city council on July 27 for approval and then authorized by the board of control.

Rossi wrote: “The matter was initially on the council agenda for July 27, but apparently there was no quorum for a vote on an emergency basis.”

However, council’s agenda for that meeting never included the $40,000 settlement.

Rossi wrote that it was then confirmed on Aug. 19 that Brown would sponsor legislation for the Aug. 25 meeting.

“Again, apparently, it didn’t get placed on the agenda,” Rossi wrote.

Rossi wrote Vivo then told him council would consider the settlement at its Sept. 17 meeting, but again that wasn’t included on the agenda and thus no vote was taken. That resulted in Rossi filing the motion to compel.

There were two council meetings in October with the settlement not on the agenda for either.

Magistrate Nicole Butler on Oct. 24 ordered an in-person hearing for Dec. 3 to resolve the issue.

Wednesday is the first council meeting since Butler’s order.

Vivo said Sept. 25 that he didn’t necessarily see a delay and there is a process to finalize the payment. He said Erie Terminal “is a little impatient and trying to force the hand of government. It’s a misunderstanding of our process.”

Jacqueline Marchionda, the wife of developer Dominic Marchionda, is the agent for Erie Terminal Place LLC on its articles of organization.

The city filed an $834,608 lawsuit Nov. 21 against Dominic Marchionda, Erie Terminal Place LLC, U.S. Campus Suites LLC and David Bozanich, a former city finance director, in what it describes as a “calculated scheme” to defraud it related to two projects that received city funding.

The case has a Nov. 9, 2026, trial date.

The damage caused to Erie Terminal Place, a residential-commercial building, was the result of a $7.4 million asbestos abatement and partial demolition project to 20 Federal Place that finished a year ago.

The owner of Wick Tower sued Youngstown on Oct. 8 in common pleas court contending extensive damage occurred to a stairwell because of construction work at 20 Federal Place, which is an adjoining building.

Wick Properties LLC — with Dominic Marchionda listed as its manager and agent on its articles of organization — claims the city violated an easement agreement of the stairwell during demolition and asbestos remediation at 20 Federal Place.

“As a direct and proximate result of the defendant’s breach of contract and failure to maintain this easement area, plaintiff’s stairwell, which was connected to the easement area, was caused to sustain a severe water break on or about Jan. 28, causing extensive damage, including but not limited to approximately $82,000 in uncovered repairs within its insurance deductible,” Rossi, who is also Wick Properties’ attorney, wrote in the lawsuit.

Rossi added that his client “likely will incur additional expenses to remedy the damage caused by defendant’s actions.”

The city-owned 20 Federal Place has been vacant for three years with Youngstown unable to find a firm to redevelop it.

City officials announced Aug. 12 that it ended its relationship with Bluelofts Inc., a Dallas company, to potentially redevelop 20 Federal Place and that $24 million in state and federal historic tax credits for the building wouldn’t be used.