YOUNGSTOWN — The future of the Mahoning County Board of Elections has been hotly debated in recent months, and the future of city school buildings is also being discussed.

It is a possibility, although remote for now, that the two interests may coincide.

Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti on Thursday responded to the idea that one of Youngstown City School District’s buildings may be an ideal future home for the elections board.

“We’re just entertaining maybe moving there, and it would be a good location for the Board of Elections. We have talked about it, but we have not confirmed anything with the school board yet,” she said.

Rimedio-Righetti was referring to the idea that YSCD could donate the Kirkmere School building on Kirk Road to the Western Reserve Port Authority. From there, the county could make use of it as a future home for the Board of Elections.

Board of Elections members, most notably Democratic representative and former county party Chair Dave Betras, have decried conditions at Oak Hill Renaissance Place, the current home of the board’s offices.

In June, Betras called the building “disgusting” and said the county employees who work in the office are heroes.

“The building is unacceptable on every level,” he said. “We are sworn to preserve and protect the records and machinery. That is something that is not happening. We have to put tarps down on broken pipes. The building has been shut down multiple times.”

In late 2024, the county bought the former Infocision building on Patriot Boulevard in Austintown, which led to speculation about moving the Board of Elections there.

Throughout 2025, commissioners meetings were inundated with comments by Youngstown residents urging Commissioners Geno DiFabio, Anthony Traficanti and Rimedio-Righetti not to move the board out of the city, the county seat, because of the hardship it would cause for the city’s most vulnerable residents, who already have difficulty getting to Oak Hill to vote.

Rimedio-Righetti reiterated Thursday that the Board of Elections was never going to move to what has since been called the Patriot Building.

“That was never an option for the Board of Elections,” she said. “That building was only purchased for those county offices that were already outside of the city. Everybody went and looked at it and liked it, but it wasn’t in the city, and none of us were going to place that Board of Elections at the Infocision building.”

She said the Kirkmere building, however, is an optimal site for the offices, should it become available and the decision be made to move the elections board.

“It’s self-standing … If it is in fact going to be open and vacant, why not go government-to-government?” she said. “It’s accessible; it has all the parking you could want.”

In recent months, YCSD has announced its plans to consolidate the school district, scaling back to one high school (East High) and maintaining the Rayen Early College High School and Middle School programs, eventually relocating both to the current Chaney High School building.

School board member Joe Meranto said the preschools located inside Kirkmere this year will be relocated back to the elementary buildings that remain open, and central office departments will also move out, leaving the building vacant.

But that does not mean the district can just give the building away. Board members said state laws require a very specific procedure be followed.

“Once a building is vacant, we have one year, and if we don’t use it, if a currently operating charter school in the city would like it, we have an obligation to sell it to them at fair market value,” he said. “If we clear that and there’s no interest, we can work with someone like the port authority.”

But board member Brenda Kimble said state law also requires an auction window after the charter school purchase opportunity closes. After that, the district may pursue other options.

“I think some board members maybe thought you could bypass that whole process, but you can’t,” she said.

Kimble said she has her own thoughts about building usage.

“We do have to downsize because we don’t have the students we did in the past, but I would hope the board would be smart about which buildings we leave vacant,” she said. “Kirkmere is one of our best locations; it’s in a thriving community, and if I had seven votes, I’d prefer to move students and staff from other buildings into Kirkmere.”

But Meranto said it is really too early to be considering the question of county offices or anyone else moving into Kirkmere.

“We’re far from that, and the building’s not going to be vacant until the end of June anyway,” he said.

The school district also issued an official statement on the subject:

“The Youngstown City School District and Board of Education are currently in the preliminary stages of exploring all viable options for the future of the Kirkmere building. We remain committed to our youngest learners, and will continue to offer preschool programming, should a transition occur. Our priority is to ensure we adhere to state law, regarding a vacant school property, and most importantly, making decisions that maximize value and benefit the district.”