YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control voted to hire a contractor for a resurfacing job, to pay $50,000 to its insurance company to cover the deductible and legal fees for a lawsuit settlement, and to spend $10,000 to buy two parcels at the failed Chill-Can site.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday on all of the requests.

The board hired Lindy Paving, a Pennsylvania company with an office in Struthers, for $766,977 for a resurfacing project to Gibson Street from Poland to Indianola avenues, Liberty from Atkinson to Bott avenues, and Shehy Street from Lincoln Park Drive to Loveless Avenue.

The city’s estimate was $1.13 million with Lindy’s proposal, opened Feb. 13, about 32% lower.

The work should start in the spring and take 60 days to complete.

In addition to paving, the project includes pavement markings, curb ramps and signage.

LAWSUIT DEDUCTIBLE

The board of control also approved a $50,000 payment to Tokio Marine, its insurance company, to cover the deductible and legal fees in the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by the mother of a 14-year-old boy who was killed and referred to by Youngstown police as a “runaway” rather than a “missing child.”

The city settled the case for $40,000 during a May 7 mediation session with the city not admitting any liability.

The city paid $20,000 and Tokio Marine paid $20,000 for the settlement with the city’s initial payment going to the insurance company toward its deductible. It had to pay an additional $30,000 to the insurance company to cover legal fees and meet its $50,000 deductible.

LaJena Solomon of Youngstown filed the civil rights lawsuit Jan. 12, 2024, in federal court accusing the city of wrongful death and racial bias, contending it treated the disappearance of her son, Landon Lockhart, who was black, differently than it does when white children go missing.

Landon went missing from his mother’s home Nov. 21, 2021, and Solomon called the Youngstown Police Department to report him missing, saying it was unlike him to stay away from home so long without speaking to his family.

Youngstown police came to her home Nov. 22 to make out a report after Solomon called a second time. They filed the report Nov. 23, classifying Landon as a “runaway,” rather than a “missing child,” the suit stated. The difference between the two is that a “runaway” does not meet the criteria for an AMBER alert under state law, but a “missing child” does.

Landon was found shot to death Jan. 13, 2022, in a wooded area off North Truesdale Avenue on the East Side.

CHILL-CAN

The board agreed Thursday to pay $10,000 to Scott Berger, a former Chill-Can parent company vice president for two parcels at the site of the failed business.

The two North Lane Avenue parcels on the Chill-Can property on the lower East Side were not included as part of a Feb. 18, 2025, sheriff’s sale of the 21-acre site.

Berger, a former M.J. Joseph Development Corp. vice president, purchased both tiny parcels on Aug. 31, 2015 for $3,000, according to the Mahoning County auditor’s website. One parcel is currently appraised at $1,600 and the other at $700.

With this purchase, the city will own all but two parcels on the Chill-Can site. Those two parcels are owned by Mitchell Joseph, the head of M.J. Joseph and its sister companies, who abandoned the undeveloped project in 2020.

The city purchased 86 parcels, a majority of the location, at a Feb. 18, 2025, sheriff’s sale for $1,379,580, two-thirds of the county auditor’s value of the property.

The city used most of the $1.5 million it is owed by M.J. Joseph in a court decision — with interest, that amount increased to $1,600,900 — as well as that it owns numerous properties in and around the Chill-Can site to purchase it. The city submitted the only bid for the property at the sheriff’s sale.

The city already owned 26 parcels before the sheriff’s sale.

City council last month amended a contract with the Western Reserve Port Authority to permit it to seek buyers for a number of city-owned properties, including the Chill-Can site, for potential development.

LEAD LINES

The board voted to apply for a loan of up to $13 million from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Supply Revolving Loan Account for a project that would replace the water main line on Glenwood Avenue from Midlothian Boulevard to Almyra Avenue on the South Side and eliminate about 800 lead service lines off the street.

There is no guarantee that the city will receive approval from the state.

The city is seeking the funding now because of the uncertainty of the state program, which forgives 50% of the money borrowed.

The state funding for the revolving loan program is supposed to expire at the end of the year though there is the possibility it could return in 2027.

This would be the most expensive lead service line project for the city.

The board also voted to accept a $500,000 grant from the Ohio EPA to help with the city’s lead line replacement program.

The water department will use the funding to purchase new copper pipes to replace 229 lead lines throughout the city.