YOUNGSTOWN — A judge agreed to remove Reg Martin as receiver and Kenneth R. Goldberg as legal counsel for the beleaguered SOBE Thermal Energy LLC, which has failed to provide consistent steam heat to most of downtown Youngstown.

In a Tuesday judgment entry, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio approved the Feb. 11 unopposed motion by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to remove Martin and replace him with John C. Collins, an Akron attorney originally from Youngstown. In that Feb. 11 motion, the PUCO stated Collins “has extensive experience in receivership matters.”

The PUCO’s Feb. 11 motion did not mention Goldberg’s removal as SOBE’s legal counsel, but Donofrio replaced him Tuesday with Michael J. Moran, a Cuyahoga Falls attorney.

Martin faced vocal criticism by occupants of several of SOBE’s 28 downtown buildings for the utility’s repeated failures to provide heat, particularly during recent subzero temperatures, and accusations of downplaying the problems. A number of SOBE’s customers demanded Martin be replaced.

Donofrio’s Tuesday judgment entry states Martin “agreed to resign at the request of the commission.”

Martin was appointed Sept. 26 as SOBE receiver and Goldberg as his legal counsel by Donofrio at the PUCO’s request as the company was insolvent and unable to provide heat to its customers.

Martin and Goldberg lasted less than five months.

Martin “is hereby discharged of his duties as receiver, including any and all duties, liabilities and claims arising from his appointment as receiver in this matter,” Donofrio wrote in the judgment entry.

Martin was paid $200 per hour while Goldberg received $375 per hour.

Donofrio approved Tuesday Collins receiving $300 per hour and Moran $350 per hour.

Donofrio had approved paying $44,803 to Martin between Sept. 26 and Nov. 28 and $21,900 to Goldberg between Sept. 29 and Nov. 24.

Donofrio wrote that Martin, Goldberg and “the receivership employees shall be paid all fees and costs incurred to date and through a reasonable transition period to (Collins). The outgoing receiver shall submit a final motion for approval of fees and costs of the outgoing receiver, his counsel, and wages owed employees of the receivership within 30 days of the date of this judgment entry. Subject to approval of the court, the fees and costs of the outgoing receiver, his counsel and employees shall be treated as receivership administrative expenses and shall be promptly paid from the funds held by the receiver and revenue of SOBE or from other sources as agreed by the parties.”

SOBE’s boilers have repeatedly failed to provide proper heat and hot water for the 28 buildings in downtown Youngstown that are the company’s customers. That forced a number of them to shut down.

Several buildings were without heat from Feb. 7 to Thursday after the failure of two SOBE boilers, including an 800-horsepower one that arrived Feb. 1.

That came only days after SOBE couldn’t provide heat from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, and Feb. 3 in some buildings, during days when the temperature was well below zero. Even after steam heat started flowing, some businesses couldn’t get it because of broken pipes.

SOBE had its 800-horsepower boiler repossessed Sept. 30 over nonpayment. The repossession would have made the insolvent company unable to provide utilities.

Martin was able to rent a 650-horsepower boiler that was hooked up about 10 days after the repossession.

Because of $750,000 Martin received for SOBE from Enbridge Gas Ohio’s settlement of the 2024 Realty Tower gas explosion investigation by the PUCO, he rented a 200-horsepower boiler. But the two boilers couldn’t provide enough heat for customers starting Jan. 27 and lasting for a week.

Martin also used the Enbridge settlement money to rent an 800-horsepower boiler, which arrived Jan. 30. But that and the 650-horsepower boiler failed Feb. 7 with heat not restored to buildings until Thursday.

Despite Martin’s imminent removal, Goldberg filed an objection Friday to the city of Youngstown’s request to intervene in SOBE’s court case.

Arguing Martin “failed to provide necessary and adequate steam service” to downtown Youngstown and “inexplicably” blamed its customers for the problems, city lawyers requested permission Feb. 2 to intervene in the utility’s court case. Because the county clerk of courts struggled to figure out how to include the city’s request to intervene, the motion wasn’t placed on the docket until Feb. 9.

Goldberg’s Friday response reads: “The motion to intervene seeks to introduce additional claims and oversight into the receivership proceedings. However, the existing parties, including the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the receiver, are already addressing the operational and regulatory challenges faced by SOBE. The city’s interests are adequately represented and its intervention is unnecessary to achieve the goals of the receivership.”

Goldberg never mentioned the PUCO’s motion, filed two days prior, to remove Martin as receiver.

In Goldberg’s second report to the court on Jan. 29, two days after SOBE was unable to provide heat to customers, he contended the problems were “caused by the failure of the customers.” Several customers, including the city, strongly denied that, placing the blame on SOBE.

Martin served as receiver from 2017 to 2019 when the downtown utility, then operated by Youngstown Thermal LLC, was about to go out of business.

Martin was named to run Youngstown Thermal after the PUCO was informed by the company’s CEO that the business was financially failing, which could have caused an energy crisis downtown.

Martin worked out a deal with SOBE, based in Dublin, Ohio, to manage the facility in 2019. SOBE purchased the assets for $250,000 in November 2021.

But SOBE subsequently experienced a number of financial problems, attempted to get state approval for a controversial effort to convert rubber tire chips into synthetic gas, which gutted its previous operations, and could no longer effectively provide utility services to its customers.