YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control finalized a $33,000 settlement payment to Laura Morway, a former deputy law director fired after less than five months on the job. She had then filed a federal sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday to settle. The board consists of Mayor Derrick McDowell, Finance Director Kyle Miasek and Law Director Adam Buente. City council at its March 4 meeting authorized the board to approve the agreement.

The agreement states the $33,000 is being paid through Youngstown’s insurance company and the city “does not admit any violation of law, liability or invasion of any rights and that any such violation or liability is expressly denied by the” city.

The agreement adds: “The consideration provided herein is made entirely for the purposes of settling the dispute, to settle and extinguish all actions, causes of action, suits, proceedings, damages, claims and rights which the undersigned had or may have against the” city.

Morway filed the lawsuit Jan. 7, 2025, seeking at least $75,000 in damages. She claimed Jeff Limbian, the former law director; Deputy Law Director Lou D’Apolito, and “the other assistant law directors, all men, talked down to her, questioned her intelligence and credited the ideas of men over her ideas.”

The city’s attorney strongly denied the allegations.

Morway worked for the city from May 2, 2022, until Limbian fired her Sept. 30, 2022.

BRIDGE DEMO DESIGN

The board of control also voted 3-0 Thursday to increase a $49,720 contract with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to $108,095 for preliminary engineering services and environmental work for demolition of the West Avenue Bridge.

City council authorized the board Feb. 19, 2025, to spend up to $50,000 on the contract and amended it March 4 to up to $120,000.

Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said the work became more complicated and expensive because federal funding is involved and the bridge goes across the Mahoning River.

The bridge, abandoned about 30 years ago, was awarded a $606,375 grant in June 2023 to be demolished.

The city will pay about $16,000 toward the demolition as well as the MS Consultants contract, Shasho said.

“This project’s been going on for a while,” Shasho said. “The environmental work on this is extensive.”

The demolition initially was slated for this year, but Shasho said it won’t be done until 2027.

“We still have about a year to get through the environmental process,” he said.

The bridge, near the city’s water department on the West Side, was built nearly 100 years ago. The nearly 300-foot bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in the late 1990s and blockades there discourage people from walking and bicycling across it.

The state historical society asked the city to look into possibly saving the bridge and turn it into a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. The city determined the bridge would need so much repair work that it would lose its historic value.

FIRE DEPARTMENT ISSUE

The board voted 3-0 to pay a $27,291 severance to Marilyn C. Nadal, who retired Feb. 6 as a fire department lieutenant.

Nadal served for years as assistant to Barry Finley, the former fire chief. Nadal retired after being moved to a nonsuppression position with new fire Chief Courtney Kelly hiring a non-firefighter as her assistant.

Proposed legislation in front of council at its March 4 council finance committee meeting to reduce the number of fire lieutenants from 28 to 27 as a result of Nadal’s retirement caused a bit of a dust-up.

Because of Nadal’s retirement after nearly 26 years at the department, Zackary Cook was promoted Feb. 18 from firefighter to lieutenant to fill the vacancy on a temporary basis.

The fire department needs 27 lieutenants — three for each of its nine vehicles — and was operating with 28 only because of Nadal’s position as Finley’s assistant.

The administration wants to move Cook back to being a firefighter and promote him when the next lieutenant position opens up.

During the March 4 meeting discussion about the legislation to reduce the number of lieutenants, Buente said, “That’s enough about item 7,” and “I think we’ve spoken enough about item 7.”

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, said, “I didn’t like the way the law director kind of shut us down,” and asked that the legislation not be approved and instead get a first reading.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said he agreed with Hughes, telling Buente that, “It was more the way you said it,” and “it was maybe disrespectful, more condescending to council. That’s how it came off a little bit.”

Buente responded: “I’ve never been like that to any of you.”

Oliver said: “I’m just saying that’s the way it sounded.”

Buente said the issue is “very technical” and could be more freely discussed in private executive session as a personnel issue.

Council met for about 15 minutes in executive session March 4 to discuss the issue and will reconsider approving the change at its Wednesday meeting.

Also during that meeting, Miasek said the firefighters union had “signed off” on the change that would return lieutenant staffing back to 27.

After the meeting, Chris Weaver, the firefighters union president, said the union didn’t oppose the change with the guarantee that Cook would get the next promotion but never signed anything approving it.