042926...R POLAND LIBRARY 2...Youngstown...04-29-26...A large crowd filled the meeting room at The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County for the Special Board meeting of the Poland Library Board of Trustees concerning the Renovation or Relocation of the Poland Library...Here the people were looking at charts projected onto viewing screens...by R. Michael Semple

YOUNGSTOWN — The debate is over about the Poland library branch, and it leaves many residents of the community unhappy.

A majority of the audience stood up and walked out of the room after the Board of Trustees of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County voted 9-3 on Wednesday evening to relocate their branch from the existing building at 311 S. Main Street in Poland Village.

The board had a special meeting at the main library in downtown Youngstown for the sole purpose of deciding the Poland branch’s fate. It first voted 9-3 against renovating and repairing the existing building before approving the move. The board also voted 12-2 to purchase property along state Route 170, near Denver Drive, for the purpose of building a new branch.

AMY FIFAREK

“Coming into the meeting tonight, I was really hoping the board would make a decision and give us direction about which way we needed to go. And speaking for staff, we are relieved that a decision was made,” said Library Executive Director and CEO Amy Fifarek. “I’m grateful for the attention of the public and I’m grateful that the board could come to a resolution.”

The decision comes after more than a year of discussion and debate that featured a massive grassroots campaign led by the Save Our Library committee. The committee gathered more than 4,100 signatures on a petition to stop the board from relocating the branch.

After a marathon four-hour meeting, including an executive session to discuss property acquisition, most of the Poland residents who remained in the gallery of the conference room stood up and left, many hissing and calling shame at the trustees.

Board Chair Tom Frost said the difficult decision was not personal and was the hardest one he has had to make in his 15 years as a trustee.

“This has been an ongoing project for almost two years, so there’s been a lot of thought put into this, there’s been a lot of conversation,” he said. “We’ve taken all their comments seriously, because there’s a lot of passion in that room. They have passion and we have passion.”

The board on Wednesday heard the same information presented to its Building and Sites Committee on April 9, when that body ultimately decided not to make any recommendation and let the full board hear the presentation assembled by Fifarek, Chief Operating Officer Jordan Shaver, and other library staff over the past year.

The troubles facing the branch — structural problems, design flaws, starkly rising maintenance costs, safety and accessibility concerns — have brought the library to a crossroads with the building. Next to the main branch, Poland’s maintenance costs are decisively the highest of any branch in the county.

Fifarek and Shavers have told the board that the maintenance costs alone in the new building could save the library system more than $5 million.

The preferred location, which is still privately owned and zoned residential, is a 4.25-acre plot of land that sits 1.1 miles away in Poland Township and would cost the library $360,000 to purchase. The site already has electrical and water service, but would require a connection to a nearby sewer line.

Fifarek said site preparation costs would be about $1.57 million, and the estimated cost of building the new branch would be between $4.8 million and $8.8 million, putting the total estimated cost for the new library at between $6.3 million and $9.6 million.

Fifarek said the construction estimate does not include design costs; new furniture, shelving and materials collection; actual relocation costs; or permitting fees.

Wednesday’s motion to approve the purchase includes a contingency that such considerations as sewer line access, zoning, utility costs, and other matters that have not yet been fully vetted, be analyzed in depth before the board votes on final approval of the plot.

DIGGING DEEPER

Later this week, The Vindicator will discuss in greater depth the arguments made by Poland residents and other opponents of relocating the branch, including Poland resident and Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who addressed the board along with fellow commissioners Geno DiFabio and Carol Rimedio-Righetti.

Their support for saving the building was echoed by State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and former state Rep. and Senator John Boccieri, who is running for Ohio’s 59th Congressional District seat in Washington.

Among the many impassioned arguments made came from former library board member John Yerian, who cautioned the board against losing the 4,124 votes from those who signed the Save Our Library petition.

Yerian noted that the last countywide library levy in 2024 only passed by 6% compared to a 42% margin in 2009. He said the 2029 levy could be lost by at least 2,600 votes, by his calculations.

Some board members said that is a risk they were not willing to take. Joann Stock and two others voted against the relocation and in favor of renovating the current building.

Stock noted that failure of a levy could cost PLYMC as much as 50% of its operating budget.

“We are here for all the people who use all of our branches, but we are also here for those who vote on our levies,” Stock said. “As board members, we are accountable. I believe the social cost of relocating this branch would be a huge risk and I’m not willing to take that chance.”

Fifarek said the new library will be on par with what Poland’s current usable space is, will add parking and outdoor programming space, and alleviate the need for excess costs like elevator maintenance, among other benefits.

The library has already approved a new branch for Struthers and Fifarek said PLYMC wants to be well underway with that project before it begins work on the new Poland branch. She said until then, business at the current library branch will continue as usual.