STRUTHERS — A city business owner recently sent a letter to city council regarding his “extreme frustration with the lack of leadership from the mayor’s office regarding the city’s economic future.”

The letter from Mike Kassem, owner of Morgan Oil on Lowellville Road, was read at the June 24 council meeting by council clerk Megan Shorthouse because Kassem was not there.

In addition to expressing his frustration, he also warned of a “fast approaching deadline that will permanently damage Struthers if ignored.” Kassem’s letter specifically addressed Struthers’ federal opportunity zone, which is meant to allow people to invest in and help economic growth in distressed areas.

Kassem claimed that “despite my heavy private investment into the city, I was never made aware of the opportunity zone benefits by the mayor or her administration.” He also claimed that when he reached out to Mayor Catherine Cercone-Miller, she informed him that “there is no opportunity zone in Struthers.”

Kassem’s letter later stated that “the federal government and the State of Ohio are completely wiping the map clean this year under the Opportunity Zones 2.0 program.” The deadline to put in a submission to the Western Reserve Port Authority, which is coordinating submissions for opportunity zones, is July 10.

The letter urged city council to work directly with the port authority to formally nominate Struthers as an opportunity zone.

Councilman James Baluck, D-at Large, spoke in defense of Miller, saying “in a text between her and Mr. Kassem, that they both shared with me, one of the last things she said (was) that ‘yes, (the opportunity zones) do exist.'”

The mayor was not at the June 24 meeting.

“She does acknowledge that they exist,” Baluck said, referring to Miller.

Baluck also said he was involved in conversations between Miller and the port authority about the opportunity zones.

“She has been in touch with the port authority,” Baluck said. “I was involved in a three-way conversation with the representative from the port authority discussing how we can make sure that Struthers can take advantage of these opportunity zones.”

Councilwoman Lori Gomon, D-1st Ward, also said city council received an email from Miller’s office saying that parts of Struthers were going to be renominated for the opportunity zones.

“We did receive an email, as council, from the mayor stating that they are renominating northside and Nebo, and places across the (Mahoning River),” Gomon said. “We were made aware that there was … progress with that.”

When contacted after the meeting, Miller said that while the city has input, decisions regarding opportunity zones are not up to them.

“It’s not something that the city does. We can have input, but we’ve been working with the Western Reserve Port Authority,” Miller said. “We’ve already filed everything we needed to.”

Miller also said the state has the final say for where opportunity zones are established, with the port authority serving as a go between.

“The port authority gets the information for this area and then turns it into the state on behalf of our area,” Miller said.

In response to Kassem’s letter, Miller said she believes that Kassem is “frustrated about other projects that he has going on.”

She did not want to elaborate on what those projects are, saying that they are Kassem’s business.

Kassem declined to be interviewed and his lawyer, Marty Hume, said they have an ongoing litigation, and the letter to city council “speaks for itself.” Details of the litigation were not given.

The June 24 meeting was the last regular council meeting before summer recess. Council will meet next on Sept. 9.