YOUNGSTOWN — The Poland branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County became the focus of another meeting of the library’s board of trustees.

The board had its regularly scheduled meeting 4 p.m. Thursday at the newly renovated East Library, which has been under repair for a year and had to close for three weeks over the winter.

That library, built in 2001, was designed by 4M Co., the same architect that managed the Poland and Austintown branch projects. All three buildings have faced considerable structural problems and serious issues with water infiltration during heavy rain and extreme winter weather.

Much of the renovation work at East focused on regrading the land, removing water-damaged and rotten exterior walls, adding a waterproof membrane around the walls and under the new metal roof, adding proper gutters and downspouts, and replacing faulty round windows and flashing, among other significant investments in weatherproofing the building.

The project, redesigned by GPD Group of Youngstown and completed by Murphy Contracting, cost approximately $1.2 million.

On Thursday, in the upgraded main conference room, the board discussed East’s improvements, regular finance matters, a significant increase in the Summer Discovery reading program, and learned a little something about a day in the life of a PLYMC branch employee — an initiative led by Executive Director and CEO Aimee Fifarek.

Fifarek also discussed at length the progress on land acquisition for the new Struthers and Poland branches.

The parcel near the intersection of State Street and Poland Avenue in Struthers was donated by Phantom Fireworks owner Bruce Zoldan, eliminating what otherwise would have been a significant, if not prohibitive, cost for the project. The board voted at its special April 29 meeting to purchase a plot of land along Denver Drive near state Route 170 for the construction of a new Poland branch and to close — and likely sell — the problematic existing 25-year-old building at 311 S. Main St. in Poland Village.

Fifarek said Chief Operating Officer Jordan Shaver is awaiting a geotechnical engineering report on the property, after which executive staff will return to the board for approval on the next steps in accepting the land donation. She said the existing Struthers branch likely will be used to house the library’s pop-up library and special delivery teams.

The preferred location for the new Poland branch — still privately owned and zoned residential — is a 4.25-acre plot of land that sits 1.1 miles away in Poland Township. The estimated cost Fifarek provided the board in April indicates it will cost the library $360,000 to purchase the plot.

This week, a news release from the Save Our Library Action Committee in Poland asserted that Fifarek, Shaver and other staff neglected to present the board with a full accounting of the costs of the new building.

The author of that release, Maria Pappas, addressed trustees Thursday afternoon, as her group’s objections to the April vote again took center stage.

“Even the best intentions cannot overcome incomplete or misleading information. For weeks, the public was told that relocating the Poland branch library was the most cost-effective option. But now we are finding out that there are other costs,” she said. “And the question that should trouble every trustee in this room right now is why a multimillion-dollar sanitary sewer mainline extension was not included in those relocation projections.”

However, in the documents Fifarek presented on April 29, an engineer’s estimate of probable construction costs, provided by MS Consultants — including 49 items and totalling $1,569,053 — specifically identified installation of a 6-inch PVC sanitary line and directional bore, estimated to cost $10,687. A sanitary cleanout would cost about $340.

In neither the press release nor her prepared remarks Thursday did Pappas explain where the “multimillion-dollar” estimate came from.

The assertion ties into another concern Fifarek discussed in her report to the board.

“So, I know the issue has been raised about a moratorium on new hookups that would impact the Struthers Wastewater Treatment Plant,” she said.

Struthers has imposed a full moratorium on new connections to the sewer lines served by the city’s wastewater treatment plant, maintaining that the facility is at capacity and that allowing more inflow would violate its EPA mandates and licensure.

“However, I want everybody to keep in mind that we are not breaking ground on this project anytime soon,” Fifarek said. “It will be several years before we do anything related to a new facility for Poland. And given the level of attention that this issue is getting from everyone in the community as well as our legislators, I have full confidence that the moratorium will be lifted long before we get to that point.”

She stated that the donated land for the new Struthers branch already has an active connection, so it will not pose a problem for that project either. Fifarek said in April that work on the Poland project would not begin until the Struthers building is well underway.

Along with Pappas, Poland resident John Serraino urged the board to reconsider the decision to move out of the existing building and reiterated the group’s warning that voters may oppose future library levies if the project moves forward.

The countywide levy, last passed in 2024 and up for renewal in 2029, represents about half of the library’s operating budget.

“That levy is renewed by us, the voters. And the voters who approved it in 2024 are the same residents who are watching what happens to Poland’s library right now. The residents of Poland have not paid once for this library, they paid twice,” he said. “They paid through their property taxes like we all do, everyone in the town and community does. And we also paid again with our personal donations to build something extraordinary, which we did.”

Pappas said the board is walking away from its responsibility to the community.

“Twenty-five years ago, this board intentionally built a landmark building there. They invested more than $8 million, over $15 million in today’s dollars, knowing that it would require ongoing care,” she said. “The community contributed their own dollars toward a building that was meant to last. It was meant to be cared for, and it was meant to serve Poland for many generations. And now, trustees are being asked to believe that it is cheaper to abandon it than to maintain it. A $15 million asset that was paid with taxpayer funds and grant funds. I don’t believe that narrative would stand the test of public scrutiny.”

Chief Stakeholder Relations Officer Zak Kozberg said he supports community engagement from Poland and every other corner of Mahoning County the library serves, but he takes exception to the idea that Poland is losing its library branch.

“Board President Carole Weimer and the rest of the trustees took over a year to assess and review information from multiple sources,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this thorough and detailed information doesn’t seem to resonate, but the fact remains that Poland is a huge part of the PLYMC family and they will never be without the outstanding library services provided by our staff.”