YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control approved a series of change orders to a phase of a project that diverts sewage from the Mahoning River that resulted in a $321,737.52 decrease in the total cost.

That decrease is somewhat deceptive as most of the reduced costs were for an add-on that the city received a waiver for before the project began.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday for the change orders, which were packaged as one item, for Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Struthers, which handled the second phase of the project that diverts sewage from the river.

Rudzik’s base bid was $4,529,354 with a $705,350 add-on to install concrete encasements around the pipes near Norfolk Southern train lines for a total of $5,234,704.

The city received a waiver from the railroad for the encasements before the project started, but didn’t know that at the time of the bid, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.

The project included $802,598.41 in additional work and $1,131,335.93 in reductions, including the $705,350 for the add-on.

The project’s final cost is $4,905,966.48.

The additional costs were for paving done on Division Street, the restoration of damage done to the City Concrete property that was unavoidable and work to other business entrances, Shasho said. Besides not doing the add-on, the other reductions were for paving work that wasn’t needed, Shasho said.

Rudzik should have the project finished in a couple of weeks, but there won’t be any other change orders for the work, Shasho said.

The board of control approved numerous change orders to the first phase of the project, done by S.E.T. Inc. of Lowellville.

S.E.T.’s initial contract was $4,753,539. With change orders, for the project that finished in January, the final cost was $5,439,138.58.

The work done by the two companies, which cost a total of $10,345,105.06, eliminated three sewer overflows that discharged about 35.5 million gallons of combined sewage annually into the Mahoning River.

The city received a $4.83 million grant in July 2023 from the state, using federal American Rescue Plan funds, as well as a $4 million loan from the state that forgives the repayment of the principal to pay for much of the two-phase project.

The project replaced aging, deteriorated combined storm and sanitary lines with 10,800 linear feet of 60-inch and 48-inch lines with an access road.

Also Thursday, the board of control voted to accept grant funds from the Ohio Public Works Commission for two projects that will improve roads.

The work was initially to be done this year but is being pushed back to spring 2027.

One project, estimated to cost $1,656,955, will repave portions of Marshall Street, Salt Springs Road and Belle Vista Avenue.

The city is receiving a $360,476 grant from the OPWC for the work. The city is also getting a $1,243,426 grant through the Ohio Department of Transportation with the local share being $53,053.

The other project, estimated to cost $1,567,536, will pave portions of Madison Avenue, Westbound Service Road and Eastbound Service Road with a small amount for a traffic signal and pole upgrades to the intersection of McGuffey and Early roads.

The OPWC is providing a $984,230 grant with the city paying $583,306 for the project.

The board voted 3-0 Thursday on contracts for appraisals of the two remaining parcels the city doesn’t own at the former Chill-Can site and for the property that used to house Anthony’s on the River.

The city owns all of the Chill-Can property but those two parcels, which are in the possession of Mitchell Joseph, the head of M.J. Joseph Development Corp. and its sister companies. Joseph abandoned the undeveloped project in 2020 on the lower East Side.

The former Anthony’s location on Oak Hill Avenue is needed to gain access to one of the three low-head dams in the Mahoning River that the city is planning to remove and to use as a staging area.

Both appraisal contracts are with Sammartino, Stout & Lo Presti of Erie, Pa. The Chill-Can appraisal will cost $3,000 while the other will cost $4,000.