$7.3M OK’d for Youngstown sewer project

Additional rate increase for users to be examined

YOUNGSTOWN -- City council voted to permit the board of control to spend about $7.3 million on two parts of a major wastewater improvement project.

Council voted 6-0 Monday in favor of both pieces of legislation. Councilwoman Cynthia McWilson, D-6th Ward, was absent from the meeting.

The city will use money it has in its wastewater fund to pay for both phases, said Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

The city, which has increased its annual sewer rates by 5% from 2025 to 2028, will have to discuss another rate increase, Miasek said.

One ordinance permits the board to seek bids and enter into contracts for the initial phase of a wet weather facility project at a cost of up to $3,779,391.57.

That work would include the demolition of any buildings on the project's location on Gibson Street, near Poland Avenue, as well as grading the site, removing pavement and installing security fencing, said Charles Shasho, the city's deputy director of public works.

That project should go out for bids in October or November, Shasho said.

The other legislation is to spend up to $3.5 million to pay for the relocation of various utility lines that need to be moved for this project, Shasho said.

The city received a $1.5 million preliminary estimate just from FirstEnergy to move the company's power lines for this project, Shasho said, and has to pay for the relocation of other utility lines.

The work is for an 80-million-gallon-per-day wet weather facility. The structures in the facility would treat excess combined sewage during heavy rainstorms and then release the water.

It is the third part of work, costing more than $300 million when done, by the city to improve its wastewater system as mandated by the federal government.

The project, which has six contracts, is expected to cost about $170 million, though that amount could be exceeded, Shasho said.

In addition to the initial phase of demolition, grading and other work, the other phases would be to construct a tunnel, a grit and screening building, a pump station, instrumentation and electrical upgrades, and a high-rate treatment facility, Shasho said.

"As these projects start to get closer and closer, these numbers are a little higher than what we're used to seeing," Shasho said.

The wet weather project will start this fall with early preparation work, such as grading work, Shasho said.

The project must be finished by 2030 under a federal consent decree.

The city's initial agreement in 2014 called for the construction of a 100-million-gallon-per-day wet weather facility. But the rising cost of the work and the disputed need for such a large system were the reasons why the city argued in a March 15, 2024, federal court motion to reopen the consent decree that requires it to make significant and expensive improvements to its wastewater system.

During lengthy negotiations between the city and the federal government, an agreement was reached to honor the city's request for the smaller facility. Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Ohio finalized the deal Oct. 9.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency had originally ordered the city in 2002 to do $310 million worth of work, but it was negotiated down to $160 million in 2014 with the expectation it would be finished in 20 years. But all of the work will end up costing more than $300 million.

The city plans to have all of the work done by Oct. 1, 2035.

As part of the federal consent decree, the city hired Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown for $42.8 million for the first two phases of a four-part project to keep water from flowing into Mill Creek Park's Lake Glacier and Lake Cohasset.

The first two phases, which started in December, are to Lake Glacier, eliminating four of the 14 overflow lines. The project is replacing about 8,000 to 9,000 linear feet of sewer lines that range in size from 36 inches to 60 inches with a new 96-inch sewer line, as well as bridge work, river crossings, efforts to lower the lake and the relocation of utilities.

The project is supposed to be finished no later than May 29, 2028.

The city plans a compressed schedule with the rest of the interceptor sewer work at the park with the third phase done by April 18, 2031, and the final part by Sept. 29, 2032.

That project was estimated to cost $47.7 million and will now cost more than $72 million, according to a court filing from the city.

The city plans to have an Aug. 25 public hearing to discuss more details of the final two phases to Lake Cohasset that includes eliminating 10 sewage overflow lines.

The city finished the first part of the sewer improvement work - upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant - on June 30, 2021, about a year later than required by the federal government.

The initial construction estimate was $37.3 million, but the city said it cost $70 million.