YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control agreed to a $5.23 million contract to divert millions of gallons of sewage from the Mahoning River.

The board awarded the contract Thursday to Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Struthers, which submitted the low bid of four for the work. Bids were opened May 9.

Rudzik’s base bid was $4,529,354 with a $706,350 add-on to install concrete encasements around the pipes near Norfolk Southern train tracks.

Rudzik’s base bid was a little more than half of the $8.36 estimate.

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said the city has asked Norfolk Southern for a waiver for the concrete encasements, but hasn’t heard back from the railroad company.

“If we don’t get a waiver, there might be a less-expensive option,” Shasho said.

Jim Tressa, Rudzik’s senior estimator / project manager, said if a waiver isn’t granted, “We would like to propose a cost-savings alternative at about half of the cost. It’s too early in the game to determine” if the encasements are needed.

Rudzik is to start work on the project next month and be finished by January, Shasho said.

Rudzik will handle the second phase of this interceptor sewer project. When both phases are finished, it will eliminate three sewer overflows that discharge about 35.5 million gallons of combined sewage annually into the Mahoning River, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

S.E.T. Inc. of Lowellville is doing the first phase of the project for about $4 million. It started the work earlier this year and is expected to be finished at the end of July, Shasho said. That runs from West Avenue to Bridge Street, near Front Street. It eliminates one sewer overflow.

The work to be done by Rudzik goes from Bridge Street to Division Street and eliminates two sewer overflows, he said.

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

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 this project.

While this work isn’t directly tied to the city’s federal consent decree agreement for its wastewater system, Shasho said it’s included on the revised schedule to eliminate sewage from entering water systems in Youngstown.

The city and the state of Ohio have approved modifications to settle a legal dispute over the consent decree with the federal government.

In an April 22 status report filing with Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Ohio, attorneys for the parties wrote that the proposed changes are “currently going through” the federal EPA and the Department of Justice for final review.

Boyko agreed April 23 to the motion for an “extension of stay,” which permits the parties to finalize the agreement, until June 27.