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YOUNGSTOWN - When it comes to a proposed artificial intelligence data center on Logan Avenue, Mayor Derrick McDowell said the city will look at its zoning and permitting options.
"The first step is to engage the current owner and the buyer," McDowell said Wednesday. "They say there are contingencies."
Valor Energy Inc. announced Tuesday it entered into a $3.6 million agreement to purchase the 30,888-square-foot facility at 1911 Logan Ave. that has been a bitcoin mining operation for more than three years and is owned by Middlefield Industrial Complex Inc.
McDowell said the city wasn't informed of the sale because "they didn't have to tell us. But we have legal responses. We have zoning."
The Rev. Lewis Macklin urged council at its Wednesday meeting to approve a moratorium on data centers to stop the facility from opening.
That is an option for council.
McDowell said he is not for or against data centers, but he wants the city to be treated fairly by any business.
In its statement, Valor Energy said after 30 business days it plans "to acquire all of the outstanding equity interests of the company that holds an 18-(megawatt) operational computing center."
It also stated the proposed AI center "remains subject to significant uncertainty, including completion of the acquisition, further construction and permitting, and availability of financing."
EMINENT DOMAIN
At Wednesday's meeting, council voted 7-0 to declare a "public exigency imperatively requiring immediate seizure" - eminent domain - to obtain 13 parcels needed for a major wastewater project.
The residential properties are on Gibson Street, Franklin Avenue and Myrtle Avenue and range in size from 0.062 of an acre to 0.172 of an acre.
No one currently lives at the properties, said Charles Shasho, the city's deputy director of public works.
Rather than going through traditional eminent domain, which could take a year or two, the city administration wants to declare the urgency of the properties and go through a "quick take" process in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, said Chad Hawks, deputy law director. That could give the city ownership by the end of year, he said.
Hawks said he hasn't drafted petitions for most of the properties.
Other parcels need to be acquired that are mostly vacant residential properties as well as one commercial structure, Hawks said.
Hawks said: "We've already made attempts to negotiate voluntarily fair market values for these properties. We've been successful in some instances. We're continuing to negotiate for others."
The properties are needed for the planned $170 million wet weather facility that the city is required to construct as part of a federal consent decree. The structures in the facility would treat up to 80 million gallons a day of excess combined sewage during heavy rainstorms and then release the water.
It is the third part of the work, costing more than $350 million when done, by the city to improve its wastewater system as mandated by the federal government.
The projects are required to be finished by 2030.
Even before it starts, the project is about 60 days behind schedule, according to the proposed legislation.
The delay is why the acquisition of the land is needed, Shasho said.
The legislation states that "an additional delay of more than three to six months would cause significant cost overruns and prevent the city from completing the project by the deadline imposed through the federal consent decree."
The 13 parcels are needed for the first of six contracts for this work.
That initial phase is primarily for the removal and relocation of utility lines as well as tunneling, project staging, construction, operation and maintenance, Shasho said.
City council on Aug. 17 gave approval to the board of control to spend up to $3.5 million to pay for the relocation of various utility lines that need to be moved for the project.
Shasho said that money will be paid to utility companies as needed to relocate their lines.
At that Aug. 17 meeting, council authorized the board of control to spend up to $3,779,391.57 for the demolition of any buildings on the project's location on Gibson Street, in the area of Poland Avenue, as well as grading the site, removing pavement and installing security fencing.
Bids for that project will be opened Nov. 6, Shasho said.
FLOCK CAMERAS
McDowell withdrew legislation that was to be in front of city council Wednesday to allow revenue collected from those caught by unstaffed cameras speeding in school zones to pay for half of the Flock Safety's annual bill.
McDowell said he pulled the legislation in order to first have a public meeting that would "address questions and concerns" from residents before any decision is made.
A date on that public meeting hasn't been scheduled yet, McDowell said.
The city's entire $168,000 bill to Flock Safety in the final year of a three-year deal is paid out of the police budget. The proposal would have had $84,000, half of it, come from speed camera revenue because about half of the Flock cameras in the city are in school zones.
That would have been retroactive to Sept. 1, the start of the final year of the current Flock Safety contract.
The city has 56 Flock cameras.
Flock Safety automatic license plate reader cameras have come under considerable national scrutiny with reports about police officers, including in Ohio, improperly using the data for personal reasons or sharing with federal agencies for immigration enforcement.
Critics also point to privacy issues, mass tracking of residents, and the lack of transparency and public accountability.
Law enforcement officials say they are a vital tool in fighting crime and finding abducted children.
Nationally, more than 120,000 Flock Safety cameras are installed in about 7,000 communities and take photos of about 20 billion vehicles each month.
About 400 entities in Ohio use cameras, including several in the Mahoning Valley.
Flock doesn't just sell the cameras to law enforcement. It also sells them to school districts, universities, homeowner associations, parking lot/deck operators, apartment complexes, companies and stores.
The city has struggled to spend the money it's collected from those paying citations for speeding in school zones and caught by unmanned cameras.
That is because of state restrictions on how it can be spent with requirements that it be used in school zones.
FIRE
Toward the end of the meeting, the smell of a fire entered council chambers.
It was discovered that someone set a fire at the North Phelps Street exit of city hall, causing damage to some plants.
Fire Chief Courtney Kelly abruptly left the meeting after receiving a call about the fire.
There were fire trucks outside city hall putting out the fire.