County commissioners approve HUD lead-hazard grant support, multiple local contracts

Mahoning County commissioners voted July 17 to approve a bundle of agreements and resolutions that included support for a 2025 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Lead Hazard Reduction Grant application and several local service and repair contracts.

The commissioners approved a resolution supporting a HUD Lead Hazard Reduction Grant application for $7,750,000, which staff said requires a 10% local match. Phil, speaking for the applicant team, said the request was corrected at the meeting from $7,500,000 to $7,750,000 and that the award would allow the county to extend its lead-hazard program, "hopefully for another four years." Phil also said the county’s largest previous application was $5,000,000.

Why this matters: a successful HUD lead-hazard award would provide federal funding to identify and remediate lead paint hazards in privately owned housing stock; staff flagged the required local match and uncertainty about future county budget allocations as constraints on the program’s duration and scale.

Commissioners also approved a set of six local agreements presented by county staff: a plan-review and inspection contract with Terracon Consultants Inc. for fiber-optic installations (estimated $25,000, non-general funds); vehicle repair work with Freightliner Youngstown (estimated $1,890.26); repairs with Ohio Machinery, d/b/a Northern Ohio Peterbilt (estimated $4,722); concrete repairs at the Oak Hill Renaissance Building with Concrete Company ($32,500, general funds); a subgrant agreement with Compass Family and Community Services to provide guardianship services for Adult Protective Services (APS) cases ($145,000, non-general funds); and an emergency sanitary sewer repair contract with JF Bova for Idaho Road (estimated $7,500, non-general funds).

A separate resolution related to hazardous materials was introduced by a HAZMAT representative, who asked the board to certify costs for recovery to the prosecutor’s office for an unauthorized fuel release. The HAZMAT presenter recorded a cost figure of $762,207.10 connected to diesel fuel releases in April (dates and ledger references cited in the meeting transcript). The board approved the HAZMAT resolution as part of the resolutions package.

The board approved an unpaid leave request for one county employee for approximately two weeks.

All motions to approve the minutes, journal entry, agreements (items a–f) and resolutions (items a–c, including the HUD correction) carried on roll call with the three commissioners recorded as voting yes. Roll-call names recorded in the transcript were Commissioner DeFavio (yes), Commissioner Mediroghetti (yes) and Commissioner Trafficante (yes).

Discussion versus action: the HUD application amount was corrected on the record by staff; the board’s vote authorized the county to support and submit the grant application but did not itself appropriate the local match funding in the meeting. No additional formal direction to staff (for example, to identify the local-match funding source) was recorded in the transcript.

What’s next: if the HUD application is submitted and subsequently awarded, the county will need to identify the 10% local match and set program implementation details; the transcript notes uncertainty about budget availability in the next fiscal year.

Quotes in this report come from meeting speakers as listed in the public record of the July 17 session.