Mahoning Valley Library board votes to explore relocation of Poland branch; Struthers remains a priority

The Mahoning Valley Library board voted to explore relocating the Poland Library after geotechnical and structural problems were identified at the building, library staff told the Struthers City Council on Wednesday.

Amy Fiffick, a Mahoning Valley Library representative, told council members the board authorized an investigation of relocation options and that the library system will present a range of options, cost estimates and timelines to the board before any major expenditures occur. "A Struthers library remains a new Struthers library remains one of our priority projects," Fiffick said.

Why it matters: the Poland building shows ongoing floor heaving, cracking and subsurface contamination by open‑hearth slag that engineers say can expand when subsurface conditions change. Library managers said correcting the existing site would be complex and disruptive and could require demolishing and excavating the slab and underlying materials. The relocation estimate is $13,100,000; a targeted repair estimate to fix currently identified problems is $8,000,000, according to Fiffick. Those estimates do not include potential land purchase costs or proceeds from sale of the existing building.

Library staff told council the system began a strategic facilities master plan in November to prioritize capital investments across the county; that plan will guide how operating dollars and capital funds are allocated over the next decade. Fiffick said the state budget process matters because the Public Library Fund provides about half of the library system's operating revenue and the system expects to transfer some operating dollars into capital funds for building and repair projects. The state budget deadline cited by staff is June 30.

Council members and residents pressed staff on timing and local impacts. Council member Dallas and other attendees asked whether usage patterns at the Poland facility had been analyzed and whether people travel from Struthers to Poland because of that building's size or programming. Fiffick said usage and growth potential are part of the facility prioritization; she also said the system is "much farther along in any kind of background and planning process with the City of Struthers than we are with any other city in the county." She said the relocation investigation will continue into the fall and that the board must approve any major expenditures.

Staff described how the subsurface issues were discovered: facility staff noted floor heaving and asked geotechnical engineers to inspect; core samples taken at the time of the original construction had identified slag and other unsuitable fill in varying amounts but not complete removal. Fiffick told council she could not say whether the incomplete removal was an oversight or deliberate and said statutes of limitation make legal recourse unlikely for actions decades ago.

The library system also reported concurrent work on other facilities: the East Library remediation contract was awarded and kicked off the same day the board voted to explore Poland relocation. Fiffick said the library is proceeding with the master plan, budget advocacy at the state level, and outreach to legislators while the system collects more information for the board to consider.

Next steps: library staff will continue the relocation investigation, complete the master facilities report for board review (staff projected a July timeframe for the plan completion), and return to local councils with updated timelines and estimates. Fiffick said she would come back to Struthers with more information when available.