The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City eyes new service complex
Council to hear proposal for west side
Lorain could create a new city service complex to house the workers and machinery dedicated to working on streets, parks and waterlines.
On April 9, City Council’s Building and Lands Committee, with all of Council, will discuss a new service complex on Lorain’s west side.
The meeting was requested by Lorain SafetyService Director Dan Given, who said the city must address working conditions at the Public Property Department, 114 E. 35th St. The department headquarters is a complex of buildings housing city trucks and equipment, along with workers, drivers and mechanics.
A new municipal center also would serve the city Utilities Department.
“The existing facilities have far exceeded their
useful life,” Given wrote in a letter to Council.
Despite rough conditions, workers have shown up for work without complaint, said city Public Property Manager Lori Garcia.
“I know that financially, it is never a good time to take on such a large expenditure,” Garcia wrote. “We are not asking for a Taj Mahal, just an environment where we can report to work every day and not have to worry about our own health and safety.”
Jim Malick, water distribution superintendent for the city’s Utilities Department, submitted a threepage outline of the division’s facilities as of April 9.
Operations are divided over three sites and there is no indoor shop to prepare for installing valves and hydrants, Malick wrote.
The trailers that were meant to serve as temporary offices for four months, now have been home to the waterline crews going on 10 years, Malick said. He was referring to the trailers used for offices behind the city’s Philip Q. Maiorana Waste Water Treatment Plant, known as PQM, at 6301 W. Erie Ave.
A new complex would go in the West Park Drive corridor, where the city owns three former bank buildings and the Lorain Fire Department Station No. 7, Given said.
The two-story bank building would be demolished and the fire station, 2111 W. Park Drive, would be renovated to become a new city garage and shop for the Utilities Department, Given said.
Two other bank buildings are being fitted for Lorain police use and will remain standing, he said.
If approved, parts of the old garage complex, and possibly all of it, would be demolished and the land sold, Given said.
The entire project is estimated to cost up to $6.5 million. The city would borrow the money to pay for the work, but there would be no new taxes needed, he said.
The plan is to make a facility that will sustain city operations for the next 30 to 40 years, Given said.
For its municipal services, Lorain sometimes makes do with leftovers, Given said. But city workers have visited a dozen other city service buildings and need a better way to operate, he said.
“It’s time for us to build a facility that’s going to take us into the future,” Given said.
In her letter to Council, Garcia outlined the history of the city service garage.
It was The Steel Stamping Company, as listed in a 1921-22 city directory. In the mid-1960s, it became the Mascon Toy Company until about 1973.
The city acquired it in 1977 and it has been the city garage ever since, Garcia said.
The Building and Lands Committee will meet starting at 5:30 p.m., April 9, at Lorain City Hall, 200 W. Erie Ave.
The Finance and Claims Committee will meet after that to discuss the city Information Technology Department and new computer software for Lorain Municipal Court.
Despite rough conditions, workers have shown up for work without complaint, said city Public Property Manager Lori Garcia.