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‘City with Heart’ fights to make a comeback
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: February 14, 2013
It is known as “the city with heart in the heart of it all,” and those who run the Mahoning County municipality of Struthers are working hard to help it live up to its motto.
“In the late ‘60s we had about 16,000 people but we lost a lot of our population after the steel industry declined,” said Struthers Mayor Terry P. Stocker. “We have been working our way back.”
Today Struthers has close to 11,000 residents and is the second largest city in the county. Much like its larger neighbor, Youngstown, the city’s neighborhoods are being revitalized and its offerings increased in an effort to attract new residents and businesses.
Struthers officially became a village in 1902 but its history dates back to the late 1700s when Washington County, Pennsylvania resident, John Struthers, purchased 400 acres of Poland Township land, naming it Marbletown. Struthers owned the land until he and his family suffered financial ruin due to the War of 1812. Years later it was repurchased by his son, Thomas, who is credited with bringing industry and railroads to the area. Eventually the town had its named changed to Struthers by popular vote.
In 1802, Daniel and James Eaton built the Hopewell Furnace in the Yellow Creek area, the first blast furnace in Ohio. A few years later, John Struthers opened a blast furnace on the banks of Yellow Creek. Together the two projects ushered in the start of the steel era. The tradition continued in the late 1860s, when the Struthers Iron Company constructed the Anna Furnace. Other plants would follow, but despite the activity Struthers remained small until after 1900 when The Youngstown Iron Sheet and Tube Company (known as The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. since 1905) was incorporated. It was located in the neighboring community of East Youngstown (now Campbell).
With the booming steel industry right next door, immigrants from Europe arrived by the thousands, causing Struthers to expand rapidly, and in 1920 it became a city. But the growth and prosperity came to a screeching halt on Sept. 19, 1977 (now known as “Black Monday”) when it was announced that a large portion of Youngstown Sheet and Tube was closing.
“We got hammered because we were not very diversified and were dependent on the steel industry,” said Stocker, who became mayor in 2008 after serving on the city council for 18 years.
The mayor said the steel mills resulted in a number of brownfield sites that the city has been working hard to clean up.
The CASTLO Community Improvement Corporation has played an important part in the city’s revitalization efforts. Formed in 1978, the corporation is governed by a board of trustees made up of community leaders and elected officials, including Stocker, who are charged with improving and promoting the economic development of five Mahoning County communities, including Struthers.
Shortly after its creation, the corporation acquired the 120-acre parcel in downtown Struthers that housed the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company’s Struthers Works, using nearly $5 million to transform it into the state’s premier brownfield redevelopment industrial park.
The CASTLO board owns and operates the park, negotiating lease agreements with companies that provide new jobs and revenue to those living in Struthers, Lowellville, Campbell, Poland Township, and Coitsville Township.
In November 2012, Industrial Piping Specialists Inc. signed a five-year lease with CASTLO. The company is a distributor of pipe fittings, flanges and valves for energy-related and general construction industries.
“The park is located near Pennsylvania with easy access to several major interstates and the railroad is right there so we have been getting some activity from companies involved in natural gas oil exploration,” said Stocker.
“We have about 200 acres of developable property that we are hoping to lease.”
In addition to CASTLO, in 1995 the Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity (MRCO) was created at the urging of former Struthers Mayor Dan Mamula. The public/private partnership was designed to facilitate the reclamation, redevelopment and promotion of almost 1,500 acres of industrial brownfields along the river. The site is anchored by the CASTLO Industrial Park on the eastern side and the Youngstown Performance Park on the western end.
The largest employer in Struthers right now is the aluminum extrusion facility, Astro Shapes.
“They are owned by Bob Cene and they employ over 450 people, which helps us generate revenue for our operating budget,” said Stocker.
In 1995, Astro Shapes partnered with the city in an $11 million expansion program that included a brownfield redevelopment project, more than 100 new jobs and the creation of Bob Cene Park, a baseball complex that provides recreational opportunities for those 13 to 18.
Other large employers include the Struthers City School District and the city itself.
“We have some small businesses, a number of churches, a historical society that offers tours, several parks and our schools have been rated excellent,” said Stocker. “We are working on trying to bring back our downtown area.”
The mayor said the city does have full-time police and fire departments as well as a five-person street department, and it was able to escape the downturn without cutting services, raising taxes or instituting layoffs.
However, there were a lot of foreclosures.
“We have about 300 vacant homes,” said Stocker. “We have been going through the neighborhoods street by street to identify which ones are dragging down the community.
“We’ve torn down about 100 homes using about $700,000 in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Grant money. We are now using some Moving Ohio Forward demolition money to continue to address the problem.
“We’ve had to make some tough decisions in the past,” said Tina Morell, Struthers auditor and lifelong resident.
“We used to have our own health department but we decided to contract with the county’s health department, which has saved over $100,000 a year and we did away with our diversion officers.
“We have three main expenses, wages, pensions and health care,” said Morell. “We could not do much to cut pension costs since those are controlled by the state. During the downturn we did ask our employees to forego raises, and we worked with our employees and unions to control health care costs by going from a self-insured to fully-insured plan in 2005, which raised the deductibles, and made it more consistent with the private sector.”
Morell said it has resulted in significant savings for the city.
“When I started here in 2004, we paid out $1.2 million in health care costs; last year it was just over $650,000.”
She said the city has also worked to reduce the expenses associated with liability insurance and to better manage its workers compensation claims.
“Each year the mayor and I sit down with each department head to find out what they need and try to be as fair as possible in addressing their concerns. We also give them reports monthly to keep them informed of our budget situation so they can make adjustments. In the past they were not told about budgetary issues until they ran out of money,” said Morell.
“My philosophy is that you need a three-to-six month surplus on reserve to cover everyday expenses to be solvent so spending must be controlled. For the most part everyone is now in agreement with this, and we are working together to make it happen.
“As a result, since 2005, our surplus has improved as we work toward this surplus goal,” said Morell.
The mayor said it has become more difficult to get grant money.
“When I came into office I brought in over $15 million in grants which we used to resurface roadways and make other infrastructure improvements,” said Stocker.
In 2009, the city was able to secure about $4.5 million in funding as part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act green projects stimulus program.
The mayor said the money paid for a project that uses methane gas byproducts produced by the Struthers Wastewater Treatment Plant to generate electricity to operate the plant. He said it would save the city as much as $100,000 a year in utility costs once it is fully operational.
Despite having to watch costs Struthers has been able to improve its parks and expand their uses.
“We leased Yellow Creek Park to Mill Creek MetroParks,” said Stocker. “They run it and it saves us maintenance fees.
“Mauthe Park is a collaborative effort with our schools. It is a 10-acre park and in addition to our athletic programs, it has swing sets, picnic facilities playgrounds and a multi-purpose building.
“We recently replaced the old bleachers in Mickler Park, and we are looking to update our football facilities.”
The city does have several popular restaurants, including Los Gallos Authentic Mexican Restaurant and Sports Cantina, Dona Vito’s Italian Grille and Selah, which features Mediterranean-style cuisine.
“We also have a really popular pizza restaurant, Elmton,” said Stocker. “It is located on Fifth Street, and it offers top of the line pizza and chicken wings.”
The city is a mixture of rental properties and single-family homes with a high-rise building that serves as senior citizen housing. The mayor said there have not been any zoning revisions in recent years.
However, the council is currently considering a change, involving a piece of property on state Route 616. The proposal involves switching three parcels of property in the Lake Shore Drive neighborhood from residential to commercial zoning so that the Struthers Credit Union can erect a building there. The credit union would then move from its current location on Fifth Street to the new facility.
“I think the credit union would be a good neighbor, and it would result in $800,000 of improvements to the area while keeping the employees here who have served the city for over 50 years.”
The mayor is predicting a bright future for Struthers, with even more positive growth.
“I would say this area is coming back,” said Stocker. “On an average day we have 10,000 cars coming through the community. Not everyone stops by, but a lot of people do.
“Struthers is a diverse, affordable and safe place to live, and if we can attract more viable companies that will help supplement our operating budget, keep our taxes in check and provide residents with more variety.”