Published: Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Dann to move 38 jobs downtown Youngstown
The Youngstown office will have a $1.8 million annual payroll.
YOUNGSTOWN — Having local elected officials in high places is paying dividends for the Mahoning Valley.
The latest is the Monday announcement by Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat, that he is moving 38 jobs with an annual payroll of $1.8 million by July 1 to the Youngstown-owned 20 Federal Place in the city's downtown on West Federal Street.
Of the 38, 22 are with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation's Boardman office. The other 16 are members of Dann's new statewide predatory lending task force and employees being transferred from Columbus to Youngstown.
"I love this state, but I love this community in a special way," Dann said. "... This is a community on the rebound."
Dann said he'll do what he can to help revitalize the Mahoning Valley, particularly Youngstown and Warren, as a state official. Dann said he will continue to look for ways to relocate certain attorney general offices to the Valley and help stimulate the area's economy.
"We hope the location of these jobs will help the reawakening of this community," Dann said.
Mayor: He kept his promise
After getting elected in November 2006, Dann said he wanted to expand his office's presence in the Valley.
"A lot of promises are made and not kept," said Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams.
Dann "kept his promise. He's a man of action," Williams said. "It reaffirms his commitment to the state of Ohio and the place he calls home," referring to the Valley.
It's becoming increasingly clear that government services, and not retail activity, are critical in economic growth in cities such as Youngstown, Dann said.
Valley politicians and residents have also benefited from the elections of Dann as attorney general and Ted Strickland, a Democrat formerly of Lisbon, as governor.
Strickland just appointed state Rep. Kenneth A. Carano of Austintown, D-59th, as his regional director for the Valley. In the job, paying about $70,000 annually, Carano will act as the governor's adviser, representative and liaison on state and local issues concentrating on Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.
Since his November 2006 election, Strickland has hired former Columbiana County Commissioner Sean Logan of Guilford Lake as the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Anthony Trevena of Guilford Lake as ODNR's deputy director of administration, and former Mahoning County Treasurer John Reardon of Boardman as the state superintendent of financial institutions.
Hired by Dann
Not to be outdone, Dann has hired a number of Valley residents as officials in his office.
They include Youngstown police Sgt. Rick Alli of Youngstown as chief of law enforcement operations, Brian Laliberte of Campbell as deputy first assistant attorney general, former Howland police Chief Steve Lamantia as BCI acting superintendent, Anthony Gutierrez of Youngstown as director of general services, Leo Jennings of Poland as his communications director, Jennifer Brindisi of Struthers as deputy communications director, and Jim Kaster of Youngstown as labor liaison.
"So many of us are together pulling the same oars" to help the Valley, Dann said of the area's presence in state government.
With the deal announced Monday with the attorney general's office, the city-owned 20 Federal Place, the former Phar-Mor Centre, has an occupancy rate of about 70 percent, said Jeffrey Chagnot, the city's economic development director.
The new attorney general facility will be on the building's third floor, which used to be Phar-Mor's corporate headquarters.
The office is 10,000 square feet, and space is available for future expansion to 22,000 square feet. The rent is free for the first year at 20 Federal Place and goes to $2 a square foot in the second year, Gutierrez said.
Dann had asked Williams and Warren Mayor Michael O'Brien to recommend locations in their downtowns for the attorney general regional office.
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