Mahoning County commissioners on Thursday approved purchasing the former InfoCision building on Patriot Boulevard in Austintown, above, from the Western Reserve Port Authority for $2.5 million.

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners Thursday purchased the nearly 50,000-square-foot former InfoCision call center building in Austintown for $2.5 million from the Western Reserve Port Authority to house several county offices.

The most likely departments to move there are building inspection and planning as well as the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

But the tenor of the discussion before the 2-1 vote approving the purchase signals what Republican Commissioner-elect Geno DiFabio called the three Democrat “kumbaya” at the commissioners’ office may be coming to a close.

When it was learned Wednesday commissioners might purchase the former call center on Patriot Boulevard near the Quaker Steak & Lube, it became apparent the three Democrats were not on the same page, with Commissioner Anthony Traficanti saying he wanted to wait until early January to decide on the purchase to allow DiFabio to have a say in the decision.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, on the other hand, said legislation would be on Thursday’s agenda to buy the building from the port authority and that among the reasons to buy it are the complaints voiced by elections board Chairman Dave Betras about the conditions at the Oakhill building in Youngstown.

Before voting on the purchase, Betras, all three commissioners, DiFabio and Anthony Trevena, executive director of the port authority, spoke on the topic.

Traficanti reiterated his desire to wait until January, as did DiFabio, and Rimedio-Righetti and Commissioner David Ditzler said the property needed to be purchased now. Ditzler said if commissioners did not act immediately, the property would be sold out from under them.

Traficanti’s no vote on the measure was perhaps the only time in several years the three Democrats did not vote in unison, an issue DiFabio raised in his successful campaign to defeat Ditzler for commissioner. DiFabio said during the campaign voters should pick him because, “We finally have to break the rubber stamp that we have (in the commissioners office) because it’s good to get along, but if that’s all you do is get along, we just need one commissioner.”

Ditzler responded by saying he, Traficanti and Rimedio-Righetti frequently disagree, but, “You don’t battle in public. You sit down and you cooperatively discuss issues and items and different plans to move forward.”

Betras, an attorney and former Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, used the public comment period to tell commissioners many things have changed about voting in Ohio in the last 13 years since the elections board moved to Oakhill.

One change, he said, is the high percentage of people who vote early at the board of elections office. The problems at Oakhill are security, insufficient parking for voters and insufficient areas for curbside voting.

He said $2.4 million in voting equipment is “on pallets covered by tarps because of leaking pipes.” Other equipment is on another floor at Oakhill, “not secured like it should be. Those are people’s votes. There’s nothing more sacred than a person’s vote,” he said.

He said the early voting area is “shared with others in the public. It’s not secured.” Betras said Rimedio-Righetti told him about the building on Patriot Boulevard, and he went to look at it, making sure to have Republicans along.

He called it “centrally located. It has a bus route.” He added, “The time to act is now. We don’t need a study. We don’t need a commission. We’ve been saying for years (the Oakhill building) is not sufficient.”

DiFabio used the public comment period to ask commissioners to “give me six weeks.”

“I would like the opportunity to evaluate all of the buildings we have and to talk to the people who are going in there,” he said.

He said ideas about what to do about the board of elections are rapidly changing. A month ago, Ditzler discussed trying to keep the board of elections in the city by building something new on the Oakhill property.

“In the past week, everything has changed five times,” DiFabio said. “I’d like to be part of the decision to buy the building that I am going to be responsible for for at least the next four years.” He said the $2.5 million is “a very substantial amount of funds.”

Trevena said the building is 49,570 square feet and has 552 parking spaces. It has been vacant since before the COVID-19 pandemic. It has eight entrances, so it is ideal for multiple tenants or agencies. It would not require a lot of demolition.

Randy Partika, engineer for the port authority, said the cost to renovate is about $4.5 million. The building needs a new parking lot and new roof. Other improvements would be to the carpet, ceiling tiles, lighting and mechanicals.

Also, some downsizing needs to be done on the air units on the roof.

“The actual structure is brick, and it’s in excellent shape,” Partika said.

It would cost about $15 million to build a new building on that site.

Ditzler said $25,000 of earnest money was put down by the county on the property, and the county needs to purchase the building “by the end of the week or we lose the opportunity to purchase the building. There are backup buyers who will pay the same price. If we don’t act, we no longer have an option, plus we lose our earnest money.”

Ditzler said commissioners have been assessing buildings for two years.

“The last time I looked, my responsibility doesn’t end until Jan. 2,” Ditzler said of letting the decision wait until DiFabio takes office. He said commissioners came close to buying a building in downtown Youngstown, but it didn’t happen.

Traficanti said he was part of the board that bought the Oakhill building in Youngstown and moved Job and Family Services and other agencies there.

“I don’t want to see any county agencies leaving the city of Youngstown,” he said.

He said he knows there is a deadline, but, “I think there is a whole lot more due diligence that needs done before I would feel comfortable. There is a new administration coming in, and the new commissioner is going to have a lot of questions, and it’s going to be me, Geno and Carol that are going to have to make this building work.”

Rimedio-Righetti said Traficanti liked the former InfoCision building in the past.

“I don’t know what changed from then to now,” she said.

Traficanti said when he looked at the initial drawings, it was for Job and Family Services and the elections board, but those would not have fit, and he was not interested in moving JFS to Austintown.

He and Rimedio-Righetti argued back and forth for a minute, but Traficanti said, “I’m going to work with you to make it successful. I don’t feel comfortable. It’s a large investment.”