AUSTINTOWN In November 2024, Mahoning County Commissioners voted 2-to-1 to purchase the InfoCision building on Patriot Boulevard in Austintown, with the purpose of housing county offices there.

Anthony Traficanti was the lone county commissioner that voted against the purchase, raising concerns about how the $2.5 million purchase, along with $4.5 million in renovations, would impact taxpayers. 

"As far as the Patriot building and the InfoCision building go, we have no plans to utilize those buildings at this time," said Traficanti, who wants to keep county offices in Youngstown.

"I want to preserve the county agencies to stay in the city of Youngstown; I don't want to move anyone out of the city," Traficanti added. However, the county leader says options for another facility or a new facility within city limits remain on the table.

Geno DiFabio, who was newly elected at the time of the purchase but not yet in his current role, wishes he was a part of the voting process.

"I asked that the three board members please wait until I got there, because any decision, like that, spending that kind of money, was going to affect me because within weeks, I was going to be on that board," DiFabio explained.

Knowing what he does now, DiFabio says he wouldn't have voted to go through with that purchase if given the option.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Rhigetti voted in favor of purchasing the building but said the original intention was for county offices outside of Youngstown, not those in the city, like the Board of Elections.

"We're horribly out of compliance," said Dave Betras, Board of Elections chairman.

Dave Betras says he approached commissioners last year about the board of election's desperate need for a new home.

"As of August 29, we will be in complete deficit of what the secretary of state requires for the physical infrastructure of the buildings," Betras emphasized. "I don't care where they put us; they've not come to us and asked us what our needs are," he added. "The people of Mahoning County should be embarrassed and ashamed of how poorly their voting equipment is kept."

Furthermore, Betras tells 21 News the board of elections is an independent board, allowing them to make their own decisions, but they rely on the commissioners for funding.

"They could buy us all the buildings they want, but if it doesn't fit our needs, we're not going to take the building; we're going to have to sue them," said Betras.

The Western Reserve Port Authority would be willing to buy the old InfoCision building back at the same price or market value if it comes to that.

"If the commissioners choose to go a different direction, I don't think we'll have any trouble finding a different end user or buyer for the building, so we're prepared for that," said Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Port Authority.

County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti says any move, like the Board of Elections, would take time.

"It wouldn't happen overnight, but we want to make sure that it's the right move, and we also want to make sure that we keep our agencies in downtown Youngstown," said Traficanti.