Youngstown mayor Tito Brown and State Representative Lauren McNally have both written letters demanding that the operator of Sobe Thermal Energy provide adequate service to customers in downtown Youngstown. 

Brown, in a letter to Reg Martin, the person appointed as receiver by the PUCO to assume operations of the facility after a boiler was repossessed under former operator David Ferro, said Youngstown's city hall was left without any pressure in its heating system during peak hours, despite having been assured that the company was operating with a new boiler in place. 

"Let me be clear, SOBE's customers won't be forced to burden the costs associated with failed oversight and unfulfilled statutory obligations," Brown wrote. 

Brown said he convened an emergency meeting with his staff to explore legal options, including potentially holding monthly fees in escrow until they are convinced adequate service can be restored. 

In reference to a planned community meeting with Martin on October 22, Brown demands that Martin be able to answer what steps are being taken to ensure customers' needs are met, why they weren't notified of outages in a timely manner and what their long-term plan is to avoid future disruptions. 

In a separate letter sent to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Representative Lauren McNally asks for "decisive action." 

"Currently, dozens of buildings in downtown Youngstown, including 90 residential units, are without reliable heat and hot water. These are people's homes. These are local businesses trying to stay open and survive. And they've been left in the cold because once again, the system has failed them," McNally wrote. 

McNally goes on to list what she characterizes as "warning signs" that the PUCO should have been aware of. 

These include:  

In January 2021, the petition for purchasing the facility by Sobe included two boilers, but only one was leased. 

In September 2024, Sobe allegedly provided a bad check to a vendor in the amount of $400,000, which is being litigated with a motion for default judgment pending. 

In September 2025, the PUCO voted to appoint a receiver after Sobe failed to make payments to Wabash Power Equipment, leading to the repossession of the boiler. 

"If PUCO had exercised that authority earlier, when Sobe's 2024 filing revealed a loss of over $500,000, this crisis might have been prevented," McNally wrote. 

She called for a meeting with the PUCO to explain how the situation managed to "deteriorate so rapidly" and for the commission to use its full statutory authority to rectify the problem. 

21 News has reached out to Martin for a response. Martin told 21 News Friday morning's disruption was due to a faulty component that malfunctioned and will be replaced with one that he hopes will allow service to be restored before the end of the day. He confirmed on Saturday morning that the boiler is up and running. 

Martin says he's only aware of three customers who were impacted by the recent shutdown. 

A public meeting has been scheduled Wednesday, October 22 at 11 a.m. at the downtown Youngstown YMCA to bring all interested downtown businesses up to speed about everything SOBE has encountered and what they are doing about it going forward.