After dealing with zero steam heat pressure, indoor temperatures in the thirties and six frozen pipes bursting in the past month, the Central YMCA of Youngstown branch is finally warming up.

"We currently do have pressure, which is great, and we're able to heat up things again," said Shane Brabant, facilities director at the YMCA. "Both of our pools were shut down yesterday. We just reopened those today."

The YMCA is one of 28 buildings in downtown Youngstown that are served by the SOBE steam heat plant. A number of issues has plagued SOBE over the past month, leaving it unable to provide adequate heating to those customers for many days.

Brabant told 21 News he's glad to see things "moving in the right direction," and hopes to see the city come up with a long-term solution. Still, he said the facility is considering taking things into its own hands, to avoid future problems with SOBE. 

"I'm hopeful, but I'm a realist as well. So from my end of it, we're trying to look at every avenue, pursue every option," Brabant said. 

"We could evaluate building our own steam plant boiler, which I'm sure a lot of other facilities and buildings downtown have considered. ... [It] would probably push towards a million dollars currently," he said. "We evaluated that a few years ago, and I want to say it was in the $800,000 range."

Matt Schilling, director of public affairs for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said it's difficult to predict what comes next while SOBE is still under receivership.

"This is a very old system, and certainly will require some dedicated attention," Schilling said. "We just don't yet know the ultimate long term solution, but through the receivership, we hope that the utility will be able to continue providing safe, adequate and reliable service to its customers."

For now, the PUCO is focused on getting SOBE back on stable ground with a new receiver, who Schilling said should be able to spend more time in Youngstown, connecting with customers and local officials.

Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell also has his eyes on the long term. McDowell traveled to Columbus Thursday for a Black History Month event at Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's residence. 

While the two did not sit down for a formal one-on-one meeting, city spokesperson Andy Resnick told 21 News the two did discuss long-term solutions at the event. Resnick declined to provide details on specific options McDowell and DeWine discussed. 

"The productive conversations in Columbus were a significant first step towards our goal of a long-term solution for this issue," Resnick said in a statement. "However, we still have work to do. We will continue to press this issue and fight for the residents and businesses affected until we have that solution."