WARREN — An effort by a local manufacturing company to obtain a 10-year, 75% tax abatement for a $270,000 expansion of a building that will add six new offices to its facilities at 3021 Sferra Ave. was delayed Wednesday after Commissioner Denny Malloy objected to the request.

Charles Manufacturing Co. is seeking the tax abatement. In its application for the abatement, the company has guaranteed it will create four new jobs that will earn approximately $80,000 per year.

Malloy objected to the passage of the tax abatement, saying the county should have an established criteria that identifies how much an abatement should be based on its time length, the number of jobs created, size and the cost of construction projects.

Malloy said there was a previous effort to put together a group that would establish specific criteria for the awarding of tax abatements in 2024 after the commissioners failed to support an effort by Dawn Inc. that would have provided that company a 10-year, 75% abatement for an expansion project.

Dawn Inc. was seeking to purchase an 8,500-square-foot warehouse at 2961 Sferra Ave. to renovate and retrofit it with gas and electrical upgrades.

After months of debate that included hearing objections to the abatement from area unions and the Warren City School District board of education, the commissioners could not reach a vote to either support or deny it.

Former Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa voted against an abatement, while Malloy voted for it and former Commissioner Niki Frenchko abstained.

Malloy said the group would have included the county’s planning commission, commissioners, Warren city and other economic development entities. The effort was sidelined because other projects were established, so they did not discuss this issue.

“We need to have some standards,” Malloy said. “There needs to be some rubric.”

Warren City Council last month voted to support Charles Manufacturing Co.’s abatement request.

During a recent public hearing hosted by the commissioners on the project, there were no objections voiced about Charles Manufacturing Co. projects

Commissioner Rick Hernandez on Wednesday noted he was surprised by Malloy’s objection because he did not voice it during the commissioner’s recent public meeting.

“I have to concur with the city of Warren, its council and mayor if they feel this is something that is a benefit to their community,” Hernandez said. “I just feel that it is warranted to side with Warren.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard suggested the commissioners delay the vote on the abatement request until next week’s public workshop to give them a chance to gather details about the request and existing rules needed to approve or deny it.

Hernandez noted he does not disagree with Malloy that there needs to be local standards established about the criteria for awarding tax abatement; however, he added these new rules should be established after the vote on this abatement request.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin spoke in support of the Charles Manufacturing Co.’s request.

“We want to always be sending a message of being open for business and making sure we are using every single tool in our economic development tool box to assist these businesses,” Franklin said. “I don’t care how small they are. One of the ways you create jobs is to support existing businesses that made investments over the years.”

Franklin said he does not want to stand in the way of development.

“As a county and as a city, I do not believe we are in any position to pick and choose between large businesses and small businesses. None of us are so flush with cash that we can afford to do that. We need to be mindful of the small business efforts to just ask us for a little help,” Franklin said. “This opens the door for expansion and future job creation.”

Nicholas Coggins, assistant director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, noted he will provide the commissioners Ohio’s rules for awarding abatement requests so they will have them during next week’s discussions.

“If you recall my presentation for our public hearing, they (Charles Manufacturing Co.) met the definition for expansion based on 10% more than the property value,” he said.

Malloy noted he wants to establish local rules that may be beyond what is being required by the state.

GOLDEN TRIANGLE BID OPENINGS

The bid opening for one of three contracts for a Golden Triangle industrial road project is expected to take place at 2 p.m. March 24. The contract for the county’s portion of the project was required to be rebid because the lowest bid was more than 20% higher than the Trumbull County engineer’s projected cost.

The area known as the Golden Triangle is maintained and improved by Warren, Howland and Trumbull County.

Bids for the portions of the project controlled by Howland and Warren were accepted. The area of improvements controlled by Howland is Bronze Road, which has a bid cost of $534,450. The area of the improvement controlled by Warren is the Paige and Dana Street intersection realignment, which has a bid of $988,049.

The engineer’s estimate of Trumbull’s improvement area, where Larchmont Avenue NE, Bronze Road NE and Overland Avenue NE meet, is $505,000.

Officials are waiting for the U.S. Economic Development Administration, also known as the EDA, to approve the new round of bids.