Latest / Ron Verb / The Ron Verb Show - 4pm Hour - #w, 07/20/26

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The Ron Verb Show - 4pm Hour - #w, 07/20/26 · Ron Verb

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Back to it, NewsRadio 570 WKBN. Ron Verb with Bob Mastriana.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: He is the architect of the Poland Library responding to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: this Some of these comments that were made in The
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Vindicator by people that are on the library payroll and
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: of which they're not carpenters or architects. And you're just
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: trying to say from your architectural standpoint and your background,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: this is what caused these problems. And you're just trying
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: to deal with the facts. And I showed you pictures
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: that a woman had sent me that show this decay. Now,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: this is decay that's clear to me as a result
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: of lack of maintenance.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Would you agree with that?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Totally. All right, and they're claiming, well, we did all
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: of this maintenance.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Those products you're seeing on the pictures there, Dan, those
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: are from the finest product manufacturers in the nation and
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: even the world. Tadsworth Columns, which are the columns, and
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: you can see a column of that quality deteriorated to
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: the extent it is. It's just mind-boggling.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: That would be from lack of maintenance.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: Total, total.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: In fact, they came, the president of Tadsworth Columns came
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: and said, Personally, to see our libraries, he wanted to
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: know how we were using so many hundreds of columns
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: in these. And he would just be sick if he
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: saw how they are today.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: So this whole maintenance thing is ….
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: It's bigger than they're making it to be.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, the pictures are different than what they're trying
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: to tell us as far as maintained to a high standard.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: But what's sad is they just will not admit it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: They're still denying it, saying that poor maintenance is not
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: the issue. It's the building itself and things like this,
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: and it's just ridiculous. Another proof of this is the
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: doctor's office building we did on Applewood Boulevard. At the
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: very same time, we used the Palladian stucco coating on
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: the East Library, and if you drive by it today,
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: it looks as good as the day it was done,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: and yet the one in the East Library had to
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: be completely torn off and redone completely And that just
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: shows the only variable difference, it was even the same color,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: was the fact that they just never maintained it where
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: the doctor's office did.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: And he's had no problems with it. No problems at all.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: And then also they were complaining about on the East
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Library that there was no ventilation and things like this. Well,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: if they knew anything about SIPS panels, those are called
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: structural insulated panels, they don't require ventilation because they're a
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: solid panel. There's no attic airspace or anything like that.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: And so that's one reason why there was no... ventilation
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: on it because they're not required when you use structural
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: insulated panels, which are the same roofing system and everything
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: we put on at St. Charles Church and many other buildings.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: It's the state-of-the-art structural roofing systems and also wall systems
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: that this.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Building was used.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: But if you don't maintain the coatings on it, then
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: it's naturally going to deteriorate. So everything that's happened here
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: is all related to maintenance and lack of it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And so this is pictures from Poland. You know, they
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: go on to talk about Austintown and what, east, with
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: some issues. Okay, so it's maintenance, just like in your home.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: If you don't do maintenance, you're going to have water intrusion,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: to say the least. By the way, this idea where...
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Let me– the people of Poland, it seems to me,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: overwhelmingly want this facility saved.
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: Where?
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I mean overwhelmingly.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: In fact, people have never– I.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Mean they claim they talked to, what, 200 people or
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: did some survey of 200 people?
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: We have 4,000 people on petitions saying they.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Want it saved. Right.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: So that's just the start of it. So there isn't
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: one person that ever said anything different that we're aware of.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: And we'd love them to call in right now and see– If,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: in fact..
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Just call me Ron. That's all I ask, Dan Rivers.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry. You're on the hot seat, though. I like
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: to make people nervous.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: But needless to say, I mean, these are some issues
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: that we're having. Address some of the other things in
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: this article, and then we'll... that you found and I
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: found so troubling.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: One other thing that's obvious is that they still... insist
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: that all the, uh, uh, all the artwork in the bus, uh, uh, uh,
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: were not removed. And that, uh, while some of the
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: items were removed, many plaques, bus and artwork remain. And, um, um,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: and that is not the truth at all because we
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: were suppliers of all the bus. And there's only three
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: out of 40 that are still there.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: All of the beautiful.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: Artwork, the gorgeous, uh, oil paintings that, um, um, uh,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Phyllis Baird did, uh, for the adult reading area are
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: all gone. Um, Everything that was– all the pawn yachts
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: are gone. Everything that they say are still there are not. Now,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: these are those– these are, again, those– you might as
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: well call it the way it is– those lies that
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: they try and deceive the people because they have stripped
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: the building of all of its beauty. And you can
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: go in and see it for yourself that what we're
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: saying is the absolute truth. And the problem is they–
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: in 2003– They instituted a new policy, which should not
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: have happened because it was done way after all these
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: dollars were donated. And they didn't even have any retroactive
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: consideration to all the people that gave all that money,
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: like a million, million and a half. And what they
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: did is they said from this point on, 2003, there
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: would be no more– items that have been donated required
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: to be left there in the building. And they have
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: the total control and choice of whatever they want to
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: do with it. And that just appalled me and everyone
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: else who donated because it's not at all what we
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: were told. And what we were told is what we
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: saw in the brochures and the contracts that we signed
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: with them. And, for instance, one of the most grievous
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: things that they did was They agreed– the library board,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: the old library board, had made a contract with the
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: recycling division of Mahoning County to help offset the cost
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: of using recycled materials. We talked about that before because
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: that was their mission, and they wanted to expose that
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: we were the very first building in the area to
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: use recycled products. And so– and we had done a
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: lot of research on them, and so we weren't specifying
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: them blindly at all, but– but they were going to
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: give us a $ 400, 000 grant, $ 250, 000 outright, and $ 150, 000 in
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: matching funds if we agreed to use recycled materials. And
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: for that, all the library had to do was to
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: provide a permanent display in the library's lower level as
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: an educational tool for students and those concerned with environmental issues.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: All these years, that beautiful, and it was very professionally done,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: display was... It was in the lower level of the
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: library right by the meeting room. And then all of
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: a sudden, it's gone. And that's not at all what
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: they had agreed to and the recycling division in Mahoning
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: County had agreed to. That is another example of not
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: honoring the commitments they did.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Like removing the brickwork that Moransky's family donated, the bus
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: that your family.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Donated, the green team here.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: All of this stuff that citizens paid for for the
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: library is gone.
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: Right.
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  Speaker 4: And why would you institute a retroactive type policy when
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: it was done by the other boards previous to them
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and that It seems like it should be honored. It's
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: just not right that this board can do whatever they
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: want and have taken these actions just for whatever reason.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: My biggest concern with this board is it seems like
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: it's not responsive to the citizens of Poland.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: This library is in Poland.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Right. And it is certainly my impression from being here
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: in the catbird seats and yours from being there that
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: the majority of people in Poland would like this library
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: to stay exactly where it's at, would like the situation
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: to be fixed.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: And why is it okay, let me ask you, Mr.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Architect, to put whatever, $ 26 million or whatever they did
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: in the downtown library? They spent an exorbitant amount of
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: money down there and didn't even match the architecture. Why
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: is that okay to do that? But it's not okay
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to put $ 5, $ 6, $ 7 million into fixing this problem.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Can you explain that to me?
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because it was the pet project of this library director.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: To get rid of this one.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Yes, and it shows just because of the architectural firm
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: that he ended up... uh, forcing on the board, uh,
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: this contemporary firm out of Cleveland. They're the ones that
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: are really at fault at a lot of this. They
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: were at fault for, uh, suggesting all these changes on
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: the Poland library and they're at fault for the, uh,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: the design of how, uh, how, um, uh, irrespectful they
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: were of the Carnegie building downtown.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: And, um, um, they did, in your opinion, they didn't keep, uh, with,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: with the original design of the building, right?
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Or the streetscape, right?
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: The street is as important as the building itself. And, uh,
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: There's no– it's just an eyesore when you drive up
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Wick Avenue now.
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: And, um, and.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Um, But I'm just trying to figure, well, you know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: we spent 20 something million dollars downtown. So if we
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: have to spend, if we can solve this problem, like
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: you say, by dealing with this wall and we can
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: fix this issue and get to this building on a
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: maintenance program, let's say that's five, six, seven million dollars
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: to do that. That's certainly a lot less than the
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: 20 something million they spent downtown.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: And remember, the downtown library only serves 9% of the population.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Poland serves 25% of the population. And they have five
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: libraries in the Youngstown district.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Community, five libraries.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: And they spent that much just on the one where
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: all of our other communities have– there's only five other
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: libraries that are not part of the downtown library system.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: And yet they spend all that money down there and
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: it's just not– it doesn't even make sense. So they–
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: there's no transparency or accountability or respect for the community.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: And they say they have, but there definitely isn't. Not
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: like it was in the past with the library board.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: They have personally, I think, destroyed the reputation of the library.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: And all the years that it was such a significant
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: asset to the community and loved by everyone has just
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: gone by the wayside now because of their actions of
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: the board and the director.
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Well, they claim they did these outreach programs. The library's
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: director and CEO and strategic communications officer spoke with more
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: than 200 people in our community, engaging them as they
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: visit the library or community events. They created an online
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: survey that was shared with cardholders and patrons in their branches,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: 800 responses. They held town halls in every branch with
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: more than 200 staff members.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: You remember what we talked about, what the comedy of
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: errors it is when you go in and ask to
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: present yourself and want to have communication with.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: The board meetings.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Remember, you have to first of all call in or
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: write in three days ahead of time. You have to
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: give them the subject matter you're going to talk with.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: You're only allowed to talk for three minutes. If you
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: have a group that is going to talk, the total
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: of the time cannot be more than 20 minutes. And
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: if they approve what you're asking.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: So it doesn't seem they want to hear the public
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: very much. No, they don't.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: But this is what they're saying. They're so responsive and
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: attentive and things like this. So you go there, and
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: then you have to sign in again, and then you're
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: given that time. And I hadn't heard an old-fashioned alarm
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: clock like that since I was a kid. It's something
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: you see in the old-fashioned movies. Anyway, so they ring
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: that bell, and while you're talking, they're just sitting there like,
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: And I'll be honest, like zombies.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: There's no expression.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: In other words, you're going through the motions.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: And they do not answer you. They're not supposed to.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: See, here's my problem with this arrogance. My problem is
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: this is paid for by taxpayers. And you can say
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: whatever you want about the anti-tax groups, of which I'm
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: paying enough in property taxes.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: I've said it before. I'll say it again. The library
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: has more money than it knows what to do with.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Right. But the problem, and I'll say that to all
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: of you, the library has more money than it knows
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: what to do with. And you are seeing, from a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: taxpayer standpoint, arrogance like I've never seen before. You are
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: seeing people, clearly to me, overwhelmingly in a community that
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: want this facility fixed and stay right where it is.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And it is very fixable. It is extremely fixable as
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: opposed to a new facility. And there's more to this.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: There's the library. There's what it's done to the town.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: And they would like to see this fixed. And yet
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: they're just simply ignored.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Sit down. Shut up.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Pay your taxes. Let's hire a bunch of people that
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: aren't architects, that aren't carpenters. Let's try to go after
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Bob here, who is an architect whose heart is in
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: your community.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, you love it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: You designed Walgreens. Poland has a standard. And you've done
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: all of this stuff. You've done all of this stuff.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So let's attack him. Being attacked from people that aren't
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: architects or aren't carpenters. or don't understand maintenance when the
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: pictures speak for themselves. But we're on the payroll, we're collecting,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: so I'm paying these people with my tax dollars to
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: attack a person of credibility like you. And I'm sitting
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: back saying, well, wait a minute, this is insanity. These
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: are my tax dollars in this community that I'm paying,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: and the state is paying. I've got a library director
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: who's unresponsive. I've got people that are attacking you. You
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: come on this program live, they can certainly call in
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: and talk to you directly when you're sitting right in
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: that chair right there. Period. Right.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: The thing I don't understand is if this renovation to
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: redo all the lack of maintenance on the library is
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: five to six million dollars, and that was confirmed by
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Ted Downey of Downey Construction, who's well respected in the
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: construction world, why would they want to spend $ 9 million
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: to $ 9. 5 million, because I know it's going to be that.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: I already calculated that based on their figures, which they
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: said they had in their report that they were indefensible.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, defensible. You couldn't– that they were the honest,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: true figures. They're going to be spending– we spent $ 185
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: a square foot, including furnishers. They're going to spend over
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: $ 400 a square foot for half the size. But the
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: point is they're.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Spending– Station 570 WKBN.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: All right, so now I will open up my phone lines.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Bob Mastriana is sitting right there, the architect. If you agree,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: if you disagree, you know what, let's see here. So
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: my phone lines are open, and if any of these
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: people would like to talk to Bob directly on the air,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I invite them to do so. And I will, this Kosberg,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: this Shaver, this, let's see, and any of the other
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: names that are in this article that are with the
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: library system. If you have a problem with what Bob
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: has been saying, then pick up the phone and call
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: him right now and speak to him directly on the
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: air and to the people of our community here. about
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: if you have specific issues that you would like to address,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: whether that's the woman that's in charge of the library
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: who doesn't seem to say too much. She has all
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: these other people speaking that are on the payroll. Or
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: anybody else that has a thought that you would like
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: to express. To Bob here, 330-729-9977.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: 330-729-9977.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I have a line open if you want to get
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: through and you want to speak pro or con and
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: ask a question to the architect, feel free to do so. 330-729-9977.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Why not speak directly to him? Why not have a
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: forum where you can engage with him? And you're on
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the air.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Hey, Ron. Yes.
• 17:19
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm listening to this man. He is so, and
• 17:21
  Speaker 8: you can just tell by listening to him, this guy
• 17:23
  Speaker 8: is not a joke. He's very credible. And one of
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: the guys, the people had made a comment in social
• 17:29
  Speaker 8: media saying, and I'd like to know from his perspective,
• 17:32
  Speaker 8: because I think I know the difference, but they're saying
• 17:34
  Speaker 8: he's speaking from an architect's position versus an engineer position,
• 17:40
  Speaker 8: and that was one of their critiques, that he is
• 17:42
  Speaker 8: not a structural engineer. So maybe he could talk about
• 17:46
  Speaker 8: how architects still have to have that knowledge or help
• 17:54
  Speaker 8: people to understand that.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: All right, stand by. He'll answer your question. Go ahead.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: That's a good question. Really, one way to look at
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: it is the architect is the orchestra leader, just like
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: in a symphony. He directs and controls everyone, and he admits,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: if he's a good architect, that he needs to bring
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: on the experts in all the different disciplines that are necessary.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: As you did. As I did.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: So we bring in the technical soil, the geotechnical people.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: We bring in the structural engineers. We bring in the
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: heating engineers, the electrical engineers, landscape architects. We bring in
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: everyone and form a team that we all work together
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: then to make sure that there are any oversights or
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: anything like that. And that's exactly what we did in
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: this case and we do with all of our major
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: commercial buildings.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Next question. Go ahead.
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, well, I don't really have another question.
• 18:45
  Speaker 8: I guess my next statement would be that if they
• 18:48
  Speaker 8: do not want, if they want to do all, if
• 18:50
  Speaker 8: they want to pick this, tear this library down and
• 18:53
  Speaker 8: relocate it somewhere else in Poland, that to me is insane.
• 18:58
  Speaker 8: We have 251 buildings public library systems over 88 counties
• 19:04
  Speaker 8: in Mahoning County alone. We have 15 library locations. If
• 19:09
  Speaker 8: you don't want this one, we don't want to buy
• 19:11
  Speaker 8: another one. We want this library. If you don't want
• 19:14
  Speaker 8: this library and you're so hellbent about.
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: Getting rid of it.
• 19:19
  Speaker 8: Nobody wants another. I don't know anybody who is like, yeah,
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: sign me up. You can throw a stone and hit
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: a library in this county.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Do you feel that the public is not being, the
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: taxpayer is not being listened to by this group?
• 19:34
  Speaker 8: Listen, it's apparent. I'm not even with this library group
• 19:37
  Speaker 8: and just listening to all of this and reading everything.
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: It's apparent nobody cares what Poland wants. And these people
• 19:45
  Speaker 8: have donated a lot of time and money. to this
• 19:49
  Speaker 8: particular world. and nobody cares what they say. The way
• 19:52
  Speaker 8: that this whole organization is set up is astonishing that
• 19:56
  Speaker 8: this is even a thing. How could this have happened
• 19:59
  Speaker 8: that they can exist this way and totally disregard people
• 20:04
  Speaker 8: It honestly is mind-blowing how we got here.
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 20:09
  Speaker 8: With our tax dollars, how did this even evolve to
• 20:13
  Speaker 8: them being so insulated? They don't have to answer questions.
• 20:16
  Speaker 8: They don't have to... And I don't know. Honestly, it's
• 20:20
  Speaker 8: so frustrating. But you can tell that this man is
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: not a joke. I mean, anybody who's listening, you can
• 20:26
  Speaker 8: listen to this man and tell that he is a professional.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, he is.
• 20:31
  Speaker 8: He's not lying. I don't understand where the disconnect is.
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: I want somebody to call. Please, I hope somebody calls in.
• 20:38
  Speaker 8: Prove me wrong. Tell me why this man is.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: So out of his mind.
• 20:44
  Speaker 8: I want somebody to call in on the other side.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Appreciate your time. Back with Bob and Maura
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: in a minute. Let's start here. So good morning and welcome.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: We are now underway.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: We're following the events of the day. What we're just
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: now hearing about.
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: This is new information.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Throughout the day.
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: Good day.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: This is where it stands now.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Pick up the conversation.
• 21:03
  Speaker 7: We'll talk about what's happening.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Anytime.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: The deal we reached with Iran.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: The devil's in the details.
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: Bringing the price of gasoline down.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Maintain the Fed funds rate.
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: Tying Pfizer to the save app. NATO has been a
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: paper tiger for the very latest.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: We'll see how that all plays out. News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: The Canadian.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Wildfire smoke is still lingering in parts of Ohio today
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: with air quality alerts in effect for northeast Ohio, including
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the cities of Cleveland and Akron, along with counties in
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the Columbus and Dayton areas. Northeast Ohio has seen the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: worst of the smoke, causing the Cleveland Guardians game Friday
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: night against the Pittsburgh Pirates to be postponed to Saturday,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: made up during a doubleheader. Meantime, a man who Toledo
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: police say was waving and pointing a gun at others
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: at a gas station overnight was shot and killed by
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: police officers. The call coming in from a Sheetz just
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: after 3.30 yesterday morning, with a suspect dying at the hospital,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and the officer involved has been placed on paid administrative
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: leave as the investigation takes place. And in the meantime,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: entering the new week, Ohio's gas price averages at $ 3. 89,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: which is up 5 cents compared to last Sunday. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: when looking back a month, the price is just a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: penny less and 94 cents high.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: Compared to a year ago. I'm Brady Hopkins.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Listen on the free iHeartRadio app for all your music, news, talk,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and sports radio.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Podcasts, too. Download the app. Free never sounded so good.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: A to Z dependable herb. On NewsRadio 570, WKBN.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: All right, with Ron Firm at 435 in the afternoon,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: NewsRadio 570, WKBN. Before I go back to my phone calls,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: when they talk about the new building and the maintenance
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: costs versus the old building, I've always learned that systems
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: have a lifespan on them. Just like in my house,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: my furnace is good for 20, 25 years. Then when
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I replace it, I get another one for another 25 years.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: So if we replace, let's say, the heating and cooling
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: system on the existing Poland library, and we put a
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: new one in because it's 25 years old, then that
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: system's going to be good for another 25 years. Now,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: if we go build a new building and we put
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: a new system on, that system's going to be good
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: for 25 years.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: So if it doesn't matter..
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: No, it's a wash.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: It's a wash.
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, so you can fix the building you have,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: put a new system on, and you got the same
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: expiration date as the new one.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's the mechanics of it.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: But their scenario is that the... The maintenance costs don't decrease.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: They stay current and keep growing when actually they were eliminated.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Every time they fix something, it's no longer part of
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: an expense.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: It resets the clock.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Yes. And if you do basic maintenance and maintain the building,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: then your maintenance costs are just routine maintenance that you
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: would have on a new facility too. Yes. You build
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: a new facility, you should have routine maintenance on it too. Right.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: If you have an old facility or an older, you
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: still have routine maintenance on it.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: And that's so elementary. And that's why I can't understand
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: this board. If they're using that as their major reason
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: for leaving.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: I don't think they understand contracting.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: I don't think they understand life.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Well, you might be right about that. All right, you're
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: on the air. NewsRadio 570. Hello.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: This is Tom. I was just holding on to see
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: if you had any questions. I do have a question
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: about the building. That building was built 25 years ago
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: for $ 7. 5 million, as I understand it. Correct. What would
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: it cost to build that building today?
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: It could be, I would think, at least equal to
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: what they spent downtown.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Twenty-something million? Yeah.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: So you're going to trash this building, which today would
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: cost you that much money, when you only paid $ 7. 5
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: million for it. It doesn't make sense. Why not invest
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: the amount of money it's needed to fix it to
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: keep that building? Because it's much more valuable today than
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: it was 20 years ago, 25 years ago. That's my thing.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: They don't think about stuff like that. I had one
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: other question myself, and that is, Bob, was that a
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: Vindicator article? I was kind of preoccupied last weekend. Was
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: that a Vindicator article?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Did the person who wrote the article contact you and
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: ask you for a pardon?
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: No, they just used what we spoke on the program.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: Not what the comments were about you. And the other
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: thing is, why isn't the trustees, why don't the trustees,
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: they made the decision, not Amy, not Zach Cosberg, not
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: anyone else. They made the decision, and yet for some
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: reason they don't answer any of the questions. So this
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: is what I was speaking about the last time I
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: talked on this, control. Is the board really in control?
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: in power down there? Is the board making the decisions?
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: Or are they just writing off whatever, agreeing to whatever
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: is done by the CEO and other people on that board?
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: That's what it sounds like to me. To me, I
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: have not, I have yet to hear maybe one person
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: had some comments. But when you get into making a
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: decision like this involving tens of millions of dollars, and
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: you're the one who made the decision, you should be
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: able to talk about that decision. And I haven't heard
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: that from the Board of Trustees, and that's why you
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: need somebody who's accountable to the taxpayer, because then they
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: have to answer to the taxpayer if taxpayers don't like
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: this decision, but that's not the case here. So those
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: are the comments I had to make right now. If
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: you have any other questions for me on... I have
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: one article here I was reading that I would like
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: to just quote a little bit. It's from... It says WKBN.
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: I don't know which part of WKBN. It says Jacob Thompson,
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: and it was written in August... of 2023, and they're
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: talking about the reopening of the Poland Library, and I'll
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: just quote parts of it. It's a really large building.
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: If you've been in here before, especially when some kids
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: are here, the sound carries. Okay, and it's a large library.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: If you say the 23-year-old building needed some work done
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: on the inside, the building really hadn't really been renovated
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: since it was built. and opened around the year 2000.
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: It was really overdue for some refresh work on the outside.
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: But they mentioned that they did architectural design and consultation, heating, ventilation,
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: and air conditioning, electrical upgrades, clock tower repairs, painting, carpeting,
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: and furniture. So I don't really know whether they meant
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: that the building hadn't received any renovation work in the
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: 25 years or whether they were talking about just the inside. But,
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: you know, it's just something you notice there. So any questions?
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: It doesn't make sense to, you know, I just think,
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: why would you take a building that's worth as much
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: as it would be to cost to build it today
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: and get rid of it when all you have to
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: do is fix it and you still have that beautiful building?
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: No, I think that makes perfect sense. My biggest concern
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: is I think the taxpayers of the community are totally
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: being ignored. the vast majority that say exactly what you've said,
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: they are simply being ignored. And you seem like you
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: have a library director who's insulated herself by hiring a
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: bunch of people. We give them big titles and we
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: give them a salary and benefits. These are your tax dollars,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: as you well know, Tom, that's paying these people basically
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: to attack you. The man had designed this beautiful building
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and basically to attack the people that are opposed to
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: moving this facility. If you are not moving, it's to
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: building a different facility. I mean, these are your tax dollars.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: And should they be surprised when us anti-tax people are saying,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: guess what?
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Don't vote for a library levy.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: And hopefully people can be more successful at the state
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: level because you're totally being ignored. Basically, their attitude is
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: pay our salaries and sit down and shut up. Is
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: that your impression, Tom?
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: Absolutely. I think it's totally ignoring. Like Bob said, you
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: have 4,000 people on a petition to keep the library there.
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, what do you want? And why aren't you
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: out there speaking on behalf of your decision? instead of Mr. Cozberg,
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: who I think has only been there a couple years.
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: His background is in political work for decades. political candidates.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: Democrat candidates.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: I agree. They're not at all responsive to the public,
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: and this is why the legal structure of that, you're
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: never going to solve this problem as long as that
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: library is governed by that provision of the Ohio Revised Code.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: and not the provision of the law that governs libraries.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: It should be whatever it takes legally by the Ohio legislature.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: They need to change that structure of that library to
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: make it accountable to someone who is elected by the people.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: And Ms. Feferick, however she pronounces her name, said she
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: was glad it didn't have anybody from the government involved
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: because she didn't want to be political. You've got to
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: be kidding me. With the kind of answers you have now,
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: it's the most political type stance I've heard in a
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: long time. So she's being hypocritical. They need to change
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: the structure at the end.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: When you were on last, Tom, you did a beautiful
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: job explaining to the public about the sources of the
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: library funds, $ 100 million every five years. And that's what
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: people don't realize. So when they approve this little... What
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: is it? 2.4 mill levy. That gives $ 50 million a
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: year from our local tax dollars and $ 50 million a
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: year for five years, I'm sorry, from our state monies,
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: still our monies. And then I don't understand, and you
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: were talking about the structure of the legal system of
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: the Board of Trustees, which you just talked about now,
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: but I don't understand how a Board of Trustees can
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: overrule all the previous Boards of Trustees. and what commitments
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: they made. I mean, this building was built based on
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: the approval of all the trustees before and all the
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: people and everyone before and why, and they just throw
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: that all away. And they're spending $ 7 to $ 9 million
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: on the new Poland branch, which I– I know it's
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: going to be $ 9. 5 million because I did a complete
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: cost takeoff based on their costs.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: When we can fix the existing one.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: It just makes no sense. And then, like you said, Tom,
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: they spent $ 27 million to renovate the main branch for
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: 16,000 square feet, and they're going to be building 16,000
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: square feet here, so maybe it won't even be $ 9. 5 million.
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: Maybe it will be up in the neighborhoods of the
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: downtown branch.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: And there's just so many inconsistencies, like you said, the
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: culinary kitchen, the charging stations. You know, I think I
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: know why they put the charging stations in now, because
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: it's not for the users of the space. It was
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: for the board, because a lot of them have electric vehicles.
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: And so while they're at a board meeting, then they
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: can get completely charged up and off they go at
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: our taxpayers' cost. So the other– it's just amazing that the–
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: and then the one thing that is the most dramatic thing, Tom,
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: you brought up before was that the annual cost for
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: the employee salaries and benefits have increased from 50 percent
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: of the annual revenues to 75 percent of the library's
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: annual revenues now. And so the expenditures of salaries and
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: personnel never reached $ 10 million per year until 2019 when
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: it reached over $ 10 million. And now– It's closer to
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: $ 15 million.
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: It was only $ 40, 000 under $ 15 million in 2025. I'd
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: like to see the 2025. The tax returns won't be
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: out until later this year from 990. There's just so
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: many things wrong with that structure down there. And I
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: just think the board hasn't done its duty. It should
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: be accountable to the public. And if you didn't have
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: the Mahoney County property tax, and if you didn't have
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: the state library fund tax, there would be no library.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: And yet, the people who are paying that bill are
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: being totally ignored.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: That's not what you want. That's not what you want
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: in a government.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: Amen.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Tom. Appreciate it. All right. You're on the air.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: News Radio 570 WQN.
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: Hello.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Hi, Ron.
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: How are you doing?
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: Go ahead, please.
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I just want to say thank you to you
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: and Bob and Tom. We're not getting a lot of
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: help in pulling from the media. The Vindicator is squarely
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: against us. Their editorials, their articles, not helpful. And these
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: shows this week and last week were so right on
• 34:29
  Speaker 7: the mark.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: Messinger got his facts down, and they are what we
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: know from the State of Our Library Committee. To be true,
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: I just want to say, I want to add that
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: last week they said they had $ 50 million in excess.
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: I think it's more like over $ 90 million in excess
• 34:49
  Speaker 7: funding on their books.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know, to be exact.
• 34:53
  Speaker 7: They have a public balance sheet, and I think it's
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: from 2024. My accountant's friends dug it up in less
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: than two hours, and they show $ 60 million in investments
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: and over $ 30 million in cash. I believe it's a
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: 2024 balance sheet. It could be a year before that.
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: I'm not sure.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Well, take that.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: I have that here.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: Do you? Get that to Tom Zamri, too, caller.
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: Well, Tom has it.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, does he? Yeah.
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: That's how he came up with all these numbers. What
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: you're talking about, though, is their total values of all
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: the assets of all the buildings and everything. That's where
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: we're at with that $ 900, 000 or whatever that was.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: I think Tom was just talking about cash reserves, right?
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the cash reserves. So the cash they have, and
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: they make close to $ 4 million to $ 5 million a
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: year just on the interest income on those cash things also.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: Which is my tax dollars.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 35:47
  Speaker 7: Right, exactly.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: So the thing that they're paying themselves so much more
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: in salaries now, that unless they turn it around, they're
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: actually going to be in the hole now. And they're
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: not going to be– right now they're clearing a couple
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: million a year, but shortly with the salaries they're paying themselves–
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: And benefits. And benefits, they're not going to have that
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: positive cash flow anymore.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: That's how gross they are.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: How about less salaries and more maintenance on the facilities?
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: Well, they couldn't afford the more.
• 36:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah, how about that?
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, here's a novel idea.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: How about less guys with these long titles and some
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: more painters? and some more guys to caulk windows. How
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: about those guys? You know, guys that actually know how
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: to do something, that have a trade and a skill
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: and actually know how to do something instead of some
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: people sitting around saying, well, how can we word this
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: to muddy the waters or try to besmirch a wonderful
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: man's reputation?
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: It's reprehensible.
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: It truly is. And I just want to say one
• 36:47
  Speaker 7: more thing. Well, I forgot my train of thought.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
• 36:52
  Speaker 7: Bob, I have a question for you. All those things
• 36:54
  Speaker 7: that have disappeared from the library, a lot of that
• 36:57
  Speaker 7: stuff was donated.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, all of it.
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: It was private collections.
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 37:01
  Speaker 7: It means nothing to anyone except the people of Poland.
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: They're kind of priceless, actually. They're irreplaceable, at least that.
• 37:08
  Speaker 7: What happened to those things?
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: Where are they?
• 37:11
  Speaker 7: Were they tossed?
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: That's the question we need to know. We've asked, and
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: they won't say. The only thing I know is we
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: all got a letter saying that you had to pick
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: up your stuff. by a certain date otherwise they were
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: going to dispose of them and they sent that out uh..
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: And uh..
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: They changed the lawn uh... two thousand uh... what did
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: i say two thousand three and yet all this time
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: it was donated in in uh... way before that years
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: before that two thousand one although money was pretty pretty
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: much in and uh... and uh... so they had no
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: right to do that the contracts that that we we
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: all donated the money were for legacy projects and for
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: perpetuity and um... And same with the solid waste. They
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: were supposed to have a permanent display for their $ 400, 000,
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: and they ignored all that. Now, what gives these people
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: the right to do all that when that's not at all?
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: And none of these people would have donated the money
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: they did if it was destroyed. The only people that
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: have benefited or that they couldn't do it was like
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: the Alexovs because they donated the cupula, and they couldn't
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: get rid of that and some of the others. But
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: everything else that they could get rid of, they did.
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: And that was all. through those contemporary architects from Cleveland.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: They were the ones that gave them all this false
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: direction of how to clear the building and make it
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: much more contemporary and more up-to-date for today's library, which
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: we aren't interested in in Poland at all.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I understand, Collar, that they even took the plaque down
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: over the urinal that said this is the Ron Verb urinal.
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: That was actually removed.
• 38:45
  Speaker 7: That's rough, Ron.
• 38:46
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: I'm very disturbed by that. It was never returned to
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: my family.
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: There's an element of crime there.
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: I can't even describe.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your sympathies. I've got to pause. I
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: appreciate it. More calls straight ahead. News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: More of your calls straight ahead on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: Friend or foe on this live broadcast, you can call
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: Bob Mastriana at The Architect. Folks, you know as well
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: as I do, this doesn't make a lick of sense.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: There's nothing that I find more frustrating than these are
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: your tax dollars. As I say, as I've said, your
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: tax dollars, and I've said it for years, the library
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: has more money coming in that they know what to
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: do with. And now obviously they're spending so much on
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: salaries of people who salaries and benefits that it's just ridiculous.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: And as opposed to spending more on routine maintenance, it's,
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: it's just deeply disturbing what is, what is going on
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: and how the taxpayer and people, particularly the people of Poland,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: this is their, their, their library in Mahoning County.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: And it seems they're just totally being ignored.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: That's, There seems to be a lack of respect for
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: the taxpayer and the people in the community.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: You're on the air.
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: First off, the structure of the building, that plaque you're
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: talking about, was moved to the commode years ago.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, did you move it?
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: No, but it had fallen in because there was no maintenance.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: The super glue on the Ron Firm urinal came off.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I wonder if Zach Kosberg will address what happened to
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: my plaque on the urinal. I would like him to
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: address that.
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: A couple things, structurally and then just politically. Number one,
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: they need to move this library because they need an
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: excuse to spend money so that they can continue to
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: get more money. It is a joke. It is bureaucracy.
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: First of all, the library, everybody is very educated talking
• 41:01
  Speaker 6: right now. I'm not probably going to be so nice.
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: You need a janitor to unlock the door and lock
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: the door at the end of the day, and you
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: need one 90-year-old blue-haired lady with big glasses to stamp
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: when your book needs to come back. You don't need
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: nine people working there. All the tax dollars and waste
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: that goes there is a joke. I've been educated so
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: much in this program right here, it's eye-opening. But the
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: simple fact that all this money is being wasted is just–
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: it goes to– I blame not only the library board,
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: but you know who I blame? I blame the voters
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: of Mahoning County who gave them all this money for
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: them to be able to waste it away. It is
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: a microcosm of what our whole entire country does. If
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: you don't use the money, you're going to lose it.
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: And I'd be cautious to the people in Poland because
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: if that library goes, that building sitting there– The only
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: other entity in this county that has enough money to
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: buy it and fix it is going to be WRTA.
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: And you're going to have a mighty nice bus stop
• 41:55
  Speaker 6: sitting in the middle of Poland if you don't, you know,
• 41:57
  Speaker 6: fix the problem that's there.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: And the thing is, it's fixable. It's fixable, and I
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: think to build that today, maybe $ 20 million. So you
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: can fix this building for less money than to build
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: this new facility, and you save something that has made
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: that community proud.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: But you have a board.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: And you have people on a payroll that seem to
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: have an agenda that's against what the citizens of the
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: community are interested in. And for the life of me—
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: I'll be damned if I understand that mentality at all.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: To attack this fine man sitting here is reprehensible to me.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, all he's done for that community.
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: Yeah, just like along the creek, that wall that was
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: put there, the board did that. That wasn't even by
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: somebody qualified to put that there. And for him to
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: have even said this is a horrible idea to waste
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it to cause the problem,
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: the lack of maintenance. All of that is just an
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: abysmal joke, and it just goes to show how much–
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: we have so much fraud and waste in this country.
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: Look what we have just right down the street. I
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: don't know how you walk around town saying that you
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: need to waste your neighbor's tax dollars like this and
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: not even have– if you have that much conviction, it
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: should be no problem to call in and state your
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: case just like this gentleman is doing. And you know
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: why he's doing this? Because he knows he's right. Anybody
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: could call in and..
• 43:18
  Speaker 5: Oh, no.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: They'll attack him when he... See, I don't run a
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: clock here. They can call in and say what they
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: agree with or disagree with them right now on the program.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate your call. We'll be back after
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: the break at 5. Stay tuned.