YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A new mobile boiler that will provide heating service to 27 buildings and approximately 90 residents downtown has arrived at SOBE Thermal Energy LLC’s site on North Avenue.
On Monday morning, a crew was busy installing the unit – owned by Power Mechanical Inc., based in Virginia. The company specializes in rentals of trailer-mounted boilers and has locations in Chicago, Houston, Jersey City and Ontario, Canada, according to its website.
A source familiar with the process said it could take several days to begin service after the unit arrives. Service is on track to be restored “early this week,” according to a city spokesman.
The Business Journal reported Thursday that SOBE had contracted with the company to provide a temporary boiler to serve downtown customers after an attempt to connect its pipeline infrastructure to Youngstown State University’s system failed last week.
On Sept. 30, Wabash Power Corp. disconnected and repossessed a mobile steam heating trailer that it leased to SOBE so the company could provide heat and chilled water to 27 buildings downtown and approximately 90 apartment units. SOBE had failed to make lease payments on the unit, and a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled in August that Wabash had the right to repossess the equipment.
The court on Sept. 26 appointed a receiver to manage the assets of SOBE, citing the likelihood of insolvency. Last minute attempts by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to stay the repossession failed, since the unit had already been decommissioned, according to documents filed with the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The city on Thursday sent a letter urging the PUCO and the court-appointed receiver to use “all statutory powers” to restart operations at SOBE Thermal Energy Systems’ North Avenue steam heating plant.
The city’s letter, drafted Thursday by Law Director Lori Shells Simmons, called the situation “unacceptable” and noted the city has no authority to operate the district heating plant.
Moreover, the letter emphasized that the city has “gone above and beyond” its obligations to provide enough time for authorities to step in and assume control over the troubled district heating company.
“The repossession of this trailer has left many downtown businesses and residents without heat or hot water,” Shells Simmons wrote. “This situation is unacceptable and constitutes a failure of SOBE Thermal’s statutory obligation to provide public utilities as required by law.”
The letter requests that the PUCO and the receiver contact the city’s law department within the next 24 hours to inform them of how they intend to resume SOBE’s operations so that the city may advise its downtown residents and businesses.
“They need to do their job, so it’s critical. We’re serious about it,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said of the PUCO and the receiver. “We’re serious about safety. We’re serious about our citizens. We’re serious about our downtown. We’re looking to the future, and everything’s moving in the right direction, and we want to make sure that they get the service they deserve.”