LEETONIA — Village council approved a construction management at risk (CMR) agreement with DeSalvo Construction for phase four of the village’s civic center project.

Council voted unanimously to authorize a contract with DeSalvo Construction for pre-construction CMR services for a fee of $13,125.

Under a CMR agreement, the contractor acts as a consultant initially, working with the client during the design phase to ensure that the project can feasibly be completed within their budget, before shifting to a more traditional general contractors’ role during the construction phase, selecting and overseeing the work of subcontractors to ensure the project is completed on time and within budget.

Mayor Kevin Siembida said that while in the past the village has typically favored a design, bid, build model for capital improvement projects, with millions of dollars in state and grant funding in the balance the CMR model would have less risk for the village.

“For their initial fee they’re going to look at this thing and see where we can bring the price down and what this is going to be, and if this doesn’t work, that’s all [Leetonia] is out. Versus $150,00 to $250,000 if we brought an architect in. That’s why we started looking at this,” said Siembida. “It’s a matter of breaking everything up into smaller local projects like electrical, heating, HVAC, concrete, and working through the process now, versus having the bid documents and being $250,000 over budget and having to decide whether we have the money to accept it or we go back to the drawing table where they’re going charge us another $50,000 to redesign it to shave $200,000 out. With the CMR, we work through that process now. That’s why I think for a project of this cost it’s a way better delivery method.”

That approval came despite initial reservations from the village council, with President J.R. Ferry citing concerns of agreeing to the CMR and discovering later that the village doesn’t have enough funding available to complete the project.

DeSalvo Construction President Joseph DeSalvo said that part of the pre-construction process would be to evaluate the existing plans for the project and give realistic estimates for the cost of construction and make any necessary design changes needed to ensure it could be completed within the village’s budget. He also noted that due to DeSalvo construction’s experience and high regard among contractors in the area, they would be able to obtain more competitive bids from sub-contractors than would be available to just the village.

“This project is very unique. It’s an impressive design, it’s an ambitious design, and we want to see it work for you. But the only way to really evaluate that is to let our team of estimators at pre-construction do a fair and balanced estimate and then pivot from there as we need to. We have a lot of different strategies on how to go to the marketplace and buy construction services,” said DeSalvo. “We have a proven track record. We have a very strong reputation in the [Mahoning] Valley and sub-contractors and suppliers in northeast Ohio and beyond for that matter want to work for DeSalvo because we do a lot of work, we do it very efficiently, and we pay very quickly. So they know what they’re getting.”

Siembida and DeSalvo also said that as part of the CMR agreement, should the village decide to accept the pre-construction designs proposed by DeSalvo and move on to construction, DeSalvo’s contract as construction manager will include a set maximum out-of-pocket cost for the village called a guaranteed maximum price amendment. That means that should the costs of completing the project exceed that guaranteed cap, the overrun is paid by the CMR contractor.

During his report, Village Fiscal Officer Nick Mistovich said that the village was still experiencing significant water loss through leaks, which he estimated had reached a rate of 55% loss or more. He said that when the village’s water loss was 35%, the additional costs totaled approximately $120,000 over the course of the year and estimated that in 2026 the village has lost $55,000 to $60,000 “just for the first three months in water leaks.”

“Obviously, that’s a devastating problem. If we were at the EPA standards of water loss of 17% we would net an extra $60,000 in the water fund, that would accumulate year after year. That would be a massive plus. But instead [the village] is always scrambling to meet every expense in that fund,” said Mistovich.

However, Mistovich also said the water department has been “working diligently” to address the issue, and he believes the village’s next water bill will be “reduced substantially.”

For his part, Chief Operator Brandon French said that in the last month the department had identified and replaced multiple leaking hydrants and sections of water lines. He said that the department would continue to closely monitor and address any new leaks, attributing the high concentration of leaks in recent months to the severe conditions during the winter season.

Village council will meet next at 6:30 p.m. on May 20.

mahart@mojonews.com