28-01-2025
Officials waiting on engineer's report on vacated building
Jan. 28—CONNEAUT — Local officials are still waiting on a final engineers report on a Main Street building vacated earlier this month, according to Conneaut City Manager Nick Sanford and Ashtabula County Building Safety Inspector Thomas Congdon.
The building had been ordered vacated after the county and city found roof damage, which could have spread to the whole building.
The Main Street building houses a State Farm Office, Cricket Wireless and Community Counseling Center.
Those businesses have either had to shut down, operate remotely or move locations since the vacate order.
The CCC was where the roof damage was first noticed.
Amayah Investors LLC, the contractors the building owners' brought in, worried about the damage.
From there, local officials also came in and put out the order.
There was major sagging in CCC's ceiling, Conneaut Fire Chief Steve Lee said at the time.
Congdon said he had speculated the damage came from snowmelt, especially from the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm.
The engineer's report will establish a cause for the damage, and how dangerous it is to the rest of the building.
Congdon said whatever the next steps are depends on what the engineer's report says.
What the engineer's report finds will affect when the businesses will reopen.
The CCC directed Conneaut residents to call or reach out to its Ashtabula office if they needed help.
At the time, the CCC looked for a temporary headquarters in Conneaut as well.
The State Farm Office is headed by insurance agent Chris Brecht, who said he and his employees have adapted to working remotely.
"We're getting by just fine, until they can come up with a plan for what to do," he said.
Brecht said employees have also been able to take calls out just fine.
The State Farm office is relying on a secure night box for its payments and mail, he said.
"People can drop payments off," Brecht said.
The Cricket Wireless shut its doors because of the order.
