As it turns out the city of Sharon doesn't need to form an industrial development authority to help businessman James E. Winner Jr. get state money to clean up the site of Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s former Sharon Transformer Division. The city already has one.

But Mayor David O. Ryan said there are many details that have to be worked out before city officials will agree to act as an applicant so Winner can apply for a $7 million grant through the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital program to complete the $18 million project.

Winner asked city council in June to form an authority to apply for the grant. The state requires that grant requests come through an industrial development authority. Council agreed to consider the request.

As it turns out, city officials in 1971 formed an authority. The authority was chartered for 50 years but it never actually functioned, Ryan said. He said he is in the process of appointing 10 authority members and plans to give council a list of names Thursday.

Even with an authority, Ryan said he still has questions about the city's liability if the grant is awarded and exactly how the authority will function.

"My question is how is the city going to be indemnified . . . if something should go wrong," Ryan said. "Somebody has to be held responsible in case something goes wrong. I can't jeopardize 16,000 people in the city of Sharon for any project."

The impending agreement between the city and Winner is still in its infancy, Ryan said.

Winner has tried twice, unsuccessfully, to apply for the state funds -- once through the Shenango Valley Industrial Development Corporation and once through the Mercer County Industrial Development Authority.

Winner and SVIDC members could not reach an agreement for the grant application because SVIDC officials said Winner didn't supply them with financial information required by the state.

The same problem occurred with the MCIDA. Authority officials said Winner failed to show enough private funds had been spent and private financing was secured, that financing for the proper equipment was secured and that final plans and specifications for the project were prepared by a licensed engineer or architect.

Winner announced in March that he was dropping plans to get the state money for the project. In June MCIDA sued Winner's company, Winner Development LLC, for over $31,000 in back fees which MCIDA said it was owed.

Ryan said there are two sides to every story, and he's not going to dwell on what happened with the project in the past. "I am going to try the best that I can to go ahead as if this were a brand new project," he said.

Winner was out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Ryan said he is waiting for information from the state that explains exactly how the industrial development authority must function. Until he gets that information, Ryan said he couldn't really answer any questions about the authority's role in the grant application process.

In June Winner told city council members he will pay any costs the city may incur by forming an authority. He tried to assure council members the project would be completed and said he has $11 million of his own money invested in the project.

The next phase of the project for the plant on Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon includes an addition to the existing building, repairing the roof, pressure washing the walls and floors and black topping a parking lot.

This portion of the renovation is the third phase in the attempt to clean up the site which closed in 1985. Winner bought the Sharpsville Avenue site in December 1999 and has been working to renovate it. Part of the renovations include cleanup of land that is contaminated by PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, an ingredient in the cooling fluid formerly used in transformers built at the plant. PCBs are suspected of causing cancer.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgar
rett@sharon-herald.com