Farrell council is standing by last week's decision to turn down a proposal to help pay for the construction of a district justice's office in the city.

Mayor William Morocco said Monday the additional information the county provided on site- preparation plans was not adequate for council members.

"We can't make an intelligent decision based on incomplete information," said Councilwoman the Rev. Jeannette Wright-Hooks.

"I sincerely feel bad that they did not accept it," said Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth Seamans.

If council had accepted the plan, Seamans said, the office would have been built at the site council members preferred -- Spearman Avenue and Roemer Boulevard, across Roemer from the post office -- and District Justice Henry J. Russo and his staff could have been setting up shop in a new home by summer.

Mercer County commissioners had said they would be willing to pay for construction of the office at Spearman and Roemer if council would pay for site preparation, final landscaping, rough grading and installing a sidewalk.

According to council, the latest estimates from the county are that it would cost about $235,000 for construction of the building and about $70,000 for site preparation.

Council asked for specifications for the work it would have to do. Morocco said the county sent a list of work to be done, a cost breakdown and a map, but no dimensions or other information that council could take to an engineer or architect to get a second opinion on the cost.

"We don't feel that we've been adequately responded to," Morocco said. "There really is not too much desire here to go forward."

While architect John Gruitza has scaled back plans for a building from what had been discussed before, the work the city would be responsible for is unchanged from the original drawings, Seamans said.

"They got the information that they had asked for," Seamans said. "Everything would be the same as the original. If they hadn't seen them, I would be greatly surprised. I don't know what they're looking for."

Councilwoman Helen Marenchin noted the city is financially distressed and no other municipality has been asked to contribute to the cost of a county office. The city would be "the laughing stock of the county" if council agrees to put money into the project.

Subtracting the potential sale cost of the Hermitage building where Russo now has his office -- its appraised value is in the low $30,000s -- from the expected total construction cost, $305,000, the final cost of the project will be less than the $300,000 commissioners had once said they would want to spend, and less than the county is spending to move the Greenville office of District Justice William L. Fagley, said Councilman Robert Burich.

Seamans said spending $245,000 is as high as the county will go. He said the cost of renovating a building for Fagley's office is $297,000, and the appraised value of the current office is about $84,000, making a total cost of about $213,000.

"I feel bad that they're not satisfied," Seamans said of Farrell council. "The county just does not have the money to put in more than we've said we can put in."

Seamans said commissioners will have to start looking for another site for Russo's office and will consider sites in Farrell and in the other communities the office serves: Hermitage, Wheatland, West Middlesex and Shenango Township.

While Mercer County President Judge Francis J. Fornelli has said the office should be in Farrell because of the demographics of the cases it handles, Seamans said Fornelli would be willing to approve a site outside of Farrell if the commissioners told him they could not find another site in the city.

Prior to making its announcement, council heard from members of the Shenango Valley Ministerium.

The Rev. Martha J. Sanders said the association appreciates the effort council has made to find a site for the district justice's office and asked it to continue.

"We don't want this project to slip through our fingers or be taken away from us," she said.

If the city does not have the money the county is asking for, there are other ways of contributing to the project, including sweat-equity, volunteers and other funding sources, she said.

Referring to the Shenango Valley Multi-Service Center moving from Farrell to Hermitage, where it was renamed the Shenango Valley Center for Aging and Geriatric Health, the Rev. Joseph Davis said, "We just don't want to miss out again."

He said that "if the plate went out" to the association's 22 member churches, people would be willing to donate money and labor.

Falconi responded that he would rather see the association elicit support for other projects, such as recreation and children's issues.