COURTESY CMSD NEWS BUREAU
CMSD’s homeless students will benefit from an $80,738 fine that a contractor paid for using foreign steel on a state-funded transportation project.
The amount represents the largest share of $250,000 in fines that Attorney General Dave Yost secured from Miller Builders of Ohio.
State law requires contractors to use U.S.-made steel on state-funded projects. The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission found that Miller Builders used foreign steel on eight transportation projects, which included storage buildings and road salt canopies.
“In Ohio, we put American workers and American products first, and this action ensures it stays that way,” Yost said.
Fines totaled 1½ times the cost of the steel used on the project. By law, the fines were distributed to the school districts where the projects were located.
District CEO Eric Gordon said the money would go to CMSD’s Project ACT, which serves homeless students and their families.
Project ACT currently assists 1,800 students who are in shelters or temporary housing. But in a typical year, the department helps nearly 3,000.
The donation is one of the largest Project ACT has received since it was started in 1993. Director Marsha Zashin said the funds will go a long way in meeting the needs of students and their families.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” she said. “”This will be very, very helpful for our kids.”
Project ACT helps out with items such as school supplies, groceries, hygiene products, laundry detergent and Tracfones. Among the beneficiaries of its services in the last month were about a half-dozen families displaced by fires.