By DAVID SKOLNICK

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — City council approved $684,685 in projects from the American Rescue Plan allocation it gave its members, including $160,000 to buy a shuttered business on the South Side to convert it into a police substation.

The 5-1 vote Wednesday was the same day a 6-year-old boy was shot on the South Side on East Avondale Avenue, less than a mile from the site of the proposed substation at 2525 Market St., a former McDonald’s that closed in December 2017. Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, was the lone “no” vote.

“It won’t stop what happened (the Wednesday shooting), but it might deter it,” said Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, who is using the $160,000 cost of buying the building from her ward’s $2 million ARP allocation.

Davis, a retired police officer, said: “Clearly when people see police cars, they slow down. When people see police officers, they act right. Having a substation on Market Street might help with crime. It is something that we need.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said the substation, when it opens, will “deter people from committing crimes. It’s as much a deterrent as an officer walking the neighborhood. The more police presence you have in a neighborhood, particularly a high-crime area, the better.”

The boy shot early Wednesday in his home was the victim of a “targeted” shooting, but someone else inside the home was the target, police said. The child was in guarded but stable condition as of Wednesday.

Davis has been working for a while on this legislation and said she was “happy” council agreed to authorize the purchase of the building.

The city still needs to make renovations to the building before it opens. It should be ready by early next year, Davis said.

Davis said she wants the police department to bring back auxiliary and reserve officers and have them work out of the building, provide a place for full-time officers when handling cases nearby and for the ward’s community police officer to use when needed.

One of the four planned community health workers the city plans to hire with ARP money could use the building as an office and community groups can use the space as a meeting area, Davis said.

Wednesday was the first time council voted on projects — four in all — from the $14 million it voted April 6 to give its members from the city’s $82,775,370 ARP funds.

The $14 million is $2 million per ward.

The other council-approved ARP spending items Wednesday were:

∫ $300,000, sponsored by Oliver, for small business assistance grants for the east end of Federal Street, where Youngstown Flea, Penguin City Brewing Co. and D.O.P.E. Cider House & Winery operate.

∫ $130,685 by Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward, for improvements to Lynn Park.

∫ $94,000 from Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward, for emergency home repairs and roof replacement project for low-income residents in her ward.

City administrators say they won’t authorize the council allocations without first determining if they are permitted under federal law.

OTHER LEGISLATION

Council also approved forwarding to the Mahoning County Board of Elections a charter amendment for the Nov. 8 ballot from residents asking voters to reinstate term limits for city council members.

A council vote is required under the Ohio Constitution, said Law Director Jeff Limbian.

Council members had been told in the past that they were required to vote in favor of citizen initiatives to be sent to the board of elections if the proposals meet other requirements. Limbian said Wednesday that council cannot be forced to vote in favor of any legislation, and he’d do research to determine what would happen if council members voted against putting charter amendments on the ballot.

Though council members said they oppose this particular proposal, they said they wouldn’t vote to keep it off the ballot even if they had that power.

If approved by voters, the proposal would limit council members to serve for two consecutive four-year terms and be eligible for election after an intervening term, effective Jan. 1, 2023.

City council, council president and the mayor had two four-year term limits approved by voters in the late 1980s with the ability to run again after sitting out for an intervening term.

Voters eliminated term limits for the mayor in a Nov. 6, 2012, vote with 61.87 percent backing the removal. That proposal was recommended to council by a charter review commission.

In the Nov. 6, 2018, election, voters agreed to eliminate term limits for council members with 51.05 percent support and for council president with 51.98 percent of voters supporting it. Putting those two items on the ballot that year was initiated by city council.

PAY RAISE

Meanwhile, council on Wednesday approved a 41.3 percent raise for Michael Durkin, the code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent.

The request from the administration is for Durkin’s annual salary to go from $55,769 to $78,827.

Council also approved a new contract with the union that represents emergency 911 dispatchers. There are about 13 members in the city’s smallest employee union.

The union has been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2020.

Both sides agreed to a fact finder report that gives union members a 3 percent raise immediately. That matches the 1 percent raise given to other unions in 2021 and 2 percent this year. There is no retroactive pay.

Union members would get 2.5 percent raises in 2023 and 2024, which also matches what other unions have been given in contract negotiations.

Once the raise takes effect, the starting salary would be increased to $16 per hour and the top of the pay scale, after five years on the job, would be $19 per hour. In 2023, a new step, for those with six years of experience, would be created with pay at $20 per hour.

dskolnick@vindy.com