YOUNGSTOWN — City council approved a second one-year moratorium on a process a downtown business wants to use to convert rubber tire chips into synthetic gas, agreed to spend $4.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds, but it failed to pass legislation to give 10% bonuses to city police officers and dispatchers.

Money for the bonuses, totaling $882,762, was left over from a $1.72 million ARP grant the city received in 2022 to hire and retain police officers, Finance Director Kyle Miasek said.

The $840,000 was used to pay the salaries this year of nine new police hires.

Council voted 5-1 Wednesday to approve paying the 10% bonuses by emergency measure. But the seven-member council needs six votes to pass ordinances by emergency. Independent 7th Ward Councilwoman Amber White didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting, and Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, voted against declaring an emergency.

It was given a first reading Wednesday.

Turner said she wanted to use a portion of the funding to pay the salaries of five police officers who could be hired by the end of this year.

Police Chief Carl Davis said he would know by council’s next meeting, Dec. 4, whether those five would be hired by the end of the year.

The grant was to expire at the end of this year, but the city got a year extension from the state after agreeing to the 10% bonuses, Miasek said.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said it was possible to use a portion of the money to offset the salaries of five new officers if they’re hired in time, but with a new president taking office Jan. 20 the funding might not be there if the city waits too long to decide what to do.

Before the vote, Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, objected to ranking officers getting the same 10% bonus as patrol officers because the former are paid considerably more and she said they largely work out of the police department while the latter are on the road. Davis, a retired Youngstown police officer, wanted larger bonuses for patrol officers.

After a lengthy conversation, Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer, said the bonuses cannot exceed 10% under the grant’s provisions. That ended the conversation about giving a flat rate to all officers as that amount could go over the 10% limit.

The issue was in front of city council not only for the bonuses, but for the city to make the 19.5% pension payments for police officers on the extra pay. Federal funds cannot be used to pay for pensions.

Paying the bonuses from the grant would cost the city about $150,000 to cover the pension pickups of the officers. The city doesn’t have to pay those pension amounts for the dispatchers, but they make up a small percentage of the bonuses that would be paid.

SOBE MORATORIUM

Council also voted 6-0 Wednesday to approve a second one-year moratorium on the process SOBE Energy Solutions LLC plans to use at its downtown location to convert rubber chips into synthetic gas to create steam energy.

The moratorium, which continues one passed Dec. 20, 2023, imposes another one-year ban in the city on pyrolysis – the gasification or combustion of tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste.

Davis said: “I’m thrilled and happy it was affirmed unanimously. We’ll continue to oppose it to the end. It’s a no for me.”

David Ferro, SOBE’s CEO, didn’t respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Before council’s vote, four people spoke in favor of the moratorium.

Mary Krupa of the city’s South Side said: “Youngstown shouldn’t be an experiment for dangerous technology.”

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued an “air permit to install and operate” to SOBE in February. The EPA stated it would allow SOBE to install a “thermolyzer unit to process tire chips.”

SOBE issued a statement after Youngstown’s initial moratorium saying it respected the city’s decision. SOBE has more than 40 heating and cooling customers in the downtown area as well as Youngstown State University.

SPEED CAMERA MONEY

For the first time, city council voted in favor of spending money from a fund of about $600,000 that came from citation fees paid by those caught speeding by unmanned cameras in Youngstown school zones.

The vote was 4-2, with Davis and Councilman Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward, voting against the $52,000 allocation to purchase a surveillance trailer with two cameras from Blue Line Solutions, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, company that operates the city’s school zone speed cameras.

The city leased the surveillance trailer from Blue Line shortly after the May 28 gas explosion at the Realty Tower in downtown to add more security to make sure no one was entering the building that was later demolished.

The rental cost about $18,000 with Blue Line offering to sell that trailer to the city for $52,000, which included the rental fee, Carfolo said.

The trailer will be used when there are reports or concerns about incidents at schools or involving students, police Chief Davis said. When it’s not being used for that, the surveillance trailer will be used to monitor downtown activities such as events at the Covelli Centre, Miasek said.

State law limits the use of unmanned speed camera money in school zones for only school safety resources.

Miasek said the surveillance trailer complies with the law because it will be used primarily in school zones.

Turner, who supported the legislation, said, “There is a small loophole where we can use it elsewhere.”

Davis said she understands the need for cameras, but “they are so invasive” and don’t respect people’s privacy rights.

The city collected nearly $600,000 between Feb. 21, 2023, and when the cameras were turned off between May 18 and June 2, 2023, when classes ended. They remained turned off for more than a year because of a disagreement between the city’s executive and judicial branches about how appeals would be handled.

That was resolved and the cameras were again used for enforcement on Sept. 18.

The city hasn’t received any payments from Blue Line as of Wednesday, Carfolo said.

The city keeps 65% of the money collected with Blue Line getting 35%.

ARP SPENDING

Council voted 6-0 Wednesday to spend $4.51 million in ARP funds with $4.02 million for improvements to 10 city parks.

The projects include a golf simulator building and two golf cages at the Henry Stambaugh Golf Course as well as splash pads at the Glenwood Community Park and Lincoln Knolls Community Park.

Lincoln Knolls also will get a new pavilion while Irma Davis Park will get a new concrete half-court basketball court, Kirkmere Park is getting a new playground unit and MVSD Park is getting upgraded playground equipment.

Those and other parks also will get new benches, picnic tables, building upgrades and increased security cameras and lighting, said Clemate Franklin, parks and recreation director.

It’s the final and largest part of a $10.5 million ARP allocation city council authorized in June 2022 for the park system. Overall, 20 parks will receive ARP funding for improvements, Franklin said.

Council also approved Wednesday increasing the $800,000 ARP allocation for design contracts for the park projects to $859,000.