YOUNGSTOWN — Wanting to talk more about the commitment involved in accepting a $1.6 million federal grant to pay 75% of the salaries of up to 15 new police officers, city council referred the legislation to its safety committee.

“In the past, when we’ve done these grants, they sound great, but we have to absorb these costs,” said Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, chairwoman of the finance committee and a retired Youngstown police officer. “We have to see what happens when the money runs out and if we should take it.”

Davis pointed out at Wednesday’s council meeting that the city has never fired police officers after the grant money to pay their salaries runs out.

The city received a $1,612,179 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the period between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2029. The grant pays 75% of the salaries for up to 15 police officers with the city paying $537,390, the remaining 25%.

The grant, if accepted, would pay for two officers recently hired and then for additional officers who are hired later this year through the city’s police cadet program, said Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer.

A Youngstown police officer’s starting pay is $43,680.

The overall $2,149,560 in federal and local funding could only cover about 10 officers a year over the five-year period.

If only two officers are being paid for the first year, the grant would cover the salaries of almost 12 officers annually for the final four years.

Carfolo said the program is set up so the funding goes to the lowest-paid new hires at the department.

With the department planning to hire 15 officers through its cadet program, Carfolo said the grant makes sense because it covers 75% of the salaries of those who are going to be hired by the city with or without the federal funding.

There were concerns expressed late last year by some city council members about the administration wanting to use the remaining $882,762 from a $1,722,762 American Rescue Plan grant the city received in 2022 for 10% pay bonuses for each Youngstown police officer and emergency 911 dispatcher rather than use a portion to pay the salaries of five new patrol officers.

At a Dec. 4 council meeting, Carfolo said the city was applying for the federal COPS grant to pay for new officers and he didn’t believe the grant money could be used on top of the ARP funding to pay those salaries.

The $840,000 already paid from the ARP grant, before the council vote to approve the 10% bonuses, went toward the salaries of nine police officers hired earlier in 2024.

Police overtime increased in 2024 to $3.25 million from $2.92 million in 2023.

Fifteen city police officers made more than $50,000 each in overtime last year with Detective Sgt. Edward Kenney getting $150,681 – more than twice his regular salary.

City council on March 5 requested Finance Director Kyle Miasek ask the state auditor to conduct a performance audit of the police and fire departments, largely because of the police overtime issue.

Marc C. Kovac, a state auditor spokesman, said: “We received the city’s request concerning a potential performance audit of specific areas of the Youngstown fire and police departments. We have contacted the city to begin discussions about this request, including potential parameters and the costs to conduct a performance audit.”

PLANNING CONSULTANT

Council voted 5-1 Wednesday to reject a contract renewal for up to $75,000 with Samantha Yannucci, its planning consultant, because members were not pleased that she moved from Youngstown to the Philadelphia area in September.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, was the lone vote in support of the Yannucci contract. Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, who has supported the contract, was absent at Wednesday’s meeting.

Davis said: “I don’t like remote. The administration can do a month-to-month deal with her until we find someone permanent or someone we can agree on. The administration needs to make the decision in a timely fashion.”

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, said he opposed the contract because “I just don’t see how someone can do the work from Philadelphia. The whole system is to bring people back to work and we want to hire someone from Philadelphia. I have nothing against her. There are other planners who can do the work. There’s other options to do it.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Nikki Posterli, his chief of staff and director of the city’s community planning and economic development department, who backed the Yannucci contract, didn’t attend Wednesday’s council meeting.

WATER LOAN

Council voted 6-0 to permit the board of control to amend an agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a loan from up to $14 million to $16,782,881 for a water main and lead line replacement project in the Buckeye Plat neighborhood on the city’s southeast side.

Council voted Feb. 5 to permit the board of control to seek proposals and enter into a contract for the project.

The project includes the replacement of more than 10,000-linear feet of water lines.

The increase is the result of “additional changes during the final design phase” of the project from the city’s engineering firm that increased the estimate, said Water Commissioner Harry L. Johnson III.

The Ohio EPA wouldn’t agree to loan the money to the city for less than the engineer’s estimate so the amount had to be raised, Johnson said.

“The loan will be on the actual cost of the project,” he said.

The Ohio EPA revolving loan program permits 50% of it to be forgiven, Johnson said.

The work will begin this summer in two phases and take 16 months and 18 months, respectively, to finish.

The project also would move waterlines connected to houses in the area — which is off Midlothian Boulevard and Sheridan Road — from the rear of the properties to the front, making it easier to gain access to the lines, Johnson said.

COVELLI CENTRE

Council approved two ordinances for work at the city-owned Covelli Centre entertainment facility.

One was to spend up to $200,000 to cover the cost of cleanup, restoration, repair and replacement of lost equipment in the building’s kitchen and mechanical room as the result of a Jan. 22 frozen waterline break in the fire suppression system above the drop ceiling.

In a Feb. 19 email to Miasek, Jordan Ryan, the center’s executive director, wrote the water pipe separated and broke during a cold snap. The waterline was shut off about 15 minutes after the break occurred, but it caused extensive damage.

The city filed a claim with its insurance company, Tokio Marine, and is waiting to hear back.

Destroyed by the pipe break were four convection ovens, a pizza oven, a large steamer, an eight-burner grill, two roller ovens, a food processor and a large mixer, Ryan wrote.

Most of the equipment was original to the building, constructed nearly 20 years ago, Miasek said.

It cost about $117,000 to replace the equipment, he said.

Also, the center’s pump controller and transfer switch in a mechanical room near the kitchen experienced heavy water damage, destroying that equipment. There is also the cost of cleanup by SERVPRO of Mahoning and North Columbiana Counties and replacing ceiling tiles.

The center had an operational kitchen eight days after the broken pipe for two sold-out bull riding shows the following weekend, Ryan wrote.

In a separate ordinance, city council agreed to pay up to $36,627 to Wadsworth Solutions of Perrysburg for the disassembly and replacement of the motor, gearbox and drive shaft at the Covelli Centre’s cooling tower.

The equipment is original to the facility and needed to be replaced in order for the center’s air conditioning system to work, Ryan said.