YOUNGSTOWN – Skeptical of police department practices, city council’s safety committee refused to let the full legislative body vote on accepting a $1.61 million federal grant to pay 75% of the salaries of up to 15 new officers and the purchase of 11 new vehicles.

After an 80-minute Friday meeting at which administration and police officials were questioned about the grant, the vehicle purchases and department overtime, the safety committee declined to move the legislation related to the first two issues to council for consideration at its next meeting, May 21.

“Everything is staying here for further discussion at our next meeting,” said Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, who is the safety committee chairman and a former Youngstown police chief. “It’s not a big hardship for anyone. I have concerns and need more clarity. We need to know what they’re doing with all of the cars. The grant money and the cars, we’re getting mixed signals about what we need and what we don’t need. I don’t like to be ambushed. We’re not trying to stagnate them. We need a clear understanding on what they need.”

The safety committee’s next scheduled meeting is May 22, the day after council’s next meeting. There might be an attempt to have the committee meet before that.

The city learned in March that it 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 new police officers with the city paying $537,390, the remaining 25%.

With a Youngstown police officer’s starting pay at $43,680 and a cadet making less, the overall $2,149,560 in federal and local funding wouldn’t cover 15 officers for all five years. There was only one officer eligible for less than two weeks to get reimbursed through the grant during the final quarter of 2024.

Council at its April 2 meeting moved the acceptance and appropriation of the grant to the safety committee, which met Friday for the first time since the referral.

Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer, said that the grant allows reimbursement up to 30 days after a three-month quarter, and if council had approved the legislation earlier this month, the salaries of one officer and three cadets, totaling $27,696, could have been reimbursed to the city.

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek said since the city plans to hire 10 officers this year, the grant will permit the city to pay 25% of the salaries rather than the full 100%.

A number of times during the meeting Hughes wouldn’t let Carfolo speak or cut him off.

Carfolo and Miasek said that money could be paid to new officers at the end of the second quarter this year.

“We’re just not backfilling the money by pushing the grant off,” Carfolo said.

Hughes responded: “We’re not pushing it back.”

Carfolo said if council continues to wait to accept the grant, there is a possibility not all of the money will be spent.

The meeting then turned to a request to spend $695,400 for the purchase of 11 police vehicles – five patrol officer cruisers, three canine vehicles and three for the crime lab.

At council’s April 16 meeting, it referred the vehicle purchases and spending $41,600 for mobile data terminals for the five police cruisers and the three canine vehicles to the safety committee. But at that meeting, council agreed – likely inadvertently – to spend $41,600 for mobile radios for those same eight vehicles.

Miasek and Carfolo urged the safety committee to approve the purchase of the vehicles and the data terminals because the cars probably won’t be available until late this year or early next year, and any further delays could cause issues.

Carfolo said the department wouldn’t normally ask for 11 police vehicles in one year, but the crime lab cars are old with more than 200,000 miles on each of them and the canine vehicles need to be replaced.

Five patrol cars approved by council for purchase last year are to arrive shortly.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, who is the safety committee’s vice chairwoman and a retired Youngstown police detective sergeant, said she couldn’t support the purchase of 11 police vehicles this year.

She and Hughes also mentioned that in 2023 council approved buying police vehicles for the patrol unit and they ended up being used as unmarked vehicles against their wishes.

Miasek said he vowed the 11 vehicles would be used for their intended purposes and the five bought last year will be used for patrol officers.

Miasek said going forward the administration would ask for only five patrol cars a year unless there is an emergency.

But Hughes said he didn’t agree that the department needed to replace five cars a year regardless of the situation.

OVERTIME

With city council members objecting to large overtime payments to Youngstown officers, police Chief Carl Davis started on April 16 limiting that extra pay to 28 hours a week except under extenuating circumstances. Council members say that is still too much.

Anita Davis said: “Overtime is not something someone is entitled to. It’s about what we need and not to supplement your income. You’re supposed to live within your actual wages. You don’t budget your lifestyle on overtime.”

Hughes said he was concerned about the cost paid to ranking officers, who receive larger salaries than patrol officers.

The police patrol officers’ union is planning to file a grievance in opposition to the police chief’s April 16 overtime decision.

In 2024, 15 police officers made more than $50,000 in overtime with Detective Sgt. Edward Kenney receiving $150,681 in overtime, which is more than twice his regular salary.

Some officers worked more than 40 hours of overtime a week last year.

Police overtime in 2024 was $3.25 million, up from $2.94 million in 2023.

Most of the overtime went to ranking officers, who are paid more than patrol officers.

During the first three months of this year, overtime is down $21,413 compared to the first three months of 2024, according to data provided Friday by Miasek.