YOUNGSTOWN — City council is expected to approve the use of federal COVID-19 relief funds Wednesday to purchase a truck and two dumpsters to transport abandoned mattresses to the landfill and to buy another set of gear for firefighters.

At Monday’s council finance committee meeting, Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, asked how the truck and dumpsters were related to COVID-19.

Michael Durkin, code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent, explained that there has been a major increase in the amount of abandoned mattresses in the city since the pandemic began in mid-March.

The city has had about 1,200 abandoned mattresses since the start of the pandemic compared with about 200 a year between 2017 and 2019.

That’s resulted in the city paying $33,363 so far this year in landfill fees for the mattresses, Durkin said.

“It will continue to be that way for a while,” he said.

The city plans to spend $204,800 in federal COVID-19 relief funds to buy a truck and two 40-yard roll-off dumpsters to haul the mattresses to the landfill.

“If we continue the service of dumping and transporting mattresses, it would take six years to pay back that investment,” said Kyle Miasek, interim finance director. “If we do more than mattresses, we could shrink that to four to five years. This is a very viable, excellent investment to make.”

That’s because, right now, the removal of very large items sometimes has to be outsourced to other, private haulers at an expense to the city. The truck and roll-off purchases would mitigate a portion of that expense, Miasek said.

This purchase and one to spend $219,000 for 115 sets of turnout gear — custom-fitted coats and pants worn by firefighters when responding to emergencies — will be up for votes Wednesday by council.

No council members had any questions about the turnout gear at Monday’s finance committee meeting.

As a result of the pandemic and to reduce spread of the virus among firefighters, turnout gear has been decontaminated after every emergency call, Miasek said. Because of that, some firefighters have been unable to respond to emergencies until the gear is cleaned, he said.

That’s why the second set is needed, Miasek said.

The money for the two purchases comes from $2,359,224 the city received in additional COVID-19 funding through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The city already spent about $125,000 of that money for an X-ray inspection system, metal detectors and other items to help city workers and visitors at city buildings maintain social distancing.

The remaining $1.81 million will pay a portion of salaries and benefits for those working in the police, fire and emergency 911 departments.

The city already spent $2,922,024 from the first two rounds of CARES Act funding for a portion of salaries and benefits between March 15 and Aug. 31 in the police, fire, emergency 911, health, parks and recreation, and finance departments related to COVID-19 work.