YOUNGSTOWN — City council will vote Wednesday to spend $855,685 in American Rescue Plan funds, including $600,000 to improve two parks, and rescind a $300,000 ARP allocation to assist with redevelopment of the east side of Federal Street.

The largest ARP proposal on council’s agenda for Wednesday is $430,685 for improvements to the playground and outdoor recreation facilities at Lynn Park on Lynn Avenue in the 7th Ward.

Of that amount, $300,000 is coming from the $10.5 million in ARP funding council approved last July for parks and recreation projects. The remaining $130,685 is coming from the $2 million in ARP funding council gave to each of its seven members in April 2022 to spend in the wards for a total of $14 million.

“We’re going to do a complete overhaul of the park,” said Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward.

That includes repaving walking trails, replacing the perimeter fence, fixing the pavilion and restroom building, replacing the playground, adding exercise stations and converting the tennis courts to either a basketball court or pickleball court, Adamczak said.

Council approved the $10.5 million in spending for parks and recreation projects 11 months ago but has spent very little of it.

One of the holdups was a dispute between the administration and council over who would sponsor legislation related to those projects.

Council has agreed to let the administration vet and sponsor the parks and recreation projects legislation, said Adamczak and Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward.

“This is the first of many projects that are now going to get done,” Adamczak said. “We’re ready to get started with the parks.”

Adamczak said there will be ARP allocations soon for parks in her ward including Pemberton Park and Ipe Field / Ipe Kids World.

A LATE ITEM

Oliver said a late measure added to Wednesday’s agenda would spend $300,000 from the parks and recreation ARP fund for improvements to the play area and outdoor recreational facilities at Hillman Park, also called Falls Playground, on Falls Avenue in his ward.

Council had planned to allocate the money Feb. 1 from the park’s ARP fund, but the legislation originally was written to come out of Oliver’s 1st Ward fund.

Because further changes were needed and the administration wanted to sponsor the proposal, it was defeated three months ago by council.

“It mattered to the administration that the mayor sponsor it rather than me, so we’re changing it to be on the same page,” Oliver said.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said at a Jan. 30 council finance committee meeting that if the money was coming out of the parks and recreation’s ARP fund, it should be sponsored by him, and it also should be approved by him before council considered it.

An additional $72,551 for the project will come from the parks and recreation department’s regular budget.

Also on Wednesday’s agenda are three ARP funding requests from the $14 million council gave its members.

They are:

∫ $75,000 from Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. for a cleanup project in her ward. It includes the purchase of equipment and supplies to clean up and board up vacant and abandoned properties, remove brush and debris from vacant lots, clear sidewalks and walking paths and green high-priority vacant lots.

∫ $20,000 from Davis for the Boston Avenue Neighborhood Association to stabilize and restore the Happy Place Sanctuary on Almyra Avenue. It includes the installation of drainage and top soil, adding a water feature, water meter and plumbing as well as replacing fencing, pavers for the walking path and buying flowers and mulch.

∫ $30,000 from Adamczak for the police department to buy an emotional support / therapy / research and rescue dog.

“Part of it is also for training and community outreach,” Adamczak said.

Officer Ryan Curry will be the dog’s handler, she said.

“They will go to block watches and community events and schools and used when there’s a crisis and the dog is needed,” Adamczak said. “He’ll also be an emotional support dog to help victims of crime, and he’ll be a search and rescue dog.”

Of the $14 million council gave itself in April 2022, about half has been allocated. Among the biggest expenditures was about $1 million approved April 19 for sidewalk improvements throughout the city. The board of control hasn’t yet authorized that expense.

The city received $82.77 million in total ARP funding and has allocated about half of that amount.

RESCIND FUNDING

Also Wednesday, council will vote to rescind $300,000 in funding it approved Aug. 24 to assist with the redevelopment of the east end of Federal Street downtown.

Oliver, who sponsored the legislation, said the decision was made after he spoke to Nikki Posterli, the mayor’s chief of staff and head of the community planning and economic development department, who expressed concerns over the allocation. None of the money has been spent.

Oliver said businesses in that area are eligible for some of the $3 million in ARP money set aside for businesses through two programs: $1 million for facade grants and $2 million for small business revolving loans.

Penguin City Brewing Co. LLC, 460 E. Federal St., received approval last month for a $150,000 small business loan from the program.

“I’ll reallocate it to a different program,” Oliver said of the $300,000.

Among the possibilities, he said, was giving it to Friends of Youngstown, run by the Economic Action Group, to help residents in his ward with housing improvements and roof replacements and possibly assist downtown nonprofit groups seeking to purchase the buildings in which they are located.

Another idea is to provide money to Building Neighborhoods of Youngstown for a home maintenance education program, Oliver said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, council will consider transferring $53,825 from Oliver’s ARP allocation to the park’s ARP fund to pay for lot clearing, cleanup and beautification in the Falls Avenue and Hillman Street areas. Council approved the money coming out of the park’s ARP fund July 27.

“I don’t know how the administration did it, but the work was paid out of the parks allocation and not mine, so I’ll put the money from my fund into the parks fund,” Oliver said.