Staff photo / R. Michael Semple .... This is an exterior view of the fire escape at Youngstown City Hall. City council will consider spending up to $1.1 million to replace the fire escape at its meeting Monday. Previously, council approved spending $250,000 to fix the escape, but later determined it needs replaced.

YOUNGSTOWN — Greatly increasing the cost of replacing the city hall fire escape to up to $1.1 million and approving $416,040 in American Rescue Plan projects will be considered Monday by city council.

It was decided earlier this month that it would be more efficient to replace the fire escape at city hall rather than repair it.

City council had agreed April 19 to spend up to $250,000 for the repair work, but the replacement is going to cost more money.

The legislation for council to consider Monday is to spend up to $1.1 million, which includes work already done to repair the fire escape.

The legislation would permit the board of control to “solicit informal proposals and make payment to the lowest and best bidder to complete repairs to the city hall fire escape.”

Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said earlier this month that the full replacement would cost $400,000 to $500,000 and the city already owes about $250,000 for cleaning and sandblasting the existing fire escape and for design work.

But after speaking with two contractors — including Murphy Contracting Co., the Youngstown business that did the cleaning and sandblasting — Shasho said Friday that the replacement work will be higher.

Including money already owed, a galvanized steel fire escape and masonry repairs, it should be about $1.1 million, Shasho said.

If council approves the legislation Monday, Shasho said he expects to get proposals for the work by Friday.

There was initial discussion after a Feb. 3 inspection report determined the fire escape was inoperable about a possible replacement rather than a repair. But Shasho said shortly after the city closed the fire escape on March 9 that the damage wasn’t extensive enough that it needed to be replaced. That changed when Shasho said July 5 that it would be more effective in the long term to replace it.

Also, Shasho said in June that the work would be finished by August at the latest. But on July 5, he said a replacement would take about six months to complete.

The cost of replacement is twice as much as renovating, but the city won’t have to worry about the fire escape if it opts for the more-expensive option, Shasho said Friday.

City officials announced March 9 that the fire escape would be shut down until work to it could be finished.

Because it’s the only other way to get in and out of the building besides the stairwell in case of a fire, city council moved all of its meetings from the sixth floor, where it regularly holds them. The building’s two elevators automatically shut down when there’s a fire.

All but one council meeting since then were moved to the Covelli Centre community room with finance committee meetings held before them. Monday’s meeting will be the second in a row held in the Mahoning County commissioners’ meeting room.

Other committee meetings and city bodies have met elsewhere in city hall, mostly in conference rooms on the second or fifth floors, or at the Eugenia Atkinson Recreation Center.

The board of control has continued to meet on the sixth floor in the council caucus room.

ARP LEGISLATION

Council has four ordinances on Monday’s agenda to spend $416,040 of its ARP funds .

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, is proposing to spend $150,000 for the Western Reserve Port Authority to buy 64 Ridge Ave., a 73-year-old former medical building, to “address public health disparities” such as “environmental contaminants,” according to the ordinance.

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, wants to provide $150,000 to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to conduct a wardwide cleanup project “to eliminate blight and improve neighborhood conditions.”

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, is requesting $21,000 for YNDC to buy a “sideways climbing tree” for the Boulevard Pocket Park. The tree is installed flat partly into the ground and used for climbing.

The money for the three requests would come from the $14 million in ARP funding — $2 million per ward — that council members voted in April 2022 to give themselves.

A number of council-sponsored ARP requests have met with resistance from Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Law Director Jeff Limbian, who question if the proposals meet federal ARP requirements and the goals of what residents want from the city’s total $82,775,370 award.

A little more than half of the $14 million council awarded itself has been approved by the legislative body. But less than half of that has been allocated by the board of control, consisting of Brown, Limbian and Finance Director Kyle Miasek. Instead of a Brown veto, the board of control has chosen not to put the funding requests up for a vote.

The issue led to a heated argument between administrators and council members at the June 21 council meeting.

The other ARP request on Monday’s agenda is $95,040 to Pecchia Communications, sponsored by Brown, for communications planning and counseling as well as writing, editing and media relations relative to ARP funding.

Council referred the initial request Jan. 18 to its finance committee and has had no further public discussion on it.

dskolnick@vindy.com