A carpenter carries a load of beams at a new housing construction site in Madison County, Miss., AP photo

YOUNGSTOWN — City council will consider legislation Wednesday to spend $8 million in American Rescue Plan funds on building new houses and rehabilitating existing ones in Youngstown.

Also on Wednesday’s agenda are requests to have the board of control spend up to $800,000 in ARP money to hire multiple consultants for design work on city parks as well as a second effort to spend up to $2 million to repair the roof on the city-owned Covelli Centre and a seventh attempt to seek proposals for a city-run ambulance feasibility study.

The $8 million request represents nearly 10% of the city’s total $82,775,370 ARP allocation.

The legislation states the money “will be used to support and facilitate the city’s housing strategy, which is built around a framework that includes new housing construction and rehabilitation of homes throughout the city. Execution of the strategy is based upon development-ready parcels and continuous stretches of land holdings owned by the city of Youngstown, city land bank, Mahoning County Land Bank and the Youngstown City School District.”

It adds: “Housing development efforts will also include a comprehensive assessment of all seven wards to identify specific and unique housing expansion needs, commercial opportunities and environmental readiness of potential development sites.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward and chairman of the community planning and economic development committee, said: “The focus is on building new affordable homes all over the city. I support this, and I hope my colleagues do, too. Demolitions of old, vacant houses are great, but it leaves empty neighborhoods. It’s good to put money into building the city. It will pull more people back into the city from the suburbs.”

The effort will be handled through the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning Valley, Oliver said.

Council will also consider authorizing the board of control Wednesday to enter into professional services agreements for up to $800,000 in ARP funding with “multiple qualified consultant to provide design service for the 2024 city parks rehab and improvement project,” according to an ordinance.

At its Oct. 18 meeting, council approved spending up to $37,500 for design work for the rehabilitation of Falls Park on Falls Avenue in the 1st Ward and $43,500 for the same type of work for Lynn Park on Lynn Road in the 7th Ward.

At that meeting, city officials said a similar effort for the other parks in the city would be considered shortly.

Council set aside $10.5 million in ARP dollars last year for park improvements, but to date has spent very little of it.

REVISITING LEGISLATION

The council also will consider allowing the board of control to spend up to $2 million to hire a contractor to repair the Covelli Centre roof and up to $300,000 to do the same at the city’s traffic sign and signal shop.

Council on Sept. 20 rejected a no-bid contract, totaling $2 million, for Simon Roofing of Youngstown to do both jobs with $1.7 million for the Covelli Centre and $300,000 for the traffic sign and signal shop.

The rejected legislation, sponsored by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, referred to the repairs as emergencies even though the work to the center would not start until next spring.

Council members questioned how that constituted an emergency when the work wouldn’t begin for months.

Seeking formal requests for the work will delay the project, possibly into the summer and could cause further damage to the center, Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said at the Sept. 20 meeting.

Water is leaking into the building’s kitchen and into some of the loges, finance director Kyle Miasek said at that meeting.

Council will yet again consider legislation on a feasibility study for a city-run ambulance service. A proposal for a study was first introduced at a February council meeting.

At its Oct. 17 meeting, council members had an ordinance in front of them to spend up to $65,000 for the study, which also would have included a review of city fire station locations and where to put a possible safety-service campus.

The legislation includes language hiring Public Consulting Group LLC of Boston to do the study while most of council wants the board of control to seek competitive proposals.

However, a request to amend the legislation was rejected Oct. 17 by two councilmen — Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, and Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward — who oppose spending any money on an ambulance study.

The amendment needed the support of at least six of council’s seven members to be accepted.

The proposal has a third and final reading Wednesday. If at least four members support it, council would authorize the hiring of Public Consulting to do the study. Because council doesn’t want to hire Public Consulting, it could defeat the legislation and start over again if it can’t be amended.

Three other times council referred the matter to its safety committee and twice voted down $50,000 proposals: to pay that to Public Consulting on June 5 and to seek a firm for the work Oct. 17.

The administration already has advertised for a firm for the work with a Nov. 15 deadline for submissions.

Fire Chief Barry Finley has said it is not financially feasible for the city to operate its own ambulance service, but he would abide by the study’s results.

The city’s firefighters union supports a city-run service and is offering to have its international union do a study at no cost to Youngstown — something Finley and Law Director Jeff Limbian have rejected, contending it would be biased. Kelly supports that idea.

The city signed a three-year agreement Dec. 16, 2022, to pay $3.968 million over that time to Emergency Medical Transport for ambulance service using ARP money with a two-year renewal option.

dskolnick@vindy.com