YOUNGSTOWN – The administration is asking city council to support spending $15 million in American Rescue Plan funds for a safety-services building, with most of the members either not ready to commit or opposed to the plan.

Another issue is about $18.57 million not allocated from the city’s $82,775,370 in ARP funding, and council is to consider $10 million for housing stock and encouraging homeownership programs at its Wednesday meeting.

The safety-services building proposal, with a $45 million total cost, was unveiled Monday by Strollo Architects at a council finance committee meeting.

Strollo was hired Feb. 8 by the city’s board of control through two $24,000 contracts to do predesign, site planning and budget projections to construct the building on Wick Avenue to house the police department and the main fire station. Strollo was to take three to four months for the work.

As late as Friday, Lou D’Apolito, interim law director, said the city didn’t have the proposal and therefore couldn’t provide it to The Vindicator, which has repeatedly asked for it for several months.

Asked after the meeting about the $15 million request for the building and the $10 million for housing resulting in not enough ARP money for both, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said: “We’ll regroup (today) and look at it again. We’re going to go back to make sure everything is correct.”

The proposed location for the safety-services building – though it hasn’t been finalized – is on Wick Avenue on the city’s North Side at what was known as the Wick Six site, a group of new car dealerships that left in the 1980s and early 1990s as the area deteriorated.

The city purchased much of the 12 acres of property in 2015 and has spent at least $750,000, most of it from grants, to clean up the area for development.

The administration is planning to spend $45 million on the building. The entire facility would be 138,000-square feet with 111,000-square feet for the police and fire main building, 24,000-square feet for vehicle maintenance and a private parking facility, and 3,000-square feet for the police bomb squad building.

Finance Director Kyle Miasek asked council to consider in the near future spending $15 million from the city’s ARP funds to help get funding from state and federal agencies to pay the $45 million cost. Brown said several of the city’s partners – with officials from the Western Reserve Port Authority, the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber in attendance – are interested in providing assistance with obtaining funds for the project.

Whatever money couldn’t be obtained from those sources would be borrowed by the city over a 20-year period, Miasek said.

The project would take eight to 10 months to design and another 18 to 24 months to construct, said Gregg Strollo of Strollo Architects, who gave the presentation.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, said she was opposed to the location and using the ARP funding for the project. Davis said the location, near the Liberty Township border, is too far from the city’s South Side, which she represents.

Councilman Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward, said he’s “leaning towards no” on the request, saying he doesn’t like the location as it is too far from his ward on the West Side and the ARP money should be used to purchase new fire equipment or upgrade current stations rather than a new main station.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, who represents the upper West Side, said he would be willing to spend up to $10 million in ARP funding for the project.

“New facilities are needed, and we need to spend the money in the best way,” he said. “We have to be mindful of what we do and evaluate the whole (ARP) budget.”

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, who didn’t attend the meeting, said after that he hasn’t “come to a conclusion on the $15 million.” As for the location, Hughes, who represents most of the East Side, said: “I don’t have a problem with the location. My concern is we need to do due diligence to find the best location for the entire city and primarily for the East Side. Would it be best for my ward and the city?”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said he favors the project, but also wants to maintain a downtown police and fire presence. Oliver’s ward includes downtown and the part of the North Side where the safety-services building is being proposed.

“I support it 100%,” he said.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, who represents most of the North Side, also supports the project. She asked about allocating the $15 million before proposals are requested for the project.

Before discussing the safety-services building, Miasek reviewed how much ARP money the city has remaining from the original $82,775,370 federal award.

The city has spent $11,413,627 to date, but council has approved allocating all but $18,566,733 of it, he said.

That includes $10.5 million for parks and recreation projects with most of it unspent and $14 million council gave to its seven members – $2 million each – with only a small part of it authorized to be spent.

However, not included in the remaining ARP money is $10 million council plans to consider at Wednesday’s meeting for housing.

The housing proposals in front of council on Wednesday include: $5 million to create a fund for down payments and interior work for those wanting to buy homes in the city, $3 million for a residential facade program and $2 million for a landlord revolving-loan program.

If council approves that funding, its members would have to choose between funding the safety-services building – and at what amount – or reducing or eliminating funding for projects already approved.

All of the ARP money needs to be allocated by the end of next year, Miasek said.