YOUNGSTOWN — With city council planning Wednesday to consider nearly $1.3 million in American Rescue Plan funding legislation, the board of control approved $330,658 in ARP spending.

The board Thursday voted 3-0 on five items to spend ARP money with the largest expense being $150,000 to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to administer a cleanup project in the 2nd Ward, which includes most of the city’s East Side.

The board also approved $75,000 for YNDC to administer a cleanup project in the 6th Ward, which includes most of the South Side, as well as $52,000 to YNDC to act as a fiscal agent for an effort to remove blight and improve the quality of life in the 7th Ward, which is on the southeast side of the city.

The board also agreed to a $52,000 ARP funding request to have YNDC act as the fiscal agent for investments to Beyond Expectations Barber College in the 6th Ward.

All of those funding requests originated with council members in those particular wards.

City council gave $2 million in ARP funds on April 6, 2022, to each of its seven members — $14 million in total — to use for projects in their wards.

The city received $82.8 million in total ARP funds.

Also Thursday, the board of control agreed to increase the cost of a waterline replacement project on Eddie and Roy streets on the West Side by $1,658. The total cost of the project, funding through the city’s ARP allocation, is now at $1,150,935.

Meanwhile, council will consider $1,288,100 in ARP allocations at its Wednesday meeting.

Most of the money, $1,090,500, was on council’s May 1 agenda. But because two of its seven members were absent at that meeting, the ordinances were given first readings rather than getting passed by emergency measure. To approve legislation by emergency, at least six council members must agree.

The largest project is $800,000, sponsored by Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, to renovate a former McDonald’s at 2525 Market St. on the South Side into a community center.

Also up for a vote again Wednesday is a request by Davis to rescind a $100,000 ARP allocation for sidewalk replacement along the Glenwood Avenue corridor because it was incorporated into a $350,000 ARP request she made seven months later.

Council is to vote Wednesday on amending that $1,046,500 citywide sidewalk replacement legislation, approved April 19, 2023, to authorize the board of control “to enter into a contract with a qualified consultant for construction engineering services.”

Council will again consider a request from Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, to give $262,500 from his ward’s ARP fund for improvement work and programs and to assist with operational support at the Associated Neighborhood Centers’ McGuffey Centre, 1649 Jacobs Road.

Also held over from the May 1 meeting is a $28,000 ARP spending request from Mayor Jamael Tito Brown to construct a small building at the city-owned Henry Stambaugh Golf Course on the North Side.

Two new ARP funding requests, both sponsored by Brown, are $31,100 to hang drywall, paint and add electrical outlets at the Northside Pool’s bathhouse and $16,500 for the installation of a new concrete walkway leading to McKelvey Lake on the East Side.

Council will consider a $150,000 ARP allocation, sponsored by Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, to help YWCA Mahoning Valley complete a new affordable housing development at 3 Illinois Ave. in her ward. The six-unit project broke ground in January and is expected to cost $850,000.

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.