YOUNGSTOWN — City council will have to wait until May 15 to vote on spending about $1.1 million in American Rescue Plan money after it was unable Wednesday to approve the legislation by emergency measure.

Council needs at least six of its seven members to vote on passing ordinances by emergency. Council members Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, and Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward, were absent Wednesday so the legislative body gave first readings to the proposals.

Council typically approves legislation by emergency measure, though it has the option to give ordinances three readings at three separate meetings.

The largest request was to spend $800,000 to renovate a former McDonald’s restaurant on the South Side into a community center.

The legislation is sponsored by Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, with the money coming out of her ward’s $2 million ARP allocation.

Council authorized the purchase of the building at 2525 Market St. on Aug. 24, 2022, using $160,000 of the 6th Ward’s ARP fund. The board of control approved the acquisition of the property, which was closed in 2017 as a McDonald’s, on Sept. 22, 2022.

Along with the $800,000 ARP request, Davis sponsored legislation to have the board of control enter into a contract with an architect to design the renovations and a separate ordinance to hire a contractor to do the work, which includes installing furnishings and equipment. Council gave both first readings.

Also getting a first reading Wednesday was a request by Davis to rescind a $100,000 ARP allocation, approved Sept. 21, 2022, for sidewalk replacement along the Glenwood Avenue corridor.

The work will be done as it was incorporated into a $350,000 ARP-funded project to improve sidewalks in the 6th Ward, Davis said. Davis increased her initial $250,000 sidewalk funding for the ward by $100,000 on April 19, 2023.

A $262,500 ARP funding request from Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, also received a first reading Wednesday.

The money is to go toward the Associated Neighborhood Centers’ McGuffey Centre, 1649 Jacobs Road, for improvement work, programs and to assist with operational support.

Council gave a first reading to spending $28,000 in ARP money for a small building at the city-owned Henry Stambaugh Golf Course on the North Side.

It sent a $48,608 ARP funding request to install a kayak launch at McKelvey Lake on the East Side to its parks and recreation committee for further discussion.

GAZA CEASE FIRE

For the fourth time in three months, council also heard from local Palestinians and their supporters calling for a cease-fire resolution in Gaza.

On Wednesday, four speakers – including two from the Mahoning Valley Democratic Socialists of America – asked city council members to act on the request.

When Joseph Gumina of the DSA went up to speak, there were a few vocal groans from the audience, and some booed him during his speech.

That prompted Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, to say: “This is a formal city council meeting. Act like adults.”

Asked after the meeting about council considering a cease-fire resolution, Oliver outstretched his arms with a face indicating noncommital.

“I don’t want people feeling like I’m taking sides,” he said.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said the resolution is “up for discussion. We’re reviewing materials to see if it makes sense. It’s a discussion this body needs to have.”

Davis said council has been listening to the discussion and is prepared to hear more.

At council’s April 3 meeting, Turner offered to propose a cease-fire resolution if the local Palestinian community worked with those in the local Jewish community to prepare one.

Hamas, a terrorist group, launched a surprise attack Oct. 7 on Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 250 hostages. Israel says Hamas still holds around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Since then, Israel has attacked the Gaza Strip, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine, according to the Associated Press.

The war has led to numerous protests in this country, particularly on college campuses.

Anthony Blinken, the secretary of state, was in Israel on Wednesday to press for a cease-fire deal and said Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to reach an agreement to halt the war, the AP reported.

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