YOUNGSTOWN — City council rejected legislation to spend $695,400 for the purchase of 11 new police vehicles because of concerns over the expense of buying cars every year, not having GPS in all of them and questions about the management of the fleet.

Council voted 4-2 Wednesday against the purchase with no votes coming from Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward; Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward; Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward; and Anita Davis, D-6th Ward.

Council first referred the purchase of the vehicles to its safety committee on April 16. The safety committee met twice on the vehicles as well as accepting a $1,612,179 federal grant to pay 75% of the salaries of up to 15 new police officers for the period between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2029.

Council voted to accept the federal grant Wednesday by a 5-1 vote with Hughes casting the lone no vote.

While the legislation to authorize the board of control to buy the 11 police vehicles was rejected Wednesday, council voted 6-0 to spend up to $42,000 to buy mobile data terminals for eight of those cars.

Of the 11 cars, five were for the patrol unit, three for K-9 officers and three for the crime lab. The mobile terminal units were to be for all of the cars except those for the crime lab.

It is doubtful that the board of control will approve the purchase of the mobile data terminals without the cars, said Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

With council’s rejection of legislation to buy the vehicles, it is highly unlikely that those cars will be bought this year even if the proposal is revisited, said Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer.

Council at its April 16 meeting approved spending $41,600 for mobile radios for the patrol and K-9 cars and that equipment recently arrived, Carfolo said. Davis, a retired Youngstown police detective sergeant, has long opposed the purchase of the vehicles.

The department bought five vehicles last year and planned to buy five more annually starting next year.

Davis said that many vehicles aren’t needed. She also wanted GPS put in all of the police vehicles, but that hasn’t happened.

“There’s no reason the chief of police shouldn’t know where the cars under his jurisdiction are at all times,” Davis said.

Hughes, a former Youngstown police chief, said the department needs a clear policy on who is managing the fleet and historically, that was the captain of the patrol unit.

“None of that is being regulated,” Hughes said.

Also Wednesday, city council referred legislation to permit the board of control to spend up to $100,000 for agreements for downtown parking enforcement to its parking committee.

The city needs to monitor downtown on-street parking and wants to have people pay using credit or debit cards with their phones or at kiosks, Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said before the meeting.

The city discontinued its contract with ABM Parking on enforcement after it removed all of its meters in June 2024. There is no plan to install meters, Shasho said.

There is no enforcement of hourly parking in downtown resulting in people, primarily workers, parking their vehicles for the entire day in spots.

When ABM was used, the city was paying about $10,000 a month for enforcement and only $2,000 in tickets were issued per month, Miasek said at a February council parking committee meeting. He added that many of those getting ticketed don’t pay.

The parking committee met in January and February about downtown parking enforcement after going six years without a meeting. It was supposed to meet again in April, but a meeting was never called.

It now will have to meet to discuss this proposal.

Council voted 5-1 Wednesday to authorize the board of control to renew a $60,000 annual contract with CS Public Affairs of Canfield, run by Andy Resnick, for “a strategic communications plan to assure coordinated communication from the city to present a positive image.”

The city first hired CS in June 2024 and the contract renewal is retroactive to June 1.

Among Resnick’s duties are handling certain media inquiries, writing news releases for the city, providing strategic communications counsel, social media management and promoting city services and corridors.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, was the lone no vote, saying she hasn’t seen much from CS and “I don’t believe this is the right company for the city.”

However, Oliver praised Resnick saying he is “doing a great job.”