YOUNGSTOWN — City council will consider legislation today to spend $120,000 on a performance audit of its police and fire departments in an effort to make them more efficient and effective.

City council on March 5 provided a letter to Finance Director Kyle Miasek asking him to request the state auditor review how the two departments manage their resources, including equipment and vehicles; analyze staffing levels with a focus on scheduling and overtime practices; the management of contracts; and compliance with established policies and procedures.

The request comes after The Vindicator reported Feb. 8 that 15 city police officers made more than $50,000 in overtime in 2024 with Detective Sgt. Edward Kenney getting $150,681 — more than twice his regular salary.

Overall, police overtime in 2024 was $3.25 million compared with $2.92 million in 2023.

The legislation, a late addition to today’s council agenda, is sponsored by Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward and finance committee chairwoman. Davis, a retired Youngstown police detective sergeant, and other council members have expressed concerns about police overtime.

At a June 4 council finance committee meeting, Miasek said the state auditor would first concentrate on the police department and then move to the fire department.

In a June 9 email to city council, Aaron Shaw, deputy director of the state auditor’s performance team, wrote the “performance audit will identify recommendations for improved economy, efficiency and / or effectiveness.”

The audit would take nine to 12 months from the start to complete, he wrote.

His team “will issue a final report, which will include background information, findings, recommendations and a summary of financial implications,” Shaw wrote.

The estimated cost is $120,000 with a “subsidized billing rate for local governments” of $41 per hour, Shaw wrote. That would be more than 2,925 work hours.

The audit would review five categories at the two departments, according to Shaw’s letter.

That includes reviews compared to peer and / or best practices for staffing and deployment, overtime management, fiscal management, contract management, and equipment and fleet.

In response to city council members objecting to large overtime payments to Youngstown officers, police Chief Carl Davis issued an April 16 memo to limit that extra pay to 28 hours per week. Anita Davis said that is still “too much overtime.”

Carl Davis wrote April 16: “Effective immediately, all sworn and civilian employees serving in a safety sensitive function shall not physically work more than 28 hours of overtime per week unless extenuating circumstances exist and are given permission by the chief of police.”

He added: “Employees shall be personally responsible for not exceeding this limit and will be subject to disciplinary action if they are found to have physically worked more than 28 hours of overtime in a one-week period, beginning every Saturday and ending on every Friday.”

The police patrol officers union filed a grievance in opposition to the chief’s overtime decision.

The police chief has said the department’s “static budget has made it increasingly difficult to manage personnel expenses effectively. Without a competitive pay structure, we continue to face challenges in both recruiting and retaining officers, which directly contributes to increased overtime spending.”