YOUNGSTOWN — City council approved legislation to spend up to $125,000 for the planning, design and engineering of an improvement project to streets near Youngstown State University.

Council voted 6-0 Wednesday to authorize the board of control to sign that professional services contract.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, was absent Wednesday. She’s missed four of the last five council meetings.

The design work is for Madison Avenue, Westbound Service Road and Eastbound Service Road.

The project includes repaving, signage, pavement markings and handicapped-accessible ramps, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works. Also, the work includes traffic signal and pole upgrades at the intersection of McGuffey and Early roads on the East Side.

The project is estimated to cost $1.8 million with the state paying 68% of the cost and the city paying the remaining 32%, Shasho said. The work is expected to start in the second half of 2026.

“We won’t get the agreement (with the state on funding) until late July 2026,” Shasho said. “We want to have plans ready to go before the funding comes in.”

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Council approved legislation Wednesday to double the number of police cadets from 15 to 30.

Under the program, started earlier this year, cadets are hired at $16.49 an hour as an unclassified employee exempt from civil service until they graduate from the police academy, pass the city’s civil service test and then get hired as patrol officers.

The police department received about 270 applicants interested in the cadet program, so it was decided to increase the number of those who can participate, police Chief Carl Davis said.

The city created the program to help attract more people to join the police department.

Those chosen to go through the program must sign an agreement to repay police academy expenses if that person quits before three years of full-time employment with the city police department.

Part of the attraction to the program is the city is paying for the police academy for cadets, which can be as much as $8,000, though that can be reduced through scholarships.

Among the job duties of cadets are preparing routine reports and forms that do not require a sworn officer, assisting with crowd control and directing traffic at public events, tagging abandoned vehicles for impound, performing minor maintenance at the police station, and helping sworn officers and supervisors with basic functions.

Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer, told council’s finance committee that legislation would be in front of the full body at its Oct. 15 meeting to purchase eight new police cruisers — five for the patrol unit and three for K-9 officers.

Council voted 4-2 on June 18 against spending $695,400 for the purchase of those eight vehicles and three more for the crime lab. The need for at least the eight vehicles still exists, Carfolo said.

The department would purchase used cars for the crime lab, Carfolo said.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward and the finance committee chairwoman, said she wouldn’t vote for eight new vehicles, but would support the purchase of six.

The police chief said the department is in dire need of new vehicles.

Carl Davis said during the Sept. 21 shooting at Stambaugh Stadium after a Cardinal Mooney High School football game, eight officers had to ride in the back of the prison transport wagon to respond to the incident. The response occurred during a shift change at the police department so there weren’t vehicles immediately available, he said.

Police vehicles ordered almost a year ago started arriving recently so there is a long lead time to get them, Carfolo said.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said, “The smart thing is to get the eight (vehicles) now.”

WILDLIFE PRESERVE

Richard Scarsella, president of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, asked council Wednesday to pass a resolution urging Mill Creek MetroParks to restore, maintain and preserve the William Holmes McGuffey Wildlife Preserve’s McGuffey Family Pond and Dock in Coitsville, which borders the city’s East Side.

The pond is in poor shape and the dock was removed by Mill Creek MetroParks in 2022 because of safety concerns.

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, who represents most of the East Side, said he is agreeable to sponsoring a resolution.

TAX ABATEMENT

Council on Wednesday also voted to let the board of control give a 75%, 10-year tax abatement to Gulu Electrical Contractors, which is spending $400,000 for a warehouse expansion. The company, which employs 30 people at its 1295 Crescent St. location, plans to add two employees with the expansion.