YOUNGSTOWN — With a change in administration six weeks away, city council rejected legislation to permit the board of control to enter into a contract with a marketing consultant and delayed a vote on creating the job of site development coordinator.

Council voted 4-2 Wednesday against authorizing the board of control to advertise for proposals and enter into a contract with a marketing consultant who would “create a comprehensive marketing plan / campaign” that would “highlight Youngstown’s assets and position the city for business growth, visitors and residents,” according to the rejected ordinance.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, said council “should hold off” on the proposal, sponsored by outgoing Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, because Mayor-elect Derrick McDowell “may have a different outlook on this position.”

Besides Turner, others voting against the legislation were Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward; Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward; and Amber White, I-7th Ward. The two yes votes came from Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, and Anita Davis, D-6th Ward. Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, was absent Wednesday.

Hughes questioned why the legislation didn’t include a dollar amount. Finance Director Kyle Miasek said the administration wanted to meet with those who handle marketing before deciding how much would be spent. He said the administration would confer with city council before hiring a firm.

During a Sept. 9 council committee meeting, city officials discussed spending up to $200,000 for the effort. The agency that would have been selected was to brand and message, create a campaign strategy and creative development, handle media and digital marketing, work on community and stakeholder engagement, establish performance indicators, and provide regular updates and reports, according to a presentation at that Sept. 9 meeting.

At Wednesday’s meeting, council declined to vote on creating the job of site development coordinator in the community planning and economic development department, with an annual salary of $71,785.

Rather than rejecting the legislation, council gave it a first reading Wednesday.

Council could choose to vote by emergency to approve the legislation at a future meeting, have three readings at three separate meetings and support it with a majority vote, or postpone a decision until after McDowell is mayor.

During the council finance committee meeting, held before the full council meeting, there was a discussion about having to amend the legislation from an at-will, unclassified employee to a civil service-protected, classified employee.

Deputy Law Director Adam Buente said the position was always meant to be classified — as only specific positions spelled out in the city charter are unclassified — and the law department made a “clerical error” when writing the legislation.

If the position is considered by council, it would have to be amended to a classified job.

Council also didn’t have enough support Wednesday to pass three amendments increasing the maximum amounts for contracts, including two that already received approval from the board of control to go over the initial limits.

Council needed support by at least six members to pass the three ordinances by emergency.

White opposed the proposals, saying, “When we enter into agreements with these companies, they need to work within the scope of the contract. I’m going to stand my ground on these contracts.”

One ordinance request dates back to Oct. 2, 2024, when council permitted the board of control to enter into a contract for up to $560,000 with a company to improve the downtown area damaged by the May 28, 2024, explosion at the former Realty Tower and its subsequent demolition.

Parella-Pannunzio of Youngstown was hired Oct. 24, 2024, for $545,717 for the work on Market Street in front of the former Realty Tower site and on East Federal Street from Market to Champion, between where the building was and the Stambaugh Building. That work included repairs to the streets, sidewalks, utilities, landscaping, plants and planters, curb ramps and catch basins.

The board of control agreed Dec. 30 to increase the payment to $694,392 for electrical upgrades as well as expanding the sidewalk and curb replacements.

The company had to recently repair the sidewalks because of cracks caused by the building site settling, Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said last week.

Council didn’t have support to amend legislation to spend up to $2.95 million from $2.8 million, approved March 19 by the legislative body, for a major improvement project to sections of Boardman and Walnut streets downtown.

Parella-Pannunzio was awarded this contract April 24 for $2,778,645. The board of control approved an increase Sept. 11 to $2,861,833 for a water tie-in and trenching for lighting. That pushed the contract over the $2.8 million limit set by council.

The other amended ordinance that received a first reading Wednesday was for planning, design and construction management services for Madison Avenue, Westbound Service Road and Eastbound Service Road.

The limit approved Oct. 1 by council was for $125,000 for the work. The amendment was to increase that maximum amount to $221,100.

SOBE MORATORIUM

Council voted 5-0 Wednesday on a third one-year moratorium banning pyrolysis — the gasification or combustion of tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste — in the city. Council approved the first moratorium Dec. 20, 2023, and the second one Nov. 20, 2024. Both were supported by unanimous votes.

Even though SOBE Thermal Energy Solutions LLC, which wanted to burn rubber tire chips to create synthetic gas, has abandoned its Youngstown facility and is in the hands of a court-appointed receiver, council voted to extend the ban.

Kelly abstained from the vote saying he did so because his son, Ryan Kelly, co-owner of the Ohio One building, one of SOBE’s customers, is trying to get other customers to look at buying the energy system.

Ray, who co-sponsored the legislation with Davis, said SOBE forced the company into receivership and burning tire chips “is not anything we would want done downtown and near residents. We need to put the health and welfare of our citizens first.”

LAWSUIT SETTLED

Council voted 6-0 to authorize the board of control to make a $40,000 payment from a settlement agreement reached six months ago for damage caused to Erie Terminal Place during a project at the city-owned 20 Federal Place.

The settlement was reached after a May 15 mediation with the terms of the resolution sent to attorneys for the city and Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown, another defendant in the lawsuit, on May 26 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The settlement called for the city to pay $40,000 and for Marucci & Gaffney, through its insurance company, to pay $80,000 to Erie Terminal Place LLC.

When the money from the city didn’t arrive, Gregg Rossi, Erie Terminal’s attorney, filed a Sept. 24 motion with the court to compel the settlement with a request for interest.

Magistrate Nicole Butler on Oct. 24 ordered an in-person hearing for Dec. 3 to resolve the issue.

Council voted 6-0 on a resolution to support the restoration, maintenance and preservation of the William Holmes McGuffey Wildlife Preserve’s McGuffey Family Pond and Dock in Coitsville, which borders the city’s East Side.

Richard Scarsella, president of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, requested the resolution at council’s Oct. 1 meeting.

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

The Mill Creek MetroPark’s board of commissioners last week voted to sell the preserve though no sale has gone through.