YOUNGSTOWN — City council didn’t have enough support to pass ordinances by emergency measure to amend a contract with the Western Reserve Port Authority to seek buyers for a number of city-owned properties or to grant raises to 199 nonunion employees.

Council voted 5-1 Wednesday on a request by the administration to pass legislation by emergency to grant raises in 2026 of 4% plus $1 an hour to the nonunion employees, which includes department heads, nonmanagement workers and those in the clerk of courts and court bailiff’s office.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, voted against passing the ordinance by emergency with Councilwoman Amber White, I-7th Ward, absent.

Council typically passes legislation by emergency measure, which requires the support of at least six of its seven members. But primarily with Turner and / or White either absent or voting against approval by emergency in recent months, it is no longer routine.

Council can also pass legislation by giving three readings at three separate meetings and then approving it by a majority vote.

Council will be down one member at its next regularly scheduled meeting, Jan. 7, because Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, is resigning at the end of the month to become council president. A replacement will not be selected by that meeting.

The delay also means Mayor-elect Derrick McDowell will not see the job’s salary increase by 4%. Council can grant raises before McDowell takes office Jan. 1, but cannot do so once he starts serving his four-year term.

Turner also requested the WRPA contract receive a first reading at Wednesday’s meeting. Because of that, council didn’t attempt to try a vote by emergency measure.

Asked after the meeting about her requests, Turner said, “I don’t have an issue. I just want a second reading. That’s it. No craziness. I just want further discussion.”

But Turner did not attend the council finance committee meeting held prior to the full council meeting at which the pay raises and the WRPA contract were discussed.

The 4% raises would have been the same increases given in 2026 to those in the firefighters union and at least what the police patrol union, which rejected a fact-finder’s report with that percentage salary increase, will receive.

The city does pattern negotiations with its unions, said Finance Director Kyle Miasek, meaning that whatever one union gets in pay raises is given to the others.

After Turner voted against passing the raises by emergency, Miasek spoke up at the meeting, saying, “When individuals get influenced by outside forces” they don’t understand all of the work those in management positions do, including most not receiving overtime and working their best to help the city.

Miasek said: “It’s unfortunate when you could have asked me some questions rather than to vote no,” and he was disappointed the department heads “don’t have the support of all of council.”

Turner shot back that she has questions and she is allowed to ask them and vote however she wants.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, asked Turner to reconsider her vote. She declined.

The $1-an-hour raise, in addition to the 4% raise, for the nonunion employees is designed to give them money in place of extra payments that go to certain unions for bonuses for hazardous duty, shift differential and uniform allowances, Miasek said.

City council started giving the extra $1 in 2024.

The additional $1-an-hour equals $2,080 in annual additional pay.

WRPA LEGISLATION

The WPRA legislation would permit the board of control to amend a contract to seek buyers for a number of city-owned properties, including the former Chill-Can plant site and the shuttered 20 Federal Place.

The city has had an agreement since June 17, 2020, with the WRPA to identify properties owned by the former available for “lease, sale, renovation or redevelopment and properties not owned by the city that could be obtained for the same purposes.”

The contract pays 5% of the gross transaction price of any sales.

While the contract has been in place for more than five years, the WRPA hasn’t sold any city-owned properties to date. But the WRPA has worked with the city on projects.

The WRPA board voted earlier Wednesday to approve the contract amendment.

The WRPA has greater flexibility to sell the properties than the city, which has restrictions under state law.

Before the first reading, other council members spoke in favor of the contract amendment.

Ray said the WRPA “makes things happen. They’ve been a good partner with the city. They’ve invested in downtown and they’re helping with small and large projects. The public-private partnership is needed to get things done. They move with the efficiency we don’t have.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said the city has “sites for development. We need major economic development to move forward and bring new tax dollars into the city. It’s a good deal based off their track record in the city and throughout the area.”