YOUNGSTOWN — City council agreed to spend $145,000 from the fund that holds fees paid by those cited for speeding in school zones — a rare occurrence since the program started more than three years ago.

Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to spend $95,000 for the annual maintenance agreement the city has with the SpotShotter program, and $50,000 for improvements and maintenance to school zone flasher units, signage and for a mobile camera trailer.

During council’s finance committee meeting, Councilman Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward and a retired Youngstown police officer, questioned if the expenditure for the SpotShotter program fit in with state guidelines for spending the money collected by those caught speeding in school zones by unmanned cameras.

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek said it did and the city used the fund to pay for the SpotShotter agreement in December. That cost was $89,384.

SpotShotter is technology that is able to detect and locate gunfire in real time. The city’s law department determined before the first payment was made in December that it was a permissible use for the speed camera funds.

The city has been hampered by its inability to spend money from the speed camera citations because of state restrictions on those expenditures.

The city paid $51,522 in December 2024 to Blue Line Solutions, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, company that runs the camera program, to purchase a surveillance trailer with two cameras.

Those have been the only expenditures made by the city since the unmanned cameras started issuing citations to those speeding in early 2023.

The city has collected a total of $2,256,207 since the program started in February 2023. The city collected $597,640 in citation fees for three months in 2023, $916,721 during the 2024-25 school year and $741,846 between August and February.

If the two purchases approved Wednesday by council go through, the city will have spent only $285,906, less than 13% of the money it received from the speed cameras.

In December 2024, the city administration sought to spend $211,251 to purchase three SUVs for the city school district. But that was stopped by the law department after it determined it wasn’t permissible under state law.

At the same time, council voted to spend up to $56,000 of the speed camera money to buy three metal detectors the city would own and permit the school district to use when classes are in session. That purchase, which also raised questions, was never made.

The city gets 65% of the citation fees, with Blue Line keeping the remaining 35%.

Cameras are in use on school days from the time kids head to class until 6 p.m. They aren’t used on weekends, during the summer and on days when class is not in session.

During the two hours in the morning that kids go to school, and the two hours when they leave, the speed limit in those zones is 20 mph. In between and after school ends, the speed limit is 25 and 35 mph depending on the location.

Motorists caught going at least 11 mph over the speed limit and up to 14 mph over it face a civil penalty of $100. Those going 15 to 20 mph over the limit face a $125 penalty and those traveling faster than 20 mph over the limit face a $150 penalty. They do not get points on their driving record for the citations.

There were 28,658 citations for speeding in school zones issued between August and December.

There were 37,367 citations issued during the 8 1/2 months of the 2024-25 school year and 22,424 given during a three-month period when the cameras were turned on in 2023. Those who didn’t pay the fees in 2023 had those fees forgiven when the program resumed in 2024 after a pause because of a dispute over how the court would handle those objecting to getting citations.

The collection rate for those issued citations in school zones with the cameras is about 40%.

Because they are citations, there is nothing the city can do to enforce collections. Blue Line could turn over the unpaid citations to a collection agency, but that is highly unlikely.

GAS STATION GRANT

Council referred to its community planning and economic development committee for further discussion a request to give a $100,000 grant for storm water improvements to Four Lane Quick Stop.

The business is investing $2 million for a new gas station/convenience store at 3827 Market St. and asked the city for financial assistance.

The prior city administration requested council consider giving the business a $185,000 storm water grant, $74,850 for a double-sided electric sign that the city would either own or have under a long-term lease and $65,680 for sidewalk replacement.

DeMaine Kitchen, the community planning and economic development director since Jan. 1, said the previous administration, when Jamael Tito Brown was mayor, didn’t have any signed documentation about the funding, so it was decided by the Mayor Derrick McDowell administration to give a $100,000 grant to the business.

“Just being honest, we were put on the hook for a commitment that was made prior to coming in,” Kitchen said. “When the developers and property owners came to us as if we would honor that commitment, there was no documentation, saying it was just verbal. But we decided to support the project the best we can as Kyle (Miasek) mentioned already just so that the city wouldn’t be in a bad position when it comes to people in business in the city.”

Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said the sidewalk replacement funding for the business is in the city budget and there will be legislation in the future to pay for it.

The business is relocating from a leased location across the street.

The new location, at the corner of Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard, would “transform a former vacant lot that serves as a gateway of a major commercial corridor,” according to council legislation.

SNOW REMOVAL

Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to permit the board of control to pay $272,000 to contractors hired to remove snow during the winter blizzards.

The legislation gives the board authority to waive the formal bidding process and pay the various contractors for emergency snow removal that was largely done in January.

There were six contractors that helped the city with snow removal, Shasho said. They are companies that regularly do business with the city, he said, such as Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co., A.P. O’Horo Co., S.E.T. Inc. and J.S. Bova Excavating.

The board of control should authorize the payments at its next meeting, March 26, Shasho said.

The city can typically handle snow removal with its street department staff, but when it gets close to a foot, which occurred Jan. 24-26, it needed additional help, Shasho said.

The wastewater, and parks and recreation departments helped with snow removal too.

“I would love to say that every snowstorm would be like this, but the physical characteristics of the storm and the amount of warning we had was a huge factor,” Shasho said. “But we responded. I couldn’t ask for a better response.”