YOUNGSTOWN — Bus shelters near Youngstown State University that were planned for a Fifth Avenue improvement project that finished in 2022 will be installed this summer, along with a Market Street bus pull-off that was supposed to be done in 2024.

City council will consider legislation Wednesday to permit the board of control to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for up to $295,000 for the work.

The city administration already has scheduled an April 10 bid opening for the project.

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said the delays with the two bus shelters near YSU, including one by Stambaugh Stadium, are the result of Youngstown not having permission for easements from the state to install them.

“We couldn’t do it without easements for the right-of-way,” Shasho said. “Approval from the state took a while to get. We have bus stops there, but we didn’t have concrete pads for the shelters. They have to be designed and then they will go in.”

The Fifth Avenue project, between West Federal Street and Eastbound Service Road, began in July 2020 and finished in September 2022.

Construction closed much of the road, which is the main corridor from downtown to YSU and St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

The project reduced the number of lanes from two to three in each direction to one in each direction with turning lanes in several locations as well as new lighting, updated curbs and sidewalks, and medians.

The work was part of the SMART2 (Strategic and Sustainable, Medical and Manufacturing, Academic and Arts, Residential and Recreation, and Technology and Training) Network program on several city streets, primarily downtown.

The city and its partners were awarded a $10.85 million federal grant Dec. 6, 2018, for the SMART2 work, with the rest of the $29 million coming from other federal and state funds as well as dollars and in-kind services from the city and its partners. Those partners include Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, YSU, Mercy Health-Youngstown and the Western Reserve Transit Authority.

Other work was done on Federal, Front, Commerce and South Phelps streets, and Rayen Avenue.

Every single street finished later than scheduled, and there were numerous complaints — particularly from business owners on West Federal Street — about the delays and the closings of the streets.

The work didn’t finish until December 2024.

The work included repaving, reducing the number of lanes, widening sidewalks, creating bicycle paths, lighting upgrades, landscaping and pedestrian islands.

As part of obtaining the grant, the city spent $696,435 for a 10-seat self-driving electric bus that state law requires a driver to sit behind the wheel. The city pulled the bus, which drove up and down Federal Street, off the road after five months when it decided to not pay for a driver.

The other part of the legislation in front of city council Wednesday is for a bus pull-off on Market Street for Oh Wow! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology.

This also was supposed to be part of the SMART2 project, Shasho said.

“We hesitated with how to coordinate it because the concept in the SMART2 drawing wasn’t going to work for Oh Wow!” Shasho said. “We took a step back and made sure we got it right.”

The bus pull-off will cut into the sidewalk on Market Street near the Mahoning National Bank Building, which is undergoing a major project, to allow school buses to pick up and drop off children attending the museum.

CITY HALL WORK

City council also will consider again amending an ordinance to increase the amount for an ongoing project for improvement work to city hall’s second floor.

Council initially approved spending up to $290,000 for the work on March 19, 2025. It was increased to $395,000 on Oct. 15. That came after the low bid for the work of $380,500 from Brock Builders of North Lima was opened June 13.

Council will consider increasing the maximum cost Wednesday to $425,587. That is about 47% more than the initial request a year ago.

Shasho said, “$290,000 was unrealistic. We have to increase it a little more primarily because of plumbing issues and electrical work. It’s a bargain. It looks really nice. We’re very happy with the job.”

The work began in late January/early February and should be finished by mid-April, Shasho said.

The space, which is about 4,000-square feet, has been empty since the clerk of courts moved from there in 2018 to the city hall annex, 9 W. Front St., as part of the relocation of the city court system.

City officials have informally talked for years about what to do with the space before deciding in 2024 to allow the community planning and economic development department to use it.

The department’s office on the fourth floor in the former city prosecutor’s office is about half the size of the space on the second floor.

After the municipal court moved to the annex, a block away from city hall at 26 S. Phelps St., the city had work done on the former courtrooms, also located on the second floor, for the police department.

The project included some partial demolition, new finishes, drywall, improvements to the heating and cooling system, the addition of a bathroom and some individual offices.

PAY RAISES

City council will vote Wednesday on a memorandum of understanding with the union that represents secretaries and clerical staff at city hall as well as a few at the traffic and health departments to increase their raises for this year from the previously agreed upon amount of 2.25% to 4%, which is what several city unions are receiving this year.

The city administration is recommending this because of its policy of pattern bargaining — meaning pay raises that are given to one union in a particular year are then given to all other unions.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2312, which represents the clerical staff, agreed to a contract that paid its members 2.5% in 2025 and 2.25% in 2026. But then the firefighters union — and now others — received raises of 4% in each of those years. The city also recently ratified a contract with its police patrol union to give its members 4% raises in 2027.

The legislation in front of council would add another 1.75% in pay for the AFSCME members for 2026, in addition to the 2.25% they’re currently getting, to bring their raises to a total of 4% for this year.

The union and the city are starting to negotiate a new three-year contract that would start next year.

The city plans to offer not only a 4% raise for 2027 to the AFSCME members, but also include an additional 1.5% increase to make up the difference for what the union members didn’t receive in 2025, when police and fire unions received 4% raises.