YOUNGSTOWN — City council approved new contracts with its water department and emergency police dispatchers union as well as gave permission to spend up to $650,000 for a storage building for the Covelli Centre.

Council voted 7-0 Wednesday for all of the legislation.

The agreements call for the 78 members of the water union to get 5.5% raises this year and the 13 members of the dispatchers union to receive 8% raises.

The city does pattern bargaining, meaning the highest pay raises given to one union in a particular year are then given to all other unions.

The city’s fire, police patrol and police ranking officers unions received 4% raises for 2025 and 2026 with the latter two unions set to get 4% in 2027.

The water department union members received a 2.5% raise in 2025 so the 5.5% raise for 2026 is the standard 4% raise given to all city unions with an additional 1.5% to make up for the difference in 2025.

The raise is 8% for the dispatchers union because it didn’t have an agreement in place for 2025 so it is getting 4% for last year and 4% for this year.

Finance Director Kyle Miasek said of the dispatchers union: “They kind of came in behind the eight ball because they wait until (the patrol union ratified its contract). As a result, they were a full year and a quarter behind schedule.”

The two unions, which have ratified the contracts, will get 4% raises in 2027 and 2.5% raises in 2028.

Also, the two unions agreed to have the city no longer pay the employees’ pension pickup by Dec. 26.

For water department workers, that is 10%. It is 8.5% for dispatchers.

The city will eliminate paying employees’ pension pickups for other unions going forward, Miasek said, because of proposed state legislation that would stop the practice.

Miasek said the raises take into account the loss of the pension pickup by the city.

“There is a net impact of zero on their overall take-home pay,” Miasek said. “In addition, it will impact the employees for overtime because now their hourly rate is actually higher so when they get paid overtime at one-and-a-half they’ll actually take home more. The final impact will be when the employee retires, this will assist in increasing the five highest calendar years, which gets evaluated” in their pension payment tabulations.

The water union contract would expire April 30, 2029, if council ratifies it at its Wednesday meeting.

The contract also includes a provision to have the city pay for training or programs to obtain a commercial driver’s license. The city would pay 100% of that cost if the employee remains on staff for five years. The employee would be responsible for a portion if they leave before those five years.

In addition to the pay raises, the new dispatchers’ contract, which would expire Dec. 31, 2028, increases extra payments to those working the afternoon and night shifts.

Currently those working the afternoon shift get 45 cents an hour on top of their hourly pay. With this contract, it increases to 50 cents an hour.

Those who work the night shift currently get an additional 55 cents an hour. That would go to 60 cents an hour.

OTHER BUSINESS

Council voted to permit the board of control to spend up to $650,000 for the construction of a storage facility at the Covelli Centre, the city-owned entertainment and sports facility.

The city already paid $114,000 for the purchase of the steel and siding for the building, Miasek said.

The center will store equipment such as chairs, forklifts, a Zamboni and its basketball equipment to the new building, Miasek said.

The building won’t have any heat or air conditioning with that being evaluated next year, depending on how much admission tax on tickets is collected, Miasek said.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said, “So basically, we can look forward to you coming back and asking us for additional funds for it.”

Miasek said: “We’re not going to evaluate it until we get the building constructed and they see how much can be stored in there. Right now, there isn’t, I don’t believe, a need for air, potentially for heat just because of temperatures.”

Council voted Wednesday to renew the $60,000 contract of CS Public Affairs, run by Andy Resnick, to continue providing strategic communications for the city. The firm was first hired in June 2024.

Resnick will continue to provide services, such as media relations, organizing news conferences, press releases and working to improve the image of the city, said Mayor Derrick McDowell.

Resnick will also work on a “comprehensive communications plan for city hall as a whole,” McDowell said, including a new city website and engaging the community.