YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Pictures of the basement ceiling at the Youngstown Police Department paint a picture of concern.

"There's a lot of concrete falling from the ceilings," James Rowley, President of the Youngstown Police Association said. "The rebar is clearly rusted that is underneath there. Water is running down through the floor into the basement below, you know, those things can't be good."

It was enough concern that the Youngstown Police Association filed a grievance against the city claiming it's not taking immediate action.

"I don't know that everybody is scared, I would say they are quite concerned and they want to know hey, from the engineers are we safe to be here," Rowley said. "If we got everybody out and put us somewhere temporarily, let's do that, whatever we need to do, but if it's not safe to be in the building, then we shouldn't be in there."

Tuesday, Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown answered the question about the building's safety with this statement:

"It is important to note that review of the specific issues highlighted by the Police Union relative to building safety have been well underway, in terms of inspection and safety analysis, for quite some time. Preliminary information from structural inspections have found the building integrity to be sound and secure. The isolated areas of decae have not indicated any structural problems that necessitate emergency measures. Health and Safety will be the sole motivating factors for building remediation and construction."

Director of Public Works Chuck Shasho said plans to address and repair the crumbling police department have been sent to engineers for approval.

1st Ward Councilman Julius Oliver says long term, the city should start thinking of building a new city hall and police department.

"It's kind of an embarrassing situation, our city hall," Oliver said. "It would behoove the city basically to give its citizens and our employees a better work environment. However we can come up with that money to be able to make that happen, we should do. I know there are different things that need to happen in the city but it's extremely important that our city hall, our homebase, represents who we are as a city."

Oliver says they have the property and it would a great opportunity to combine administration, police and fire, all in one building.

"A nice multi-purpose building that maybe has a community center, maybe has an academy where young men and women from the city can come and see what it is to be a fireman or what it is to be a policeman and be able to pull those things together in one place," Oliver said. "We got the future of our police department and future of our fire department right there working in one building, willing to go ahead and become those police and firemen. I think there is grant funding to do things like that especially when it comes to our elderly and youth and also when it comes to our safety services. I think it's possible, it's just a matter of thinking outside the box and going for it."

Oliver believes other city council members agree with him and it really boils down to finding the funding. He did not rule out using ARP funds.