Members of Youngstown City Council are scheduled to consider emergency legislation to spend $3 million to hire an architect to design a new emergency service building for the city.

Included on the agenda for Wednesday’s council meeting is a proposal to use American Rescue Plan funds to pay for design services for a Youngstown Safety Campus proposed by Mayor Tito Brown in December.

ARP funds, created as a tool to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, are restricted for certain uses under federal guidelines.  According to the proposed legislation, spending the money on architectural services is needed to “address public health and negative economic impacts.”

If the legislation gets the needed six council votes to pass as an emergency, it will take effect immediately.

The concept of a $45 million, state-of-the-art emergency services building that would be the headquarters for both the city's police and fire departments was unveiled in December through a presentation by Strollo Architects.

Under the original proposal, the safety service campus would be built on Youngstown's north side, near Wick Park.

The building would offer features including offices, dispatch, a public shooting range, parking, and more.

The garage space would be able to hold ambulances if the city chooses to transition to its ambulance service.

Currently, police and fire buildings downtown have several code violations.

The Youngstown Police Department is currently located on West Boardman Street in the same building as Youngstown City Hall, which was built in 1930.

 The Youngstown Fire Department’s Station Number One on Martin Luther King Boulevard was built in 1956.