Youngstown city council OKs sewer rate hike, DORA application
"It is the fault on the leadership over all these years," lamented Youngstown Third Ward councilwoman Samantha Turner during a special meeting Wednesday.
"This can has been kicked all the way to us...so we're in a place where we have no choice," added First Ward councilman Julius Oliver.
A problem city leaders say has been long-avoided has come to head.
City council reluctantly voted 6-1 to hike sewer rates by five percent a year for the next four years.
It's part of a long term plan to pay for work the EPA said has to get done.
"We are obligated to do this to keep the wastewater system up," said Fourth Ward councilman Mike Ray. "We need to raise that so we can bring in enough funds to pay our debt service on the mandated improvements we're doing. These are unfunded mandates that have come down to us and we've negotiated to where we're at and we have to start making these improvements to the system."
"It was something we didn't want to do but if you look at the court's mandate, the unfunded mandates we have to do, this was probably the lowest rate possible to get approval from the courts that we're in compliance," added Mayor Tito Brown.
The first hike takes effect January 1, 2025.
Council also voted to apply for a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area or DORA downtown - and to bring Flock cameras to the city.
While some city leaders are all-in on the DORA, others share concerns of business owners about the ability to keep downtown safe.
"How do we not have additional officers to where we use this type of camera system (Flock), but then something like this (a DORA) will require some type of police presence?" councilwoman Turner asked police chief Carl Davis.
"Whether it requires overtime, whatever means necessary, we will have a police presence in the downtown area," Davis answered.
The DORA would be 34 acres - the biggest in The Valley.
Mayor Brown believes it'll play a key role in moving downtown back in the right direction.
"I think until you go to a community and see how it operates, then you say 'oh, well they're doing it there and this is how it works', and I think that's going to continue to ease the uncertainty, but the more education you put out there, the better sense they'll have as to how it'll work."
A public hearing will be set for the DORA at a later date.
Other business at the special council meeting included the approval of ARP money for the aforementioned Flock license plate reader cameras.
The two-year agreement costs nearly $200,000 year one and another $170,000 the next year.
City leaders say the Flock cameras will run concurrently with ShotSpotter technology to not only hear gunshots but help catch shooters.
"That is almost like CSI or what we see on TV when they're able to track vehicles," councilman Ray said. "I think it'll make our community safer because we're going to be able to take a description and put it in there and figure out where that vehicle is, who it belongs to and solve crimes."
Council also approved ARP money for improvements at Bort's Park and the MVSD playground.
The city had more than 10 million ARP dollars to work with for park upgrades.
Council did an inventory of each park to decide on standard equipment, and councilman Ray asked for an additional $500,000 for this project.
"There's roughly a million dollars going into the rehab of Bort's park," Ray said. "The bathrooms, are one of the things that are needed, to have a functioning park you need to have functioning bathrooms."
Other improvements planned include a walking trail and preserving some of the bleachers at Bort's Field.
