YOUNGSTOWN City council action
City council handled these items Wednesday:
Approved changes to the city's smoke detector ordinance. The changes require rental property owners to provide copies to tenants of affidavits asserting that smoke detector requirements have been met; make tenants responsible for repair or replacement of damaged detectors; and make tenants responsible for replacing batteries they remove and replacing batteries at least once annually.Authorized a zero-percent $500,000 loan for up to 18 months to the owners of the recently opened Sparkle Market at Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard. The store owners first must provide the city with a bank letter of credit for the entire loan amount.Contributed $5,000 to First Night Youngstown, an alcohol-free New Year's Eve event.Authorized the board of control to sign an operations and maintenance agreement with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The contract would be for a firing range to be built at the Ohio State Penitentiary in the city. The board of control also is authorized to buy 18 acres on the prison's grounds from the state.Authorized the board of control to spend $205,000 of a federal grant to buy 10 marked police cars through the state purchasing contract.Appropriated $68,442 of a state grant to pay for litter enforcement services from the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.Appropriated $175,000 of the city's 2003-2004 federal Community Development Block Grant to fund housing demolition.Added a $10 late fee to all annual city-issued permits and licenses that are not paid by Jan. 20 of each year.Authorized the board of control to seek bids and award a contract for residential garbage disposal. The contract is to be for one year with two one-year renewals.Authorized the board of control to waive water, sewer and building permit fees for the construction of five homes on Beachwood Drive and one on nearby Lakewood Circle, a city-subsidized housing development on the East Side.Appropriated $20,000 of the city's federal money to pay for grass cutting done this summer by the parks department.Authorized the board of control to waive bidding procedures and pay L.E.C. of Youngstown $39,524 for emergency sewer line repairs on Canfield Road between South Schenley Avenue and Meridian Road.