Lack of quorum prevents Youngstown City Council votes


By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

With two of its seven members absent, city council couldn’t pass legislation by emergency vote.

That meant 17 pieces of legislation on Wednesday’s agenda will have to wait until council’s April 18 meeting to be considered for approval.

Council rules state three-quarters of its members must vote in favor of legislation for approval.

With Councilmen T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd, and Paul Drennen, D-5th, not in attendance, there weren’t three-quarters of the legislative body’s membership at the meeting.

Receiving a first reading was a proposal to authorize the board of control to pay to install a pipeline to provide up to 2.2 million gallons of water a day from the city to Aqua Ohio.

The pipe, about 1,800 feet long, would be installed along South Avenue, near Sam’s Club, in Boardman. The project should cost about $300,000 to $400,000.

The city expects to sell about 1 million gallons of water a day to Aqua for about $100,000 annually, said John Casciano, water commissioner.

Also getting a first reading was a proposal to buy eight surveillance cameras for a cost of up to $60,000 to monitor illegal activity related to the water and wastewater operations.

The cameras, which can be moved, would hopefully catch and/or deter people from stealing manhole covers, illegally tapping into the city’s water system and damaging fire hydrants, Casciano said.

The pipe project and surveillance camera proposals will be delayed a few weeks, but that won’t be a problem, Casciano added.