New Youngstown council ready to tackle difficult 2016

YOUNGSTOWN

Despite 2016 being a challenging financial year for Youngstown, members of the new city council say they are ready to get to work.

Of the seven members, three are incumbents – T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd; Nate Pinkard, D-3rd; and Mike Ray, D-4th. The four newcomers, all Democrats, are: Julius Oliver in the 1st Ward, Lauren McNally in the 5th, Anita Davis in the 6th and Basia Adamczak in the 7th. All their terms begin Friday and are for four years.

“Hopefully, we can be a super council that gets things done,” McNally said. “We have challenges ahead of us. Next year will be financially challenging. We want to be a well-informed council working together and be open to all ideas. We can get a lot accomplished together.”

The city’s finance department has said 2016 is going to be a financially challenging year though its officials have not yet determined how much in cuts will be needed to balance the budget. The budget must be adopted by March 31 under the city charter.

Six of the seven council members were sworn in Wednesday during a ceremony in council chambers on the sixth floor of city hall.

Read more about the new panel in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.