Youngstown council approves purchase of fire trucks, metal detectors for Covelli Centre

YOUNGSTOWN

City council voted to have the board of control spend up to $365,000 for two used firetrucks, but it will be a month or two before city officials can determine how they’ll pay for them.

The legislation council approved Wednesday is for “the emergency purchase” of the two pumper trucks.

The pumper trucks – one is 6 years old and the other is 9 years old – would replace a pair of trucks from 1987 that are used as backups, said fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. One of the 19-year-old trucks doesn’t work, he said.

The fire department’s mechanic will inspect the trucks as early as next week and then a price for the vehicles would be negotiated, O’Neill said.

The department has seven pumper trucks on active duty, he said.

The city can borrow money, spend current city funds or use other funding options to buy the trucks, said city Finance Director David Bozanich.

In other business, the lawmakers approved an ordinance allowing the board of control to purchase eight metal detectors for the Covelli Centre and agreed to refund $150,000 to the Corrections Corp. of America, which runs the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, a private prison on the city’s East Side.

Read the complete story in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.