Youngstown council approves street dept. pact, repeals bicycle ban

YOUNGSTOWN

City council approved a three-year contract with its street department union that freezes the salaries of union members for 2017 and 2018 and gives them a 1-percent raise in 2019.

The Teamsters Local 377, which represents about 37 street department workers, had already ratified the deal before council’s Wednesday vote.

The contract, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, also gives each member $805 a year in “exposure pay consistent with other bargaining units” such as police, fire and wastewater union members, according to a summary of the contract.

The contract is consistent with what other city employee unions are receiving, said Law Director Martin Hume.

Also, council voted to repeal a 1974 law making it illegal to ride bicycles and motorcycles in the heart of downtown.

The law hasn’t been enforced for years, and was approved shortly after the city closed Federal Street and turned it into a pedestrian plaza.

The city took down the plaza in 2005 and reopened Federal Street to vehicular traffic, but never took the law off the books.

The repeal happened after a bicyclist brought up the law during a Jan. 19 public hearing on a proposed bike path between downtown and Mill Creek MetroParks.

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