SitemapYoungstown Mayor John McNally Finance Director Dave Bozanich voted to defer purchasing equipment for the city’s high grass cutting program.
They will revisit the issue next week.
Bozanich they delay is a matter of providing additional information to City Council.
Several council members questioned the methods used in the past to determine which lots were cut before others. That exchange quickly turned into a shouting match at Wednesday night’s finance meeting.
City leaders are looking to contract with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) to handle grass cutting city-wide as opposed to being on of a dozen companies doing the work in the past.
“The intention, again, is that we could cut all un-maintained vacant homes where the owners aren’t maintaining them. We do that fairly systematically,” said Ian Beniston, YNDC executive director.
Beniston said YNDC would hire 15 to 20 young adults to do the work through the Mahoning/Columbiana Training Association and the local AmeriCorps program. While the city paid up to $50 for each lot that was cut in the past, the work would now be done for a just a fraction of the cost.
“And we will have people employed and gain valuable job experience and just give people something productive to do in the summer months, too,” Beniston said.
The Youngstown City Council Finance Committee is expected to meet again Tuesday evening. Officials hope to convince enough members to go along with the idea and approve it by the end of next week.
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