SitemapThe city’s board of control finalized contracts to purchase grass-cutting and property-cleanup equipment and signed a deal to have the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. oversee the work, a week after the proposal led to a heated debate.
The board of control approved the $102,168 annual contract Thursday with YNDC and also agreed to spend $86,989 on equipment, including industrial lawn mowers as well as trimmers, chain saws, blowers and a wood chipper.
YNDC will supervise and manage 20 low-income people, between 18 and 24 years old, who will cut grass, clean debris and illegal dumping sites, do light landscaping and board-up vacant structures.
Having YNDC do the work resulted in a heated discussion last Wednesday among members of city council and Mayor John A. McNally in which the agency was accused by a couple of council members of racial bias and preferential treatment to certain parts of the city.
“I was a little surprised it became controversial,” said McNally, the chairman of the board of control, about last week’s council meeting. “Every once in a while, there are meetings that go off the tracks.”
The contention last week from Councilwomen Janet Tarpley, D-6th, and Annie Gillam, D-1st, was that YNDC had not treated each ward fairly with previous programs. But documentation provided by YNDC showed services paid by the city were evenly divided among each of the seven wards.
Council met Monday to discuss the matter further and voted to give the board of control — the mayor, law director and finance director — authority to sign the contracts.
The work will begin April 15 with a focus on grass-cutting through Oct. 15, McNally said.
Private contractors cut 2,900 lawns last year with YNDC officials saying they can double that amount this year, according to the mayor.
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