Fifth Ward Youngstown Councilwoman Lauren McNally, holding Brigid McNally, 1, gathers with a group of children before the start of a mini St. Patrickâs Day parade Sunday that started behind Westside Bowl in Youngstown and traveled through parts of the city.
Staff photo / Bob Coupland
YOUNGSTOWN While a large St. Patrick’s Day parade had to be canceled again this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, neighborhoods in Youngstown decided to have their own mini parades.
Residents of the city’s 4th and 5th Wards teamed up to have a parade coordinated by 4th Ward Councilman Michael Ray and 5th Ward Councilwoman Lauren McNally.
⢠The marquee race in the area is the Democratic race for Youngstown mayor.
That primary pits incumbent Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, who is seeking his second four-year term, against Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, and businessman Ryan Kelly.
Turnout should be very low, which makes it difficult to predict who will win the primary.
In the 2017 Democratic primary, 8,298 people voted in the mayoral election. But that also included contested races for council president and a municipal court judge. Not that people come out in droves to vote for council president or a local judicial candidate, but there were three items on the ballot four years ago.
YOUNGSTOWN Rather than see city council reject his proposal to give the law director a 3 percent raise, already reduced from 15 percent, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown decided to withdraw his request.
Brown said he asked the pay raise legislation for Law Director Jeff Limbian be pulled before Wednesday’s council meeting because some members at a Monday finance committee meeting had further questions about his effort to realign the law department.
“Several members asked for more information and to pull it,” he said. “I’ll come back with a comprehensive plan.”
Brown said he didn’t know how long that would take.
YOUNGSTOWN With support questionable among city council members for a pay raise for the law director, the mayor is requesting that increase be 3 percent significantly less than the 15 percent he initially proposed.
But Mayor Jamael Tito Brown is still recommending council, when it meets Wednesday, give a 15 percent raise to the finance director.
In a Jan. 11 Vindicator article, a majority of council members expressed support for the 15 percent pay raise for the finance director, but not for the law director.
Brown on Dec. 9 proposed 15 percent increases for the director jobs, which haven’t received pay raises in the past 13 years.
Youngstown Police Chief Carl Davis took questions from City Council members Thursday.
Staff file photo
YOUNGSTOWN City council members Anita Davis and Jimmy Hughes offered praise and support to new police Chief Carl Davis at the end of a nearly two-hour grilling by council’s safety committee.
Five council members, during a Thursday safety committee session, quizzed the chief hard on his plans to acquire body cameras and how he will improve the police department’s transparency and community engagement.
“Welcome to the crazy zone,” said Anita Davis, who had 35-plus years with the police department. She told the new chief: “You’re going to be pulled and prodded,” but to “put the city first before the police department.”