YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said at the next city council meeting, he plans to provide options related to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and avoid the passage of $1,000 bonuses to city employees for getting vaccinated.

Among those options, Brown said Wednesday, is a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for city employees. Those who refuse to get inoculated would be subject to weekly testing at their expense, he said.

“Council wanted to see options and that’s what we’re going to give them to consider,” Brown said. “It’s a good start.”

Another possibility is to follow the lead of Columbus and require face masks be worn in all indoor spaces accessible to the public, Brown said.

“We’re looking at the legalities of a citywide mandate,” he said. “Columbus is larger and they’ve got more issues. We’ll see if we can adapt to what they’re doing and make it work for our city.”

Council next meets Oct. 6, although members usually discusses its agenda at a finance committee meeting held two days earlier.

Brown imposed a mask mandate Aug. 24 for those inside city buildings, but that doesn’t include the city-owned Covelli Centre.

At a Wednesday meeting, council gave a second reading to the proposed $1,000 bonus payments to city employees who either have been fully vaccinated or would be within 45 days of the ordinance becoming law.

However, only three of council’s seven members support the proposal.

Youngstown has about 700 full- and part-time employees so if everyone was vaccinated, the city would pay about $700,000 in bonuses.

There isn’t a funding source for the proposal so if it’s approved, a separate piece of legislation also would need to get a majority vote. The funding would come from the $82.7 million the city was awarded from the federal American Rescue Plan.

The city spent about $300,000 between February and April on medical costs related to treating employees, their spouses and dependents for COVID-19, Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward, said.

Another possibility discussed by Brown would be to charge unvaccinated city workers extra for their health insurance premiums.

Only four of council’s seven members attended Wednesday’s meeting so nothing was passed by emergency, which is routine for the legislative body.

Absent were Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward; Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward; and Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward.

For council to adopt ordinances by emergency, at least six of its members have to vote in favor of that.

Also, toward the end of the meeting, Brown and Finance Director Kyle Miasek raised their hands to ask council to go into executive session to discuss a proposed firefighters union contract.

But council President DeMaine Kitchen, who sits above and behind them, didn’t see their hands in the air and closed the meeting so no executive session was held.

Council is expected at its Oct. 6 meeting to consider a three-year contract with the union.

The union’s last deal expired Dec. 31.

City council and the union in May rejected a proposed three-year contract from a fact finder with 1 percent annual raises as well as 1.25 percent “pandemic lump sum” bonuses in the first two years.

The proposed deal with the union is expected to include a higher annual salary increase than the rejected fact finder’s recommendation.