WARREN — City Council approved a three-year contract Wednesday with Trumbull County to house city prisoners at the county jail.

The agreement passed unanimously as an emergency measure during council’s regular meeting and calls for the city to pay $500,000 in the first year, $515,000 in the second and $530,450 in the third, spanning 2026 through 2028.

The meeting marked a milestone for council, as the session was the first to be livestreamed tested on a private Facebook page by Councilman Todd Johnson, I-1st Ward, with assistance from local media specialist Mike Marsh.

Councilman Michael O’Brien, D-at Large, who chairs the police and fire committee and sponsored the measure, traced the concept back to the administration of former Mayor Dan Sferra, who sought to “get out of the jail business.”

O’Brien said the city once operated its own basement jail that held up to two dozen prisoners, and where he worked as one of the first civilian jailers in the 1970s. According to its website, the county jail is housing about 305 inmates.

“Since then, I think it’s been three sheriffs and quite a few mayors, but I think that it’s still in the city’s best interest to stay out of the jail business for a number of reasons, liability being one,” O’Brien said. “I think this is a fair contract with the county.”

The contract ensures priority space for city prisoners amid concerns raised in a premeeting caucus about county jail renovations and federal inmate housing potentially affecting capacity or costs.

O’Brien assured that the city’s paid slots would maintain priority and said that federal prisoners would not impact local needs.

In other business, Mayor Doug Franklin announced an $851,000 state grant from Ohio’s Residential Economic Development District program to upgrade water and sewer lines in the Peninsula project area. The mayor credited Special Projects Coordinator Trish Johnston, and consultant McCalley and Company for securing the funds on a $180,000 city investment over two years.

Council also approved an emergency agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation to purchase road salt for the remainder of winter, and authorized the law director to join a combined opioid litigation settlement with six pharmaceutical defendants, expected to bring funds to the city.