Community News

Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow announced today a proposed local law he will bring to the Oswego Common Council for consideration to aggressively increase the enforcement, fines and penalties for property maintenance issues such as tall grass, un-shoveled sidewalks, exposed garbage and the tidiness of property visible from City streets.

The local law changes drastically increase fines associated with these violations. Mayor Barlow also announced in his State of the City address earlier this year a directive to the City code enforcement and law departments to prioritize and expedite the prosecution of these offenses.

“I am proposing this legislation in an effort to reduce neighborhood blight and address some of the most unsightly and reoccurring violations in our community. Passing this legislation will allow the City of Oswego Code Enforcement department to be more proactive in addressing these nuisance violations and by increasing our enforcement and implementing higher fines we hope to prevent these violations from occurring in the first place”, said Mayor Barlow. “After several major snow events this winter we realize we need to be more aggressive with enforcing the clearing of sidewalks after a snowfall as well. This legislation will implement fines for property owners who fail to clear their sidewalks by 7:00am the next morning following a snowfall ensuring our children can walk to school safely in the morning”, Barlow continued.

The proposed legislation increases the fines for property maintenance violations like tall grass, exposed garbage and outdoor use of upholstered furniture from a $100 maximum fine to a $500 maximum fine and additionally implements a fine structure increasing exponentially for every violation. The fine structure will also be used for enforcing snow removal for sidewalks.

“The implementation of this legislation doubles down on our recent code enforcement efforts and will focus specifically on reducing obvious neighborhood blight which negatively impacts our neighborhoods and reduces our home values and quality of life. By pressing property owners, including City landlords, to maintain their property we improve our neighborhoods for all Oswego residents”, Barlow said. “The City of Oswego also must work harder and faster to enforce the clearing of sidewalks so our children can walk to and from school safely. All too often, our children, elderly or disabled community members are forced to walk in the road because sidewalks are not shoveled. By prioritizing these offenses and increasing the penalties we can prevent this from happening and make our community a safer place for everyone”, Barlow continued.

Mayor Barlow will propose these amendments to the Oswego Common Council on Tuesday February 20th at 6:30pm at Oswego City Hall. Mayor Barlow will also request funding for an additional code enforcer position in the code enforcement department.