OSWEGO – The City of Oswego’s Common Council approved the second opportunity for people to bid on city properties during Monday’s council meeting with the first process occurring in early 2020.
Resolution 221 approved the advertisement of sealed bids for properties in the City of Oswego, meaning that people can send sealed bids by Friday, July 30 to the city clerk’s office for a myriad of different properties that were foreclosed.
These properties can be found on the city’s website, according to Barlow and were foreclosed because their owners did not pay back taxes on them even though they were given 30 days to do so. Mayor Billy Barlow wanted to remind those who are considering bidding on the properties that the highest bidder will not necessarily win the property.
“The council will select the winner for each property. Just to be clear … we are not as interested in awarding the highest bidder,” Barlow said. “We are interested in the bid that will put the property to the best use, so obviously we prefer homes that are ‘A’ going to be occupied or ‘B’ bought, totally renovated and improved and then flipped and sold to preferably a family. Somebody that submits a high bid but is going to use it as a rental will not be viewed as favorably as someone who submits a low bid and plans to [fix and live in or sell] the home.”
The city is accepting bids to the following locations:
- 75 Mercer Street, $1,000 minimum bid
- 285 Duer Street, $500 minimum bid
- 371 Maple Street, $500 minimum bid
- 1298 George Street, no minimum bid
- 187 East Fourth Street, $1,500 minimum bid
- 179 East Second Street, $1,500 minimum bid
- 102 East Schuyler Street, $1,500 minimum bid
- 33 East 10th Street, $5,000 minimum bid
- 88 East 12th Street, $1,500 minimum bid
- 17 Liberty Street, $1,500 minimum bid
- 31 John Street, $1,000 minimum bid
- 242 West Seventh, $1,000 minimum bid
- 121 West Eighth, $1,000 minimum bid
- 123West Eighth, $1,000 minimum bid
- 147.5 West Bridge Street, $2,500 minimum bid
Prior to passing any resolution, Barlow announced the third round of the city’s “Blizzard Bucks” program in which citizens can purchase an additional $25 gift voucher to spend at many local businesses. The full list of stores is on the city’s website and is being updated, according to Barlow.
The program provides consumers with $50 total of spending power. The city will fund the program with $20,000 coming from the American Rescue Plan funding. The vouchers will be available for purchase Thursday at 201 West First Street starting at 2 p.m. and will expire July 13.
“They are able to be used as soon as you get them, and you have almost two weeks to spend them,” Barlow said. “The reason there is a deadline is for account purposes, we don’t want them floating out there for an unspecified time, but also the program at its core is meant to drum up business quickly.”
Barlow also highlighted the Independence Day block party which will occur on Sunday, culminating in fireworks over the Oswego River. The city will suspend open container laws as well as shut down West First Street.
All 17 resolutions were passed on Monday night with six votes as Councilor John Gosek Jr. was excused, including the following:
- Approve bid submitted by John R. Dudley Construction, Inc. for general construction for the McCaffrey Water Treatment Plant improvements project
- Approve bid submitted by Crosby Brownlie, Inc. for HVAC services for the McCaffrey Water Treatment Plant improvements project
- Approve bid submitted by Scriba Electric, Inc. for electrical services for the McCaffrey Water Treatment Plant improvements project
- Approve bid submitted by J&A Mechanical Contractors, Inc.. for plumbing services for the McCaffrey Water Treatment Plant improvements project
- Approve grant application submission for the City of Oswego Canal Bright Lights Project
- Approve grant application submission for the City of Oswego Breitbeck Park playground project
One additional resolution was Res. 222, authorizing the mayor to terminate a high dam agreement with Brookfield Power and using the city’s engineering staff instead. Barlow said the $30,000 contract did not provide the city with $30,000 worth of services from Brookfield and that Jeff Hinderliter, the city engineer, and his team could do the job instead.
All Common Council meetings are held the second and fourth Monday of every month. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 6 at 7:15 p.m. To view the meeting agenda, please click here.
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