Council Poised To Reconsider Herbicide Vote

by Steve Yablonski | May 5, 2016 7:54 am

OSWEGO, NY – Last month, the council voted 5-1-1 to move $12,000 from the Contingency Fund to the 440 Contracted Services Garage Fund for weed control at Wright’s Landing, City Hall, East Linear Park, DPW Garage, east and west side fire stations, Legends Fields and all city parks.

The contract was awarded to Chase Enterprises for the 2016 season.

According to a memo from Chase, included in the contract would be a list of the herbicides they use. Any label warnings of the herbicides to be applied that are pertinent to the protection of humans, animals or the environment will be provided the day of application, including brand names and generic names of the active ingredients.

Monday night, Councilor John Gosek (the lone nay vote … Councilor Nate Emmons was absent) asked councilors to reconsider the resolution, possibly even rescinding it.

“I have heard from numerous residents in my ward, all over the city,” Gosek said referring to the growing concern of the potential heath threats of using chemicals for weed control within the city limits.

However, City Attorney Kevin Caraccioli pointed out the city approved the resolution and have a contract with Chase to perform the work, which was scheduled to start this week.

This decision comes at a time when many other municipalities are curbing or eliminating the use of herbicides, Phil MacArthur of the Oswego Tree Stewards pointed out.

“We seem to be going in a direction opposite of recent trends,” he said. “Any time you do that, you need to closely examine if you’re doing the right thing.”

If the resolution isn’t rescinded, the Tree Stewards will seek to have the park they adopted (West Park) declared a “no spray zone,” he said.

“I suspect other citizens around other parks will want to take a similar stance,” he added. “We feel very strongly about this and there are a lot of us.”

Trish Levine said she’d like to see Montcalm Park declared a “no spray zone” as well.

The chemicals, she said, pose a serious health threat for children adults, pets and wildlife.

With all of the known dangers, why would the city of Oswego want to risk using them, she asked.

“There are alternatives,” she told the committee. “I’d like to encourage this council to revisit discussion and perhaps rescinding this resolution.”

Oswego County Legislator Marie Schadt also weighed in against the use of herbicides.

“Why use (herbicides) if it can be avoided? We need to be mindful; let’s not be reactive, let’s be proactive,” she said.

A retired biology professor from SUNY Oswego, Andrew Nelson, spoke of the dangers of herbicides and urged the city to be very cautious about using them.

Councilor Pat McLaughlin, who was in the majority that voted for the resolution, made a motion for the council to reconsider the resolution at its next meeting.

“In my opinion, it is a legally binding contract and could potentially be some fiscal consequences to the city if this council were to take action to rescind it,” the city attorney cautioned. “I’m not putting money over health and safety, but there is a potential fiscal consequence.”

McLaughlin said the city should at least hold off on spraying any of the parks or playgrounds until after next Monday (council meeting).

Councilor Shawn Walker pointed out that most people probably already have Roundup in their house.

“That’s all it is, Roundup. They sell it on the shelf,” he said.

However, the opinion of most of the crowd was – just because it’s being sold in stores doesn’t mean that it is safe.

“We’ve been down this road with a lot of stuff,” MacArthur said. “The problem is it takes decades of study to find out anything.”

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/council-poised-to-reconsider-herbicide-vote/

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