By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Council will likely backpedal its new brush pickup policy following outrage from dozens of residents at Monday's council meeting.

Council agreed to cut summer brushpickup following a tight budget in 2016 that sent taxes to more than $19 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Despite warnings from City Manager Sarah Purdy that the city could not afford to reinstate the brush pickup, council voted 4-3 to set a public hearing to roll back the brush code to reflect last year’s policy. That would include brush pickup once per month in the summer and was estimated to cost the city around $26,000.

Several residents spoke during the public appearance portions of the meeting. Some complaints focused on the high taxes with little return. Others complained that they did not have the means to remove and haul brush to the city’s landfill and also expressed frustration at the hours it is currently open.

Mayor Wayne Ashley said he believed the DPW was enforcing the new code too vigorously.

"We're hitting a fly with a sledge hammer," he said.

Councilors Jennifer Stevenson, David Price and Timothy Davis voted against setting a public hearing that would initiate the code roll-back, despite the wealth of complains from city residents.

Stevenson, who was present via video conferencing, suggested extending the hours at which the city landfill would be accessible to the public, but that did not satisfy those in attendance or the remaining councilors.

Since brush pickup stopped roughly 180 notices have been issued by the Department of Public Works of public works. As of Thursday, Department of Public Works Director Scott Thornhill said only one person had actually been fined for leaving brush in the city’s right-of-way.

Purdy urged the city council to be careful about adding costs to a budget that is already stretched thin. She told the council in an early presentation that the city would be heading toward ‘junk bond status’ if it did not begin growing its fund balance.

Purdy said layoffs would be likely be necessary in order to bring brush pickup back.

Some DPW workers also spoke at the meeting. While said they supported the return of brush pickup, they said it would require an additional body. Thornhill said his department lost a full-time person in order to save money last year, which was why the brush pickup was scaled back.

Councilor Daniel Skamperele said he was willing to look at layoffs in order to restore the brush pickup, he said the DPW has taken repeated hits during budget cuts over the past few years.

“If that means layoffs, that means layoffs somewhere else,” he said. “It’s a tough word the big ‘L’ word.”

Purdy said it will take time to return the code to its previous language. She said brush pickup would not likely be restored until July 10.