Village of Geneseo: You Must Sweep Sidewalks

GENESEO – The Village of Geneseo released a notice that ‘the ultimate responsibility and liability for snow and ice removal belongs to the property owner or occupant.’

The notice from the Village to ‘all Village of Geneseo property owners/residents/business owners’ is a reminder of Village Code Section 105-6, whereby:

A. No owner, occupant, tenant or other person owning or occupying or having the charge or control of any lot or premises in the Village, which lot or premises shall adjoin any of the public streets or alleys of the Village, shall suffer or permit any snow, ice or other substance, encumbrance or obstruction to collect or remain on any sidewalk fronting on or belonging to the premises, and all such accumulations of snow, ice or other substance, encumbrance or obstruction shall be removed from such sidewalks by such owner, occupant, tenant or other person having the charge or control of the premises before 12:00 noon following the deposit thereof, and such sidewalks shall thereafter be kept free from all accumulations thereof throughout the day.

B. In the event that such owner, occupant, tenant or other person shall neglect or fail to remove such accumulation of snow, ice or other substance, encumbrance or obstruction as above provided, then the same shall be removed under the direction of the Board of Trustees of the Village and the expense thereof assessed against the premises adjoining the sidewalks so cleaned.

The Village also reminds all that mailboxes damaged by snowplows are not the Village’s responsibility to replace. The Village does not recommend plastic mailboxes because ‘from past experience, we have found that plastic mailboxes and/or posts do not withstand the abuse of snow from the plows hitting them.’