Mayor Billy Barlow conducted a state of the city address on Monday night.

He said typically the annual event is held right after the new year, but he wanted to hold out a little bit longer to give citizens a special review of what he had accomplished in his 100 days in office as well as preview “what’s on the forefront.”

Barlow briefly welcomed the room before taking requests from community members for various wishes that their organizations would need financial support from the city for.

Heath Jones spoke before the mayor on behalf of her friend Anne Backer, owner of Taste the World cafe. For three years, Backer has been running a car social called “Mugs and Motors” downtown on the second and fourth Sundays during the sunny months of June, July and August.

Backer and Jones came to the city hall to request access to shut down West First St. for yet another season on these days. Her reason for holding “Mugs and Motors” is to get people downtown on a Sunday afternoon, which she says is otherwise dead.

Since Backer has been in and out of town hall working with counselors to get the street closed off, she was able to tell a bit about the differences between past mayors and present ones.

“This is the third year of ‘Mugs and Motors,’ so I have been here three times now,” Backer said. “What I am noticing is renewed energy with Mayor Barlow and with this counsel. There’s a bit of controversy that is also going on because this counsel has stepped in and has had to take some very drastic steps to make changes and hopefully they are going to move forward. A lot of stems around the fee waivers and what the city is going to embrace as far as events.”

Backer and Jones explained that in order to get streets shut down and other traffic patterns halted to accommodate, it requires tax dollars. Jones said she is impressed with the mayor for making calls to people in charge and finding other ways to get things done, like having streets closed, without relying only on payment.

“With all the tax increases, they are trying to be fiscally responsible,” Jones said. “They are not trying to be wasteful with their spending.”

Without the fee waiver, Backer said she would not have the cash to hold the event. Barlow and his counsel approved the request.

Susan Matthews came to ask the counsel to exempt her community gardens from pesticide spraying and to use the $12,000 of tax money they had planned on spending for the pesticides on an alternative substance. The community gardens serve families in Oswego so that they may plant and eat their own fruits and vegetables.

The pesticides are New York State regulated and will be used to cover public parks in Oswego. The community gardens are considered public parks as well. Matthews says that just because New York uses these pesticides, called Roundup, does not mean they are safe. She suggested using a salt, vinegar and dish-soap mixture to repel mosquitos and other plant-eating insects.

Her request did not go through for all the parks in Oswego and the money will continue to be used for the pesticides, however the council said that the two community gardens will not be touched by pesticides.

Barlow spoke about some of his plans for the future of Oswego. In his remarks, he said he would be launching a new website for the city council this week.

“In 2016 your web presence really identifies you as a community,” Barlow said. “So I think that’s a wise investment. It’s about time that the city gets a website that’s adequate and something we can be proud of. Right now it’s quite embarrassing and there’s really no information on it.”

Barlow says the website update will include information for Oswego State students, people who are traveling into the community, and residents. Additionally, the update will allow for residents to pay water bills, taxes and parking tickets on the site using credit and debit cards.

Other plans include a push to capitalize on the Oswego waterfront. Barlow mentioned some people want a beach here and that he hopes to see more waterfront restaurants open up.

“The leadership in city hall was stagnant for far too long,” Barlow said. “We needed a jolt of energy and a can-do attitude.”