Scranton council adopts updated property maintenance code and clears outdated city accounts

The Scranton City Council voted to adopt an updated International Property Maintenance Code and approved housekeeping ordinances to remove outdated provisions from the city code and close inactive special accounts.

The measures, taken during the council meeting on the transcript, include final passage of the International Property Maintenance Code update (item 7a), passage by reading of an ordinance described as the "cleanup code ordinance of 2025" (item 6b), and passage by reading of an ordinance to close inactive special city accounts (item 6a). The chair of the committee on rules recommended final passage of item 7a before a roll-call vote.

The roll call on item 7a recorded the following votes: Councilmember King — Yes; Councilmember Shuster — Yes; Dr. Rothchild — Yes; Councilmember McAndrew — Yes; Councilmember Smirrell — Yes. Items 6a and 6b passed by voice vote after council moved to pass each by reading by title.

Council members said the updates were part of standard code maintenance and efforts to align city enforcement with current standards. The ordinance described in item 6b was presented as a broad cleanup that removes outdated provisions such as obsolete accounts, legacy licenses and unused penalties from the Scranton City Code.

The measures now move to the administrative stage for implementation by city departments responsible for enforcement and account reconciliation. The council did not attach new funding to the adoptions during the meeting.

City officials did not provide an exact effective date for the new property maintenance code during the meeting; implementation details and timelines were not specified in the record.

The council also held public comment earlier in the meeting on code enforcement and littering; speakers raised enforcement and resource concerns that the ordinance updates aim to address, but no changes to the adopted ordinances were recorded at the meeting.