AUBURN -- Auburn city councilors postponed a vote on a proposal to put on hold a city code that makes home and business owners responsible for the sidewalks in front of their properties Thursday. The council also approved resolutions awarding bids for sidewalk programs in the city.

The resolution that was tabled would place a six-month moratorium on Article VII, sections 87 and 88, of the city charter, which requires property owners to install and maintain sidewalks adjacent to their land. The charter also gives the city the authority to install the sidewalk if the owner fails to do so and charge the owner for the work.

The council voted to table the item after Corporation Counsel John Rossi said it would probably be better to re-introduce the moratorium as a local law instead of a resolution. A local law will require a first reading and a public hearing before the council can vote on it.

"We're looking at the best approach to this sidewalk issue without amending the (city code)," Rossi said.

Councilor Matthew Smith has been pushing for a moratorium on the sidewalk law, saying the city currently enforces it in an arbitrary manner. But local advocates for the physically challenged have raised concerns over putting a hold on the law.

During the meeting, Sara Douglass, from Options for Independence, read a letter written by the organization's director, Tracy Murphy. In the letter, Murphy asked the councilors to consider how the moratorium will affect local residents with disabilities.

Douglass also said she talked recently to a man with a disability who tripped and fell on a poorly maintained sidewalk and had to go to the hospital.

"I'm very concerned about my consumers and their ability to navigate ... this community safely and comfortably," she said.

Auburn resident David McCarthy agreed on the importance of maintaining sidewalks and making public places accessible. But he said it should not be the responsibility of the property owner to maintain a public place if the city is not going to uniformly enforce the law.

"We all use the roads, we all use the sidewalks," McCarthy said.

He described the city's sidewalk policy as a two-tiered system. Some homeowners get new sidewalks through social programs or as part of construction projects, McCarthy said, while others are told they must install a sidewalk at their own expense.

One of those programs is the Community Development Block Grant sidewalk replacement effort. Every year, the city planning department uses federal funds to replace sidewalks in underserved neighborhoods.

The council awarded the contract for this year's program during the meeting. W. Frandsen and Son, of Spencer, put in the lowest bid at $107,587.50.

Two members of council -- Thomas McNabb and Gilda Brower -- reside on streets that will receive new sidewalks as part of this year's replacement program.

McNabb said after the meeting that it is tricky working around something that is written into the city code. In order to change the charter, it takes a public referendum, he said.

As for getting a new sidewalk through the CDBG program, the planning department chooses the areas every year, he said.

"We never know what they're picking," McNabb said.

The council also awarded the contract for this year's program to replace sidewalks, curbs and ramps on city-owned property to Bob Bruno Excavating, of Auburn. The company placed the lowest bid of $100,437.50.