Ted Baker: Good morning, it's 8.36, it's the Friday extravaganza. FLX Morning, Paul's off, he's back Monday. I'm TFG, the former guy, Ted Baker, and our Every Friday guest at this time is Auburn City Clerk, Chuck Mason, good morning.
Chuck Mason: Hey, good morning, Ted.
Ted Baker: Fantastic news on a hot summer day. We didn't think the Casey Park Pool was gonna be able to open, but thanks to the YMCA, the pool is open today.
Chuck Mason: That's right, and a little bit of a story behind here. There was an inspection earlier in the year from the County Health Department back in the spring regarding the condition of the pool area, and they identified a whole bunch of projects that needed to be fixed on the pool deck and in the area surrounding the pool, including the stairs that go into the pool. It's an Olympic-sized swimming pool that we have here in Auburn. It's quite a monster of a pool, and it takes quite a bit to operate the pool in the summertime. But those capital repairs threw an extra thing on top of trying to get things open for the season.
But as you said, the local YMCA stepped up and offered a donation of services for lifeguards for the summer. They were also very instrumental in getting support from the local Wegmans, Wegmans here in Auburn, who is a supporter of a lot of the great things that we do in our parks and playgrounds over the summertime. Wegmans stepped up with a major sponsorship as well. And then the city of Auburn, of course, making the decision, the mayor and council saying, okay, with this community support that we've heard through the budget process for having the Casey Park pool open, and the YMCA and Wegmans stepping forward as well, the city went ahead, did about $30,000 worth of concrete work down at the Casey Park area and in the area in particular surrounding the pool. We were able to get a contractor to get that work done for us on short notice, and we're ready to get open today.
So shout out to the local YMCA, to Wegmans for their sponsorship, as well as our city of Auburn Department of Public Works that has worked hard over the last couple of weeks to get that pool ready for opening. And the hours will be, it's five days a week for the next month, 1 p.m. till 6 p.m. Basically Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 1 p.m. till 6 p.m. It'll be closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but then it'll reopen for the weekend and it'll be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. AuburnNY.gov slash Casey is where you can find all the rules for the pool. It is free for city of Auburn residents and YMCA members and come on down and cool off on these hot summer days. I know we could have used it last week before the 4th of July, but it looks like there's plenty of 80s and 90s in the forecast as well, Ted. So hopefully the community will come out and enjoy the pool for the summer.
Ted Baker: So did that work take care of everything or are there going to be more concerns down the line?
Chuck Mason: Yeah, there'll be more work to do, but that work that was done this spring was able to get the pool in operation for opening this summer. It's quite a facility down there and it originates, the rec center itself originates the early 1970s. So there's been an awful lot of repairs that have been made to the building, to the heating system, to the ice rink, to the pool, but it's not just an average size swimming pool. The fact that it's like such a big pool is really a big part of why it's quite a costly thing to operate the pool in the summertime. But fortunately we were able to pull it off in this budget season and hopefully we'll get the pieces back in place for next summer so that we aren't in this position again.
Ted Baker: At last night's council meeting, the mayor issued a proclamation congratulating the section three champion Auburn Maroons track team.
Chuck Mason: That's right. And what an accomplishment from our local high schoolers. A couple of their coaches were on hand last night to talk about it. And not only were they successful, but they were successful on several different areas. Just one second, Ted, so I could pull up the list. But the, sorry, we have just upgraded our city's website. I don't know if you noticed that, Ted, but I'm still getting used to the thing myself.
But they were Auburn High School track and field and cross country program. And they were boys cross country team won the section three class A championship, boys indoor track and field team won section three class A2 championship and boys outdoor track and field team captured section three class AA championship all in one season. And this was just a great accomplishment amongst our young people. They had a good representation of the team last night. And Coach Garland and Coach Stowell were on hand last night. And we appreciate them coming out, but the mayor and city council recognizing these young people and their coaches for the great work that they did this past school year.
Ted Baker: There's a growing concern over these big data centers that are popping up all over the place. There's being pressure put on the governor to sign a legislation to sort of take a deep breath and slow things down. And the city's decided to join that movement.
Chuck Mason: That's right. You know, the city is basically just letting the governor know that their support was a unanimous vote from the mayor and the council. Letting the governor know that we here in Auburn support her putting the brakes on this and taking a year for a moratorium at least. I know that at the beginning of the legislative session the proposal was for a three-year moratorium. There's a lot to be studied here and there's a lot to really know about the impacts of these very large data facilities that are being proposed around the country. And the city of Auburn, mayor and members of council last night expressing their desire as well to be able to do more work here locally to figure out what the impact would be and how we should maybe address these things in our own zoning codes and stuff because they basically don't, there's no language in our codes that would address these specific types of facilities.
The water usage alone is a significant impact but then the electricity usage also can really alter the price of electricity for an entire region when they move in. So there's a lot to be considered here and in the end, they don't really produce a whole lot of jobs. So the council last night going on record five nothing. Let's take a little time, state of New York. I think the governor, if she knows that there's support out there across the whole state, she'll probably sign that thing sooner rather than later.
Ted Baker: If anybody ever wanted to own their own fire truck, here's your chance. You got a couple of surplus fire vehicles going on the block.
Chuck Mason: Yeah, and they'll be up for auction. The procurement policy of the city requires anything of value over $1,000 to be approved by the council before it's disposed of. But it's a 1993 fire pumper, so it's quite old. It's definitely served the city really well over its three decades plus of service. And then there's a 2015, I think it's a Ford Taurus, probably not too much value there, but somebody might find some value in it. So a couple of pieces of equipment that'll be put out to auction and a council with unanimous support of that resolution as well last night, Ted.
Ted Baker: Talking with Auburn city clerk, Chuck Mason, also at the meeting last night, a new five-year school resource officer contract.
Chuck Mason: That's right, and this is great news. Continued cooperation between the school district and the city for the safety of our school's buildings and the safety of the staff and students of the schools. School resource officer partnership has been in place in the city of Auburn between the city and the Auburn school district for about 25 years now. And so last night, the contract actually expands by one officer for the elementary school level. So there will be one additional officer in the mix over the next five years, but it is a great program. Chief Androsco was on hand last night to explain to the council the impact that it has for not only building trust with our young people, having that Auburn police department presence in the schools, they get to know the officers, they get to see them out and about in the community, but it also, it's an essential set of eyes and ears that are in the buildings each day to help for the overall public safety of not only the schools, but the community.
Ted Baker: Council moved to a close some capital accounts. These are accounts for projects that have been completed, and then you have to close out the account. And if there's excess money, send it back where it came from.
Chuck Mason: That's right, and the good news was each count that was closed last night, the reason why it was closed was because it came in under the projected amount, it came in under budget. So another unanimous approval from the council, but I think there's been great awareness in our organization for the last few years that we're very budget conscious and hats off to the staff that were able to get these projects to the finish line and come in under the budgets that were estimated.
Ted Baker: Got another property going back on the tax rolls, 10 Nelson Street.
Chuck Mason: That's right. Our continued effort to, this was a property that was actually sold a couple of years ago, but the buyer at that time never followed through and the project slowly dissipated. So it's back out for a second opportunity. And this time the purchaser of 10 Nelson Street is a person that's going to renovate the household to actually live there themselves. So we're hopeful that this time it'll work out and it puts a property back on the tax rolls and not only back on the tax rolls, but into productive use for that neighborhood. It's literally right across the street from the Willard Memorial Chapel and our fire department number one. So it'll be good to have this property back in working order for this neighborhood.
Ted Baker: City was notified it's received another grant this year for program. The police department's very happy with Gun Involved Violence Elimination, the GIVE program.
Chuck Mason: That's right. Chief Androsco was just at the council a few months ago when this application went in. It was pretty quick turnaround on the notification for this, but the council unanimously accepting this grant last night. There was thorough discussion about where the money goes for the staffing, covers some of the police department overtime, but also there are some hotspot cameras that are involved. And so there was discussion about who the vendors of those cameras will be. And we've had discussion in the community about the flock camera system that's out there and that's popped up and nationwide and communities concerned with the company that's behind those cameras. But these cameras, the chief talking last night that these cameras will be a much different style of camera with a much different reason why they're placed where they're going to be placed. And they're also, they have the ability to move around if needed as well.
So the GIVE program, the city of Auburn has had the opportunity to participate in GIVE for a couple of years now, and there's been great results. We thank our police officers that are out there doing the work through the money that comes in, but they've definitely racked up some impressive results. And the council last night, mayor and council, everybody voting in favor of accepting this money and executing this program again for another fiscal year.
Ted Baker: We're right in the middle of summer events season beginning tomorrow, the strawberry swap and social at the market at the Equal Rights Heritage Center.
Chuck Mason: That's right. You can get yourself some free strawberry shortcake compliments of Wegmans if you come on down to the Saturday market tomorrow. So Saturday markets are back for the summer. They'll be down there for like the next eight Saturdays, live music, kids activities, things kind of switch up a little bit each week, but there's always about 20 vendors on hand, artisan vendors and food vendors. It's just a great way to start your Saturday mornings in downtown Auburn in the summertime, head down the street to the local coffee shop or a local bagel shop and get your lunch or breakfast, but it's a great program. And we'll be back in action now for the next one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, yep, eight Saturdays, live music and plenty to do on Saturday mornings. And that's at 25 South street, the Equal Rights Heritage Center, right across from city hall. And when the weather cooperates, it's really a beautiful way to get your Saturday morning started.
Ted Baker: I know what we all want to know is when is Motley Cruton going to play?
Chuck Mason: Yeah, you know, I don't, I don't think they're on the list anywhere this summer. I haven't seen them yet, but.
Ted Baker: No, there's all kinds of great stuff. Go to the city of Auburn website, auburnny.gov and you'll see all those events. And yeah, once you get used to it, I kind of liked the new, the format for the agendas and everything, because I can click on my resolutions and pop them right up.
Chuck Mason: That's right. We just switched for the agendas on July 1st. We switched the website over about 90 days ago, but we have a new look. So people that are visiting our website, auburnny.gov, check things out. You will need to take, have a couple extra minutes to take a look through and see, but we're very happy with the finished product here. And hopefully this website will last us. It would be great if this website could last us for 10 years, like our old website lasted us. We got a good, a lot of good use out of that website, but we're very hopeful for what this new website will be able to do for us as well.
Ted Baker: All right, sounds good. Chuck, thanks as always. Great to talk with you.
Chuck Mason: Ted, thank you. Have a great weekend.
