Auburn Beautification Commission
August 22, 2022
Over Zoom
Present: Chuck Mason, Sue Secaur, Sarah Dibble, Claire Lovell
- Call to order at 5:18 pm
- Historical markers
- Chuck had written over email: “I have the powder coated Fort Hill sign completed and the company would be able to do 2 or three signs at a time moving forward. The powder coating will provide a more durable base for the long term. They estimate 300 per sign. That includes sand blasting to original metal and the powder coating. I would like to ask the commission to allocate $2,000 towards this which would allow us to sponsor the restoration of 6 or 7 markers.“
- Tarjac in Seneca Falls is the only business Chuck has been able to find that was able to work on the signs. The signs are difficult to work with because each is different. He brought the 1932 Fort Hill sign (at the corner of Fort Hill Street and E Genesee St) to Tarjac as a sample.
- Tarjac will sandblast the sign down to metal. They used powder coat paint and figured out how to do the letters. They estimate each sign to be finished for $300. Sue suggested we budget an even $2100 to cover 7 whole signs.
- Seneca County spent over $10,000 to restore markers leading up to 2020 (for the women’s suffrage centennial). Those markers look great.
- Sarah makes a motion to fund seven markers for a total of $2100.
- Unanimously approved.
- Chuck has some in mind, so he’ll get the first three prepared. Sue offered to drive around and take pictures. Sue will find four other signs in bad shape.
- Seward House Museum Marker
- The sign in front of the Seward House Museum also needs to be fixed up. It’s not a blue and yellow sign like the other historical markers. It’s black and gold.
- Chuck talked to the Seward House Museum and they don’t have the funding to fix it up. It’s a much larger sign so it will cost more. Chuck will bring it in to Tarjac at some point for an estimate.
- A&M Graphics would have to do the portrait of Seward that’s at the top of the sign.
- This sign also has a factual inaccuracy on it. To replace the sign (and remove the inaccuracy) would cost something like $10,000 from a foundry.
- We’ll table this project until we explore some funding options (like Pomeroy and Seward House) to
- Welcome to Auburn on Route 38
- There’s a Welcome to Auburn sign on Route 38 that’s in bad shape.
- Sarah would like to add this as a significant project down the road.
- Playground
- Sue brought up the small playground near Willard Chapel. It’s in bad shape and about 20 years old.
- It’s outside the purview of ABC and would be too expensive for us to fix up.
- Community Development Block Grants are looking at the Wall Street playground and Casey Park skatepark next.
- List of projects
- Claire suggested we develop a list of projects that we could claim on our website, and use that as a list to check each spring (like mulch and weeds at the triangle on Franklin Street).
- Meeting adjourned at 5:51
Next meeting on September 19 at 5 pm at city hall