Author: claire

Auburn Beautification Commission 

Monday, January 30

Present: Sarah Dibble, Claire Lovell, Sue Secaur, Chuck Mason, TIm Donovan

Call to order at 5:03

• Treasurer’s Report
  • December 31, 2022, there was a balance of $17,084.15.
  • There was a check for $1,050 for Tarjack, the sign place, for the two more gold & blue signs and the reinstalled Seward House Museum sign.
  • Another $650 for the annual insurance to Chubb, an affiliate of Tompkins.
  • Another check for $110 to Custom Accounting Services for bookkeeping.
  • The city will give us another $5,000 in July.
• 2023 Budget
  • $2,000 for administration and insurance
  • $2,000 to the annual downtown flowers
  • $2,100 for seven more historical markers
  • $2,000 for Earth Day and Historical Marker Clean up Days
  • $1,900 for other, miscellaneous events
  • Sarah makes a motion to approve this budget.  Tim seconds.  All approve.

• Our website used to be hosted by David Homick.  The website is now hosted by Dan Lovell, but the domain registration was not changed over to ABC’s credit card yet.  Sarah will update the domain registration as soon as the credit card is set up.

• Earth Day will be Saturday, April 22 at 10 am
• Location
  • We’ll focus on both sides of the river near the dam
  • The one side of the river on Miller street is a mess
  • We can also expand down toward Buonocore Park
• Promotion
  • Chuck’s secretary has the flier from last year that she’ll edit
  • Tim suggests calling Kelly from The Citizen, hopefully beforehand.  Tim volunteers to contact Kelly.
  • Claire will post something on Facebook
• Coordination of other groups:
  • Tim will contact Grace House / Unity House
  • Sarah will contact the NHS contact at the high school
    • Chuck notes that the 10th grade class officers from last year, who would now be 11th grade class officers, wanted to be contacted early
  • Sarah will also email Julie Liccion, the advisor for Z club
  • Sue recommends Kim Rossi, who lives near Hoopes Park and often does clean up on her own.  

• Sue will look into what it would take to do another public art mural

• Claire hasn’t been able to get in touch with Pete Cramer about the Permaculture Park.

• The Reuse/Refuse shop owners (Amanda Carnicelli and Lucy _) were in the last tree planting session, and they might be involved in the Permaculture Park.  Tim will try to recruit them to ABC.

• Sue will find someone to write a press release about the renovated historical markers.  We’ll try to get it published before National Historical Marker Day, April 28.  We’ll also get volunteers to wash down the signs.
  • Chuck will reach out to some places to claim a sign to clean up and take pictures for posting online.
  • We want the cleaning to be done on that day.  Sue will reach out to the Montessori school for them to do the three markers, and maybe the Fort Hill one, all on that block.
    

Meeting adjourned at 6:00

Auburn Beautification Commission

November 21, 2022 at Auburn Memorial City Hall

Present: Chuck Mason, Sue Secaur, Claire Lovell

Call to order at 5:01

• Bulb planting
  • Next year, need more volunteers
  • Chuck suggests Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts
  • Claire’s planted a few daffodils around the Boyle center, and about 50 at the Barber Street playground (“Cottage Place”).
  • We still have 250 large daffodils, 50 petite daffodils, and 10 snowdrops.
  • Maybe near the State street welcome to auburn sign
  • Sue will look near railroad crossings and the median near Herman school.
  • Mill Street near the dam.  Claire will look.
  • Maybe next year we could work with Walt Aikman to plant bulbs with the trees
  • At St. Francis playground, the brand new planted trees could each be ringed with daffodils. Sue and Claire will work on that on Underwood Street. 
• Public Art
  • Sue suggests a mural for the YMCA building on the Westlake side.  However, it’s privately owned. 
• Historical Markers
  • The Seward House marker from 1956 will be $450.
  • Chuck posted the three most recent renovated markers on Facebook.
  • We’ll make a point of cleaning in the spring for National Marker Day, the last Friday of April.
• No meeting for December
• Next meeting is January 23rd at 5 pm

Auburn Beautification Commission

October 17, 2022 at Auburn Memorial City Hall

Present: Sarah Dibble, Chuck Mason, Sue Secaur, Claire Lovell, Tim Donovan

• Call to order at 5:33
• Social media
  • Chuck, please add Claire.  He’ll look into it but his personal account was hacked.  Sarah’s only an editor so she can’t.
• Treasurer’s report (Chuck)
  • No new checks
  • Sarah and Chuck will go to the bank to remove Joe as Treasurer
  • Sarah will go to the bank and order another debit card.
• Permaculture Park
  • Claire had emailed Pete a few weeks ago about the permaculture park and what he’d like done while he’s overwhelmed with work and life. He wrote back:
    “Anywho… I would LOVE some help at the park and would love to show anyone interested what needs to be done down there.  Something we have to do asap is trim the willows.. it’s pretty easy, and mostly self-explanatory but should probably be gone over together for the first time.  One of our core members was maintaining it quite well since it was planted but in the past year I think she’s has to take another job (at least I know that she took additional work and I think that’s what has gotten in her way).  Maybe some time in the next couple of weeks some of us could meet for an hour or two and work on that?  And then we could talk about what else needs to be done down there?”
  • Sue and Claire will make a date with Pete
• Bulbs
  • Claire will order that today
  • Sue suggests a mix of Narcissus (Daffodils) and tulips of different colors
  • When the bulbs arrive, Claire will send out an email to get help with planting:
    • Claire mentioned the BID sign near St Mary’s but Sarah reminded her that there was a netting there that prevented bulbs from being planted
    • Wall Street playground, suggested Sue
    • Tim suggested the triangle on Lincoln Street
• City DPW Projects (Chuck)
  • Owasco River sign
  • Welcome to Auburn sign; did they replace the W on Lake Ave?  If so, can they do the N on the route 38 sign.
• Website
  • Claire will update the website with current minutes
• Meeting adjourned at 5:59

Auburn Beautification Commission

September 19, 2022 at Auburn Memorial City Hall

Present: Chuck Mason, Sue Secaur, Claire Lovell, Tim Donovan

• Call to order at 5:01
• Potential new members
  • Mike Novak, suggests Sue.  Monday evenings don’t work for him.  We’ve sent him some emails already so he might not be interested.
  • Members will ask friends and colleagues, especially in the school district.
• Social Media
  • Claire asked to be added to the social media accounts.  She’ll ask Sarah over email.
• Historical markers
  • Sue didn’t find any particularly bad ones.  However, she wasn’t able to be methodical.  Tim notes a bad one on State Street near the Welcome to Auburn sign (for the Irish cemetery there).
  • Chuck put up a graphic with a before and after view of the historical marker on Facebook and it got a lot of engagement.
  • Chuck will ask Mitch about the date mistake on the sign in front of the Seward House.  He’ll get an estimate from Tarjac to repaint the sign. He expects it to be $500-$600.
    • We could temporarily fix it up as the Seward House raises funds for a replacement (which is likely to be nearer to $10,000 because of the size). There may also be a temporary fix for the date mistake, if we’re creative.
    • The foundries are 4-6 months out for new signs.
  • Willard Chapel has a new sign coming from the Pomeroy Foundation.  The Seward Park sign just installed this summer was also through Pomeroy, applied for by the City.
  • Chuck notes that the Pomeroy Foundation suggests a cleaning day at the end of April, which will help with maintenance and longevity. 
• Treasurer’s Report (Chuck)
  • Two checks written since the last meeting:
    • Custom accounting company, $140.50.  Over the course of a year, it’s about $1,000 for them and our board insurance for another $650-700.
    • $300 for sign company
• Maintenance & Continuing Projects list
  • Franklin Street Triangle: weeding (put in brown bag), mulching
    • We just have to make sure to do this maintenance every spring.
  • South & Genesee Garden: more soil, mulch?, weeding
    • The Downtown Revitalization Initiative plans to open that space up for public art around 2024, so that garden might be torn out.  (The DRI funds are related to the bicycle statue coming to Freedom Park and the Skywoman sculpture going near William Street). 
  • Welcome to Auburn, Lake Ave: weeding, mulching
    • Glenn has taken care of the solar lights each spring and winter.
    • Joe used to do the mulch; we’ll do it in the spring.
  • Welcome to Auburn, East Genesee Street: weeding, mulching
    • Glenn has taken care of the solar lights
    • We’ll do mulch in the spring.  We’ll just grab some bags from Lowe’s.
  • Permaculture Park
    • This is Pete’s project but he’s very busy.  Claire will reach out and ask if he needs someone else to manage.  He has a group of volunteers.  We’ll ask him for direction in what he needs done.
  • Park Pick up Day
    • Around Earth Day every year. In 2023, it’ll be on Saturday the 22nd.
    • Chuck suggests we ask the county soil and water conservation agency about getting a lot of little saplings and give them out for free on Earth Day.  Seth, the director of Municipal Facilities, will open up the hydro facility to give tours this year.  We’ll make a really big deal out of this year.
  • Bulb Planting
    • Chuck notes that they do need to freeze, and maybe last winter wasn’t harsh enough.  It’s possible that the crocus will come up this year.
    • Tim suggests the island on Lincoln street and Loop Road for planting tulips.  He’d done some planting there about a decade ago.
    • The group brainstormed places around the northwest part of the city.  Tim mentioned the Wall Street playground is meant to be redone with CBDG funds in future years. 
    • The arterial will probably be fixed up in the next few years by the state.  North Street is also under the state’s purview but that’s not likely to be fixed up in the next few years.  
    • Aurelius bridge will be redone next year and Lake Ave in a few years.  
    • Claire will order 400 tulip bulbs and we’ll figure out where to plant them later.
  • Historical Markers
    • Cleaning! – end of April. We could start on that day and do sporadic marker cleaning through the month.
    • We’ll refer to them on HMDB.org
  • Seward Park sign
    • Chuck takes care of this every year, doing mulch and weeding.
    • Karen Bovey also helps with the garden around the Seward statue. 
• Potential Projects
  • Welcome to Auburn on Route 38, into the city headed south.
    • It’s missing the N.  Claire’s efforts with the missing W on Lake Ave were a plop.  Chuck will ask Mike Talbot if the city replaced the W.
    • ABC paid for this one.  There’s not enough room to landscape.
  • Any others?
  • Tim notes that the Owasco RIver sign on the railing between Hunters Diner and Buonocore Park is missing; someone must have unscrewed it.  Chuck will add it to the list of things to ask Mike Talbot about.

Meeting adjourned at 6:18pm

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

Auburn Beautification Commission

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Present: Sarah Dibble Rhinehart, Chuck Mason, Joan Macholl, Glenn Thomas, Susan Secaur, Claire Lovell

• Motion to call to order at 5:05 pm
• Park Clean up on Earth Day
  • Thanks and congratulations to the team members who were able to do park clean up day!  It looked great and we got good media coverage.
  • Volunteers cleaned up something like 1200 pounds of trash, despite Verizon linemen cleaning the same area a few weeks before Earth Day.
  • Joan noted there were thousands of masks and cart wipes from Wegmans. 
  • Chuck suggests that if this event becomes our signature event, and we get lots of people every time, we could expand down to Buonocore Park and into downtown.
  • Joan had talked to Kathryn Becker, who’s in charge of the National Honor Society at the high school, and she mentioned that the NHS kids have already gotten their credits by Earth Day. 
  • 2023’s event will land on actual Earth Day (Saturday).  Hopefully we’ll have good weather.
• Welcome to Auburn Signs
  • The W was replaced on the Lake Ave sign, although we’re not sure by whom.  Chuck suggested it might have been the City DPW.
  • Glenn installed all the solar lights at the different signs.  Thanks, Glenn!
• Chuck approved as Treasurer
  • All vote to approve Chuck as official Treasurer.
• Treasurer’s Report          
  • There was $17,928 in the bank when Joe turned over the accounts to Chuck.  There have been 8 checks written since then, and $13,822.77 remaining, before any annual payment by the City.
    • ~$700 to custom accounting services
    • ~$650 for board liability insurance for the year
    • $2,000 for subsidizing flowers downtown
    • ~$400 to Claire for historic marker sign paint and South Street garden soil and plants
    • ~$80 for work gloves and bags from Earth Day cleanup.
  • It would be best to have Sarah’s bankcard do purchases (rather than reimbursement checks). 
• Fall cleanup
  • What sites are good to do for a fall cleanup?
• Historic Markers
  • Claire had repainted two signs: one on East Genesee near Morris Street and one on Lake Ave near Camp Street.  They attracted attention, which has prompted the City to take down a sign and check what it would cost for a professional repainting (ie. powder coat).
• Crocus Planting
  • We planted crocuses in several places in 2021:
    • Pomeroy Park near Veteran’s Memorial.  Most of the daffodil bulbs were missing this spring (possibly eaten by squirrels?).
    • Little playground park near Willards Chapel on Seymour, which could use some fixing up on the playground.  It was done with community block development grant about 22 years ago.  The crocuses were planted around the young trees and did bloom.
    • Along the North Street cemetery fence.  Claire planted 500 crocuses along the cemetery fence but they didn’t come up this spring.  We’ll wait another year but maybe next year we could try something hardier like lily of the valley.
    • Along the lawn on Mary Street at Clifford Park near the tennis courts.  A few came up.
• Auburn High school
  • A handful of years ago, ABC planted red tulips in a ribbon-shape.  It could use more attention again.
• Permaculture Park
  • It was sponsored by ABC at times in the past, but it was mostly done by Peter Cramer.
  • Pete used to have weeding parties.  The park could use some more attention.  He has a group of volunteers who will check up on the park.
  • The city bought the shed and it has some (but not a lot) of tools in it.
• Downtown art statue
  • Joe Sarnicola had forwarded an announcement to Claire for Sarah to see about a Skywoman statue to Sarah for ABC to support.  The statue will go forward, and ABC has vocalized its support for it.

Next meeting: Monday, August 22^nd at 5 pm

Auburn Beautification Commission

November 15, 2021 at 5 pm at City Hall

Present: Glenn Thomas, Chuck Mason, Sue Secaur, Sarah Dibble

Call to order at 5:03

• Planting
  • Sue and Sarah planted crocuses at Seminary Park
  • Claire planted crocuses along the North Street Cemetery
  • We need to identify some other places to
  • We can also plant our daffodils, grape hyacinth, and snowdrops around the BID sign on Clark Street.  The BID has already planted some nice bushes and mulches a garden there, but the flowers will add nice color.
  • Glenn recommends planting crocuses around Clifford Park. 
  • Sue recommends lily of the valley, which spreads nicely and smells good.
  • Freedom Park could use some flowers in the grass but Chuck notes that the BID will be adding abstract art (thanks to DRI money) there.
  • Claire suggested the space between the arterial halves, but Chuck notes it is privately held.
  • Bradford Street playground is still under construction.
  • We could add flowers near the Welcome to Auburn signs.
  • We could add crocus at St Francis Playground, behind NYSEG, near Underwood Street. 
  • We could also add crocus at the Columbian Playground.
  • We could also add crocus around the cross at Pomeroy Park.
• Solar lights
  • We should remove the solar lights at Genesee Street, Lake Ave, and Franklin/Fulton spots.  They can be housed at Sarah’s house for the winter.
  • Glenn has volunteered to take those out.
• Project ideas
  • The new Fire House has some slight landscaping, but the firefighter memorial will move up to that location.  They’d like to leave green space plain for public events.
• New Members
  • Sue has a friend, Mike Novak, who might be interested in helping us do planting.  Hopefully we can entice him to join.
• ABC Recognition Awards
  • The group discussed developing ADT-sized yard signs to hand out and take pictures, recognizing beautiful spots in Auburn.
  • We could take nominations. 
• BID Window Art
  • The BID is hosting their annual window art contest.  Claire will take pictures of the art as it comes out and send it to Sarah for the social media accounts.
• Motion to adjourn at 5:45

Next meeting: Monday, December 20, we’ll meet at Prison City at 5 pm

Present: Sarah Rhinehart Dibble, Joe Sarnicola, Chuck Mason, Claire Lovell, Sue Secaur (guest)

• Introduction of guests 
  • Sue Secaur has been involved in our park pick-up events in the past.
• Approve Previous Meeting’s Minutes-ACTION ITEM
  • We don’t have a quorum.
• Budget Update – Joe
  • We received a $5,000 check from the City, which comes to a total of $10,000 for the year.  Our total bank account balance is $17,928.80.
  • Just one expenditure, a sponsor of $500 to the BID for Founders Day.
• RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT
  • We need 7 members.  Sue will join, happily!  
  • Maybe we can post something in the newspaper.  Chuck will ask the Citizen.
  • Sarah will do a Facebook blast.
• Treasurer Position
  • We’re looking for a new treasurer.
  • Chuck’s willing to do it on an interim basis.
  • Joe will hand over the materials to Chuck and has cut up his ABC credit card.
• Sarah Announcement
  • Sarah has taken a new job at the Union Springs School District, so she’s no longer the NHS advisor at Auburn HS.  This is effective as October 4.
  • She would prefer to step away but we’re already under-”staffed”
  • Sarah will ask the new NHS advisor if she’d be interested in joining ABC.
  • Claire notes that our by-laws require an AECSD representative on the commission.
• 2020 – 2021 Projects
  • Scarecrow Contest
    • The Batavia coordinator hasn’t been available to talk.
  • Riverwalk Cleanup
    • Let’s plan another cleanup before winter, like mid-November.  Sarah will send out a Doodle poll for availability.
  • Bulb Planting
    • Claire will chase down Pete to buy 1500-2000 crocus bulbs and plan planting.  Sue will help.
  • Awards
    • Claire will send ideas in an email and we can discuss over asynchronously.
  • Public Programs
    • We’ll get some speaker ideas to sponsor via Seymour Library as a Zoom program.  Sarah knows a hydrologist. Claire suggests Janet Allen of Habitat Gardening of CNY.  Pete Cramer could do it, too.  Sue suggests Cosentino for his backyard gardening.  Maybe Dickman’s would send someone.  Perhaps Walt Aikman.  Perhaps the gardener on South St.  
    • ABC would have to pay honorarium, work with the library, help arrange speakers, and so on.  Claire can do this.
  • Shaw & Bohler
    • Sarah will visit and look for business closeout sales we could use.
• Schedule next meeting
  • 3rd Tuesday of the month at 5:30 at City Hall: October 19
• Motion to adjourn at 5:59.
• Thank you, Joe, for your service!!!

Present: Joe Sarnicola, Claire Lovell, Sarah Dibble, Pete Cramer, Chuck Mason, Glenn Thomas

• Call to Motion at 5:41 pm
  • Tim made the motion and Glenn seconded.  All approve.
• Approve Previous Meeting’s Minutes 
  • Sarah made a motion to approve.  All approve.
• Resignations
  • Dan has moved to Buffalo and regretfully resigns.
  • Joe is resigning as of October 1.
• New members
  • The commission needs to attract new members, including a treasurer and social media director.
  • Tim suggests the Leadership Cayuga graduating class.  He has a list of the members.

• Budget Update – Joe
  • The City gave us our $5,000 budget for the year.  
  • Our bank balance is $13,504.08.
  • David Homick has been paid out for the website- $76, retroactive to January.  The BID has been paid $500 for sponsoring Founders Day.
• Permaculture Park Update – Pete
  • One of the fenced-in trees was busted by a storm.  It may regrow. 
  • The willow structure is growing well!
• Social Media Update – New Social Media Director
  • Sarah shared the ABC Google Drive with Claire, who will add the minutes to the website.
  • Sarah suggests a professional group out of Cayuga BOCES. 
  • Claire suggests that the group first discuss the intended audience and hopeful objective for any PR efforts and social media work.
• Casey Park Plywood Figures Update – Joe
  • The Finger Lakes Arts Council had a few successful days with painting efforts to refurbish the plywood figures. 
  • They’ll also bring 3 or 4 to the Tomatofest (there are 16 in total).
• Historical Signs repainting – Glenn
  • Glenn purchased the paint but hasn’t yet begun taking the signs down to repaint.
  • He plans on starting at Lake Ave and Camp Street.
  • Chuck reiterates his recommendation for Real Deal Dollar Store on Grant Ave for Glenn’s paintbrushes and wire brushes. 
  • Glenn will let someone know when he’s going in order to get photographs.  ABC will need to get before and after pictures.
  • Joe suggests the sign on the Auburn Public Theater next.
  • Glenn will save his receipts and turn them into Joe.
• 2021 Projects -Prioritize / pick dates
  • Clean-up nature trail in Fleming/Dunning Ave
  • Clean-up West-End of Genesee Street
    • All the Department of Transportation, so we’ll leave this.
  • Clean-up of Y-Fields / Clifford Park       
• Rescheduled to Tuesday, August 10
•  Routine riverwalk cleanup
• September 25th  (Art in the Park is September 18th)
• Routine Buonocore Park cleanup, Market Street Park, and Freedom Park 

• The BID has a new maintenance employee, Chuck Weed, who’s doing a good job in these parks.
• All of the parks are going to have new signage through the City’s comprehensive plan.
• Tim asks if Chuck will ask Mike Talbot to replace the Owasco River sign on the Genesee Street bridge.
• Planting/Maintenance of triangle at the welcome to BID District – near St. Mary’s
• Chuck asked A&M Graphics what the price of a new, nicer sign like the sign at Seward Park, on Genesee Street, and Lake Ave.
•  Adopt the corner flower garden in front of Wild’s on Genesee St.  – Cigarette butt holder
• Claire has weeded throughout the summer.

• Adopt the garden on Exchange Street between APT and Next Chapter Pub
  • Chuck personally adopted the space there, where he’s planted some basil and mulched.
• Welcome to Auburn sign on Lake Ave
  • The tech teacher at AHS is going to measure for the missing W.  Sarah will check in on him when school starts up again.
• Crocus planting throughout playgrounds and parks
  • 2,000 bulbs for $289
  • They’d have to be planted in the fall before the ground is frozen
  • Sarah makes a motion that we purchase the bulbs.  Tim will second.  All approve. Sarah will buy them.
    
    
• 2021 Fundraising

• ABC Tent at ERHC? Chuck to keep us updated
  • ABC is welcome at any of the Saturday markets.  We’ll just have to fill out a form.  The last Saturday is September 4.
• Founders Day – Saturday, August 7
  • Chuck and Tim will both be busy on Founders Day. 
  • It’s 9 am to 4 pm.  Be there by 9 am.  Chuck will set up the tent and two chairs.
  • Sarah will put together a gift basket of Lowes gardening equipment and Joe will put together a gift basket.  Visitors to our tent can enter the raffle simply by giving us their email address (to sign up for emails) or potentially volunteering. 
• Rummage sale – when safe from COVID – location? dates?
  • Probably not feasible.  Not for 2021.
• Scarecrow contest – Dates?  Start planning now
  • Stephanie at the BID was very supportive.
  • Sarah hasn’t heard back from the woman in Batavia.  In Batavia, there’s a $20 entrance fee, for which they got some (unknown) supplies.
  •  We could just open the contest up to the community, but we’ll need to have people sign themselves up so we know who’s participating.
  • The scarecrows can go up in mid-September through October 31, at which point ABC will do the judging
• Other Business  – Claire
•  ABC Awards
  • “Great job” awards – just take a picture and post it online with accolades
  • Something like the Bouck sign
  •  Medians on Lake Ave
  • Could have a handful of these signs made.  Note that they shouldn’t be removed.
  •  “Nominate your neighbors.” 
• Garden Tours
  •  For 2022.
  • Tickets, planned tours.
• Bulletin board
  • Tim suggested finding sponsorships for an external bulletin board.  He’ll find details and more information.

Next meeting Tuesday August 10, 2021 @ 5:30pm at Clifford Park on Mary Street.

• Tim made a motion to adjourn.  Pete seconded. Adjourned at 6:41 pm

Present: Dan Orzechowski, Glenn Thomas, Joe Sarnicola, Claire Lovell, Sarah Dibble, Pete Cramer

• Call to Motion at 5:31pm
• Approve Previous Meeting’s Minutes
  • Delaying until next month for access to minutes
• Park Pick Up Day was successful
  • It was very well received, although we got a lower turnout than for the Earth Day park pick up.  There was a lot less to do than we had anticipated.
  • A Montessori school picked up a few days earlier and a Verizon group did it a few weeks earlier.
  • It was also flower planting day, which attracted 60 other volunteers.  It was Westminster’s volunteer day.  It was great to have us represented and seen alongside the other groups.
  • The City got in to clean up the cross and it looks great.
  • We should get our schedule planned ahead of time and posted broadly for best promotion.
• Lake Ave Welcome Sign
  • Someone (a vigilante?) weeded the garden.
  • Sarah will ask the tech ed teacher at the high school if he can fabricate something to replace the W in Welcome.
• Fitch Ave Entrance to Fort Hill Cemetery 
  • Someone asked Joe if we could adopt the Fitch Ave entrance to the cemetery. However, they do have paid staff and it’s private property.
• Website
  • Auburn Beautification Commission – Auburn Beautification Commission (oddida.com)
  • Committee likes it. Events are listed as posts in the category of “events” (rather than a month-view calendar).
  • Claire will forward Dave Homick’s information to Sarah to pay off the pro-rated bill.
  • Claire will add agendas and minutes to the website.

• Budget Update – Joe
  • We got a $5 donation from Amazon Smile
  • We spent $23 on supplies for Park Pick Up Day
  • Current balance of $504.08 with a check to come from the city, we hope.  Chuck will investigate.
• Next Riverwalk Pick Up Days
  • Chuck has already seen lots of trash piling up.
  • Chuck suggests we replace our July meeting with a pick up event with ABC members: July 13 at 5:30.
  • Chuck will make it a Facebook event.
• Finger Lakes Art Council Project: Casey Park Figures
  • Not many volunteers appeared for the June 11 & 12 work days.
  • FLAC will set up a table at downtown festivities (like Tomatofest) for people to donate and have their picture taken with the figures.
• Scarecrow Contest
  • Sarah will focus on this and ask Batavia how they did it.
  • We can shoot for the weekend two weeks before Halloween: October 16.
• Social Media & Promotion
  • We need to remember to take before and after pictures for small projects like weeding and mulching.  Claire weeded the garden on South St in front of Wilds, and Joe mulched the whole garden at the Genesee St Welcome sign.  If we promote these small deeds, we might get more volunteers and/or donations.
• Bulb Planting
  • We’d love to plant bulb flowers! 
  • Snowdrops and crocuses would be especially great.  They can be planted in the grass and they’ll die away before anyone has to mow.
  • Pete asks which park or playground could use the flowers, since there are dozens of parks.  
  • Sarah could post a poll in the “If You’re From Auburn…” Facebook group asking where we should start. 
  • Claire will send a list of parks with suggestions to Sarah.
• Historic Markers
  • Glenn’s going to try working on the Military Depot sign.  
  • Chuck notes that another guy paints the whole thing blue and then paints the raised section yellow with a sponge roller.
  • Chuck suggests checking out Real Deals dollar store for wire brushes and things like that.
• Dan’s Farewell
  • Dan is moving to Buffalo at the end of July!  Congratulations!

• Schedule next meeting Tuesday July 13 , 2021 @ 5:30 pm at the riverwalk dam on the bridge.
• Sarah made a motion to adjourn at 6:04.  Pete seconded. All approved.