Paul Szmal: Good morning 838, it's the Friday extravaganza. FLX Morning, it's our weekly visit with Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason. Good morning and welcome back.
Chuck Mason: Hey, good morning Ted. Before we talk about the presentation for Law Enforcement Day, we have to talk about the change at the top of the department. The chief is stepping down and Captain Matt Androsco steps in.
Paul Szmal: That's right, last year Police Chief Jim Slayton announcing that he would be making the decision to retire after 27 years of service with our Auburn Police Department and so that started a process for the City Manager Jeff Digert as well as now Assistant City Manager Jenny Haynes. They worked to coordinate a process to discover who the next police chief would be and it's a civil service listed position so they had to go through all the proper processes to interview candidates and find interested candidates, all things required when you have a civil service list.
And in the new year here, City Manager Digert last week on Friday made the official announcement that Matt Androsco will be the new police chief as of January 21st of this year and that'll be a promotion for him within the department. He's been with our Police Department for 17 years and he has a lot of good attitude and good energy he's bringing into the job. I've had a chance to be at a couple meetings with him over the past week and we wish him well and look forward to him joining the management team here at the City of Auburn and as well as certainly wish Police Chief Jim Slayton well.
His final day on the job will be January 20th and I know that his last official he usually attends every City Council meeting he's at about 90% of them over the course of a year usually and his last City Council meeting on duty will be next week on Thursday so we'll probably have a little bit more to talk about next week when we know specifically when the new chief will be sworn in but I don't believe that's been scheduled yet but I'll know more next week and I will probably have some kind of a ceremony for the swearing in of the new chief but that was the big news out of this past week literally Ted when you and I talked last Friday morning I didn't quite realize this was going to be happening and then a couple hours later I was notified that there be a press release we need to be sending out for the new new chief so there we go.
Chuck Mason: Well I mean what a great choice he's a veteran of the department he's done everything started out as a patrolman evidence tech training officer so and he's gone right through the ranks sergeant lieutenant captain so he knows that department pretty well. A very very similar background to how Chief Slayton worked through the department as well I think it's I think it'll be a good a good step for not only the new chief but for the for the Auburn Police Department as well.
Paul Szmal: So last night at the council yesterday January 9th was proclaimed it's actually a National Day Law Enforcement Appreciation Day so the outgoing chief made that presentation to the council.
Chuck Mason: That's right and we every year the mayor will make a proclamation for National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and he made that last night and presented it to Chief Slayton and you know it's just one of those days over the course of a year that we just take them take a moment to thank our police officers and recognize them for the service that they provide to the city of Auburn and you know it's it's one of those things when the Auburn Police Department is there when you need them you're you're always very appreciative and there we we thank them for everything that they do to keep our community safe.
Paul Szmal: Also at a presentation last night this is pretty interesting on the whole snow and ice removal operation both kind of the the wide view how they do it and why they do it and then right down to the the nuts and bolts of how they work different kinds of streets pretty interesting.
Chuck Mason: That's right and we get a visit from Superintendent of Public Works Mike Talbot we usually try to schedule this annually and it was really good timing this year because I think our crews have been out more in the last two weeks than they have at any point in time the previous couple of years because outcomes so consecutively we've we've really experienced some winter weather this year since the holidays especially this past week I do believe Auburn received snow just about every day this week so our crews have been out in full force and they've been really busy and they've been doing a great job keeping the streets clear and here in the city but there's a real strategy and a real science behind how they do in fact operate so Mike comes every year to be able to make this presentation to the council and to the public so that they understand the the magnitude of what it does take to plow all the city streets during these storm events what the cost of plowing the streets is during these storm events and he's Mike's got the the cost estimate broken down right to the storm we know for every it basically takes us four hours to completely plow the city of Auburn and Mike has the expense down for what it does take to do one plow usually a storm event will require two sweeps through the city if you're lucky just two and the city is divided up into 16 different plow routes Mike has that all mapped out the equipment Mike went through all of the different trucks that we have we have some of the big ten wheel dump trucks that are handle the larger streets and then we have smaller medium-sized trucks and then small pickup trucks that do some of the smaller streets and some of the parking lots in the city but there really is a science behind it and each truck is equipped with basically computerized equipment which helps with the salt spreading as well because there's a real strategy behind the salt spreading and if you're not watching what you're doing with the salt spreading then you can really run up a much larger bill for the expensive salt so Mike explaining that process as well and showing the council what is the equipment that we use for the salt spreading and how we try to be able to effectively salt the streets with as you know as efficient an amount of salt as possible so Mike it's really an impressive presentation every year I update this presentation on our Department of Public Works website because it is so informative and it's a good 20 minute video for anybody that sits on our website all year round anybody that's interested in seeing how we do it but also just it's educational sometimes I don't think you know you're busy you need to get to work we're in the middle of a snow event and you might go outside and and feel frustrated because you don't think your streets been plowed yet but we are able to all the trucks are GPS and we are able to tell you exactly when the plow has been on your street and off your street and where the plow is at over that the course of a day so know that we are out there the city is working hard to keep these streets clean during these snow events but there is a strategy to it and it does take time to make each each plow driver needs at least four hours to make it through their entire route and they do a great job we we really Mike went through a list of several of our Department of Public Works workers that literally have not missed a call in for several years he's got a couple workers that haven't missed a call in for eight years wow yeah so it's like we have a real dedicated crew and we really appreciate and then when I say a call in that call is usually coming to them at 2 or 3 right well it's interesting to you talk about the computerized salt management because I know we've been hearing stories last couple of days some places are running out right now yeah and that's the thing you know these are you know salt is a you know it's a natural resource which is it's all about supply and demand and when you when we get these heavy winters across the entire region and everybody's in need of salt and if you're if you're a community that hasn't planned ahead and ordered your salt ahead of time or or if you were maybe a community that that was maybe saying oh we've had a couple of mile winters we might not need as much salt this year and then all of a sudden a hard winter comes you need that salt so but the good news is Mike's and our Department of Public Works there they're ahead of the game we've got a great big salt bar down at the Department of Public Works which they store the salt in for these events and I can't say enough about the job that they do I live on Genesee Street in Auburn which is on one of the main plow routes it's basically the main street that runs right through the entire city and I hear when they're out when they get started at 2-3 in the morning just about every single one of them drives by my apartment but it's great to I always know that it's been snowing outside because 3 in the morning I'll hear these trucks driving by and I'll be like okay there's gonna be snow to brush off the car when I get up in the morning but these guys are already out there working hard making sure that those streets are ready in time for the kids to get school usually and there's a couple of pictures in the presentation I love this little snowcat rig you've got with the treads and the wedge plow in the front that's right and that's for the sidewalks and there's there's also a strategy behind how we try to get the sidewalks we try to get it's difficult because the sidewalks on the main routes like Genesee Street Grand Avenue the arterial they're impacted by the snow plowing as well so the sidewalk machine has to kind of get out there following the storms to try to keep sidewalks plowed on the public rights away as well as the there's a lot of space like on the arterials that heads through town which is necessary for the city to get out and do it and so we have a special machine that's out there specifically for the sidewalks and there's there's a plan in place to try to get around for all the sidewalks but the sidewalks kind of come after the fact just because of the heavy amount of snow that's created once that snow is all pushed off the main arteries here in town then the sidewalk machines out there trying to trying to keep the sidewalks clear on those main drags as well the comment period opened up yesterday there's a 30-day comment period for the next five-year community development block grant plan and then the public hearing on February 6 so tell us about that process that's right and this is a continuation of the process that we started last year in the fall and winter there were several community meetings that were held and they were those were well attended meetings and we received a lot of public input but this year we're taking a look at the CDBG program for the next five year it's it's about planning out the 2025 through 2029 consolidated plan and then we will also be taking the information to plan out the specific 2025-2026 program year annual action plan so yesterday January 9th started a 30-day public comment period which continues this process this 30-day public comment period will end in the in February and February 6th the council will have a public hearing in front of the City Council for that'll be kind of like the endpoint for the public input process for this year's round of public meetings and stuff so anybody that has thoughts or ideas about what we should be doing with the CDBG money in the low to moderate income areas of the City of Auburn all the information is loaded up on the city's website and you're more than welcome to submit your comments if you go to the city website it explains how you can get your written comments to the mayor and the City Council and our city staff to be included with this plan and these these plans are some of the most effective things that taking public comment and really putting it to use I've seen so many things happen the skate park is a great example you know five years ago people were coming saying we need an upgrade to that skate park after a couple years of attending public meetings we were able to get the plan in place and get that skate park built and we're currently down at the Wall Street playground that's another example of things you know these are the projects that we need to hear from the community so that they can be included with this community development block grant funding all right that information is on the website AuburnNY.gov you'll also see the details in the Christmas tree recycling and the upcoming firefighters civil service exam at AuburnNY.gov Chuck thanks for the update as always always appreciate it Ted thank you have a good weekend everybody
