Paul Szmal: It is 8.39 on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio, temperature at 68, and Friday morning at this time is when we usually check in with Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason, and he joins us now. Good morning, Chuck. How are you?
Chuck Mason: Hey. Good morning, Paul. Good. Thank you.
Paul Szmal: So a few items on the agenda last night at the City Council meeting. The first couple being a couple of land sale resolutions for property on both Seymour Street and Parker Street.
Chuck Mason: Yeah, continuation of the great success we've had for the last couple of years, working with our local real estate agent to return properties to the tax rule that had been taken previously by tax foreclosure, and a vacant lot at 103 Seymour Street will become a house in the near future. And then 35 Parker Street been sold for $60,000 to return to useful, it'll be a house that's renovated and contributes positively back to the neighborhood again. So another two positive things here on the land sale front as the city, we're over two years now into this new relationship with our local real estate agent, and their name is actually the Real Estate Agency, or the, yeah, something like that.
Paul Szmal: Yep.
Chuck Mason: Steve Byer. Yeah. Steve Byer is the broker, and he does a great job on our behalf out there. And it's just great to see. And the council unanimously, Mayor and City Council unanimously adopting these land sale resolutions last night at the meeting.
Paul Szmal: And the next item on the agenda was a change order for construction inspection for, I guess, a project on Standard Avenue.
Chuck Mason: That's right. This is where Standard Avenue meets North Street, North Street, New York State, Route 34. The entire road is in need of repair, and the council is going to give that some attention at future council meetings here. But this is a project that's been in the works for a couple of years because it required quite a bit more design work ahead of time. So the work is actually going to happen this construction season. So the council last night unanimously adopting this change order to the existing contract that will allow CNS engineers to continue their work and provide the construction inspection for us. So we are just so, everybody's relieved to know that we're going to be finally in the actual construction phase of some of these projects this second half of the construction season here in Auburn and get these roads repaired. So this is great news, and the council unanimously adopting this last night, Paul.
Paul Szmal: Yes, and we're talking with Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason, by the way, here on FLX Morning. Next item on the agenda was the awarding of a bid for a community development block grant for the sidewalk program.
Chuck Mason: That's right. With the federal government money that comes in through their community development block grant program, every year we adopt an action plan. Council adopted that action plan earlier this year. It gets sent to Washington for approval, and we're awaiting the final, final approval. But as soon as that final approval is received, we will be out there with some sidewalk work in some of the neighborhoods, and we will be doing a Wasco Street this year from East Genesee Street all the way down to the city line, and then South Fulton Street from East Genesee Street to Walnut Street. Those are the two streets that are on the list this year for the sidewalk work, and the project was awarded to the contractor DeGeorge Construction Services for $165,000 worth of sidewalk work. So you'll see a lot of that activity happening probably in late August and September of this construction season.
Paul Szmal: And the final resolution that the council undertook last night was an amendment to the YMCA agreement for the Casey Park Pool. What can you tell us about that?
Chuck Mason: This is great news. Working with Cayuga County, Cuyahoga County was able to get what is called a New York SWIMS grant. The state of New York sending out money to various counties to make sure that the public has the ability to experience the swimming at the public access points, Casey Park Pool being a public pool here in Auburn. Our YMCA runs that for us in the summertime, and the SWIMS grant that the county received, a portion of that they made available to the city of Auburn. So this will allow for our Casey Park Pool to stay open a little bit longer than originally scheduled this summer, which is good news because it's been a hot summer and a sunny summer. So this will give families and children especially the ability to cool off down at the Casey Park Pool, and it will keep our pool open through Saturday, August 23rd. The pool is open every day from noon until 6 p.m., and what a great asset that is to have down on the west end of Auburn. And we hope that people will realize that we're going to be open for another week here. We'll be doing some promotion of that. But the council unanimously put in its stamp of approval, and we thank the state of New York for this New York SWIMS grant program, and our partners over at Keuka County for making this portion available to us.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. That is a great asset to have in that part of the city of Auburn. The whole city is going to be joining in on a very, very busy weekend of activity coming up here, Chuck.
Chuck Mason: That's right. What we're going to be calling Summer Homecoming Weekend now in Auburn. We're going to be rebranding the old Founder's Day name. We've had Founder's Day for about 15 years. But it's been, you know, some changes have been made to the event, and we've decided to rebrand the event to better capture the events that are happening throughout the community. And you know, one of the major things, it's in its 47th year now, the Great Race will be happening in Auburn on Sunday. That's the team triathlon that happens up at Emerson Park. It's a runner, it's a biker, and it's either a kayaker or canoers. And that's in its 47th year and brings a lot of people home. So this weekend has always been traditionally kind of a homecoming for people in Auburn. We know that there's class reunions that usually will plan their activities around Great Race Weekend. This year we know we've got at least two, if not three, class reunions coming into town. So we decided to go with this summer homecoming brand. The events are going to look very similar to what Founder's Day has been for the last 15 years, but it's going to just have a slightly different spin.
There will be vendors at the Saturday Market, which happens every Saturday. There will be an Art and Crow Fest over at the Willard Memorial Chapel, and then down at the new West End Arts Campus, where the Schweinfurth Arts Center is and the Cougar Museum. They'll be having lots of activities, especially for the kids down at the West End Arts Campus. And we will be linking all of those three significant site events with a free trolley on Saturday, August 9th. The free trolley will run from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m., and you can pick up that trolley either at the Heritage Center in downtown, at the Willard Chapel, or at the West End Arts Campus, where the Cougar Museum and Schweinfurth Arts Center are. And that trolley will run all afternoon and connect you to the various external site events.
And then in downtown Auburn, we've got lots of activities going on. Things kick off tonight, Paul, Friday, August 8th, 7 a.m. till 10 p.m. We'll be downtown with the homecoming kickoff concert with the band Chris Eaves and the New Normal. They'll be performing tonight on State Street between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. And then tomorrow, we bring down the City Showmobile and we'll close off a block of Genesee Street for a Genesee Street block party. We've got three bands coming, Paul. We've got Ruby Shoes that'll be playing from noon till 2. We've got from 2.30 till 4 p.m. showtime, the band. And then from 4.30 till 6 p.m., we've got Mark Doyle and the Maniacs. Mark Doyle is an Auburn native, and I know that he's got a lot of other friends that'll be joining him on that set in downtown Auburn as well. And lots of kids' activities. Our summer rec program will be set up at the State Street Event Plaza. There's going to be a bubble playground set up at the Heritage Center on the West Lawn. We'll have the Disney princesses down here roaming around. Jeff the Magic Man with his balloon art. Just lots of stuff for the kids to do, lots of family-friendly activities. And if you've come home for the Great Race or will be experiencing and participating in the Great Race, this gives you a lot of stuff to do on Saturday. And then Saturday or Sunday morning up at Emerson Park is the annual Great Race. Now, if you're still looking for a last-minute entry to get your team in, you've got till three o'clock today. Go to thegreatrace.com and find out. But there's no day of race entry this year. Any registration for participation in the race needs to be done today, Friday, August 8th, until 3 p.m.
Paul Szmal: So that is a full boat of a weekend's worth of activities there, Chuck.
Chuck Mason: It sure is. And we invite everybody to come out to Auburn. I'll tell you, Paul, we've been working on all these summer events for a very, very long time. And I cannot remember a weekend where we had a clear shot on the weather. So we're guaranteed to have beautiful weather this weekend. And we really hope that everybody comes out and enjoys summer and enjoys the best that Auburn has to offer with these summer community events that we've got going on this weekend.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and even though it's going to be a little on the hot side, there'll be plenty of vendors just about anywhere you look that'll be selling beverages to keep you nice and cool.
Chuck Mason: That's right. Yeah, that is correct.
Paul Szmal: All right, Chuck, thanks so much. And best of luck with all the weekend activities for summer homecoming weekend. We'll check in with you next week.
Chuck Mason: Thanks, Paul. Have a great weekend, everybody.
Paul Szmal: It is 8.49 on FLX Morning.
