Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.38, it's FLX Morning Friday, the extravaganza, and we're joined by Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason. Good morning.
Chuck Mason: Hey, good morning, Ted. I love learning the history of Auburn, all of the Lincoln and Seward history, and in this case the Harriet Tubman history. There was a proclamation last night at the council meeting for Underground Railroad Month.
Paul Szmal: That's right, it is September, it is International Underground Railroad Month, and Ted Freeman was on hand, Pastor Ted Freeman, who has documented the story of Kate and Harry Freeman, who were the founders of the Underground Railroad here in Auburn, New York, as they were here at the time of the founding of Auburn with the person that's notoriously kind of given the claim to founding Auburn, John Hardenberg, but Kate and Harry Freeman were enslaved people of Hardenberg, and they were a big part of the reason why the significance of the Underground Railroad was so prominent in this area. And so, Ted, last night I had to accept the proclamation from Mayor Genitino about naming September International Underground Railroad Month, and then to celebrate the occasion this year, the Equal Rights Heritage Center tomorrow, on Saturday, September 21st at 2 p.m., is hosting a book talk. They have a special guest coming in, her name is Taya Miles, and she is a Harvard University professor that has written a new book on Harriet Tubman called Night Flyer, Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of Free People, and the center will be open tomorrow, as it usually is, but at 2 p.m. the book author will be on hand to speak and sign books as well.
So, this event is specifically to celebrate International Underground Railroad Month here in Auburn and Cuyahoga County, and it is really an incredible part of our area's history, the amount of participation that did, in fact, partake in helping enslaved people to escape with several, over nearly 100 sites designated in Cuyahoga County as being affiliated with the Underground Railroad at the time. So, quite a history, and we really look forward to welcoming Ms. Miles when she comes to Auburn tomorrow, and come on out, it's a free and open to the public event, 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 21st, over at the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center, which is at 25 South Street, right here in downtown Auburn, immediately next door to the Seward House Museum.
Chuck Mason: It's going to be another book for me to read, because we do the Seward House segment every month, and they've had some Lincoln and Seward authors giving book talks, and I picked up one of the books and just loved it, so I'll have to get to Taya Miles' book as well. I wasn't aware there's the release about this, you were talking about the 100 sites, there was a study in 2005 where they went looking for all these Underground Railroad sites and found a hundred of them in Auburn and Cuyahoga County, that's pretty neat.
Paul Szmal: It is, and that study at the time was conducted by our City of Auburn's Historic Resources Review Board with a women's historian, Judith Wellman, who authored the study, and she'll come in from time to time and speak here in Auburn, and it really is a fascinating part of the history. The Kew County Office of Tourism has done a great job of taking that work and turning it into user-friendly tools for visitors to use when they're in town and in Cuyahoga County, exploring all of these Underground Railroad sites, so lots of great history to go and check out here in Auburn and Cuyahoga County.
Last night at the Council meeting, Seth Jensen, Director of Municipal Utilities, did a whole big presentation on the water system and potential water rates in the future.
Chuck Mason: That's right. So, in addition to the fact that the City of Auburn supplies water specifically for the residents of the City of Auburn, and the water is sourced from Wasco Lake, we sell to what we call wholesale customers, which are many of the surrounding towns and villages, and those towns and villages will buy the water from the City of Auburn at a wholesale rate, and then they run it through their systems to provide it to the residents in their respective towns. So, what happens is every few years, and the time has come now, that we will get together with all of these representatives from these surrounding towns that we sell water to, and we will throw everything on the table as to what it costs to produce the water here in Auburn, New York. It's a utility that we're providing, it's not a business that we're in to try to make money or anything, it's basically we are trying to cover the costs of what it honestly takes to run water system and transport the water to the people's homes and out to the surrounding towns. So, Seth Jensen, our Director of Municipal Utilities last night, was on hand to give the Council an update.
This is a process that's been well underway for a good, ever since the beginning of this calendar year, and we have had several meetings, Seth and City staff has had several meetings with representatives from the surrounding towns. We have hired a firm, GHD Engineering is the firm which is going to run us through this process, and what we will do is, over the next few months, we will basically do all the research on exactly what the costs are and what every little detail that goes into producing the water, and then once all the information is transparent and vetted with all the respective parties and shared with everybody, a determination will be made as to what the rate should be and will be for the next several years. So, we did this study very successfully about six, seven years ago, and basically everybody came to an agreement as to what the rate should be, and it's really a transparent way, brings all the parties together in an attempt to build trust with all the stakeholders here involved with this process, and it will basically determine what it is that we will be charging people for the water usage in the future.
So, several towns, and I'll just go through the list here real quick, we sell water in the City of Auburn to the Town of Senate, who in fact will sometimes sell to the Weedsport, we sell to the County Water and Sewer Authority, we sell to the Town of Troop, Aurelius, and then some of those towns will sell to towns that are even further out, and the County Water and Sewer Authority will sell to towns that are even further out. So, towns like Port Byron, Mets, and Montezuma, Cayuga, Union Springs, Springport, they oftentimes will be getting their water maybe from the County Water and Sewer Authority or another town, but that water is in fact originally sourced from the City of Auburn. So, it's quite a process to go through, and what we will do is, over the next year, we'll involve stakeholders from all of these respective towns, and it'll be a very transparent process. We'll take a look at every single expense that's associated with the production of the water, and settle on a fair rate for the water as it's sold to these wholesale customers.
Paul Szmal: I mean, it just sounds great to just put everything out on the table and say, here are the costs, and this is why the rate is what it is.
I will put a couple of reminders in people's ears once again. The first of the cleanup days is Saturday, October 19th.
Chuck Mason: That's right. Our City Transfer Station has already scheduled the fall cleanup days. This is an event for City of Auburn residents. There's going to be two this fall, Saturday, October 19th, and then again on Saturday, November 2nd. The landfill will be open these days from 7 a.m. to 11 30 a.m., free for City of Auburn residents. There is a complete listing of rules and regulations for these events that is listed on the City's website. You will need to have a driver's license ID that matches the vehicle registration of what you're driving in, proving that you're a resident of the City of Auburn. But it's a great opportunity to do some cleaning. There might be some items kicking around your house, like an old chair or table or something that you've been wanting to get rid of, and this is a great opportunity to get it down to the landfill. Transfer Station is a way to do it for free as well, and it helps our City crews by people can bring this stuff down to the landfill themselves. It helps take a little bit of the burden off of our City crews when they're out there picking this stuff up on a weekly basis. But some of the larger bulk items we do in fact charge for at the curb, so it's a great opportunity to get rid of this stuff for free. So the complete listing is on auburnny.gov. I really encourage City of Auburn residents to check this program out. It's offered in the fall and it'll be offered again in the spring a couple times a year that we do this, but it is a great opportunity to take advantage of getting rid of some of the junk that might be laying around your house.
Paul Szmal: Great partnership between the City of Auburn Parks and Rec Department and the Double Days, the fourth annual Home Run Halloween, Saturday, October 26th at Falcon Park.
Chuck Mason: That's right, and we're getting the word out on this. We announced last week, save the date, Saturday, October 26th, 3 till 6 in the afternoon is the Home Run Halloween for kids. It's going to be a great event, lots of activities. We've already got several children's activities lined up for that three-hour period. There will be free trick-or-treat bags handed out. There'll probably be about 30 or 40 vendors that are down there handing out trick-or-treats to the kids. In the event of rain, it'll be held the very next day on Sunday, October 27th, but we're really hoping we can just pull it off on the original date scheduled. And there is the ability right now to jump in as a sponsor for this program. Contact, go to the City website, you'll find all the information, but Kim Basso down at the Department of Parks and Recreation is the contact person for this, and we are looking for sponsors. If you want to have your business participate, and you can be listed with your logo on the trick-or-treat bag, the deadline for that I believe is September 24th, coming up here next week. So to be on the trick-or-treat bag, and then to be a sponsor of the program, the deadline is October 4th. So it's a great opportunity for your business or organization to help out with this community event, and this is one of those events the last couple years we've had hundreds of kids, if not over a thousand kids down there to celebrate the holiday of Halloween, and it's a big deal for everybody.
Paul Szmal: All right, Auburn City Clerk Chuck Mason joins us at this time each Friday. Thanks as always.
Chuck Mason: Thank you, Ted. Have a great weekend, everybody.
