Auburn Beautification Commission
January 20, 2026
Present: Dominic Gambaiani, Chuck Mason, Judith Bryant, Leah Weinberg, Christine Long, Tim Donovan, Anna Ritter, Claire Lovell, Billy Lupien (phone)
Excused: Walt Aikman, Susan Secaur
- Meeting called to order at 5:02
- Westside Community Garden
- Anna had prepared a Powerpoint presentation to show the city. Mike Talbot of DPW saw it and felt that it was too large in scale. She’s decreased the proposal includes the idea of annual revisiting to increase it.
- The next step would be to submit the proposal to the city and presenting it formally for a vote. If approved, she’ll work on the expansion in the spring. She has applied for a $5,000 grant through Growing Hope Cayuga and has heard back that they want a meeting with her.
- Leah notes that it might be prudent to explain the background of the community garden and be fully transparent for the sake of any new councilmembers.
- Budget
- Auburn Beautification Commission: 2026 Budget $13,883.20 total
- $2,500 for administration and insurance
- Custom Accounting Services $1350.00
- Tompkins Bank, CHUBB Group Insurance $650.00
- Miscellaneous $500.00
- $2,000 to the annual downtown and Veterans Park flowers
- $1,000 for restoration and repainting of historical markers (carried over from 2025).
- This has to be at least three markers at a time for the lower rate
- AME Zion Church historical marker-confirmed December 2025 for restoration in 2026
- $1,000 for Events such as Earth Day, reuse swap shops and miscellaneous projects.
- Please note in May 2025 we received the $500. Great Lakes Great Responsibility grant for 2025 & 2026 Earth Day Cleanup; therefore acquiring materials for 2026’s Clean-up will not be as substantial of a cost
- Misc Projects Include, but are not limited
- $30 for native habitat sign for pollinator garden
- $500 in artist fees to paint concrete wall surrounding garden to match State Street Bandshell
- $200 for new seeds for pollinator garden (TBD depending on what returns)
- Artist fees to install signage at State and Genesee (TBD) pending Nucor donates steel or wood structure
- $3,000 dedicated fund for trees
- Bill asked about the tree he donated toward that he’d like to see in the Seward Park, since the planting window for bare root trees is limited and will probably be before he comes back in mid-April. The Seward Park is owned by the city, not the Seward House, so the city will be responsible for digging a hole for the tree.
- Dom will talk to Walt and perhaps Rich to make sure this gets going.
- Bill would like to see an oak there. He can recommend his brother Joe to help. Leah also volunteers.
- $500 for Community Garden contributions for 2026
- $3,883.20 Contingency
- (Dec. 2025) Chemung account: $927.17
- (Dec. 2025) Tompkins account: $7,956.03
- City of Auburn contribution (forthcoming in 2026) $5,000.00
- Claire will look into the website and domain registration to see if it’s on auto-renewal.
- Total is $13,883.20
- Claire makes a motion to accept the budget as proposed. Leah seconds. All in favor.
- New Business
- Tim drove through Geneva recently and found a really nice sign for the Historic North neighborhood. He recommended a similar sign around the historic district of South Street, but the group members struggled to think of a good place to put such a sign for the South Street neighborhood.
- Dom had recently been thinking about a directional sign at State and Genesee like the cute one on Owasco.
- Dom had sent a letter to Christine Moulton of Auburn Memorial Hospital, noting that the hospital had taken out several full grown trees and would appreciate the hospital sponsoring more trees around the city. Dom met her in person while the letter was still en route, and mentioned the subject. She promised to get back to him when she has the time.
- Cayuga Climate Action’s Styrofoam recycling program was a big success. They collected 40 cubic yards of Styrofoam. Riester’s would be very interested in being an on-going collection agency if they were compensated for it (like $1,000 per year for two events).
- They don’t want to be a 24/7 collection site for Styrofoam.
- Anyone can bring their Styrofoam to Syracuse, to Thermal Foams in Cicero. Bill wonders if Thermal Foams would be willing to leave a dumpster at the landfill or something similar. Thermal Foams wants to see the work done by someone else (ie. volunteers), especially when it comes to dirty, colored, or already compressed foam.
- Dom will keep everyone informed about the potential partnership with Riester’s.
Tim makes a motion to adjourn. Judy seconds. All in favor.
Next meeting: Monday, February 23rd at 5 pm
(and Monday, March 23rd after that)