[0:02] Good evening. Today is Thursday, May 16, 2024. I'd like to call this meeting of the University Council's order. Mr. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

[0:13] Councillor Kent.

[0:14] Here.

[0:15] Councillor Overstory Wilson.

[0:16] Here.

[0:17] Councillor Cuddy.

[0:19] Councillor Collar.

[0:20] Here.

[0:24] Here. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance.

[0:30] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

[0:35] And to the Republic, we'll just stand one nation under God, individual,

[0:41] whether he adjusts us strong.

[0:42] Please remain standing for our moment of silent prayer or reflection.

[0:51] Thank you.

[0:57] Public announcements?

[0:59] Thank you, Mayor.

[1:00] We do have a few announcements this evening.

[1:02] The first, I just want to announce that the beginning of the MJC

[1:11] A Division 3 Baseball World Series, Collegiate Level World Series is underway this afternoon

[1:19] down at Falcon Park. This weekend, Falcon Park is hosting the mixture I get this right.

[1:30] This weekend, Falcon Park is hosting the Division 3,

[1:45] so I'm sorry it's confusing.

[1:46] the Division 3 Region 3 Final 4 tournament.

[1:51] I felt the park game started today,

[1:53] there were games down there tomorrow

[1:54] and Saturday, the four teams that are in town

[1:58] for this first play in tournament,

[2:00] our Niagara Community College,

[2:01] Herkamer Community College,

[2:03] Erie Community College,

[2:04] and Genese Community College.

[2:06] There was a second game today that just started at 5 p.m.

[2:10] they'll be playing tomorrow,

[2:12] it felt the park at noon,

[2:13] 330 and 7 p.m.

[2:15] And then the championship game will be at 12 p.m.

[2:18] And if there's another game needed, it'll be 330 p.m. on Saturday, May 18.

[2:23] The winner of the tournament that's down at Falco Park this weekend will return to Auburn the following week.

[2:29] As we welcome 8 teams to Auburn for the Collegiate World Series for this Division 3 NJCW from May 25th through May 29th, 30th.

[2:42] actually, those eight teams will be arriving for a practice day on May 24th, which is Friday

[2:48] next week, and then they have a banquet to kick things off, but they'll be playing

[2:51] faceball down in Falcon Park all over the Memorial Day weekend, and the championship

[2:55] game will be played either on the 29th or the 30th or the 30th, 30th is kind of reserved

[3:00] as a rain date in case there's rain at any point in time over that weekend. The eight teams

[3:05] that are coming to town for the World Series event will be announced by Monday. They'll all

[3:10] decided this weekend, we do know the first team coming to town is the Camp Hurricanes, Camp

[3:17] Community College Hurricanes from Franklin, Virginia. They're the first team to have earned

[3:22] the rights to come to Auburn for this world series. And this is the first of two years in a row

[3:27] that we will host the world series and we'll be back again next year at this time. Down in Belka Park

[3:33] and we would like to recognize our staff and the Department of Public Works and Recreation,

[3:38] and Brian Rhodes and his team down in Falco Park as well as our partners at Cupid Community College

[3:44] who are hosting this event and it's quite an undertaking to host one of these larger tournament events.

[3:53] But it's a great thing for Falco Park and for the City of Auburn.

[3:58] Second, I would like to announce that notice of public hearing regarding the City Manager's proposed

[4:03] fiscal year, 2024 25 city budget will be held next week on Thursday, May 23, 2024, 5 p.m. here at Memorial City Hall is part of the regular meeting in the

[4:15] Auburn City Council, 24 south street here in Auburn, all materials regarding the city managers proposed, 2024 25 city budget are available on the cities of Auburn's website.

[4:28] And if anybody needs paper copies of that, they can contact the Office of the Council

[4:32] for the City Court's office and we'll get people paper copies of this.

[4:37] And then just a couple of other event announcements.

[4:43] This Saturday is a flower planning day in downtown Auburn.

[4:50] Saturday, May 18th, you'll notice that the Department of Public Works has been distributing

[4:55] flower pots throughout the downtown area, and volunteers will be showing up at 9AM to plant

[5:02] those flowers out Saturday. The meeting point for volunteers is on exchange street

[5:07] plaza at the Gen. C Street side. Volunteers will be given directions at that point in time.

[5:13] There's about 100 ground pots and some park areas to plant on Saturday morning. Volunteers

[5:20] are welcome to attend, that's an event that's sponsored by the Auburn Downtown bid, the

[5:27] Auburn beautification committee with a lot of support and help from the Auburn Department

[5:31] of Public Works.

[5:34] So we'll announce the tennis day in a little while here when we do the

[5:38] proclamation. Very good. Moving on to proclamations. We have two this evening. The first is National

[5:43] Tennis Month Proclamation,

[5:51] Propalmatian from the Office of Mayor Genetino,

[5:55] or National Tennis Month,

[5:57] whereas on May 21st, 1881, the United States Tennis Association,

[6:02] originally known as the United States National Law

[6:05] Tennis Association was founded in New York City

[6:09] to create rules and standards

[6:10] for the emerging game of law antennas.

[6:13] And whereas the USDA is the not-profit,

[6:15] not-for-profit national governing body,

[6:17] For tennis in the United States, in least the promotion and growth of the sport at every level of play from beginners to professionals at the U.S.

[6:27] So, whereas the U.S.T.A. is the largest tennis organization in the world, with over 700,000 members from every corner of the country, and whereas the U.S.T.A.

[6:37] probably partners with local tennis programs to showcase the important health, social, and

[6:42] educational benefits of tennis and make the sport available to everyone regardless of age,

[6:47] environment condition or ability through a U.S.T.A. adaptive grants.

[6:53] And we're as the latest research by the physical activity council shows that more than

[6:58] 23.8 million Americans played tennis in 2023, and unprecedented 25% increase in participation

[7:06] over the 2020, and the highest number of players since the study began in 2007, and

[7:13] whereas by increasing the accessibility of tennis for citizens of the city of Auburn of

[7:17] all ages and inability, the USDA has contributed to making our community a happier and healthier

[7:23] place. And whereas USDA is declared the month of May as National Tennis Month to encourage players.

[7:30] Organizations, facilities, retailers, tennis manufacturers and more to promote local tennis programs and activities at parks and facilities to showcase tennis and spread the word about the sport of it and its benefits.

[7:43] And to help players and not players alike find courts and play opportunities in their communities.

[7:48] Now, therefore, be resolved.

[7:50] The James N. Genetino Jr. Mayor of the city of Auburn.

[7:53] On behalf of the members of the City Council and the members citizens of Auburn.

[7:57] Thus, hereby proclaim May 2024 as national tennis month here in the city of Auburn.

[8:03] Thank you.

[8:03] With us this evening is Coach Clare Mino and some members of her team.

[8:07] If you could meet me at the podium, please.

[8:31] Hello,

[8:43] everyone.

[8:45] I, along with the Boys Modified Tennis Team here, we have Jack Cuddy, Jack Sliviac, John Cuddy, and LaBea Garlow.

[8:55] We have a lot of Jays on our team this year.

[8:57] I would like to thank the City of Auburn for inviting us here today to promote National Tennis Month, which is amazing.

[9:05] We are also excited to promote a tennis event that is going to take place this weekend at Clifford Park, the White Field,

[9:13] from nine to noon, so come out, it's for all levels, all ages, come out and enjoy some

[9:20] tennis and have some fun, but thank you very much.

[9:32] Thank you.

[9:34] Next proclamation we have is for National Police Week.

[9:45] We'll make sure for the Office of Mayor Genetino, in 1962, President Jonathan Kennedy

[9:50] proclaimed May 15th National Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the calendar week in which May

[9:56] 15th falls as National Police Week.

[9:59] Now, whereas established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week

[10:04] pay special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line

[10:09] of duty for the safety and protection of others.

[10:12] Now, whereas as a piece of officer's memorial day, an honor of all fallen officers and their

[10:16] families, United States flagged, should be flown a half-step, and whereas the international

[10:22] associations of the Chiefs of Police has declared law enforcement officer safety and wellness

[10:27] at top priority and the IACP Center for Officer Safety and Wellness promotes the importance

[10:33] of individual agency, family, and community safety and wellness awareness.

[10:38] And whereas there are more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serving in communities

[10:42] across the United States, including the dedicated members of our Auburn Police Department,

[10:47] and whereas the members of law enforcement agency in the city of Auburn play in a central

[10:51] in the world and safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the city of Auburn.

[10:57] Now, therefore, be a result that James and Genetino Jr. Mayor of the city of Auburn.

[11:01] On behalf of the members of Council and all systems of Auburn,

[11:05] does hereby proclaim the week of May 12th through May 18th,

[11:09] 2024, recognized as National Police Week here in the city of Auburn.

[11:15] Thank you.

[11:15] With us this evening is Chief Slayton from the Auburn Police Department,

[11:18] and several members of his department.

[11:19] I'd like to call everyone up to the railing

[11:22] to accept the proclamation, please.

[11:28] Let's get the whole council.

[11:30] I'd like to get the whole council to the picture.

[11:32] And for other rail,

[11:37] members of council,

[11:37] if you guys want to go out.

[11:39] Just do me a favor.

[11:54] You better get the other one.

[11:56] We'll go on the road, I'll go on the road.

[11:58] Come on, people.

[12:00] Come on, people.

[12:01] Come on, people.

[12:02] And then I'll be there.

[12:03] You can see how you're working.

[12:05] Come on, a lot of people.

[12:06] Oh, you're preparing.

[12:38] Our

[12:51] Council speaking behalf of the members of our department, we appreciate this.

[12:56] We appreciate the and recognize and I think it's important for the members our road control

[13:02] come to something like this and see that they are recognized by the Mayor and Council.

[13:08] We also have three people that are out in Washington this week for the memorial,

[13:13] which is great that they take the time themselves to go down there and do that.

[13:16] So once again, I thank you and I want to let these men and women get back to the road with it.

[13:21] Or they feel comfortable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[13:42] I do also want to mention that today May 16th is pegged all my

[13:48] day in the city of Auburn. This is all my return to 105 today. I want to

[13:53] have birthday party at Westminster Manor. 105. It's pretty impressive. So I want to

[14:00] mention that today is pegged all my day in the city of Auburn. Moving on to

[14:05] the public to be heard? At this point in time we'll open the public to be

[14:08] portion of the council meeting residents are asked to state their name and address for the

[14:12] record please keep remarks the three minutes or less and please observe commonly accepted

[14:17] rules of courtesy and equal thank you at this time is there anybody wishing to speak

[14:23] all right we'll close the public to be heard moving on to the approval of the meeting minutes

[14:28] from May 2nd 2024 do we have a sponsor councilor Kent second by councilor Clarko any discussion

[14:34] questions change it. Please call the roll.

[14:37] Councillor Cain. Yes.

[14:39] Councillor Overs 3 Wilson. Yes.

[14:41] Councillor Cain. Yes. Councillor Cain.

[14:43] Councillor CLEARCO. Aye.

[14:44] Mayor Gentina. Aye.

[14:47] Meeting minutes from May 9th, 2024 to May of Sponsor.

[14:50] Councillor Overs 3 Wilson. Seconded by Councillor CLEARCO.

[14:53] Question in this discussion.

[14:56] Please call the roll. Councillor Cain. Yes.

[14:58] Councillor Overs 3 Wilson. Yes.

[15:00] Councillor Cuddy, President, Councillor Collarville, aye.

[15:05] Thank you, Chair.

[15:06] Thank you, Mayor.

[15:08] City manager's report.

[15:11] Thank you, Mayor.

[15:12] City is currently accepting bids for the first phase of renovation of Wall Street Park.

[15:18] Bids are due back on May 21st.

[15:20] More information is available on our city webpage under the link bids in our apiece.

[15:26] Earlier this week's staff met to discuss various potential projects

[15:29] that may be candidates for the additional road funding allocated to the city of Auburn in the

[15:34] most recent New York State budget. Our engineering department is working on getting updated

[15:39] pricing from few projects that have been discussed here in Council Chambers in over the past few

[15:44] meetings and we will present those projects, descriptions and costs to you in the coming weeks for

[15:50] input direction. Also this week several staff members attended the regular meeting of the

[15:59] committee, which is led by Jenny Haines of our planning department, the meeting was opened up

[16:04] to a broader group of participants, then typical, including all of the town supervisors

[16:10] and village mayors from throughout Cure County, the purpose of the meeting was to help

[16:15] the Empire State Development or ESD, collect information and feedback from throughout Cure

[16:20] County to better inform their in progress, Central New York Housing Market in Needs Study.

[16:28] And finally, we have a couple of items related to the police department I wanted to ask

[16:34] God Chiefs later to come up and give us an update on a recent grant award and some information

[16:40] or advice related to some recent activity in the city.

[16:48] Thank you, City Manager.

[16:50] Some good news on King Thudard Department this week, a few months back at the end of 2023,

[16:57] We put in for a law enforcement technology grant, pretty competitive grant, it was open to every police department in the state of New York.

[17:07] The governor had allocated $50 million to be shared with the departments and in the compass.

[17:15] Such things as license plate readers, mobile and fix surveillance cameras, unmanned aerial vehicle, gunshot detection, smart detection devices for the officers.

[17:25] So we got together in the administrative team did to look at what would benefits the residents and people of city of Auburn.

[17:33] And we looked at some cameras through a few of the systems and trying to add different cameras to the avenues in and out of the city.

[17:41] So we applied for $122,500 from the state. We were awarded that exact amount, which was great.

[17:50] The governor ended up realizing that all these police departments are in the same boat,

[17:55] up this grant from 50 million to 127 million dollars, and it should encompass next year or two.

[18:01] So we're helping to get a little bit more next year, but I just want to make everybody aware that

[18:06] that was a pretty big grant that we got and you know, it'll go back to helping those citizens of the city of

[18:12] On the second thing I'd like to make people aware about is once again we're dealing with the scams,

[18:17] The frauds and scams throughout the city, we had a couple more of this week, definitely targeting

[18:22] the elderly.

[18:24] These scams include anything from family members in jail and needs bail money, they pray

[18:32] on the individuals and their family members and come up with some good stories when some

[18:37] of these individuals from the community question.

[18:41] The individuals that are calling, they're quick to find another way to get them, for instance,

[18:47] They'll say, if any of them I can't talk to you right now, they're in lock out, but we'll

[18:51] talk to you the attorney if you give us more money.

[18:54] How much can you come up with in some people offer a certain amount of money that they can

[18:59] come up with and then they call the person back and say, okay, we talk to the judge, that's

[19:03] been reduced, that'll fit in your amount, and then they'll send a courier to pick it up.

[19:09] So one from years ago, we dealt with the people themselves picking it up.

[19:12] Now they are sending careers such as lift, Uber to pick up these packages and the people are just putting these packages in the cars around the front porch and being scammed out of thousands and thousands of dollars.

[19:26] Anywhere from 10,000 up to over 200,000 dollars on this particular ones.

[19:34] Once again, you're getting summertime, so they're going to do the driveway scams again.

[19:37] those scam you for, we'll do your driveway, just making the public aware that if somebody

[19:42] calls to get your driveway done, talk to a family member, see if their company is reputable,

[19:50] they're saying that the family owns money and the only way to get the money out of frozen

[19:54] assets is to give us a certain down payment, and then some other ones, or you want a large

[19:59] some money, but yet we need X amount of dollars for you to send us first before we can release

[20:06] the money and they do. We've talked to the banks, we've talked to community members,

[20:11] to just be aware if these individuals are coming in asking for large sums of money.

[20:17] So I just want to make the public aware of thank you for the time for allowing me to do that.

[20:21] Thank you.

[20:22] Anybody have anything for the truth?

[20:23] I actually have two questions regarding that so that they are using career services are those services

[20:30] I understand like they're big huge companies, but are they aware of how they're being used to propagate these kinds of scams?

[20:36] Is there any way that that can get feedback to them or from them on how to stem this maybe?

[20:44] Yes, I'm one particular incident. We call lift and said them that your career came and picked up money

[20:50] And you don't know it's going to happen to your driver.

[20:53] This money that was taken from here was delivered down the New Jersey to somebody.

[20:59] And you don't know what's going to happen to that person or what's in that package.

[21:03] It could be drugs in that package that you're letting your career pick off.

[21:06] What if the money is short?

[21:07] What if the person couldn't count and didn't have the exact amount of money and your drivers

[21:13] in jeopardy?

[21:14] And there was an incident and I'm not sure where it happened right now, but it just happened

[21:19] about three weeks ago, where an Uber driver went to pick up money from an elderly male,

[21:24] he said, this is the four time you've called me and come here and he came out with a gun

[21:28] and he killed the Uber driver, shot her three times.

[21:34] So those things, the conversations we're having is there's got to be some liability on that

[21:39] for allowing this.

[21:42] But that's the new way that we're trying to play catch up now.

[21:46] So I hope that answers.

[21:47] No, we don't have any conversations.

[21:49] And my other question is, I've read stuff about AI being used to simulate voices.

[21:55] Is that happening to people here where they're simulating a loved one's voice to try to scan them?

[22:01] Yes, they will call your residents and they're asking, is this?

[22:05] I use my name, Jane Slate.

[22:07] And if you say yes, they're mimicking your voice, and then they're creating new platforms that go after people with your voice.

[22:14] So it is happening.

[22:17] So when you get that phone and you know the best case scenario is if you don't know the phone number let it go to voicemail

[22:22] If you have a home phone, let it go to an answer machine and if you have any questions you can always call the police department or you can call family member

[22:30] We'll try to walk you through these steps, but that's a great point, thank you.

[22:34] Thank you. Any other questions?

[22:37] Chief, thank you. Thank you.

[22:38] Thank you.

[22:41] Report from members of council.

[22:45] Councillor Ken?

[22:47] So, on Monday, Mayor Genetino and I attended meeting over the Equality Center with a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Court regarding the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Court.

[23:02] The quarter has been mentioned in meetings over the last couple of years.

[23:09] It's a project that's being sponsored by the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State.

[23:16] And it's a quarter that would run from New York City up the state through Auburn over to Niagara Falls.

[23:25] And we're fortunate that we actually literally are on the quarter.

[23:29] There are towns and villages and other counties that have significant underground sites that

[23:37] aren't within the corridor, but they may be able to petition to get on it.

[23:42] Anyway, the point of this meeting was to kick off work toward a quarter, I think it was

[23:49] called a quarter master plan, and the coordinators of that.

[23:54] I think they have a consultant there that was running the meeting for them.

[24:00] They're going to all the cities along the quarter and engaging towns and villages to begin

[24:08] to organize parts of the plan that they will be contributing.

[24:15] So for instance, they want an inventory of all of the sites that are significant to the Underground

[24:20] Railroad and Harriet Tubman here in our area.

[24:23] We're already well along the way in doing this.

[24:29] I have a lot of questions, I think it's exciting.

[24:32] There was a lot of conversation about it.

[24:35] And they're going to meet again in October.

[24:37] I believe we're on an email list.

[24:39] I know the Mayor and I are, so we can share what we're going to learn as we think goes along.

[24:45] I was curious to know how they decide which regions are going to contribute in what way.

[24:54] So the way the plan will be mapped out is a little bit unclear to me yet.

[24:58] I don't know if Mayor, you felt it was clear to you.

[25:02] But so Syracuse will have a power, Niagara Falls will have a power.

[25:05] We will have a power, the county, the towns, how we're going to organize this.

[25:10] So they're looking to organize a advisory council, I believe, per region.

[25:15] So I guess I'd say wait, stay tuned.

[25:18] Yeah, I would. I think that my summation would be there in the early stages of planning this.

[25:26] They proposed a route. No, it's getting all the documentation for that master plan.

[25:32] So yeah, I think you're right. There's no income.

[25:34] Yeah, I mean, it has significant, obviously, tourism, education.

[25:38] But once it's approved, it would no longer be considered a quarter, then it becomes a national by way,

[25:44] which comes along with some funding opportunities,

[25:50] because this is why I was asking where we are in the process

[25:54] is that how is it maintained?

[25:57] Do we maintain it?

[25:59] Or does the federal government help with that?

[26:01] So there are a lot of questions yet to be sure.

[26:03] I'll also last night, Councillor Overstreet Wilson,

[26:10] and Ron Demiller and I attended a meeting

[26:13] at the Auburn High School, regarding an initiative between the Auburn and the ACP and the Auburn

[26:20] Large City School District, regarding literacy in reading. I do not know that reading

[26:29] is a science. How you learn to read is actually a science. So I learned a lot last

[26:35] But we talked about, actually, they did the talking because it was really a presentation and currently how young students read in our community.

[26:46] We talked a little bit about literacy levels at all ages within the community and talked about ways we could partner.

[26:53] So one of the ideas that came up was the idea of promoting their called little free library.

[27:00] They have them all over the world, I guess, but they have several of them throughout the country.

[27:06] And you may have seen them driving around town.

[27:08] They're usually, you know, cute little painted boxes with books in them.

[27:15] So we're hoping to sort of sit down with this committee and talk about how we could promote that,

[27:22] whether it's a matter of just recognizing and supporting the concept because they're mostly owned by

[27:29] families are individuals at own homes and they really take good care of them and I'd like

[27:34] that idea.

[27:35] They bring neighbors over.

[27:36] There's one in a neighborhood of climber street and the lady, it wasn't a really busy street,

[27:44] but she said there are a lot of grandparents.

[27:46] The owner said there are a lot of grandparents in her neighborhood that send their grandchildren

[27:50] over in the summer to check it almost every day and see if there's new books.

[27:53] So, anyway, or we might consider down the road having a little library in front of busy playground

[28:02] or in front of the Brooker T. Washington Center, someplace in the community on to draw children

[28:06] and their families to them.

[28:08] So, there were a lot of good ideas and I don't know if I can help you with some of that.

[28:13] Yeah, go ahead.

[28:14] Thank you.

[28:14] So, last nice community meeting was the opportunity for the community to unpack this documentary

[28:22] that the NAACP showed in also the school district and it was called the right to read.

[28:28] It was a documentary that looked at the different reading discrepancies between kids living in poverty in those not.

[28:35] Now it's not a conversation that we've had that we're not accustomed to having.

[28:40] The reason why it's so important in Auburn now is because we do have an aging workforce.

[28:46] We do have civil service jobs that are not being filled now.

[28:50] And if we do not have kids that are graduating that can't read,

[28:53] we will not have in work force able to fill positions.

[28:59] So one of the things that will be happening

[29:01] is a community's leaders' luncheon.

[29:05] So there, there's going to happen at BTW,

[29:09] probably about 15, 20 of us are going to get together

[29:11] and then come up with some different strategies

[29:14] on how to support students, what do we need to do?

[29:17] know that worldwide or that reading bodies program, the NAACP did that at the beginning of April.

[29:24] It was hugely successful, nine different people went into KC Park.

[29:29] The students loved it, the adults that participated, loved it.

[29:33] But, you know, I'm a bit busy and then you blink, and then before you know it, it's August.

[29:38] But, we really do, as a community, as a city, we really need to take a look because every year,

[29:46] the number of students that are attended school continues to go down and those

[29:50] really levels continue to go down. I've attended years from now, Auburn's going to

[29:54] work completely different and we don't want to count ourselves out. You just want to have a...

[30:00] On plan, but what that's going to look like. Also, I found out last night and I didn't know that we co-sponsored a grant with the high school, my brother's keeper. So I believe we got it. So I think that they're going to be looking at how to implement that. It's going to be with two students at first and then if it's successful, you have to find a way to implement that in the other, maybe in the middle school, and then maybe to the elementary school, but it's going to be at the high school.

[30:30] So it was a really good meeting, I would like to see more of our community members there,

[30:37] but it was the first time.

[30:39] So next time, yeah, 12, maybe go ahead.

[30:42] 15.

[30:43] And also, they mentioned that that grandmother is working with a summer program,

[30:49] a lot of literacy context that we were talking about.

[30:52] So yeah, thanks.

[30:54] Thank you.

[30:55] Anything else?

[30:57] Last evening, Councilor Cuddy and myself had the monthly Auburn Duster of Development Authority.

[31:03] I say that because I want people to know that ADA is still here, still present as we continue to work on what economic development looks like from the county level.

[31:15] We will be holding our meetings here the third Wednesday of every month until that decision is made, so I just want to let the public know that the work of ADA continues.

[31:25] Moving on to Council Resolution number 58 of 2024, authorizing an application to the Restarting

[31:31] York Community's Initiative Grant Program around 8 for 120 Gen. C Street. Do we have a sponsor?

[31:37] Councilor Clark, go second by Councilor.

[31:40] Councilor Resolution 58 of 2024, where a city of Auburn desires to continue supporting projects

[31:48] identified in the 2019 Auburn Downtown Revitalization Initiative Strategic Investment Plan

[31:55] and investing in the Auburn Downtown Business Improvement District.

[31:59] And whereas the Building and Property at 120 Gen. C Street was identified as a transformative

[32:04] project in the Auburn DRI plan and has to potential to attract residents in new commercial

[32:09] enterprises to downtown. And whereas Empire State Development has released a request for proposals

[32:16] on around 8 of the Restore New York Communities Initiative Grant Program for which municipalities

[32:21] are eligible to apply and whereas the proposed rehabilitation project at 120 Gen. C Street

[32:28] aligns with goals outlined in the city comprehensive plan building a sustainable offer and

[32:34] whereas the city of Auburn is requesting $2 million in funding assistance from the Restore

[32:39] New York Communities Initiative Program towards the rehabilitation of the mixed use building

[32:44] at 120 Gena C Street, which has a total anticipated project cost of $7,288,000,000 and $50,000.

[32:52] Whereas the owner of the property at 120 Gena C Street will make available.

[32:56] The required application fee and matching funds commitment, as well as any fees associated

[33:00] with the ESD incentive proposal or grant investment. Now, therefore, being resolved by the council,

[33:08] as far as one the mayor is authorized to submit an application for funding under Round 8 in the

[33:13] Store in New York Community's Initiative for the Rehabilitation Project at 120 Gen. C Street

[33:18] with a total estimated project cost of $7,288,050.

[33:23] Two of the city of Auburn's requesting $2 million in funding assistance from the Empire

[33:28] State Development Restore in New York Community's Initiative with the building owner

[33:32] making available the required application and commitment fees.

[33:36] Three upon award notification the mayor is authorized to execute any and all project documents

[33:41] and otherwise act for the municipalities governing body and all matters related to the project

[33:46] of state assistance, for the city control or is authorized to recognize grant revenue

[33:52] if awarded and to appropriate the funds and to designate the departmental or capital accounts

[33:58] and for the resolution will take effect immediately on its adoption.

[34:02] Thank you.

[34:02] Any questions or discussion, please call the roll.

[34:09] Councilor Kent. Yes. Councilor Overstreet Wilson. Yes. Councilor Cutty. Yes. Councilor

[34:15] Collarcom. Aye. Mayor Genity. Aye. Here. Land purchase resolution number 59 of

[34:21] 2024 authorizing the purchase of a portion of real property known as 92 to 96 Grand Avenue for

[34:28] the purposes of quieting title. Do I have a sponsor?

[34:44] Councilor

[34:45] Number one one six point two three dash two dash six a small portion of the parcel of real property located at

[34:52] ninety two to ninety six grand Avenue

[34:54] Transex the deed and portion of Adam Street

[34:57] And whereas the owner of set parcel Suzanne Westy which is to sell the entire property but for the transacting portion

[35:06] And whereas in order to ensure clear tile to facilitate the transfer the ownership of the transacting portion of this property must

[35:13] not be in doubt and where else to end to that end.

[35:17] Miss Westy wishes to devise a quick claim deed,

[35:21] the transacting portion to the city,

[35:23] and where else the contractive sale,

[35:26] which is attached here to an incorporated hearing,

[35:28] sets forth the purchase of the transacting portion

[35:30] from Suzanne Westy for the purchase price of $10,

[35:34] and now therefore being resolved,

[35:35] the University Council,

[35:37] thus hereby approved a contractive sale,

[35:39] which is attached here to an incorporated hearing,

[35:41] for the purchase of a portion of real property known as 92 to 96 grand Avenue from Susan Weste for the purchase price of $10.

[35:50] Be it further resolve the arm and city council that's here by authorized.

[35:53] The controller to charge the cost of the resolution to account number 8194-0.4440.

[36:00] Be it further resolve the arm and city council that's here by authorized the mayor,

[36:04] to sign any and all documents necessary to carry out the resolution.

[36:08] Thank you, Mr. Garland, do you have anything to add?

[36:10] Yes, Mr. Mayor.

[36:12] The director said that later, I think it didn't make

[36:19] clothes.

[36:20] I haven't even reviewed the warmest standard.

[36:23] And I would recommend that.

[36:28] Very good.

[36:29] Any questions, Mr. Jerome?

[36:32] Who's called the role?

[36:34] Counselor Ken.

[36:36] Counselor Overstreet Wilson.

[36:37] Yes.

[36:38] Counselor Cutty.

[36:39] Counselor Clarkville.

[36:40] Hi.

[36:42] I have to recuse myself from this vote for because of the conflict of interest.

[36:48] Point of Resolution number 60 of 2024, appointing a member of the Civil Service Commission, do we have a sponsor?

[36:55] Councillor Clarco, second to Councillor Restrict Wilson.

[37:10] Point of Resolution number 60 of 2024, whereas the Auburn City Charter Section C10A,

[37:17] in part requires that three civil service commissioners shall be appointed by the Council,

[37:22] and whereas it is of May 31st, 2024, the term of City of Auburn Civil Service Commissioner Michael Zank will end

[37:29] And...

[37:30] We're as the Army City Council, the desire is that we're appointing Mr. Michael Zank, the Lawvern New York Service Civil Service Commissioner, for the City of Armour to a term beginning June 1, 2024, and last in until May 31, 2030. Now, therefore, be a result of Michael Zank of Armour New York is hereby appointed as a Civil Service Commissioner of the City of Armour to a term of office of six years effective June 1, 2024, and last in through May 31, 2030.

[37:59] any questions? Please call the roll? Councilor Kent. Yes. Councilor Orestri Wilson. Yes.

[38:07] Councilor Cutty. Yes. Councilor Collarco. Aye. Mayor Juneteenth. Aye.

[38:15] Councilor resolution number 61 of 2024 authorizing changes to the city council meeting

[38:20] calendar due to the 4th of July holiday. Do I have a sponsor? Councilor Orestri Wilson second by

[38:26] Councilor Clerk.

[38:29] Councilor Resolution 61, up to 2024, where is the rules and procedures of the

[38:35] Auburn City Council, required the Auburn City Council meet in the first four Thursdays

[38:38] of each month at 5 p.m. to conduct regular business and with the upcoming summer holidays

[38:43] the City Council would like to adjust the meeting schedule as follows.

[38:47] For the month of July of the July of 2024 meeting is cancelled.

[38:51] Now therefore, be a result of the Auburn City Council hereby approves the Council meeting schedule

[38:55] change as outlined above due to the Fourth of July holiday and be it further resolved the city clerk is here by requested to notify the public of the changes in the council meeting calendar as set forth

[39:06] Thank you any questions or discussion please call the roll

[39:11] Councilor Kent yes

[39:13] Councilor over street Wilson yes

[39:15] Councilor Cuddy yes Councilor Collarco

[39:18] I

[39:19] Mayor Jens.

[39:19] I hear

[39:20] Grant Acceptance Resolution number 62 of 2024 authorizing grant funding from the U.S.

[39:26] Tennis Association.

[39:28] They're the sponsor, Councillor Coney.

[39:30] Second, I Councillor Roberts Street Wilson.

[39:35] Grant Acceptance Resolution 62 of 2024, whereas this city of Auburn owns an operate several city parks,

[39:44] which provide quality recreational opportunities to person of all ages, and several of our parks include tennis courts for youth and adult recreation,

[39:51] and whereas the Auburn community has a long tradition of the sport of tennis being offered

[39:55] in our city parks.

[39:57] Whereas the United States Tennis Association offered a grant program to promote the sport

[40:01] of tennis, name the growing tennis together grant, and the city of Auburn submitted an

[40:06] application for the grant to support some of our tennis in our community.

[40:10] And whereas the city has been notified that it has been awarded the growing tennis together

[40:14] grant in the amount of $2,260 from the United States Tennis Association Eastern Region of

[40:20] Council, now therefore be resolved by the City Council of City of Auburn.

[40:26] On behalf of the City of Auburn, the grant is accepted here by authorized and directed

[40:30] to accept these grant funds in the amount not to exceed $260 for summer 10th program in our

[40:36] city parks.

[40:37] Be it further resolved, the City of Controller is authorized to recognize the grant and sponsorship

[40:41] funding of $260 in revenue count 899 270 by REC and expenditure account A7.

[40:50] 1, 4, 3, 4, 7, 0 to be used for summer tennis program in our city parks.

[40:57] Thank you. Any questions or comments? Councillor Cuddy?

[41:00] Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to recognize the U.S.

[41:05] Test Association Eastern District for the third year of funding.

[41:12] I also want to recognize some of the city staff that his health guide, some slight changes

[41:23] that we're going to have this year.

[41:25] So I know that Brian Rhodes has been working closely with Mike Gremlin on the summer

[41:34] programming. And last year at the camp, Ms. Grammley was asking the tennis instructor who's

[41:47] Jordan Saddam was a professional tennis player. If he could go from tennis court to tennis court,

[41:56] So that got me thinking to change the tennis camp so that it would travel to the places where the summer programming was.

[42:11] So we successfully, Brian Rhodes, myself successfully applied for this grant.

[42:18] The USDA is excited that more people will have access to professional tennis instruction.

[42:24] And I just wanted to inform the council that this is an exciting change for us because it's going to introduce tennis to people that don't just live near Twitter field, it's all over the city.

[42:42] So I just wanted to let people that my colleagues and the people of Auburn know that.

[42:46] So we're very excited about this grant continuing to help those in Auburn.

[42:52] Very good. Any other questions, guys?

[42:55] Please call the roll.

[42:57] Councilor Ken?

[42:58] Councilor Oestry Wilson?

[43:00] Yes.

[43:00] Councilor Cuddy?

[43:01] Yes. Councilor Collarco?

[43:03] Aye.

[43:03] Mayor Juneteenth.

[43:07] Presentation this evening.

[43:09] Over those trends in response into your county.

[43:11] We have Ms. Monica Selvich, project director.

[43:13] Thank you, county mental health.

[43:15] Selvich, welcome.

[43:35] It's good to be back.

[43:37] Thank you, Mayor.

[43:39] Members of Council.

[43:41] I'd like to take you through a quick introduction and a little bit of background before we dive into

[43:47] overdose trends, talking about a little bit what the county's approach was to addressing the overdose situation

[43:54] in the county and mention a few of our current initiatives and then some future aspirations that we're working on and that we're looking towards.

[44:03] I'm Monica Salvage, I'm the Project Director at Cuba County Mental Health.

[44:07] I oversee the state registered opiate overdose prevention program, and for the past four

[44:13] plus years, I've been coordinating the countywide, opioid, and substance use response

[44:18] efforts.

[44:20] If we look back, if you remember, in the years leading up to the pandemic, Cuba County has

[44:25] had a high overdose fatality rate, which led to us being included in the healing community

[44:33] study. And that first month after the pandemic shot down in April of 2020, we already

[44:41] had lost as many people as in the whole year of 2019. So that was a huge shock for us,

[44:47] especially for such a small community. Those are not just numbers, those were faces and people

[44:52] that were lost to us, families that were shattered, and while all of the community's experience,

[44:58] it's a great spike in overdose.

[45:00] That's in 2020 during the pandemic. Since then, we've been able to continually reduce overdose

[45:08] fatalities, really define the national trend and that's the first slide. I'd like to show

[45:14] you, when you look at on the left-hand side, the blue line shows you nationally, what the overdose

[45:21] situation looked like in terms of deaths and you can see over time throughout the pandemic. It has

[45:26] increase. I just heard today that for 2023 for the first time, they actually predict a slight decrease

[45:33] of 3% which is great to hear. But when you look at the other at the other graph for Q account,

[45:41] since our spike in 2020, we really have been able to continue to reduce overdose deaths.

[45:47] And there are a number of factors that are played into that that I will talk about when I talk about our approach.

[45:52] I just want to take you through some data slides, you have it in your package.

[45:57] I'm not going to go into great detail.

[45:59] I just want you to see the kinds of data we have available now and how we're able to filter

[46:04] through it and dive through it and really get into detail because we did not have that

[46:10] five years ago.

[46:11] And a lot of that data comes from the ODMAAP system, all of our law enforcement agencies

[46:16] enter into that and I can stress enough how important all those police reports and

[46:22] the clerical efforts are of putting that information together because we wouldn't have any of

[46:26] this if it wasn't for the officers putting that information in on the scene.

[46:32] This is another way to show how the overdose situation has developed over the years in the

[46:38] third line if you see the percentage of opioids involved in overdoses you see that in the

[46:44] last few years that has significantly significant decrease and that's due to the changing

[46:49] landscape, drug landscape that we're seeing in the county, and also nationally, and

[46:54] I'll speak to that in a little bit as well.

[46:58] We also know where overdoses are happening.

[47:01] So a couple of times a year, our epidemiologist, she puts together an overdose hotspot

[47:05] map.

[47:05] And on the left-hand side, you see where overdoses are happening throughout the county, with

[47:11] all those white spots and the darker the spots get the darker red, the more the higher

[47:15] concentration is obviously an Auburn is a population center. It's darker on the right

[47:22] hand side you can also see you know for the city limits where those packets are where

[47:28] heightened overdose activities are happening.

[47:33] And we use that information to inform our

[47:35] response efforts our outreach efforts so we look at that that they are all. We also made that

[47:41] information available publicly through our public facing overdose dashboard.

[47:46] You can count e.us slash overdose data and there we can see a monthly snapshot of what happened

[47:53] the previous month.

[47:55] And then you can go in those tabs that you see up there, trends demographics, what not,

[47:59] to actually filter for information that you're looking for.

[48:03] So you can filter for gender, you can filter for age groups, you can filter for the types

[48:09] of substances that are suspected to be involved in the overdose, as you can see here, and

[48:16] those are the last full of months of this year.

[48:18] So here on this sort of not that much there anymore, a lot of prescription drugs over

[48:23] the count of or prescribed that are being used too much, either accidentally or intentionally.

[48:30] Mali is there, so again, a lot of synthetic's going on, and then oftentimes it's also unknown

[48:35] because office is not able to determine at the sea, what substance is where you want.

[48:42] We also have a resource map on our overdose dashboard, so on the left hand side you can

[48:47] see the prevalence of narcan training that have happened throughout the county and we're

[48:53] contracting with help or ink for that and they really go out to all corners of the county in

[48:58] addition to different city locations.

[49:01] So we're pretty saturated in terms of where we've been and where we're going.

[49:05] And then when you look on the left hand further right to those green circles, you see where our wall mount did

[49:13] Narcan boxes are located and those are only the ones that are publicly accessible.

[49:17] There are a lot more where we placed over 400, over 700, over the last few years.

[49:25] And those are the ones where people can actually click on and see where they are and where they're located.

[49:30] And so part of that effort is also, we check those boxes regularly because we don't want

[49:35] them to be empty. So it's not just going out to all parts of the county, which is very

[49:39] time intensive, but then also going back to check the boxes and making sure that the

[49:43] Narcan is actually available. And then the blue circles show us where those stationary

[49:49] medication drop boxes are located and that's a little bit sparse there, right? It's a

[49:55] pharmacies, it's a police department. So they're not all that many options throughout the

[49:59] the outside of Auburn where you can do that, and then the red circles for treatment and recovery

[50:07] services, you see that we're very centered in Auburn here, which is obviously an issue for

[50:11] people in rural areas. But what we found, interestingly enough, is that we know that about

[50:19] three quarters of the overdoses are happening in the city of Auburn. We also know that if people

[50:25] with those outside of Auburn, they are more likely to die because of a number of reasons.

[50:30] They are not as many services available.

[50:32] They might not be as quick as it responds for first responders.

[50:36] So that makes it even more important to bring services out there, to bring tools like Narcan

[50:41] and trainings out there so that people are prepared to respond.

[50:48] And so what we've seen since we started this program in 2020,

[50:52] we've been able to cut the fatality rate in half in the city of Auburn and also in rural areas which is huge.

[50:59] So not only have overdoses been reduced but also the chance that people die from it.

[51:05] And that is directly related because we see the data of overdose witnesses utilizing our can and actually saving people's lives.

[51:13] And we did not see the prior to the program when we started in 2020.

[51:17] So over this witness is since that beginning of the program has saved 141 lives on top of the 115 that first responders saved.

[51:27] Can I ask a quick question?

[51:29] When you say Auburn, are you referring specifically to the physical boundaries of Auburn or the 1302 in zip code?

[51:38] No, we actually look in and the police brought that to our attention to that.

[51:45] obviously they're one through zero to one zip cocos outside of Auburn.

[51:48] So when we look at that, that is within the city limits.

[51:53] Thank you.

[51:56] And then we also want to know who is overdosing, right?

[51:59] So we look at gender, we look at age groups, and we look at racial and ethnic distribution.

[52:06] And so when we look at non-fatal overdoses, nothing has changed much over the last few years,

[52:13] and it's also in line with the proportion of people of color

[52:17] that we have in the city of Auburn.

[52:19] When we look at fatal overdoses,

[52:21] we had an outlier in 2022, where a third of the people

[52:24] who died, where people of color.

[52:28] And the last year, there were not.

[52:29] So

[52:30] So it's hard to pinpoint really the reason for that. But we do look at that information and we take that into account and we see what we can do when we see outliers. And that's why it's good to look at stuff over time and determine if there is a trend or not. Also, our numbers are relatively small. So if there are a couple more fatalities, either one of the categories, the percentage gets out of proportion very quickly.

[52:59] And then when we get the toxicology reports from the coroners office, we also look at what substances were involved

[53:06] or what in people's systems when they died of an overdose.

[53:10] And that's surprisingly almost every one of them had more than one substance involved.

[53:15] Almost all of them involved opioids, mostly driven by fentanyl, this synthetic opioid that's almost all the different types of drugs by now.

[53:24] And also, that stimulants are on the rise now.

[53:28] So we see more cocaine.

[53:31] Again, cut with fentanyl, utelone, which

[53:34] is the type of stuff that's in mally, in the synthetics.

[53:39] And so that's something that we're looking at.

[53:42] You know, we're seeing that increase in stimulants,

[53:45] but still with the synthetic fentanyl.

[53:51] So first of all, are there any questions on the data?

[53:54] That was it for the for the data portion before I move on.

[53:59] Questions?

[54:01] Yeah, I do.

[54:03] So the Narcan kids.

[54:06] Where are they at like specifically in the city?

[54:10] Are they in every public place?

[54:15] So they're here in the city city buildings.

[54:18] They're in city parks.

[54:20] They're libraries.

[54:20] we have them at the county office building on every floor in outline county office buildings.

[54:27] They are at gas stations that they're private businesses, sometimes they have them outside.

[54:32] On the outside wall of the building, sometimes they're inside.

[54:35] Sometimes they're just for their staff.

[54:38] Right? So they have them inside in their bathroom, for instance, but it's not publicly available for their staff.

[54:43] So they're in all sorts of places.

[54:45] Okay, so if I was like up at Hoots Park and I haven't been at Hoots Park to see this happen

[54:53] But you know if the weather is getting nice and people will be walking in something happens and it would seem like Narcan was needed

[55:01] Are there is there a spot?

[55:04] There is okay

[55:06] Okay, the white building

[55:08] Because everything they go in there, okay

[55:16] Just to recap the healing community study, I'm not going to go into detail there because I've

[55:21] been presenting on that for years now, but basically what it helped us do is to increase

[55:25] our data capabilities, help us work on reducing the stigma around substance use, and then

[55:31] reduce overdose deaths through the increase of Narcan access, streamline service access, and

[55:36] then improving the treatment access.

[55:40] And so even though healing is over, we're operating on a different funding now, but what we've taken from that is that cross sector collaboration approach that we are bringing into new projects and into new

[55:56] programming now. And so what that looks like for us from the county level is that we have the local government unit, that's what I work under the director of community services and

[56:05] and reporting to the Community Services Board.

[56:08] And what happens there is the strategic planning,

[56:11] the grant procurement, so I would write grants,

[56:14] to bring money to the county and then distribute it

[56:16] among agencies who help us implement those projects.

[56:20] And then provide also technical assistance and training

[56:22] to those agencies to help with that process.

[56:27] And so what that looks like on the project level is then,

[56:30] so I continue the grant administration,

[56:31] all the reporting and the budgeting stuff.

[56:33] So the agencies don't have to deal with that, right?

[56:36] They don't have to compete with each other for grants.

[56:39] We do that on a grander scheme and deviate up.

[56:43] They really can focus on their work.

[56:45] What they do.

[56:46] And I contract with them.

[56:48] I provide the funding.

[56:49] We do in goal setting together.

[56:50] We look at measures that we want to track.

[56:53] We work together on rolling out those programs,

[56:56] and then evaluating what the impact is.

[56:59] And what that does for the community level is it maintains

[57:03] that county-wide coordination, the data surveillance, the public education portion of always

[57:09] keeping the public surprised of what's going on, continuing the harm reduction programs,

[57:14] and then ultimately working to reduce the stigma around substance use.

[57:18] Does that make sense, are there any questions around that?

[57:25] So now we're working under a federal grant for diversion and what the goal of this grant

[57:32] is to divert people with substance use disorder away from the criminal justice system towards

[57:38] treatment and towards recovery.

[57:40] And so we've looked at some gaps that we saw during our healing work that we couldn't

[57:44] address at the time.

[57:46] And we embedded pure support in areas that we didn't have before and where we saw that we

[57:52] had vulnerable and high risk populations.

[57:54] So in the child welfare system in the court system and then when people are being released

[57:59] from jail or treatment.

[58:00] And we also greatly expand the rural-narcing distribution to sort of cut the losses there and make sure

[58:09] that people had access services there.

[58:12] And those, especially in those rural areas, it's not just about giving out an arcade, it's

[58:18] also about reducing the stigma and having conversations with the people there that they normally

[58:22] wouldn't have.

[58:23] So that's an important part.

[58:25] We also created the data dashboard under the initiative and we're working on a fatality review

[58:30] board and the diversion of people in crisis away from law enforcement

[58:35] responsive possible towards a mental health response.

[58:40] And then we have the opioid settlement funds.

[58:42] I know the city got some extra and the county got some.

[58:46] And at the time, the county legislature made a really good decision.

[58:50] It was really important to buy resolution,

[58:53] dedicate all the funding that's coming to the county through

[58:57] get settlement funds to be used for that purpose under the lawful uses and not every community

[59:03] is doing that.

[59:04] And a lot of counties are taking a lot of flag now for filling budget gaps or purchasing

[59:09] things that have nothing to do that don't help people with substance use disorder.

[59:13] So that was a really important decision.

[59:15] The charge to community services board with making recommendations and then bringing it

[59:20] to the legislature for approval.

[59:21] So what we try to do here with the opium settlement funds is really use it for something

[59:27] whether it might not be other funding available at the time and really try out some

[59:31] new pilot projects or expand something where there was a greater need.

[59:37] So Chad is increasing and expanding the school prevention work in some rural schools but

[59:44] also especially in the Auburn City School District where they haven't operated before.

[59:49] So that's huge. Next slide for friends is now a bridge in the hospital at the Behavioral Health Unit and in the ER.

[1:00:00] Well, I'm not being discharged or discharged themselves without having a connection when they leave, so they are building bridges now to services or to DSS or to emergency housing, whatever they need. That wasn't working so well prior, so that's a really good connection there. We also try and out a pilot project with the human health network for transitional housing, so they have six units for people who have been released from jail or families.

[1:00:30] that are unsheltered and there is intensive case management involved and the living in six

[1:00:37] units or in apartments. So that just has started a couple of months ago, so that's very new.

[1:00:44] And then the acute counseling services as a program called CASA that works with children who

[1:00:49] affected by parental substance use and they had a weight list and they wanted to expand that

[1:00:54] program so they have now an additional therapist so they can serve and work with more children.

[1:01:00] And then we also used to open itself and funds to continue, again, the coordination, the

[1:01:04] data surveillance, the NARCM program and the communication aspect of our response.

[1:01:11] Does that make sense?

[1:01:14] Any questions?

[1:01:16] Well, and I just want to highlight a couple of the current initiatives, because before I was

[1:01:21] talking about the healing stuff, and so those are really some new things, again, sort of

[1:01:29] And the one is supporting families impacted by substance use disorders to basically promote that parents, you know, get into treatment and stay in treatment also help the parents meet their requirements for their treatment plan and for their case with with CPS or foster care and ultimately help families regain the custody of state together in a safe way for everybody involved.

[1:01:57] And so we call this program keeping families together and we have a collaborative team

[1:02:02] without child protective services foster care and peer support.

[1:02:09] And there had a lot of work to be done in the beginning.

[1:02:11] This is a very vulnerable population.

[1:02:14] Very difficult because if you imagine if you lose your children, what else is there?

[1:02:19] What do you really care about anything else?

[1:02:21] So, and it was also managing those relationships you have case workers who operate very differently from peers and getting them to understand each other and each other's role and then working together with mutual respect and understanding and sharing the information that they can share, but still maintaining the trust of the clients, it's a very vulnerable situation there.

[1:02:50] And the desired outcomes is that you know kids don't end up in foster care or that they're being reunited with their families if they are and again promote the parents recovery

[1:03:00] They've been working started that about a year ago and they've been working with 23 individuals very high needs, very high service intense

[1:03:08] And we've had two family reunification so far so that's

[1:03:15] and then the other programs are supporting the justice involved individuals with substance use disorder

[1:03:20] And I don't know how familiar you are with the centralized agreement part that happens twice a day at the sheriff's office

[1:03:29] That's new with the bail reform

[1:03:31] So it's 70 m and 7 p.m. people are being a rain there and oftentimes there's no

[1:03:37] They're not being held on bail or anything often them people leave with the appearance tickets

[1:03:42] And then they're in the wing and it's really hard to connect with them

[1:03:45] So we have peer support there now, and most of the arrangements, it's very hard to stay up because it's so time in 10 to 7 days a week twice a day.

[1:03:56] But they do the best they can and they create a very good relationships with the judges and the court coordinators and then also defense counsel.

[1:04:06] To sort of figure out what the best way we would forward is for their clients is a treatment, is it opioid court, is it other services,

[1:04:12] They also provide transportation so they can actually make appointments to court or for services,

[1:04:19] especially if they're housed somewhere outside of Auburn, it's difficult to make those appointments every day.

[1:04:26] And then we operate on the other side of the spectrum of people being released from incarceration.

[1:04:31] We have peer support in the jail, and then they are working closely with the transition coordinator at the jail to work on planning for the reintegration,

[1:04:40] making sure that appointments are lined up, services are lined up, and that post release

[1:04:45] follow-up and engagement, especially for the first couple weeks is really important because

[1:04:50] those individuals are very high-risk forwardals and death. We also created a housing assistance

[1:04:56] fund through that grant money that basically helps people who have been released with a one-time

[1:05:03] moving assistance, so like the first month's rent or the security deposit, just to remove

[1:05:08] barriers for them to find their own apartment, and two people that we helped since last fall

[1:05:15] when we started that, they're paying their own bills now, they have a job and they're doing

[1:05:20] well.

[1:05:22] So that's what it is, too.

[1:05:26] Yeah, and so for the future we're looking at, always that the emergency substances, what

[1:05:30] is out there?

[1:05:30] What are other communities seeing because chances are we might see that two in due time,

[1:05:36] And then what can we do to prepare for that or what would our response look like?

[1:05:41] Recovery housing is always an issue.

[1:05:43] We don't want to put people up in hotels.

[1:05:47] It's not a good situation for them.

[1:05:49] We're also always looking at prevention planning.

[1:05:52] So I wrote a grant that includes a bunch of agencies that would allow us to do a need assessment for the whole county

[1:05:58] and then develop the comprehensive prevention plan, which is something that we currently don't have.

[1:06:04] And then we always look at co-occurring diseases, oftentimes, you know, mental health disorders

[1:06:09] and substance use disorders, you know, co-inside, doesn't matter which came first or

[1:06:14] what caused what, it's there, and that really requires an integrative approach, so we're

[1:06:20] not being siloed, you know, you get here for your mental health treatment, you know, we're

[1:06:24] for your substance use treatment, and that's something that we're looking towards, I don't

[1:06:29] I think we're there, but that would require really integrated approach that's something that we're aiming for and that we're looking to get to at a certain point.

[1:06:40] That's all I have.

[1:06:42] There are any questions?

[1:06:44] Any questions?

[1:06:46] I have one comment on question.

[1:06:48] My first comment is, thank you for all that you do.

[1:06:52] And I know everybody involved really puts their heart and soul into this.

[1:06:54] But as a former legislature, thank you for making sure we understood the importance of that.

[1:07:00] These open settlement funds went to the right place and are allocated.

[1:07:03] I was watching something actually last night and was horrified at how ugly it is getting.

[1:07:08] So thank you for preventing us from going down that pathway.

[1:07:12] And my question is, you're clearly having some successes.

[1:07:16] And anybody else taking notice is anybody kind of going, hey, what's going on there?

[1:07:20] because the numbers are significantly different and it's quite a process so I'm just

[1:07:24] curious anybody is kind of trying to maybe emulate what you were all doing. Yeah, so, so they're

[1:07:30] Our number of things happening behind the scenes. I mean, the healing community study is still not active in a way, but they're sort of analyzing the outcomes and although they haven't been published yet.

[1:07:43] So I can't really talk about it.

[1:07:45] But needless to say not every community seeing the same outcomes, although they have the same amount of money and the same amount of resources and all that.

[1:07:53] And so they are usually when when they talk about the healing community study, they usually,

[1:07:59] you know, they're there media interviews, they're podcasts the other day.

[1:08:03] They always want to have somebody from the community level and they often times ask me to talk

[1:08:07] about, you know, what our experience was and what happened in Keywood County.

[1:08:12] You might remember the PBS segment that came to us and did a little session shoot here.

[1:08:19] So, I also go to a lot of state conferences where I present my go to one, the harm reduction

[1:08:28] symposium in Albany, in June, and they are talked specifically about the communications

[1:08:34] aspect, the public education aspect around substance use.

[1:08:39] So, I am not really sure what all of the other communities are doing, I mean I do get calls

[1:08:44] So I do get interest from individuals.

[1:08:48] It would be nice if there was a bigger effort to emulate.

[1:08:52] But I think it was a study.

[1:08:57] And there was an academic effort to write a bunch of papers

[1:09:00] on individual outcomes.

[1:09:03] And so I believe we're going to be in there somewhere at some point.

[1:09:11] But again, it's, you know, again, to me, it shows that it's, you know, we got money and that's great but so did other communities and to me it's all about the people who were involved who really saw what needed to be done in, you know, especially during the pandemic and did what needed to be done and, and I think that's why we saw the results.

[1:09:34] And again, I talk with a lot of other communities

[1:09:37] at every time, whatever law enforcement is involved.

[1:09:40] The court system is involved.

[1:09:42] They look at us like we are some aliens.

[1:09:44] It's like, what do you mean the police chief is at your meeting?

[1:09:46] So the sheriff is at your meetings.

[1:09:49] We're, you know, the court coordinator or DSS.

[1:09:51] You know, it's not what other communities are doing.

[1:09:54] And it's not that we always agree.

[1:09:57] And it's not that, you know, they're competing interests

[1:09:59] in competing missions, I guess.

[1:10:02] And I think that's fine, but I think in the end we somehow manage to look at what's important right and the goal that we're working towards, and yeah.

[1:10:17] Yes, they are the salvage, I just want to say that whatever you're doing and I know

[1:10:25] the amount of work that you have been doing and hard in order to reach in with the various

[1:10:32] agencies and municipalities, whatever you're doing is working and doing it.

[1:10:38] And I also know that whatever you're doing is not, you know, data is part of it, which is

[1:10:45] but it's also just the heart and soul and sweat that you put into this issue and then

[1:10:55] care and it shows in the success and the numbers. So it's just, I want to thank you for

[1:11:02] that.

[1:11:03] Thank you.

[1:11:05] I'm going to say Ditto too. My family has personally experienced

[1:11:15] greatness from this.

[1:11:17] to family members that are here.

[1:11:20] And when you said that these aren't just numbers,

[1:11:24] they're people.

[1:11:24] So I get to still see my family members

[1:11:27] at family functions because of that.

[1:11:30] So definitely, thank you and all the stuff

[1:11:32] that you're doing, please continue to do that.

[1:11:34] My question is, you said that there are one-time funds

[1:11:38] for either rent or down payment.

[1:11:42] And we do have two folks that are working.

[1:11:44] I was wondering if the project has relationships with other employers or with employers so when those folks get out of rehab or the get out of the county, if they have job opportunities lined up so that maybe their focus is on, you know, work in the job so that they only will only ask us one time for the money.

[1:12:11] Yeah, currently we don't have a program that works specifically with employees. I mean, I think what

[1:12:18] What happens with when you know when health struggles out and does those trainings a lot in

[1:12:25] Workplaces

[1:12:27] It does change minds within that work place and that might be you know a supervisor it might be the CEO or whoever, you know is attending

[1:12:36] to look at things differently, because you really don't know who the person is next to you.

[1:12:42] They might, you know, they might be well functioning, but still have a substance use disorder, right?

[1:12:47] But that is a very good point.

[1:12:49] I mean, that employment is definitely a part of it.

[1:12:51] I don't want to speak for the sheriff, but I know that the jail is starting a 10-week program

[1:12:59] where they have a certain number of people involved in job training within the jail,

[1:13:04] with certain employers. I think it's mostly manufacturing. And then they are getting a job

[1:13:11] when they get out of jail. So, and I think it's, I don't know, 10 people, 12 people, something

[1:13:16] so they start with that, with that cohort and their number of employers involved and I don't know

[1:13:23] their names. But that's something that they brought to the jail, which I think is great because going out

[1:13:29] and having a job allows them to find housing

[1:13:34] that they can pay for.

[1:13:36] And again, we can help, maybe with the first month's rent

[1:13:38] or with a security deposit, because he's

[1:13:40] still need to work first to save someone you want to.

[1:13:44] But having that is huge, so the employment part

[1:13:47] is definitely a huge issue.

[1:13:50] And that's another thing to look at.

[1:13:54] Cousarca, just briefly.

[1:13:56] Thank you for coming back and giving us

[1:13:58] tremendous amount of information that's going to take me a while to soak up because every page has

[1:14:05] so much data in it. I noticed that our can trainings are still going on. I see them on Facebook,

[1:14:12] and so it's not something you're one and done, they're continuing. So if there's a place that

[1:14:20] is interested in having, they would reach out to you or... Yep, yep, our contact information is on the

[1:14:29] And that's what happens on that's the funny thing, you know, when we talk about stigma reduction which really took quite some time,

[1:14:36] because in the beginning, nobody wanted to talk about Mark Ham. Everybody was very stigmatized against that tool,

[1:14:43] and we had to beg people to actually go somewhere and do a training or even find partners to do a pop-up event outside on the sidewalk, right?

[1:14:51] Now people are actually calling us, I mean, he's still doing a tremendous work of outreach and finding partners and new partners.

[1:15:00] But we do get people reaching out to us now, either because they've heard of it, or they know somebody else, whether it was an arcane training being done, or in just recently, train the rotary club, and all those people working different places.

[1:15:14] And all of a sudden, they want our kin biases, and can you come here and bring that here? So it's like this whole network, but I think what we've accomplished who constantly talking about it, that those people are worth saving, right?

[1:15:26] those people are important to us and we don't want to lose them that people feel more comfortable

[1:15:34] talking about it and asking for stuff and asking for help and talking about family members

[1:15:40] and bringing this out into the open and that takes time and that all goes hand in hand.

[1:15:49] You can have all the treatment of offers in the world if people don't reach out because they're

[1:15:54] ashamed, you can't give them the services that they need, right?

[1:15:59] That's why this is working.

[1:16:02] Thank you.

[1:16:03] You're welcome.

[1:16:04] Thank you for taking time to be here.

[1:16:06] Thank you for the work you're doing.

[1:16:08] You know, I say all the time when we talk about this issue.

[1:16:10] We're no different than any other community across the country.

[1:16:13] It affects big cities, small cities, towns, villages.

[1:16:16] But I think how we're different is how we've collectively worked to address it.

[1:16:21] And it shows, you know, the fact that you're not just stopping with people who are in crisis

[1:16:28] suffering from addiction, but you're also trying to help their families, realizing that

[1:16:33] those family members are in crisis too, and that if they're separated, if there's no continuity

[1:16:41] there, that, you know, that causes additional trauma, and we don't want to see young people

[1:16:46] falling into the path of addiction as well.

[1:16:49] So, you know, thank you for everything you're doing when we greatly appreciate it.

[1:16:53] Thank you for your time.

[1:17:00] Other business from the council.

[1:17:03] Opportunity to offer any additional input on the budget at this time.

[1:17:10] Okay, hearing none.

[1:17:12] Very request for executive session.

[1:17:13] Yes.

[1:17:14] We have one idea of related to potential litigation.

[1:17:18] Anybody else?

[1:17:21] Do we have a motion for executive session?

[1:17:22] Councillor Ovestrie Wilson, second by Councillor Clarco?

[1:17:34] Executive session for 6.20 p.m.

[1:17:37] Councillor Kent?

[1:17:38] Yes.

[1:17:39] Councillor Ovestrie Wilson?

[1:17:40] Yes.

[1:17:41] Councillor Clarco?

[1:17:42] Aye.

[1:17:44] We'll be in a recess for Executive session.

City Council Meeting May 16, 2024

Transcript