AUBURN’S HISTORIC & CULTURAL SITES COMMISSION
Meeting minutes from April 7, 2004
Present: J. Bryant, B. M. Lewis, P. Anderegg, D. Lamb, J. McCormick, Sonya Warren (for A. Wood), M. Alberici, E. McHugh, S. Craner, Rev. Carter, P. Wisbey and J. Kline
Excused: M. Vanek, T. Bridenbecker, P. Copes Johnson and M. Weitekamp
Absent: T. Hussey, S. Marteney and D. Dempsey
Chair M. Alberici called the meeting to order and read the mission and vision statements for the Commission.
I. Approval of the Minutes
M. Alberici asked for approval of the February 10, 2004 minutes. E. McHugh made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted, seconded by J. McCormick. All were in favor and the motion carried.
Committee Reports
II. Planning & Development Committee
D. Lamb said the committee had not met and there was nothing new to report.
III. Marketing Committee
As for leads from ads, J. Kline said during the month of March the Tourism Office responded to 115 inquiries; the top producer being the Internet. Inquiries are low right now since there are not any ads running. J. Kline said she spoke to Rick Smith from the City, and the pedestrian signs have been made. They will be painted next week, and then delivered to the Sign Guys for the graphics to be adhered. Once that process is finished, the Committee will flag each sign location with Jerry Del Favero, and the City will install them.
J. Kline said the intern Paula Knight was unable to make her scheduled presentation at today’s meeting. She had a class trip that she was unable to change. The Quality Standards Project includes a summary of each visit, and (if applicable) recommendations for change. The report will be created using power point, and will be presented to the Commission at the May 5th meeting. D. Lamb requested that the summary be sent out in advance to those included in it, and J. Kline said she would check with M. Vanek before mailing it out.
IV. Community Outreach Committee
M. Alberici said the Commission is hosting a booth at the Group Tour Showcase in Sodus Pt. on April 29th. This show is for group leaders. They are expecting about 80 people from Rochester and Buffalo organized through Coach USA. If you want special materials passed out at the show, drop them off to the Tourism Office before Thursday the 29th. J. Kline will be there for the Tourism Office, and she and Maxine will car pool.
E. McHugh said the “Passport to History” program starts this week. She has already had a number of students at the Museum. The passport allows one free entry for a student, and one free adult entry. The program ends May 23rd. During the first week the sites should see a lot of heavy traffic since the students are on break for a week. If you have lost the passport stamp, use your return address stamp on your page of the booklet. Since there is no staff at the Schine, please stamp for their site is the questions have been completed. The answers for the Theater will be posted in the ticket window. M. Alberici gave the intro. presentation at 2 schools, and E. McHugh did 4. In the end, Sts. Peter & Paul did not respond to participating in the program. E. McHugh said they will have a bike grand
prize for each school this year, plus Casey Park passes for the pool and skateboard park.
J. Kline said the Office of Tourism is hosting TourCayuga on June 30th from 4-8PM at Emerson Park Pavilion. Attractions and tourism-related businesses will have displays, plus food and wine tasting from County wineries and restaurants. They will be giving three tourism awards, and there will be lots of good door prizes plus musical entertainment. The Commission has a space reserved, as well as the Cayuga Museum, but if anyone else wants space they can still get in. Display space is free. J. Kline said, if you have front line staff that needs to be refreshed on the area’s attractions this gives them a good opportunity to do so.
V. Quality Assurance Committee
See Marketing Committee report.
VI. Prison Museum Study Group
P. Wisbey circulated copies of the letter he sent to Mayor Lattimore and Melina Carnicelli re: the prison museum’s feasibility study. No one had further questions.
VII. Other Business
P. Wisbey said the Upstate History Alliance awarded two awards (Seward House and Cayuga Museum) and an honorable mention (Ward O’Hara Agricultural Museum) to Auburn museums. There were only 5 awards given in total, so it’s really an honor to receive one. The award ceremony will happen in NYC April 18-20. E. McHugh is going to attend. (Two or three years ago AHS Living History Players received an award.)
P. Wisbey said Bass Pro Shops is going to have information available at their Customer Service desk on other things to do in the area. (The Tourism Office is putting together binders for Bass Pro Shops’ staff to assist with this process.)
With the busy summer season pending, the site directors expressed the need for additional volunteer help. M. Alberici suggested having a volunteer recruitment progressive dinner with one course at each of the participating sites. Site directors need to draft a description of what the volunteers would be doing. These would be needed in advance. E. McHugh was interested in helping coordinate, as was the Tourism Office, J. Bryant and M. Alberici. (M. Alberici has since requested 100 copies of each site’s job description to be dropped off at the Tourism Office by June 4th, and the event has been tentatively scheduled for June 15th.)
J. Kline passed out copies of the last Commission summer survey. Additional options to be added were suggested, and J. Kline will e-mail the edited version to the sites shortly. (The sites have one week from this meeting date to make additional comments.) D. Lamb made a presentation to City Council in April re: the Common Threads survey information. E. McHugh is scheduled to do the next one in June re: Passport to History. E. McHugh will call and schedule the appointment herself to make sure it will work.
Linda O’Gar from Leadership Cayuga gave a presentation about a trolley that would link visitors from the Fingerlakes Mall to downtown Auburn to the sites and Emerson Park. They have proposals from three bus companies that they are reviewing. Right now, they are deciphering which sites to make actual stops at, and what the timing of a loop will be. The trolley would run every day during July to August. (It was pointed out that many of the sites are closed on Mondays.) They would create a tape that would play inside the bus giving background history of the things along the tour. Drive-bys also include Fort Hill Cemetery and Auburn Prison. Stops for Holiday Inn, the Tourism Office and Microtel would be incorporated. L. O’Gar thought one loop would take about one hour. The van can transport between 20-28
passengers. Sponsor logos could be displayed inside and out. Representatives from the Radio Group are helping secure sponsors. Potential funding partners include the Downtown Auburn B.I.D., the Chamber, the City of Auburn, the Holiday Inn and the Tourism Office. There will be a more formal presentation of this project at Auburn Memorial Hospital on April 21st at 6:30.
The Commission’s next meeting will held on May 5th at 3:30PM, 3rd Floor City Hall.
The Commission adjourned at 5:15PM.
Recorded by Jesse Kline
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