There is high interest in what Auburn Mayor Timothy C. Lattimore will say in his second State of the City address to be given before the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce this afternoon at the Holiday Inn.

Depending on whom you talk to, there is a very high or very low bar for him to meet expectations.

Most of last year's coverage of the mayor's first address was not about what he said, as much as his off-the-cuff remarks, after dispensing with his written text, as well as his offhand and flippant manner in speaking to a packed ballroom of business and community leaders.

He hurt his standing with many in the room, who were expecting vision and instead got nothing more than a few generalizations and references to the "good 'old days."

As one person recently put it, the expectations bar is very low, because all he has to do this year is stay on message and keep to a prepared text. They are not expecting the Gettysburg Address, just something coherent, which didn't occur last year.

For others the expectations bar is much higher. It is expected that the mayor will update those in attendance on what the city of Auburn has been doing for the last year, its highs (approval of his energy referendum) and lows (the lack of co-operation among all five members of the Auburn City Council).

While the mayor may talk about the past, he needs to talk about the future, in specifics, not in his usual generalities and platitudes.

At the end of this year he will be halfway through his four-year term and he needs to tell those in attendance how he plans to achieve his promised goal of 1,500 new jobs. It is important for him to outline in detail how he plans to make this expectation a reality.

The mayor needs to stay focused on details, something that over the last year he has had the luxury of not doing, as he has had a honeymoon of sorts. But honeymoons, excepting for MTV's Jessica Simpson Show, last only one season.

Unlike Legislative Chairman Herbert T. Marshall, who will also be delivering his second State of the County address, the mayor needs to stay away from Campaign '05. The community, press and public are well aware of his desire to change the makeup of the city council.

Chairman Marshall can take the time to outline issues that he thinks are important for voters to consider - since he rarely does so. The mayor talking about such things would seem overtly political and overkill.

Today's speech is a way for the mayor to regain some of the credibility lost at last year's event and to shine. It will come down not to a confident speaking style, but the content of what he says.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn. He can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com