All right. I would like to call to order this Shake Tree Commission meeting of April 2nd, 2026. It is 10:00 a.m. Um, if we want to stand the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. The statement of adequate notice pursuant to the sunshine law. Adequate notice in accordance with the open public meeting act was provided on
January 5th, 2026 of this meeting's date, time, place, and the agenda was mailed to the news media, post on the township bulletin board, mailed to those requesting personal notice and filed with the municipal clerk. And now we'll move on to roll call. Miss Eastston is excused. Miss Irons,
>> present. Miss Johnson, >> present. Miss Arterman >> present. >> And Miss Bouquet is currently absent. Thank you. Want to take over? >> Sure. Okay. The um minutes uh from February 5th. Uh I hope everyone
had time to look it over. Does anyone have any uh additions or corrections to make? Uh Kathy Eastston had sent me information about her hours.
>> Do you want to do a motion for the minutes? >> Okay. Um I need a motion to accept the minutes as read. >> And a second, >> Jessica, and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> We'll do a roll call vote. U Miss
Eastston is absent. Miss Irons >> I. Miss Johnson. >> Yes. >> And Miss Arterman. >> Yes. >> And Miss Bouet is absent. All right. Unanimous. Thank you. >> All right. What um I had said for uh the minutes
Kathy added. She didn't have them entered for the February 5th. So I guess you >> Oh, adding her hours. >> Adding her hours for that. What hours were they? >> Uh,
yeah, that was for the fifth. >> Okay, perfect. >> Just so you have a record.5 hours >> plus it includes a CE, which is something we need. Okay. Um, let's see.
All right. Hopefully Barbara Rogers will come. When she does, we'll let her give her report. So for us now for the old business our our community hours since our last meeting uh for the community forest management
plan I have eight hours and Kathy reports 13 hours and uh 1.5 CE. me. >> Got it.
>> And then Jessica, do you have >> Okay. Four hours. Got it. >> Two hours. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. And uh All right. So, I guess the next
thing is community outreach. Uh the school's Arbor Day is going to be held at the uh Cranberry School outside um near the flag pole, the front near the front entrance for the 20 um part of a
celebration for the 25th anniversary of the American Revolution, I guess it is. Uh, and let me see what my notes are. So, so it will not be in Village Park and so an invite will go out to uh the
mayor and shade tree commission. Uh hopefully I'll definitely need one person to help me hand out the tree seedlings to the students. Uh and so you can let me know. Uh
it's on the 24th. >> Yep. >> On Friday of uh this month, April. April 24th at 2 o'clock at the school. >> And um we'll have the a paper bag with a
handle for to put the tublings in. And uh we have information printed on how to plant the tubing and uh just the name of it. They're going to be gray birch trees. Uh and they're very tiny. So, you
have to I'll I'll talk to the students about where a safe place is to plant them. Okay, that's what I thought. Okay. Uh Barbara will be here, but she's just stuck in traffic. >> Okay. >> Uh
okay. Um let's see. And also we need to go to um ant nursery to pick up uh the second graders tree that's going to be planted at the cranberry school. Uh we've selected a crab apple hybrid that's
disease resistant and so it's either going to be a prairie fire or a royal raindrop. And uh so one or two of the commissioners can go within the next week with me. It's in uh on Perinville
Road in Monroe Township. And uh then the we just select it and then the DPW will pick it up and uh plan it so it's it's there ready for Arbor Day.
Any questions about that? Also, uh I'm looking at the agenda here. >> Okay. Too many papers here. >> It's okay. >> All right. So, that was the cranberry school. The cranberry community. Um, we
have uh set up or decided on the 20th of June for the tree walk in Heritage Park. And so one thing we need to do is decide
on a just a quick write up for it uh to advertise it. Our next meeting will be June 4th. Uh so I guess we could polish it off then if we don't come up with something.
The last last time we did it uh we just called it uh Treewalk and Heritage Park. So, and last year it was very successful. Barbara
uh did it with me and um so it would be great if another commissioner could join us on that day. So get it on your calendar, June 20th. It's a Saturday and I think last time we did it at 9:00 in
the morning. And the other uh Cranberry community activity we need to work on is uh the talk in the library. And I guess the first thing I have to do is contact Dean
to make sure uh we can you know when the library will be open to hold that. And I have the day somewhere here. I only found out last night that I was going to be doing this.
>> You're doing great. Don't worry. >> Yeah. >> I just had a quick question on the tree book. Are there specific trees that you guys point out when you walk through? >> Uh yes. Yes. I have a write up. I can show it to you, share it with you. I'm
going to tweak it a little bit more. But um we talk about the um lychen on trees which a lot of people are aware of but don't understand what it is and also um
girdling trees but we we cho cho choose specific trees to talk about. Uh, and then as we walk along, people will have questions and with our tree ID app on our phone, it
helps us once in a while. So, uh, but we can do a practice walk ahead of time, you know, a week or so ahead of time just to see what's in bloom. I'm trying to find the date.
I thought we chose a day for the uh talk in >> Kathy's notes. It looks like it just says there's a faulty and then confirm with >> Yeah, the library. >> Okay. Well, yeah, I guess that's what I'll just do. I'll just confirm it with the library to make sure.
>> Next is canopy assessment. If you have anything or nothing in the report >> for I'm sorry, I have to get the >> It's underneath the minutes. >> The minutes?
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can. Thanks. the cranberry community. >> The canopy assessment. >> Oh, the canopy. Okay. The canopy assessment. Has anyone made any progress on that? >> No. Okay. So, that's something we still
have to work on. Uh, I did hear from Kathy and the Tree City USA application plus the annual accomplishment report with were both accepted. So, that's great news. We were having trouble with the um them recognizing our report on
our CE credits. Okay. Uh for that's for the old business. Now new business. Uh Arbor Day. Are there any other questions about it? Does anyone know right now if they can join?
>> I just have to look at my schedule, but I'll let you know. >> Okay, you can. >> Yeah. Okay, good. >> How long do you think that'll take? >> Uh, it it it starts at two, so it'll be done by three when the kids are dismissed. You know, we'll we'll get out of there before that. Probably >> Fridays are usually good, but yeah, let
me see. Let me just make sure I don't move anything on the schedule. >> Great. And it's a Friday. I'll >> okay >> I I I can look at my schedule. >> Okay. >> Too, but if if I'm free, I'm happy.
>> Okay. >> So, I'll I'll double check with you guys when we get closer to the time and may I don't know about Barbara. All right. Um and then tree maintenance. Uh actually we don't have the um
okay well planting that's right we we have accepted uh a what do you call it a a request for quote from growing concern. We were very happy with their uh
the cost plus they're going to do the additional root barriers for the trees on Main Street and anywhere the trees um and the only place they won't they don't feel like we need a root barrier is if
the width between the curb and the walkway is more than three and 1/2 ft wide. And I think there's only one uh in a newer development that it's bigger than that. So they don't need the root barrier there. Uh and they will also um
plant um by May 15th the trees and they're also going to take care of watering. That's always been a problem for us once we plant the trees. uh trying to get someone to take care of watering um and especially the first
year is very important. So uh growing concerns has agreed in including the price of uh they included that the price of watering the trees for the 12 months after they've
been planted. >> Do we have money in the budget for that? >> The whole amount. >> Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. And then for pruning, winter is the best time for pruning. So, we missed it last year to get the um younger trees
that were planted more recently pruned. So, we'll plan on on doing that this winter. So that will be for future um meaning maybe in September we'll concentrate on that uh
and then um but we also are going to concentrate now that we have the tree planting um decided we want to um refer to our tree
inventory. I'm looking at Sharon. Uh you had a list you worked on >> uh of the trees that are recommended to be taken down and I think you divided them with you know just trees that are
dangerous but but also dangerous with overhead uh wiring. How are you doing with that? >> Yeah, I was actually just waiting for Barbara to give me the rest of them. Um she I have them. I just had to put it all together. >> Okay. Um, and then I can send them over to you.
>> Okay, great. >> I don't know if the best thing for us to do is there How many did you have? About 30. >> Not even I think there was like maybe 15, but I think the issue was that there was only maybe three that didn't that where wiring wasn't an issue.
>> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, there mostly do have wires. >> Yeah, >> mostly do have wires. And I know the utilities always have to take care of trees with Myers, but I think the DPW works with uh a tree removal
company that is allowed to work with the you I'll have to check with Kathy on that, but I'm pretty sure that's what she said. So, uh we'll have to coordinate with the DPW on that. But they they were so busy
after that last windstorm we had on uh what was it? Cranberry Neck Road. They had to close it. They lost power >> and I guess it was mostly pine trees. >> That was crazy. Was that an actual
tornado or did we ever find out? >> It was just a warning. But it was very windy. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But, you know, sometimes they come through. It was like this one spot. And even Cranberry Road, there was a lot of
uh pine trees uh damage. So, it it they they were very high winds. Whether they were tornado, I don't know. But, >> but it was like I mean, you could hear it too. It wasn't just you heard it and you had >> near you. Did you lose power? >> We didn't lose power. No.
>> Okay. >> But we absolutely I mean, you could hear it. It sounded like a freight train and it looked like there was it was like thunder and lightning outside. I'm like, is there an alien coming? Like what is happening? >> It certainly looked like >> a UFO is landing. Actually, >> it looks like a tornado, that's for sure.
>> Yeah. >> And that's why it's important for us to pay attention to the uh tree inventory. We've we've had an arbor a trained arborist, you know, look at these trees and you can't necessarily tell.
>> Yeah. >> But of course, we've had extreme weather. That's very unusual to have high winds like that. I've spent my whole life in actually Middle Sex County and I've never seen so many tornado. We've had hurricane warnings, but never
tornado warnings like this year. >> Okay. Anything else about the tree maintenance? >> I think Kathy just said um five tree removal applications received. >> Oh, good.
>> It's okay. >> I keep I keep moving everything around here. >> It's okay. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. He's just down here. >> Oh, okay. Actually, I went with Kathy to one of
the h homes and um that had a tree removal application. And again, it was pine trees uh that were up against a shed and then in the distance in the
backyard. And some of these pine trees, they're planted and not maintained and then they end up with branches falling down all the time and they can be a real problem which I guess
in that last storm we found out. So, uh, now it's time for member reports. Does anyone have anything? I guess >> I have nothing to report. Jessica, >> sure. Um just that Kathy Eastston and I
met um after the last meeting to review um basically like the year's worth of tree removal applications and just taking a look at kind of how the information was being filled out and what was coming in, >> what might be needed in further
revisions because it's just been revised not that long ago. I think our assessment was like let more come in, but that it could be really um maybe helpful to have a working session with everybody looking through it at some point. >> Okay.
That that Okay, good. I'm glad you're doing that because uh that is worthwhile to see what is actually being removed. And it's so costly to remove a tree. I'm sure the majority of the times >> people want to remove one because it's
they consider the danger or it's dead already. I don't know. >> Do we know if people are actually replanting too or No, >> that's I mean that's a that's one of the questions that we noted is like how what what kind of followup um
are we going to are we going to have? So the vast majority of the applications were hazard trees. So there's no replanting needed, but there really doesn't seem to be a process for followup if if there were trees to
be replanted and kind of like what would that time frame be and how how would that be done? So yeah, that's definitely like was something that we were flagging when we went through it. Just I think that needs to be spelled out.
Yeah, I agree that the followup >> another lot of them, but you know there are some especially the commercial place >> and depending on how well you know the town. I mean, for me, I um just in trying to I did it cold without Kathy,
you know, sitting next to me and just trying to figure out, well, where is this tree in somebody's yard? And I think >> um there are a lot I think we looked at versions of applications that actually had like a little page for people to do
a drawing. A lot of people did submit drawings, so that was actually really, really helpful. So, we might want to I I think it might be useful to think about that in future iterations to maybe have like a half sheet for people to fill out
if it if it's relevant. If it's not, they wouldn't have to do that. But, um but just to like where is it located? Is it a street tree? Is it, you know, if they say it's near the h if it's near a house or sidewalk, like what does that
really look like? >> Okay. and its relation to cross street and that kind of thing, >> right? >> So, it was sort of like that that kind of thing. We made a list >> now. Is there any um like for example with the the storm, all those trees that
fell down, is there any way to track the trees that fell? Is there any process for that to kind of figure out? >> No. >> Are they straight trees? Would they have been on the inventory? >> That's what I'm saying. I I I mean I'm assuming that they would have Yeah.
>> Cranberry Nick Road it was not on the train inventory I don't think. >> Okay. >> So but still uh >> I mean I think it just helps the canopy to be honest with you or can you know what I mean when right >> to figure out how many trees we actually
lost maybe how many we should regrow. >> Yeah. >> So if that's Yeah. I mean, there might be. So, Cranberry, that's a question I have. Is Cranberry Neck Road on the inventory or not? Because some streets aren't if they're considered county roads, but they could be because we
actually do have responsibility for them if the there's no shade tree for the county. I mean, I think for major road like that, it it probably would be helpful. >> Yeah. >> To have if it's not in the inventory, it be have to have it because that's
otherwise there's no way to note that. I thought creme neck was a county road. >> It's county. If the county doesn't have a shade tree commission, then it's considered. >> Okay. >> Township and if it's responsibility is the right
word or township perview. >> Did did you did you find that you know where did you find that? >> That's from from training. >> From training. Okay. >> So if you Yeah. I think that would be >> okay.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. >> But I mean, what about even when trees come down like on private property? >> Pardon me. >> When trees come down on private property, do we have any >> on private property? Um, you know, if
it's a dangerous tree, they don't have to replace it. So if it comes down on their property, you know, they can just it's nice to know about it, >> right? >> You know, it's again, we have this
permit and people that care about trees, submit it to us. you know, other people, they don't know about it or I mean, it's still something we have to advertise, I guess, but other people will just figure, well, I'm just going to
especially if it came down or if it looks dangerous, they just take it. Some people will just take it down. >> Okay. >> And so, it's this is a work in progress for sure, this ordinance. >> Okay. >> And uh
I think we're twe we're working It's a work in progress. That's all I can say. >> Okay. >> And I guess we'll need a work >> a session >> for it at some point.
So let's see for member member report members report. We went over Arbor Day and everything. So I can update you on that later. Uh I also met with
Cranberry School Kathy uh asked me uh I guess it was a week or two ago with uh Marsha from Cranberry School. She's an enrichment teacher and she works with
the school and they're their plan for the 250th anniversary uh in Cranberry the celebration this year. There's a lot especi especially the historical society is doing a lot of
events but the school decided they would they have collected money to have a tree for each grade level. So nine trees are going to be planted. >> Nice. And the eighth graders, well, each
class will have a tree, uh, but the eighth graders are going to be in charge of selecting them. And so we met with this, uh, teacher enrichment specialist uh, and walked around the
school to see where the nine trees could be planted. And Kathy and I are real excited about this because we get to, you know, the the students are going to choose the trees, but we're going to give them a list to to choose from. They're going to research it, and we're
not going to tell them what to plant, and we're going to give them more than nine trees, you know, but just somewhere to start. And that's all I know about that right now. Uh, and I'm not even sure when they're going
to get planted. maybe in the fall. Uh but there's we're also going to meet with them on Where's my notes on that. Anyway, and I'll let you know. Uh I think it's like next week or the following week.
And I think it's just with the eighth graders. I'm not sure. So that's exciting. And are there any other questions? I have to >> look at it.
>> The action items. Yeah, we need action items. All right. So, one is to check with the library. uh on uh >> the talk on a a Saturday.
It was going to be on a Saturday whether it in the morning or the afternoon or the evening I think we thought. Uh but Dean uh it takes care of that calendar so I guess I can do that. Uh I had asked for um commissioners to
show up on Arbor Day if it's possible. It will be the 24th at 2 o'clock at the but it's going to be at the school this year. >> Okay. two
>> and they start they do it at 2 o'clock and then the kids receive the trees will have them in a bag and the commissioners can help hand them out to the students. But uh Lauren is going to send out an invitation and you'll get copy of it so
you'll see what the procedure is. And our mayor is going to be traveling, so she can't make it, but Barbara Rogers will be. And I was hoping Barbara would be here, but she's a busy lady right now cuz,
uh, taking care of being the mayor, too. >> Any other action? >> Any other action items? I guess uh we talked about working on the tree inventory and
the um what were you talking about the >> oh um yeah the applications >> tree removal applications >> and so I don't know if we want to set aside uh work session for that our next
meeting isn't until June 4th. So, we could hold May 7th as a work day if you think that would be helpful to to work on that
tree inventory. And >> on May 7th is a Thursday >> at at 10 or 10:30. 10:30, please. >> Okay. At 10:30. >> Thank you. >> And then we'll have to put an announcement in for that.
>> Kathy. >> With Kathy. Yeah. And then the next thing also, it's never too soon to decide on Cranberry Day. We weren't sure when it's going to be. I just saw something from the historical
society and they have it listed as September 12th, which we weren't sure if they were going to have it on the 12th or the 19th >> on a Saturday. So planning that it's September 12th. Uh
we'll have to make sure we have commissioners available on that day. >> And usually the Helen Cody run is at the >> Pardon me. >> The Helen Cody. >> Oh, the Helen Cody run. >> It's usually on Cranberry Day. >> It's on Cranberry Day. >> Maybe we can look up when the run will
be and then they will be a line maybe. >> Yes, that's a good idea too. >> Okay. So on May 7th, maybe we can at least um by then we should know for sure when Premarie Day is and then we can try to commit to it. It's nice to have a
couple commissioners so no one has to spend the whole day there. It's a fun day, >> especially if it doesn't rain >> and it's not super windy. >> Yeah. This this past year we all of a
sudden the dark clouds came and >> we got out of there just in >> time just about. >> Anything else? >> Is there anything else? >> Just announced that there's no public comment. >> Pardon? >> Public comment is next.
>> Oh public public comment there's no public comment. So uh I guess we'll just ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion to adjurnn. >> A second. >> All those in favor? >> I I
thank you very much.