##VIDEO ID:_Vo82EIkVCA## e e e e e e e good afternoon we'll call to order the tree advisory commission for Thursday November 7th 2024 welcome all including guests and we'll introduce from left to right start with Joel Joel Sim City engineer Miriam Hoffman Greg deerson Tom R I'm Paul Joey shugal Park and Recreation director Jeff Huffman Public Works superintendent Administrative Assistant Park and wck then guest today will meet John and Jory as they approach we got some information coming from them look for an approval of the agenda so Moon I'll second it we have a motion in a second to approve the November 7th agenda all in favor say I I I any oppose same motion carries about the approval of minutes I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from last month thank you I'll second it Motion in a second to approve the minutes from September 5th of 2024 all in favor say I I any oppos the same that motion carries we'll go to number five on our agenda 5.1 um Joe with City reimbursement programs please uh thank you Mr chair commission members really no update from the last meeting the funds have all been used up for the year so okay anything from 52 5 .3 Park and wreck department update Joy thank you Mr chair Commissioners I I do have a few things to report on today uh as we're coming near the end of the year I I wanted to let everyone know that we have uh our tree inventory for the year on uh plantings and removals so this year we've planted 63 trees in 10 different Parks uh which is which is up substantially from from years past uh removals have been 46 removals of those 46 removals majority of those have been Ash removals um we were able to do a lot many of those uh with our own staff the not not as large of trees um and then um street department will be coming in and stump grinding and over the course of time here to to remove those also I wanted to to inform the commission uh that uh although we don't have an approved 2025 budget yet uh we did substantially increase our line items for both tree removals and tree plantings for the 2025 budget so if the that stays within the budget that's expected next year uh we we still have a large amount of Ash uh to to remove and uh we're trying to get ahead and have been ahead for the last 10 plus years on on replanting in those areas where we anticipate the large removals uh continuing up with with uh ongoing maintenance tree uh crews are uh will be trimming this fall and and winter as time allows in the areas that we need to where we see maintenance bike trail one of them um different areas where some of the limbs become issues with some of our Mowing and and such so happy to answer any questions on any of those related items Commissioners any questions no did uh do you have any this is a deep question did you have any uh Burak blight in those Park trees that were having that had to be taken out not that I'm aware of Mr chair um I can I can double check with our our crew leader um but nothing that that I'm aware of because the we thought the vast majority were ashes or yeah and that and that's what we've been focusing on you know with our uh you know and trying to mitigate that issue that we have okay thank you uh next 5.4 Public Works update Jeff Hoffman yes thank you Mr chair and Commissioners um we got crews out picking up leaves it's been a big job for them right now they got sweeper going three and three trucks going to keep them busy to picking up leaves so that's the main thing right now and we've been working on a lot of stumps we got for the year so far we got over 200 plus stumps C out already and there's a lot more to go so we'll do that until the weather keeps you know that we can keep going on it and then after that if the weather keeps and we'll go into tree trimming so end of report thank you thank you any questions for Jeff uh 5.5 will skip because because Tony is not present and then 5.6 Emerald ashb update Joel uh Mr chair no update at this time I had a question maybe for Joe maybe for Joey the uh Minnesota DOT to take down Broadway trees do they have any update for us yet they are I think they are advertising the project uh to tree removal contractors so I would anticipate sometime over the fall winter those removals will take place but I haven't heard from inada as far as a timeline yeah we that's what we had anticipated last time but we won't meet until they might be into the project by time we meet next so right y excuse me could I add one thing also on that there the dnrs community forestry grants that we use the last few times remove trees from the boulevards the RFP for new Grant rounds have not been released yet so we haven't applied okay can we can we assume that will be in 2025 sometime okay all right then we're in 5.7 uh buckthorne update Jordy if you share with us Jordy V Jordy bite thank you um I don't have much of an update um since the project has ended um the site has been cleaned up so I got the flags out the Buckthorn taken out um that type of stuff I am likely going to go through the site again in the spring just because there has been very dense and Tall vegetation in there for the first time in several years um probably partly because of the rain we've had towards this fall um so I will likely go through again this spring um and I also I had it timed out right and had chosen when I was removing buckthorne I did not have to use anything that was just pulled um so there was no chemical treatment involved with that um I suspect next year we'll start to probably hear and see some of the more of the results from the covered up project as well um so if I hear things with that I can keep you updated on that as well um otherwise any questions thank you all right thank you that completes our old business number six is new business and 6.1 uh ashtree art and sculpture project update John nisley uh good evening everyone John nisley I'm the planner with the city of New Alm and I uh first of all did everybody get with their packets the the the proposal that was by Colwood workking so that's what I'll be presenting on here tonight um do you have one Journey okay um so just for a little bit of background uh Harold andam marado with cwood work uh contacted us to see if the city would have any interest in partnering sponsoring being a part of a project where they would turn some of these Dead Ash that are in the boulevard areas into works of art whether that be painting them to carving them um you know decorating them in some way um anything like that just to kind of for lack of a better term um make some good out of the bad in this situation since we're losing all these uh losing all these trees so Harold put together a proposal um which uh again included turning these dead trees into art and his whole idea is that it would bring together uh neighborhoods it would bring together businesses who might have an interest in you know like kind of having a a a group thing together for their business or getting their neighborhood together and the kids paint a tree or handprints or things like that that's the whole idea behind this um and in this I'll throw a couple pictures for you so you can see what I'm talking about um well let's do this I'll just pull this page over so for instance this is this is um a sort of example of turning this dead tree into some artwork provide some color where there is you know no color in the landscape um and provide some interest uh we thought um with this proposal Not only would it generate interest just in the community I don't know if anybody else doing this in the state right now so it might bring some attention to new itself um there were some questions about the proposal uh how to deal with costs who's paying for what how's it going to be paid for um so first things first uh in his proposal he proposed that the city would pay uh for the removal of the tree limbs up top to get it to a manageable level where it could be decorated turned into art um had that discussion with him and we don't want that to be the case we would like to have the tree have some sort of sponsorship or maybe some uh tree trimming companies would volunteer their work to support this kind of uh this art project but it wouldn't be the city's pocket uh pocketbook paying for the removal of the top of the limbs there was another question uh that that came up as to how long will this project last the whole intent here is that this is a very short term the piece of art will stay up for the idea is one year then it gets cut down and removed uh stump gets removed um and you plant another tree or at the same time you can have that dead tree there um you're not going to be planting in that same tree uh that same stump hole anyway you can plant the new tree right next to it or to either side 10 ft of either side of it um and you could get that new tree in the ground right away um I also understood there was uh maybe some questions on what are we going to do with the painted trees once they are taken down because we can't burn them at the uh City compost site because of the paint that's on them so we checked with the Brown County landfill that's where they would end up having to go is a sanitary landfill um and have some costs for that um and the costs out there is uh $65 a ton so for reference uh uh 12ft Tall Tree 16 in in diameter weighs 84 lb so that's a half a ton so that'd be like uh roughly 30 $32 to dispose of that tree out at the Brown County landfill on on another side a 12in uh 12ft Tall Tree 28 in diameter that's a little over a ton that's 2,460 lb so obviously the bigger the diameter the heavier the tree and the more expensive it would be to dispose of at the landfill um so this project uh was was really just uh just trying to trying to create something out of nothing here and and uh have a little fun in in the neighborhoods with some different types of artwork um they asked that the city's role uh would be kind of logistics where would these trees uh be they asked for some help uh with clean up potentially or providing barriers temporary barriers if necessary uh for painting those trees permits and permissions uh marketing and promotion and then kala would handle the planning and organization supervision and then the ultimate EXC execution um of the art on the trees um so this was brought to the city council I I believe in their uh September work session um and then we told them that we would um if the city council was was interested in us continuing to pursue this type of thing that we would come back to the tree advisory commission and then present it to you as well so that's why we're here today um yeah as of right now that's uh that's where we're at please let me know if you have any questions I'm happy to try to answer them I'll put some other pictures are the is going to be city-owned trees or are they going to be owned by adjacent homeowner Jason homeowner the adjacent homeowner yep and the cost of cutting the tree down would be borne by the city what I from what I heard you say no in The Proposal it says that and I said to you guys uh to you all that the city wouldn't be responsible for that we'd be looking for things like sponsorships or neighborhoods getting together if they want this piece of art in their neighborhood to pay for that uh that cost or even maybe talk to some different tree trimmers around the community if they're interested in being a part of this program you know obviously they'd get some name recognition uh for their participation and maybe they'd be willing to donate some of their time for a tree here or there is there some um I think you said there was some supervision I mean people get carried away and we don't want this to get cheap looking yeah so do people choose their own the art and have it approved or how does this work that's a good question um so let me put it this way the Grand Center for the Arts uh is also in in favor of taking a look at a project like this they could review the artwork um but we don't want it to be necessarily like telling people this is okay uh or yes we approve of this maybe we don't like it if it's not offensive or it's not hurting anybody we would let that go and really it's just supposed to be the identity of that neighborhood that it's in or if a business wants to get it get together or however they feel like uh decorating that so there would probably be some really loose broad guidelines um but that's about it okay thank you so who would be the Arbiter of taste yeah good question Who Wants to be I'm just I think uh I I can think of some things that might be very offensive to some people sure so I think we would try to narrow down what some of those things are avoid anything political avoid anything that could be offensive vulgar those types of things at the same time I don't want to narrow it down so much that we're just basically telling people this is what you need to do so that's the challenge with art right is uh you need to have a little bit of an open mind to some creativity it's supposed to make you think that's the whole idea behind it um so if we uh that's something I probably should discuss with Harold um and then also the folks with the Grand Center for the Arts to see if they have some good guidelines that we could use what's the process or um sequence for the fire hydrant painting that is in through Minnesota Street Etc is that a similar Mr chair we can research and see what the guidelines were for that I'm sure we could mirror that and use that as our basis and then expand upon that but um I wasn't necessarily involved in that but I'm sure we can find the guidance documentation that was used for that project CU this I mean in a way it seems like that very similar except those are those are permanent and and there is hiding something that's very functional but if I'm I'll I'll double check on that too they all seem to have a German uh theme to them and I'm wondering if that's the case um but yeah I can't remember any any of the details but I'm sure we can find that guidance somewhere I I did understand that this artwork would be removed in a year because I was concerned with the tree decaying and falling over so absolutely if you get if it gets removed in a year that would not be a problem um who pays for the removal the trees after they're after they've been there a year same not the city let's put it that way so uh that would be either that neighborhood if they want to chip in uh to do that together or if they could find a sponsor for the tree that wants to do that kind of artwor we could even chase down grants if that's something that we really want to do there's a there's a timing issue between when the woodpeckers are using it and when it's a bare trunk and we would have to I'm curious to see what the utility plan would be there because you really need to get that you need to get that trunk down to Bear hard Heartwood right away to paint it Y and then right so talking with Harold uh he would bring his his scrapers out there uh and get the bark off that way and this would be on Herald with kala and then he'd also power wash it after that to prepare it for painting if the woodpeckers remove the bark that's probably the least costly way of removing the bar I had some concerns concerns about this and I had shared them with Greg and with with John and I I appreciate that my concerns were addressed and and what you have brought to us today thanks thank you any other questions for John thank you thank you I sorry Mr chair so Mr nisle would you uh anticipate if this does move further bringing this back to this commission one more time for approval absolutely because I think that we're what I was looking for and you guys provided tonight was a little bit more guidance on how you want this set up um so we can come back with something that's a little bit a little bit uh more cleaned up and specific um for your approval we have to have a motion to support this okay thank you John thank you in our new business number 6.2 disease tree removal program there is a draft update and maybe Joey you'd be in the best position to explain this for us yes thank you Mr chair Commissioners yes in your packet page eight is the disease updated uh proposed disease tree removal program as you will recall we we did report at the last tree commission meeting in September um regarding the August city council work session and at that work session it was discussed um funding for uh Emerald ashor going forward especially in year in 2025 in our upcoming year at that time city council um provided guidance to staff that uh $100,000 was appropriate um to be placed in the preliminary 2025 budget and I focus on preliminary because the final budget has not been approved yet and will not be approved until December um but as of right now this this proposed draft in your packet is using that guidance of that $100,000 so uh both Joe myself and the city manager had updated this this form and those updates read as follows so uh where you see in red the reimbursement cost uh for Boulevard tree removals was $75 you'll see that's up to $300 per tree and that reimbursement is for one tree from January 1st to July 1st and the reason for that is if we know homeowners would have or land owners would have potentially more than one tree needing removal but we wanted to spread this out as much as possible you know um after July 1st if there are funds remaining then those land owners are able to uh submit potentially another tree in the property and we would be tracking this as well as they came in um so that that's one change the other big update is for the non Boulevard tree removal and as you'll see that it was for reimbursed up to 1/3 cost up to a maximum of $50 that was updated then to $100 per tree and again using that that timeline of January 1st to July 1st and if funds are remaining um additional trees can be looked at after the July 1st timeline so really the the goal of this is to spread out those funds as much as possible we based on the interest that the engineer office gets through permitting and requests for this um we anticipate those funds to be used up and and we can discuss this but I also do want to note before that we also attached the request letter that the tree advisory commission did approve for the 2025 budget as well and you'll see those line items in page 10 on that budget item so that $110,000 for that diseased and Boulevard tree program then would go to for replanting and still that $125 reimbursement that um homeowners or land owners can get for replanting um as part of this program would be separate funds to encourage that so that that $10,000 okay so I mean that's like 30 trees so well the the thought process here is the 10,000 would be strictly for the replants the 10,000 would be strictly for replanting only I mean it's just not um it's like 100 trees right the budget needs to be higher than $10,000 right so commissioner romae so the the $100,000 is part of this as well the the 10,000 would be used for replanting the 100,000 would be used for removals okay so so really if you look at it about $110,000 budget y there's also been um staff has communicated that this probably isn't a one-year solution to our our problem either so um you know planning for future Years hopefully for additional funding as [Music] well we having discussion now or after we uh move the we look for a motion to approve this update I was some discussion after we okay I I would uh I would make that motion to how would I put this hang here to approve the tree reimbursement program update uh motion for to up approve updates to the disease tree removal program and I would second that okay I would like to any questions or discussion about this Tom Mr chair or uh and I I have always said while I've been on this board or commission that you know it's the city's responsibility to care for the boulevard trees including that re that costs you know supporting the costs of how those trees are managed or removed so I see this as a great step um the U just a couple things that that struck me in here uh was that and I am very supportive of this but the U and I have asked this before it says the uh disease tree must be confirmed and tagged for removal by a new Al City certified tree inspector or designate so who is the certified tree inspector uh Mr chair Jeff Anderson in our office is our tree inspector right Jeff Anderson pardon me Jeff Jeff Anderson in the engineering office that's great so um I just have asked that before I couldn't get a name so but uh that's those are my comments I think this is a a great thing and and Commissioners uh also just just keep in mind Mr nisy mentioned th those grants you know look like they will be out there again we will continue to apply for those grants um you know new Al was the first recipient of those first two rounds of grants in the state and um now that Emerald ashbo has spread pretty much everywhere within the state the competition for those dollars is greater and since we've been funded twice doesn't mean we won't get it we will continue to apply um so there is potential still to get some additional funding for to do some of this as well and this would the $300 per tree takes care of at least 90 100 trees depending on the plant or or the how many people take how many out at a time but uh What's the total number in town yet that we kind of had as a as a ballpark measure that we're still standing right Mr chair we do have that in the engineering office um yeah I don't have it I can't remember the exact number that we estimate that we have left right so we have we have that inventory we just don't have that information with us today we could send that around six 650 or something like that roughly and that didn't include did not include city parks that was theard city parks correct and that would be um like we ran into last year we had many more trees taken out than people ask for reimbursement or even the replant so it's really fuzzy to to guess or to know how many are out there yet but 2/3 of town 34s of town has been U has got the ash trees moved through safe estimate I don't have an estimate but I'd say over half of the ash trees that are going to die have already died but and there's a lot of them that are dying but that would be my assessment of flandro is that everything in those in that Valley that is Ash that's going to be hit is currently on on the falling yeah few Sprouts Living Dead are falling stage so we haven't seen it go through the Minnesota Riverside yet but um but I mean through through town itself um I don't know I I don't want is the estimate more than half you know I have our we through more than half and certainly we are there with the parks so I'm just looking at that as when when the state asks how many trees are you going to treat yet or take out yet that's going to be a factor so we might need this this level of funing for multiple years is that on the on the city council's radar yeah Mr chair as I indicated you know we we did have that discussion at that work session to say you know that we don't anticipate this to be a one-year solution so it might be 5 years out before we're done assuming no DNR Grant and that's kind of the worst case scenario yeah I I would say that's fair okay is there a is there a communication that goes with this then uh as this gets updated through this next budget cycle yeah uh Mr Stam can you talk about you know what the communication looks like for you know if if this is then indeed the updated program how we get the word out on to yeah Property Owners yeah we can certainly post on social media to try to get the word out and maybe we can write a town talk article for the journal um we can also use utility bill stuffers with the revised program language and obviously it'll be on the city's website um as well but um I I think word will get out pretty quickly that the reimbursements up and up and then um we're going to develop a additional spreadsheet assuming this program moves for or the revisions move forward um just to track you know everything will be on a first come first serve basis after that July 1st so um we'll find a way for Jeff to track that so we can keep track of you know what's out there is pending and um you know up to that July 1 date so so hopefully we can get as big of a reach as we can with the program in the first half of the year and Mr chair and Commissioners think about you know if if we intend on being at the home show again if we use that as a a big an Avenue again for um marketing and promotion of an updated program well this is certainly our number one question at the home show is about this topic any other questions comments from other Commissioners I will call the question or call the vote um all in favor of updating approving the update to the disease tree reimbursement program say I I any oppos same sign our motion passes thank you Commissioners and then thank you Joey thank you Joel for working with that with that process and with that U that increase large increase that hopefully gets to where it needs to be the next portion is 2025 election of officers 6.3 the uh if you sneak down and look Tom Romain is not allowed to be nominated for anything [Laughter] so I don't know if we should trust his motion making either but uh we'll call for nomination for chair for 2025 you are you yeah I'm not my hearing has not gotten any better so you can move so you're looking for a remarks or something but I'll take nominations from the floor for chair sure did you wish to serve again I'm willing you're willing sure then I would uh nominate Greg I'll second that I'll second it any other uh nominations for a chair and we'll call the vote all in favor of I any oppose same sign motion passes I will accept uh happily be chairperson for 2025 and because of Tom romain's U time served I'll call for nomination for vice chair you serve okay I would I would I would serve as that Vice chair guest make your last nomination time I would I would nominate Paul England all right we got a nomination I second all in favor say I hi hi no opposed congratulations Paul for 2025 the next item is 6.4 Round of Applause and thank you for the service to the city of New Al as a tree advisory commissioner to Tom Roma who has served in this role for the past 7 and a half years thank you [Applause] Mr chair as a mayor I'd like to make some comments directed at Tom uh first of all uh while we recognize that Tom has served and shared with us his time and talent this last round for seven and a half years in my conversations with him it has been for a much longer time than that and that he would finish out a term here and there over quite a long period of time if not a decade or two so on behalf of the city of New Al uh finding a person like Tom that's as dedicated as he is and you heard him asking questions which is so important serving on a commission to better understand the business of the commission uh I want to just extend to you Tom a heeld thank you from the city of New for sharing again your time and Talent with us not for just s and a half years but for the many many years that you have given and I have here for you a recognition award that I'd like to hand to you very much thank you for your service and appreciated our conversation the other evening okay you may have the floor tom you said I was kind of one of a one of a kind and and most people have said it's it's it's great that you're one of a kind because they did they didn't want any more kind like this but my wife a long time ago said that uh that she was glad that she married the sanest of the romae males and then I said well thank you and I she said but that's a relative thing so thank you all uh I've had a really good time with this the 7 and 1/2 years is the last consecutive one but uh it seemed that whenever any left the commission during their term it was like Tom come back and fill this one out for us so I don't know how many years it's been but it's quite a few it's been very interesting and I'm uh looking forward to for at least a year year off thank [Music] you I would also thank you Tom you've uh guided me and and all the new Commissioners as we have come on in uh the both the approach and then the role of this commission within our city so I appreciate your time and guidance I'll take the Manoa folder and pass it to the next chair or to the next uh commissioner I should say any other new business Forest this afternoon seeing none uh I'll announce the date of the next meeting January 2nd 2025 here at 4M and then uh please email any agenda items ahead of time a week ahead please with no further business we are adjourned