Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: January 14, 2019 Location: Planning Department In Attendance— Members: Nina Wurzburger, Shawn Doonan, Pam Knox, Rodney Walters, Joe Perloff, Phil Hale, Monika Kapousouz, Staff, Guests, and Marc Beechuk Ex-Officio Members: Stacee Farrell Not in Attendance— Myung Cogan (provided notification that she would be out of town) Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Nina Wurzburgher and began at 4:00 P.M. A quorum was present. Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:05- 4:25 PM Roll Call Sign In: Membership Roster Updates: 11/12/2019 Minutes Approval/Changes: *The November 2018 meeting minutes were distributed for changes. A motion was made to pass the minutes and the minutes were approved. CTC Tree Planting Donations and Requests: - Idylwood & Friends Garden Club (donation for nuttal oak to be planted outside dog park Discussion – see Treasurer’s report below): - Lissa Myers has requested that 2 white oak trees be planted in the Sandy Creek Park Memorial Grove (Trees for Tomorrow) in memory of her late brother. Her family will donate the funds to purchase the white oak trees and have request her grandmother be able to be present at the time of planting so she may deposit soil from her yard in order to blend his original home with the roots of his tree with the soil of Athens (that won his heart). - Meridith McCoy has requested a tree be planted in honor of her grandmother’s 90th birthday. The McCoys will donate the funds to purchase a tree to the Trees for Tomorrow (TfT) program for the memorial tree. *CTC discussions about the TfT tree plantings produced commitments from Rodney Walters to plan, coordinate the Myers’ family attendance, and planting of the trees. Phil will help during the planting and Shawn will make the arrangements to have the placards made for Sandy Creek Park clubhouse and have comments about the memorial trees entered from the Myers family and the McCoy family in the Tree Legacy Book at the Heritage room at the library. - Trees for Tomorrow – Firefly Trail Tree Planting Commitment for the Carl Jordan Grove. The TfT has a commitment to plant 40 trees on the new Firefly Trail in order to honor a large donation received for that purpose. The original plant to plant most of these trees near the trail entrance will not work, because other projects are currently providing the plant materials in that area. The Firefly Trail is in various stages of development and construction and appropriate planting  2 locations are currently limited. With that in mind the CTC decided that to purchase 5 trees that will be planted a wide spot along the trail where there have been people driving onto the trail between boulders in the vicinity of Inglewood Ave., Little Oak St., and Oak St. This planting will consist of eastern red cedars to establish a screen. LMD will plant and provide establishment care for the trees. Meetings with Leisure Services (Todd Miller) & Landscape Management (Greg Shaw & Jeanne Connell) about the Carl Jordan Grove indicate the Firefly Trail will include non-native plants that are more likely to survive, because the planting sites are ecologically degraded along the old railway upon which the Firefly Trail is being constructed. A desire for accent trees (burgundy) mixed up with color was also expressed (burgundy, oranges, reds, and whites (flowers). Possible Plant materials include:  Chestnut oak  Nuttal oak  White oak (where they may survive)  Trident Maples  Black gum “wildfire’  London plane trees  Thornless honeylocusts  Kousa dogwoods  Jane magnolias  Service berries (where they may survive)  Pistache (Chinese) * The CTC voted and approved the funding to purchase the plant materials for the Firefly Trail – Carl Jordan Grove tree planting of the 5 trees on the Firefly Trail described above. *CTC Annual Report: An Annual report is required by the CTC to be submitted to the Commission. The Commission must approve all CTC new member nominations, and the CTC will need to request commissioner representation through the Mayor and Commission. Rodney is meeting with Jean Spratlin (Commission Executive Administrative Assistant) to ask how these approvals and submissions may best be facilitated. Examples of past annual reports will be sent out by Rodney to Nina & Pam, Nina will draft an annual report, and Pam will produce an annual treasure’s report. Treasurers Report: Pam Knox provided updates on the account balances for the CTC & Trees for Tomorrow. Pam stated she would contact the Idylwood & Friends Garden Club in response for a donation they have made to the CTC for a nuttal oak they would like planted near the dog park. Pam will explain to the donors that the tree will likely not be planted until next winter (after the dog park tree planting has been planned). Pam requested an old CTC annual treasurer’s report so she may utilize it as a template in preparing the annual treasurer’s report for 2018. Old Business: Nina Wurzburger 4:25– 5:00 PM Dog Park: CTC requests county approval. Todd Miller has requested LMD take the lead on the Dogpark tree planting project. The landscape plan developed by Jeanne a LMD will be utilized. The primary factor will be the fundraising needed to purchase the plant materials.  3 New Business: Nina Wurzburger 5:00 – 6:10 PM * Election - Nina Wurzburger was nominated for CTC President - Shawn Doonan was nominated for CTC President –Elect - Pam Knox was nominated to continue as treasurer *After discussions, motions were made and seconded and all nominees above were elected unanimously for the respective positions listed above. * Enrollment for Vacant CTC Positons: * Rodney will send out application forms to all CTC members. Each CTC member has committed to one action toward the enrollment of Athens citizens into the vacant CTC positions. Applicants will submit their applications to Rodney at the Landscape Management Office. Rodney will then send out an message to all CTC members and schedule an interview for the applicant. Any and all CTC members will be invited to help facilitate the interviews. At least 2 CTC members will need to be present at the interview. Interviews will be held in the conference room at the Landscape Management Division. - Communicate Expectations of the CTC to applicants - Media releases will be utilized to advertise for open positions. - Jeff Montgomery, ACC Public Relations - County TV Notice - CTC Web page * Plan to Enforce bylaws (discontinue those who may not show up to help maintain a quorum) Piedmont College Art Park (Triangle between N. Harris St., Cobb St, and Prince Ave) Art Park project - Talk with the artist to determine price for sculpture that could be used in the dog park and the Art Park project will purchase the sculpture for the park - Bradford pears on ROW will need to be removed (LMD has approved removals of these 2 trees). * Get well gift for an emeritus member (February) Rock Springs (Replacement Tree Planting as part of MLK Day Celebration, Jan. 21st, begin at 9:30 AM) - Shawn is coordinating tree planting event. - Trees will be picked up this week (23 trees and 9 rosemary) - Fencing & stakes to protect cages - Mulching - Event Insurance - Cookout (freestyle) , Phil will bring a card table - Auger (Utility locates) - Auger - A record will need to be kept to record how many people participated (sign-in sheet) * Motion moved and seconded and approved for CTC to fund the materials and supplies needed for the event.  4 * Broad Acres: (2019 Arbor Day Event – February 15) - Design is underway (UGA professor), Will need to focus on planting larger tees (anchor plantings) for the Arbor Day Event - Contractor has been found to break up Concrete - Mulch will be purchased - Need to schedule a meeting for the planting plan - Nina will call meeting last week of January between Jan. 28th and Feb. 1st - Need to determine size, specie, number, and locations of trees to be planted - utility map - Contact Seth about Skidsteer - Backhoe is needed (backup machine) - Pre-digging may be optimal - Joe (site plans) - Media coverage will need to be arranged (Jeff Montgomery - ACC Public Information Officer) - Arbor Day Tree Planting Event – Collaboration between - Community Tree Council - Athens Housing Authority - Keep Athens Clarke County Beautiful - UGA - ACC Landscape Management - ACC Mayor will be invited and is understood to have offered significant interest in attending and participating in the Arbor Day Event * Motion was made, seconded and approved by vote to provide reimbursements for the purchase of the above needed materials Green Fest (Green Life Expo) – Library, Feb. 23rd - Marc has offered to man a table at the event * - Table cost $65(motion made, seconded, and approved for these funds to attend) - Rodney will find CTC & CTP brochures and bring them to the next CTC meeting The meeting adjourned at 6:10 PM. Minutes were submitted by Rodney Walters (Secretary) to the CTC on February 11th, which approved them by unanimous vote.