Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: January 13th, 2020 Location: Planning Department In Attendance - Members: Lea Clark, Shawn Doonan, Joe Perloff, Rodney Walters, Jessie McClellan, Mary Attaway, Staff, Guests, and Ex-Officio Members: Phil Hale, Nina Wurzburger, Pam Knox, Russell Edwards (ACC District 7 Commissioner), Jeanne Connell (ACC Landscape Management Administrator), Marc Beechuk (ACC Planning Arborist), Laura Ney (ACC County Extension Agent), Larry Morris (CTC Emeritus Member), Stacee Farrell (KACCB Executive Director), Laura Ney (ACC/UGA Extension Agent), Mary Songster Absent: Joseph Bates, Pam Knox (traveling) Call to Order and Welcome: Nina Wurzburger 4:00 ● Pass the Chair to Shawn Doonan, 2020 CTC President Introductions Shawn Doonan 4:00 - 4:15 ● All meeting participants introduced themselves to one another ● (Discussion and Action Item): Motion made (Rodney) and seconded to accept Phil Hale, Pam Knox, and Nina Wurzburger as renewing CTC member nominees and to forward the CTCs recommendation to The Mayor and Commission to appoint Phil Hale and Pam Knox to three year terms ending on 12/31/2022, and Nina for a one year term ending on 12/31/2020. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. ● (Discussion and Action Item): Determine 2020 officers and set the executive committee (Generally done in November to conclude annual business and establish new officers). § Select a 2020 CTC President Elect - After a discussion, a motion was made (Rodney) and seconded to approve Joe Perloff as the CTC President Elect. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. § Select a 2020 CTC Treasurer - After a discussion, a motion was made (Shawn) and seconded to approve Pam Knox as the 2020 CTC Treasure. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. - 2020 Officers will be the President, President Elect, Treasurer, & Secretary and constitutes the CTC Executive Committee Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:15 - 4:30 ● Roll Call/ Sign in (2 minutes): Sign-up sheet was distributed ● (Action Item: Vote to approve minutes): 11/11//2019 Minutes were distributed to CTC members for edits and approved by a unanimous vote. ● (Information – 3 minutes) Communications: Mary and Michael Songster donated $55 to the CTC as a carbon offset ● (Information – 2 minutes) Secretary requests that each committee chair to provide a written summarized report (which also will become archived a committee minutes) at the time the committee reports are given. This will both help to inform the CTC meeting minutes and will be assembled into a required archive for committee meetings (sunshine laws). ● (Information- 2 minutes) Secretary asks that each committee chair write a very brief summary of their committees work during 2019 and send to Nina (who will write the Annual CTC Report that will be sent to the Mayor and Commission. Treasurer’s Report - Treasure was absent, no monthly treasurer’s report given CTC Committee Reports (Information and Discussion): Shawn Doonan 4:30 – 5:15 ● CTC Executive Committee {Nina (chair), Shawn (Chair), Joe Perloff, Pam, Rodney}  2 ● CTC Steering Committee {Executive Committee and Standing Committee Chairpersons} - Committee did not meet, no report given. Steering committee should start meeting (briefly) to set priorities and major agenda items ● CTC Education Committee (Currently inactive): Jeanne Connell addressed the CTC to offer continued support to the CTC. She asked the CTC to help with education to help inform decisions to produce proactive management of trees and landscapes (such as utilizing goats to help control invasive plants). Jeanne asked the CTC engage in educating Athens Clarke County communities about the value of caring for trees and the merits of this care in being able to provide proactive management response for natural resources. It is important that people understand that trees need care in order to provide benefits and also require fewer reactive responses to address issues as a result of deferred maintenance. ● CTC Policy Committee {Rodney (Chair), Shawn, Joseph, Joe, Marc, Lea} - Policy committee met on 12/3/2019 (Lea, Joseph Bates, and Rodney) and examined the ACC Tree Species List and made editing recommendations to improve readability and address species that are not desirable to plant. A revised copy of the Tree Species List was presented to the CTC for review. ● CTC Promotions Committee {Mary (Chair), Larry, Joe Perloff, Jessica} § Social Media and Public Information Work Group (Mary, Larry, Joe, Jessica) - (Discussion and Motion) Development of logo did not work out. CTC does not need Mayor and Commission approval to develop a new logo. Motion made (Mary) to accept Myung’s suggestion to hire Jeff Matthews to develop a CTC Logo. After a discussion, the motion was not seconded or approved, instead Larry Morris offered to ask a student to design a logo for the CTC. - Work group met and developed a draft of a fundraising letter to private citizens. In order to continue to work on a new CTC webpage, the workgroup needs to ask for money to pay for webpage services. (Discussion and Action): Motion made (Jessica) to fund a CTC webpage for $216 annually. After a discussion about the benefits of creating a new webpage vs. trying to maintain an outdated webpage for $90 per hour the motion was seconded and passed by unanimous vote to allocate $216 annually for a new CTC webpage. (Discussion and Action): After a discussion, a motion was made (Mary) to approve the purchase of a domain name (athenstreecouncil.org -1st year) at a cost of $10.95. The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous vote. ● CTC Trees for Tomorrow (TfT) Ad-Hoc Committee {Phil Hale (Chair), Mary, Nina, Joe, Rodney} The purchase and delivery of 9 (2-3” caliper balled and burlapped trees) plus one warrantied tree to replace a tree that died last summer is proceeding with some changes to the original plan (due to plant availability). Additionally, funds are needed to provide for delivery of the plants. (Discussion and Action): after a discussion, a motion was made (Rodney) to cover transportation costs of up to $400 for delivery of 15 TfT trees to be planted on the Firefly Trail, SE Clark Park, and Sandy Creek Park. The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous vote. The following trees will be purchased and installed (Firefly Trail: 3 Nuttall oak, 1 eastern red cedar, 2 chaulk maple, and 3 bosque elm; (SE Clark Park: 1 nuttall oak, 3 linden, and 1 Blackgum; Sandy Creek Park: 1 Southern red oak to replace the memorial grove tree that died last summer). Ongoing Business: Shawn Doonan 4:15 – 5:30 ● (Information): CTC membership application may be found on the ACC CTC webpage at: https://www.athensclarkecounty.com/FormCenter/Community-Tree-Council-48/Application-for-AthensClarke-County- Comm-579 - CTC may put the link on the CTC webpage once is has been developed ● (Information): New Member Recruitment - Advertisement to encourage citizens to apply to the CTC is currently running on the radio - Secretary has receive 3 new member applications and another application is on the way - (Discussion and Action): After discussing a Motion was made (Rodney) to appoint an Ad-Hoc Interview committee consisting of Mary, Shawn, and Rodney to review applications, conduct interviews for new member nominees (who have submitted applications to the CTC by February 16th, 2020) and bring their recommendations for new member nominees to the CTC. The motion was seconded and passed by unanimous vote.  3 New Business: Shawn Doonan 5:30 - 5:40 ● Fundraising: § (Discussion, and Proposed Action Item, - Carbon Offset Calculator or App on CTC website with donation: - Tabled until after the CTC webpage is set up. ● Green Life Expo planning (Botanical Gardens, February 29th, 2020 –(Discussion and Planning): § Marc is involved in planning of this event. Phil and Larry will man a table to give away trees and educate people on proper planting of establishment of trees. - Stacee has up to 100 dogwoods available and Rodney has access to as many bare root trees as the CTC wants. - Generally agreed that the CTC can realistically give away 35 dogwoods and about 15 trees from each of the 7 species available to Rodney (From REAP – a nonprofit promoting reforestation and regenerative growth to address climate change). Rodney will arrange the delivery of the bare root trees ● MLK Day of Service (Broad Acres, January 13th, 2020 – (Discussion and Planning): § It is generally agreed that the CTC will not formally host an MLK Day event, because the deadline to do so has passed. Rather, Phil will find mulch to spread at the Broad Acres tree planting project site. Other CTC members like this idea and agree to show up and help. ● Athens Arbor Day Celebration – Planning for the Arbor Day Celebration was briefly discussed and then tabled, because the meeting was running over and had to end. Meeting Wrap up: Secretary 5:40 – 5:45 ● The next CTC meeting will be held on 2/10/2020 at 4:00 PM in the ACC Planning Office. ● (Action) A motion was made, seconded, and approved, unanimously, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM.