Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: May 11th, 2020 Location: ACC Cisco Webex online meeting, You Tube Streaming Link: began online at https://youtu.be/A3rB2MZMwqg , then a technical issue caused a new online streaming link to be created at https://youtu.be/rqUViWo2WK8 In Attendance - Members: Edith Jackson, Victoria Goff, Jake Hagan, Jim Weck, Mary Songster, Lea Clark, Nina Wurzburger, Shawn Doonan, Rodney Walters, Phil Hale, Pam Knox, Mary Attaway, Jessie McClellan, Joseph Bates, Joe Perloff Staff, Guests, and Ex-Officio Members: Marc Beechuk (ACC Planning Arborist), Stacee Farrell (Executive Director – Keep Athens Clarke County Beautiful), Katrina Henn (UGA graduate student in urban forestry) Absent: Call to Order and Welcome: Shawn Doonan 4:00 - 4:05 ● The new CTC members were asked to introduce themselves to the CTC Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:05 - 4:25 ● Roll Call/ Sign in (2 minutes): Secretary recorded everyone in attendance from Webex Participants list ● (Action Item: Vote to approve the March CTC meeting minutes), (3 minutes): After the March meeting, the CTC meeting minutes were distributed to the CTC members for review. The CTC voted unanimously to approve the January and February meeting minutes. . ● (Discussion) about the approval of ex-officio members and emeritus members - Discussion concluded, from referencing the CTC by-laws (Article 3.5), that the CTC approves 2 year terms and may reappointed or removed ex-officio members at its discretion or that of an over-riding representative authority. Therefore, the ex-offico members on the CTC member roster have been appointed by the CTC in the past. ● (Action Item: Vote to approve Larry Morris and Monika Kapousouz Members Emeritus): Motion made and carried unanimously to appoint Larry Morris and Monika Kapousouz as members emeritus and to hold all privileges of such membership thereof. ● (Information) Guest: Katrina Henn - UGA Grad Student announced she is involved with the Bob Skiera,West Broad Tree Fund Grant and there could possibly be some outreach opportunities connected with the grant. Katrina invited the CTC to become involved with outreach if the situation evolves to the point where that is possible. Katrina will keep in contact with the CTC and will announce any emerging details. Treasurer’s Report (Information – 5 minutes): Pam Knox 4:25 – 4:30 ● Funds were transferred from the TFT money market account to cover the cost of the trees and transportation for the Firefly Trail.  2 CTC Committee Reports (Information and: Shawn Doonan 4:25 – 5:15 ● CTC Executive Committee {Shawn (chair), Joe Perloff, Pam, Rodney} - Shawn announced that the Executive Committee met on May 6th on a time sensitive issue and voted unanimously on behalf of the CTC to conduct online CTC Webex meetings and to allow public streaming of the meeting on You Tube to meet the Sunshine Law requirements for public meetings. ● CTC Steering Committee {Executive Committee and Standing Committee Chairpersons} - (Discussion): Question was asked if the Steering Committee should meet to plan general goals for the year and to set upcoming meeting agenda items. The general consensus is that it would be good for the Steering Committee to meet within the next week. ● CTC Education Committee (Currently inactive): - (Discussion): The Education Committee has been inactive. Though related, a distinction has been made by the CTC to separate promotional and educational outreach activities. The Education Committee may be regarded as performing their activities primarily in association with the Athens Public Schools. Question was presented asking if the CTC will reactivate the Education Committee. Several CTC members offered to become involved in a variety of roles. - (Action Item: Vote to Reactivate the CTC Education Committee: A motion was made and carried by unanimous vote to reactivate the CTC Education Committee and to begin meeting for the benefit of Athens Communities. - Marc Beechuk offered to serve as temporary chair to help the Education Committee begin its service ● CTC Policy Committee {Rodney (Chair), Shawn, Joseph, Joe, Marc, Lea}  (Information) - Tree Species List): Official copy (2/25/2020 version) was completed and is posted on the ACC website - Tree Ordinance Editing level revisions were completed and approved by unanimous vote by the CTC. The draft containing the revisions has been sent to the Planning Commission who send the revisions to the Mayor and Commission for approval and who will facilitate the updates to the formal ACC Tree Ordinance. - Marc Beechuk reminded everyone that this draft is an editing level revision only, consisting mostly of updated arboriculture standards and references and does not reflect higher level changes that have been discussed. ● CTC Promotions Committee {Mary (Chair), Larry, Joe Perloff, Jessica} Met on 2/23/20 (Mary, Larry, Joe, Jessica) - (Discussion) Discussion about a logo continued. Question, does the logo have to say Athens Clarke County Community Tree Council or if something like ACC CTC, or Athens Trees or Athens Tree Council is Ok. No overall consensus was derived. Suggestion was made to produce definitive documentation about what must be included in a logo (wording or abbreviations). Suggestion of finding or producing a clause that states “The Athens-Clarke County Community Tree Council or “otherwise known as, herein referred to as, ” or to include what abbreviations are acceptable. The CTC Commissioner liaison may need to be consulted for acceptable suggestions. Discussion was tabled pending further investigation. CTC members were asked to review logo options sent from the Promotions Committee to be able to offer feedback on which logos they prefer. - Mary Songster proposed a “Tree of the Month” showcase or an “Athens Overstory” highlight to promote community engagement with trees. ● CTC Trees for Tomorrow (TfT) Ad-Hoc Committee {Phil Hale (Chair), Mary, Nina, Joe, Rodney} - (Information) The general consensus is that the CTC will continue the Trees for Tomorrow Memorial Grove concept, but a suitable location or set of locations will need to be located in order to proceed. Discussion of possibilities include: Athens Clarke County Leisure Services sites, Athens Land Trust sites, Athens Housing Authority Sites, school gounds (which was well revieved), and Atlanta Highway sites (which was generally dismissed because the Atlanta Highway Overpass project will dramatically limit currently suitable tree planting sites. A committee meeting will be held to discuss the matter further.  3 ● Interview Ad-Hoc Committee {Mary, Shawn, Rodney} - New members have now been appointed by the Mayor and Commission and the CTC membership is full. - (Action Item: Vote to discontinue current Ad-Hoc Interview Committee) Motion was made and carried by unanimous vote to discontinue the Interview Ad-Hoc Committee Ongoing Business: Shawn Doonan 4:15 – 5:30 ● (Discussion, and Proposed Action Item, - Carbon Offset Calculator or App on CTC - website with donation link -5 minutes - Tabled until there is an agreement on the logo and the CTC webpage is set up): New Business: Shawn Doonan 5:30 - 5:40 ● Fundraising: Possible opportunities for fundraising includes applying for grants.  State Farm – Good Neighbor Citizen Grant - Marc looked into this and they are $5 - $25K community development focused grants available that may align well with the CTC mission. The application is due in September.  Mary Songster proposed the possibility of an E SPOST Project (for educational based projects) - It could be a tree planting project that includes tree maintenance. - If perused, a proposal and its requisite meetings would need to be produced within the next 6 months. Meeting Wrap up: Secretary 5:40 – 5:45 ● The members voted unanimously to end the meeting at 6:00 PM. The next CTC meeting will be held on 7/13/2020 at 4:00 PM. via Webex and made available to the Public on You Tube streaming online -