Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: October 12th, 2020 Location: ACC Cisco Webex online meeting, You Tube Streaming Link: https://youtu.be/Bwlc7hWVxW8 In Attendance - Members: Rodney Walters, Edith Jackson, Pam Knox, Joseph Bates, Shawn Doonan, Phil Hale, Lea Clark, Victoria Goff, Jim Weck, Nina Wurzburger, Jessie McClellan, Mary Attaway, Joe Perloff (A Quorum Was Present) Staff, Guests, and Ex-Officio Members: Stacee Farrell, Stacee Farrell, Marc Beechuk (ACC Planning Arborist) Absent: Mary Songster, Call to Order and Welcome: Shawn Doonan 4:00 - 4:05 ● Introductions/Welcome Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:05 - 4:10 ● Roll Call Sign in (3 minutes): Attending members written on attendance list ● (Action Item: Vote to approve the September 10th CTC meeting minutes and the September 17th CTC Committee Meetings Minutes ), (3 minutes): After the September meeting minutes and the September CTC committees meetings minutes were distributed to the CTC members for review, the CTC voted unanimously to approve the September 10th CTC meeting minutes and the September 17th CTC committees meetings minutes. Information- 2 Minutes: Review motions that were passed during the September meeting:  Action Item - The CTC successfully voted to become partners in the ACC iTree  Action Item- The CTC successfully voted to approve a $250 purchase of promotional materials (prints, pencils, stickers, etc. Treasurer’s Report (Information – 5 minutes) Pam Knox 4:10 – 4:15 ● The September Treasurer’s report was submitted and the October Treasurer’s report is attached at the end of this document. ● The Paypal account is now linked up and is active. The links will be tested soon. ● Information about past tree purchases will be gathered CTC Committee Reports (Information and Discussion) Shawn Doonan 4:15 – 4:30 ● CTC Executive Committee {Shawn (chair), Joe Perloff, Pam, Rodney – 2 minutes  Shaw will initiate meeting to begin orientation with President Elect, Joe Perloff. ● CTC Steering Committee {(Shawn (Chair) Executive Committee and Standing Committee  Shawn Doonan delivered an “educational short”: Trees in the Urban Forest (Open grown trees – overextended limbs, poor aspect ratios, competition with turf and other plants)  2 ● CTC Interview Work Group Meeting {Shawn (leader), Phil, Pam, Marc, Mary Attaway}-5 min. (4:35) Discussion:  Need to renew members: Joe, Jessie and Tori  Need to select new member nominees by the end of December at the latest  Currently working on revision of documents.  Ideally, we should strive to select member nominees from a wide and diverse range of backgrounds. ● CTC Trees for Tomorrow Work Group {Phil Hale (leader), Mary Attaway, Nina, Joe, Rodney} – 5 min (4:40)  Establish additional planting locations. Notion of planting on CCSD playgrounds, will need to scout locations.  Firefly Trail meeting went well. There was a good turnout, including Derek Doster and Todd Miller - May be a good place to plant the remaining Carl Jordon Grove budget - Have a general idea for numbers of trees, possible planting spaces, and tree species selections - Develop a site plan - Paved area? (depends on GDOT improvements)  Continue to consider school planting sites ● CTC Promotions Committee {Mary Attaway (Chair), Joe Perloff, Phil Hale, Jessie, Tori} -15 min (4:55)  Website Updates: “Tree Benefits” page, iTree tools link, carbon offset info.  Tori has compiled a sheet of past projects with dates.  Sources for promotional materials and cost.  Gift options for different donor levels  Social media goals of 2 posts/ month (one of which includes the bio of a member)  Working out Paypal problems  Revising fundraising letter. ● CTC Policy Committee: {Shawn, Joe Bates, Lea Clark, Mary Songster, Marc Beechuk, Rodney Walter} - 10 min (5:05)  Rodney: Strategic Management Plan (risk assessment, emergency planning, tree maintenance planning, and Tree Planting planning) requires community input. Plan is developed by the ACC Forester. The CTC will participate as a stakeholder as it develops (Timeline is 5 – 10 years).  Rodney: If funding is awarded for iTree Eco Study, CTC may report initial findings to the Mayor and Commission as early as the spring of 2022 or may choose to wait until early 2023 if the CTC participates in the collection or more data (CTC may seek qualified volunteers to help with data collection)  Ask other groups who have had intensive community input sessions, pertinent information related green Space (Envision Athens, The Land Trust, Athens in Motion).  The private lots under 1 acre provision (single family residential exemption to tree canopy coverage requirements) - Challenge to changing the ordinance. - Mary stated “Large emotional impact when trees are removed but realistically have a small impact on the overall tree canopy.”  Exploring the concept of a Tree Maintenance and Planting Fund (Tree Bank concept): - Mary to ask commissioners whether or not the Mayor and Commission would consider. - Mary to ask Planning and Central Services as well.  Mary begin the discussion process of Archiving CTC information in the ACC Library Heritage Room with Ashley Small. - Primary Questions : What information to archive and how often to deposit input? ● Education committee: {Stacee Farrell, Lea Clark, Edith Jackson, Marc Beechuk, Seth Hawkins} – 10 min (5:15)  Education Committee did not meet  Edith is developing some online materials for the webpage - May take a couple of months to develop  Looking into materials to take to the rest of the community  3 New Business: Shawn Doonan 4:20 – 5:35 ● Fundraising - 14 minutes (4:29):  Review: Begin a discussion to establish an Ad-hoc grant group where each member would be assigned to potential donors. Review old files.  For the year end meeting it would be a good idea to determine goals and establish a budget for upcoming projects to determine how much money is needed to be raised. - Both individual project goals and yearly budget will help establish a timeline for project fundraising.  Request a CTC budget from the Mayor and Commission - January 1st is the deadline for submitting a budget request o Marc will check in on this  Fundraising: Reach out to donors, Apply for grants  Action Item: After discussion, a motion was made that the CTC apply for a State Farm Community Grant (community enhancement with demographic data). The motion passes unanimously.  Fundraising: Reach out to donors, Apply for grants - Fundraising may be part of Promotions Committee while grants could be a specific work group - Mary likes the idea of having members of other committees participate in a grants work group  Should CTC establish a grants work group? Action Item: After a discussion, a motion was made that the CTC create a grant writing work group. The motion passed unanimously. - Details about who serve on the work group and will lead the work still need to be worked out (perhaps a new member may step into this role) ● Parking Lot Items ( ) Presiding Chair Tabled ● Meeting Wrap up – (1 minute) Presiding Chair 5:30 A motion was made, seconded, and approved by unanimous vote to adjourn the meeting Treasurer’s Report: October 11, 2020 submitted by Pam Knox Money Market Account Beginning Balance as of 9/14/2020 $10,025.03 Interest 9/30/2020 0.25 Ending balance as of 10/11/2020 $10,025.28 Checking Account Starting balance 9/14/2020 $1,679.45 Check 1257 GoDaddy 36.34 Ending balance 10/11/2020 $1,643.11 Old PayPal Account Beginning balance 7/13/2020 $0.00 Ending Balance 10/10/2020 $0.00 New PayPal Account AccTrees@athenstreecouncil.org Beginning balance $0.00 Ending balance 9/14/2020 $0.00