Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: February 8th, 2021 Location: ACC Cisco Webex online meeting, You Tube Streaming Link: https://youtu.be/rUw9_wR6BtA In Attendance - Members: Pam Knox, Rodney Walters, Lea Clark, Shawn Doonan, Edith Jackson, Phil Hale, Mary Songster, Mary Attaway, (A Quorum Was Present) Staff, Guests, and Ex-Officio Members: Russell Edwards, Joe Perloff, Jessie McClellan, Victoria Goff, Holly Campbell, Patrick Perry, Gavin Hassimer (ACC Senior Planner), Aaron Hall (ACC Planning Arborist), Jeanne Connell (ACC Landscape Manager), Stacee Farrell (KACCB Executive Director) Absent: Joseph Bates Call to Order, Introductions, and Welcome: Joe Perloff 4:00 - 4:10 ● Welcome everyone - Today is officially our “Annual Meeting” where we will vote to approve the 2020 President’s report and 2020 Annual Treasurer’s report. ● New members nominees were introduced and Gavin Hassimer (ACC Senior Planner) introduced the new ACC Planning Arborist, Aron Hall. Aaron Hall submitted the 2020 Annual Arborists Report to the CTC. Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:10 - 4:15 ● Roll Call Sign in (3 minutes): Attending members and guests were listed on the attendance list ● Action Item: Vote to approve January CTC meeting minutes and the January CTC Committee Meeting Minutes: o A motion was made and seconded and approved by unanimous vote to approve the January 2021 CTC meeting minutes and Committees Meeting minutes. ● Action Item: Vote to approve the 2020 President's Annual Report and 2020 Treasurer’s Annual Report: o A motion was made, seconded, and approved by unanimous vote to approve the 2020 President's Annual Report and 2020 Treasurer’s Annual Report after suggested corrections were made. This annual report is approved, along with the Annual Treasurer’s Report to be submitted to the Mayor and Commission. Treasurer’s Report (Information – 5 minutes) Pam Knox 4:10 – 4:15 ● The February 2021 treasurer’s report was submitted and is attached at the end of this document. ● The Treasurer produced the 2020 Annual Treasurer’s Report, which will be attached to the 2020 Annual CTC Report. ● The Treasurer renewed the tax exempt status (501c3) for the CTC for 2021 ● A majority of the available operating money for the CTC has now been spent.  2 CTC Business (Executive and Steering Committees, Work Groups Joe Perloff 4:15 – 4:35 ● CTC Beginning of Year Business (Executive Committee) ▪ The Executive Committee voted to send Rodney to the Intersection of the Built and Natural Environment charrette on February 3rd, 2021: 11:00am-12:30pm hosted by the ACC Sustainability Office & Southface Institute to represent the CTC in the development of a Clean and Renewable Energy Action Plan for Athens(Joe, Mary and Rodney voted in favor, Pam was absent). - Rodney provided a summary of the input that was made on behalf of the CTC during the Intersection of the Natural and Built Environment charrette, which is listed below in italic: 1.1. Well-placed trees 1.1.1. Trees save heating & cooling costs of up to 25%; reductions in urban heat island effects and reduced energy need; role in stormwater flow rate reduction and absorption; considerations for solar sky rights 1.1.2. Well-placed trees and ongoing maintenance for ecosystem services and heating / cooling co-benefits - more intentional inclusion in planning activities 1.2. Natural Asset Management - a method of incorporating the natural environment into built environment planning, ensuring level of service to citizens to ensure that no matter who you are, you know that your energy is coming from a sustainable source (it’s not a decision that needs to be made; it’s a matter of fact) 1.3. Ensuring use of native species in planting, which benefits ecosystems (insects, bird species) to ensure a healthier intown environment, ▪ (Discussion and Action Item – Tree Steward Award): o After a discussion was held about about what would be an appropriate gift for Silas Carter (individual Tree Steward Award), A Motion was made, seconded and approved to provide a $25 gift card to Tamez Barbecue and a tree that owns itself print for the award. o A question was raised about how the award may be publicized, but the organization of event for the award has not yet produced an event date and plans are still up in the air ● Discuss Plans for Athens Arbor Day): ▪ TfT Work Group {Phil Hale (Leader), Mary Attaway, Joe, Rodney, Pam} ▪ The Executive Committee voted in favor of using Chalk Maples instead of the crape myrtles at the TfT Firefly trail planting this winter (near Old Winterville Rd & Little Oak St.), (Joe, Mary and Rodney voted in favor, Pam was absent). ▪ Friday, February 19th at 1:00PM in the grass median between Little Oak St. & current Firefly Trail @ Old Winterville Rd. ▪ Phil will be Master of Ceremony ▪ Commissioner Russell Edwards will read the Athens Arbor Day Proclamation. ▪ Mary Songster has invited Commissioner Mariah Parker (District 2) And Commissioner Carol Myers ( District 8) to the Arbor Day Ceremony ● CTC Steering Committee (Executive Committee plus Committee Chairs): 4:35 – 4:45 ▪ Educational Short an/or Forester’s Corner: o Does anybody want to volunteer a 5 minute educational short presentation for the next meeting? Any (even vaguely) related topics are welcome! ▪ Moon Tree Signage – CTC offers to install the Moon Tree Sign o Jeanne Connell is obtaining an aluminum sign for this tree. - Sign has been ordered and will arrive in 3 weeks. o CTC involvement - CTC to coordinate with Jeanne to install the sign - Shawn has offered to provide an air spade on behalf of NUF - A motion was made, seconded and passed by unanimous vote to establish a Moon Tree Sign work group.  3 New Member Interview Work Group {Shawn (Leader), Pam, Edith, Rodney}: 4:45 - 4:50 Mayor & Commission Meeting - Total of 6 nominees to be submitted to the Mayor and Commission for CTC membership. - Nominees will potentially go before the Mayor & Commission mtg in March, but likely April. - Rodney has created a nominee profile to go along with the member appointment requests. - We will be down to 9 voting members until the Mayor and Commission appoints the new members - The 9 voting Members are: Shawn, Joe Bates, Mary Attaway, Mary Songster, Lea, Pam, Phil, Edith, and Rodney ▪ CTC Trees for Tomorrow Work Group: 4:50 - 4:55 {Phil (Leader), Mary Attaway, Joe P., Rodney, Pam, Shawn} o (CTC donated chaulk maples will be planted by the ACC Landscape Management Division before Arbor Day). o A Motion was made, seconded and approved to form a Champion & Landmark Trees Work Group with the objective of cataloging and scoring ACC Landmark and Champion trees throughout the County. ▪ Grants Work Group and Fundraising: 4:55 - 5:00 {Mary Attaway and Edith} o Looking into grants that look the most promising in which the CTC may be able to meet the criteria o State Farm grant due in October o REI Rails to Trails grant also looks promising o After a discussion, a motion was made, seconed, and passed by unanimous vote to submit a UPS grant for this year before the March 21st deadline (Stacee will utilize last year’s verbiage and submit the grant) CTC Committee Reports (Information and Discussion): Joe Perloff 5:00 - 5:25 - This space is mostly for voting action items - if your committee does not have action items to be voted on by the Council, you can just provide a brief status update on what the committee is working on in your individual committee meetings. - Also - big “Thank You” to the Committee Chairs for your quick response times in sending me your agendas and meeting minutes - great work everyone. - I would encourage each committee to continue refining their Committee Goals the year 2021. These should be considered working lists that can and should evolve over time as tasks are completed and new things come up. - I will check in with the committees each Quarter for a goals update. ● Promotions Committee {Mary Attaway (Chair), Joe Perloff, Phil Hale, Jessie, Tori} (Tabled) ▪ Discussion of having a CTC- specific email address for each member- Jessie researched and it will cost $3-4 per address ($4 * 15 members = $60.00 per month = $720 per year), so this item is tabled for now. ▪ Jessie will add a page for the policy committee to the web page. This will have a link to the county tree ordinance. This is where we will list championship trees for the county. The tree ordinance has info on landmark trees, which are special trees in county (not just the biggest) 8-7-12. ▪ Here is the link to the county site page regarding the tree ordinance. It can be embedded into our site. https://www.accgov.com/273/Tree-Ordinance ▪ Jessie will add links to our Facebook and Instagram pages on to the site and will make some changes to the donation button ▪ Mary will send the bio forms to our new members and upload pics in info on members monthly. ▪ Mary Songster is working on a carbon footprint calculator for the office of sustainability- we should be able to embed this calculator in the “Tree Benefits” page, instead of the iTree tool. ▪ Tori has put together a sheet of the past projects and edited it to include the dates. I have asked Pam to add the most recent events at AHA.  4 ▪ Mary stated a goal of 2 social media posts per month, one of these being a bio of a member. ● CTC Policy Committee: {Shawn, Joe Bates, Lea Clark, Mary Songster, Marc Beechuk, Rodney Walters} (Tabled) 1. Update on working with planning on text change for Planning Commission 2. Update on looking at downtown trees management and funding 3. Seeking ideas from CTC on conservation policy for Landmark trees ● Education committee: { Edith Jackson (chair), Stacee Farrell, Lea Clark, Shawn Doonan, Seth Hawkins} ▪ Edith will serve as chair ▪ Shawn will be joining the Education Committee ▪ May piggyback a spring program with some other organization (Green School Initiative) ▪ Fall Event Tree ID walk Parking Lot Items: 5:25 - 5:29 ▪ Discuss possibility of planting Tree that Owns Itself trees at Rock Springs (tabled) Meeting Wrap up – (1 minute) Presiding Chair 5:29 - 5:30 ▪ A motion was made, seconded, and approved by unanimous vote to adjourn the meeting Athens Community Tree Council Treasurer’s Report: February 8th, 2021 submitted by Pam Knox Money Market Account Beginning Balance as of 1/14/2021 $10,025.82 Interest 1/31/2021 0.17 Ending balance as of 2/8/2021 $10,025.99 Checking Account Starting balance 1/11/2021 $2694.35 Check #1260 400.00 Transportation of Moon Farm trees (TfT) Check #1261 1890.00 Trees from Moon Tree Farm for Firefly (TfT) Check #1262 108.24 Liability Insurance for MLK Work Day Ending balance 2/8/2021 $296.11 New PayPal Account AccTrees@athenstreecouncil.org Beginning balance 1/14/2021 $1261.65 Donation 1/15/2021 96.80 ($100.00 – PP fees of $3.20) Ending balance 2/8/2021 $1358.45 The tax status was renewed in January. The end of the year report was provided to Rodney and Sean by the end of January.