City Council - Public Works Committee

CHICOPEE CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE ACCEPTED 6-18-2014 MEMBERS Fred Krampits Jean Croteau, Jr. Gerry Roy Dino Brunetti Frank Laflamme MINUTES September 18, 2013 The following are the minutes of a public hearing held Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 7:00 PM at City Hall, Council Chambers, 4th floor, City Hall Annex. Members Present Krampits, Croteau, Roy, Brunetti, Laflamme Also Present Daniel Garvey (Associate City Solicitor), Chris Chaban (Assistant City Engineer), Lee Pouliot (Planner & Administrator), Chris Scott (Tree Warden), Carl Dietz (CD Director), Sharyn Riley (City Auditor), Kate Brown (Planning Director), Councilor Zygarowski, Councilor Tillotson, Councilor Swider, Councilor Moreau. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 PM Motion made to recess to the call of the chair. Meeting called back in session at 7:20 PM ITEM #1 ORDERED THAT the Community Development, the Forestry, and the Engineering Departments appear before the Public Works Committee to discuss the City’s tree inventory program and its process for siting and planting replacement trees, and any Local, State, and Federal rules involved in that process. Councilor Krampits stated that he filed this order after receiving a call from a constituent who stated that when she asked the person surveying the trees in front of her house she was informed that she would have a tree planted in front of her house and she didn’t want a tree. This call led to him filing this order and he wanted to find out the process. Lee Pouliot provided the committee a copy of the City’s Tree Ordinance, MGL, and a fact sheet which summarizes the key elements of the MGL. He stated that “Davey staff collected data on open “Planting Sites.” Preliminary data includes approximately 8,915 planting sites throughout the city and 323 stump sites that could potentially be a planting site following stump removal. The inventory included valuable information on these planting sites as well, which provide 1 the city team with additional data that will assist in guiding future planting projects. Planting sites are defined by the size of tree and site could support – small trees are placed 20’ from any other tree, medium trees are planted 30’ from other trees and large trees are planted 40’ from other trees. Specific distances from other street furnishings:  At least 35’ from street intersections or stop signs  10-15’ from utilities  15’ from alley aprons  10-15’ from driveways and walkway aprons  15’ from fire hydrants  10’ from the back and at least 15’ from the front of street signs  10’ from stormwater drain aprons Data on available growing space was also collected for each planting site recorded in the inventory:  Large trees require 8’ or greater  Medium trees require 5-7’  Small trees require 4-5’ The tree inventory discovered that there are about 8,915 planting sites in the city and we have about 3,180 trees in the city. Chris Scott stated that moving forward when there are projects the city should be planting trees where a tree should be planted. He stated there are some streets where there are sewer projects that have been destroyed. Not wanting to rake leaves is not foundation enough to not want a tree. He said that if you tell people this is what we are doing versus do you want a tree, the will be able to go a lot further to getting more trees. He stated that the sewer project is having difficulty planting the required amount of trees back into the sections where they are being cut down. He also stated that the city is behind where it should be in taking care of the trees. He stated that there needs to be some public relations work done regarding this grant to get the people back on the city’s side. Councilor Moreau asked if the grant that was received is for planting trees or counting which trees need to be removed. Lee Pouliot stated that Davey was hired with the money from grant to start this process. The final inventory report is being prepared by Davey. Councilor Moreau stated that the city should be maintaining the trees that we have now and not worry about planting new trees. Chris Scott stated that 656 trees are considered high risk; 356 trees that are recommended to be removed. Councilor Tillotson stated that it is not right that the Council approved a grant for $25,000 to count trees and then $38,000 was removed from the account used to pay for cutting and trimming trees to finish paying the counting of trees without coming before the Council for approval. That $38,000 should have been saved in the account for 2 the purpose intended and not used to count trees. He also stated that Lee Pouliot said that volunteers would be sought to count the trees. Councilor Laflamme stated that as of right now there are no plans to plant trees except for in the downtown area. Motion made to place on file. Committee vote 5 – 0 favorable. ITEM #2 ORDERED THAT the Community Development, DPW and Forestry Departments be brought in to explain cost overrun for the Community Forestry Grant Program. Carl Dietz stated that in preparing the scope and work plan for this project Davey, the team relied on comparisons to similar sized Massachusetts communities namely Fall River and New Bedford. Lee Pouliot stated that Davey counted how many street miles are in Chicopee and compared it to communities with similar street miles to come up with a price. Based on the estimates from Davey he requested the grant in the amount of $23,500. That estimate was approximately 5,000 trees/planting sites which was covered through Davey’s initial contract. He can’t go back and request additional funds for work completed but he could ask from money for tree plantings. The City Team prioritized the City’s neighborhoods into seven zones and Davey began to inventory following the prioritization. After about 3 weeks it was discovered that Davey was reaching its 5,000 limit. He stated that the volunteer group did not happen because you need to be a certified arborist in order to do a risk assessment. Chris Scott stated that going the route that they did more useful information was gathered. He stated that Davey was wrapping up Willimansett and getting close to the 5,000 sites. He then asked Stan Kulig if money could be used from Special Contracts in the Forestry budget to move forward to finish the inventory or only the three sections would be completed. Stanley at the time thought it was a good idea and moved forward. The Chicopee Team thought that it was a good idea. Christ stated that he saw the usefulness of the data gathered and he wanted it to continue. He stated that no work got delayed because of the inventory process. Chris stated that he did not spend time actually counting trees. He stated that the city can’t continue maintaining the urban forest as it has in the past. This inventory will point him in the direction that the city needs to be heading. It’s unacceptable that the city has so many high risk trees. Councilor Roy questioned why a person had to be certified in order to complete the risk assessment portion of the inventory. Chris Scott stated that in order it to hold up in court the information has to come from a certified individual. Lee Pouliot stated that all public right of way trees have been inventoried and all of Szot Park is complete. 3 Councilor Laflamme stated that the Forestry Department will not be coming before the Council for an appropriation for any trimming or cutting down trees. Chris Scott stated that $25,000 that was appropriated in the budget plus some is still unspent. Sharyn Riley stated that Forestry service account can be used for any forestry related bill. It is not just used to trim or cut trees. Councilor Swider questioned how much time was spent doing this survey by Chris Scott. Chris Scott answered that he did not spend anytime conducting the survey. It was all completed by the contractor. Councilor Swider asked if the bucket truck is operating every day. Chris Scott replied that it is. Councilor Swider stated that the inventory should have only included the public right of ways and not parks because DPW knows that there are over 200 trees that need to come down and over 200 trees that need trimming. He questioned when this work is going to get done. Chris Scott stated that the inventory will allow them to prioritize the work for the forestry department. Rather than sending a truck just to trim one tree on a street the crew will just do all work needed on a street before moving on to the next street. Councilor Tillotson stated that he feels that this project was not presented to the Council in the proper format in the beginning. He questioned whether city employees were involved in counting trees. Chris Scott stated that the forestry department was not involved in counting trees. Councilor Tillotson stated that the Council was not informed that this inventory was going to include counting risk trees and how long the tree was going to live. He stated that that Council believed that this inventory was going to count the different type of trees. Lee Pouliot stated that there is some state money coming to remove trees that were affected by the October snowstorm. Chris Scott stated that this money that will come from the grant should take care of the 247 trees that need to be cut. Motion made to place on file. Committee vote 5 – 0 favorable. ITEM #3 ORDERED THAT the DPW, Water Department, and Auditor be brought in to discuss financial processes for handling credits. Councilor Roy stated that the water department was due a credit of over $4,000 for meters and no one seemed to know about it. He stated that it may be a paperwork issue with the way that Badger Meter handles processing. Sharyn Riley stated that she would not even know that the City was due a credit. Alan Starzyk stated that the return meter policy is that you have to accumulate up to 2400 lbs of meters before Badger pays for the freight and shipping. That’s about 1200 meters. He stated that when he first 4 became the Superintendent the Water commissioners were concerned about theft of these meters so he obtained a storage container to store them in. In 2012 a shipment was sent out of old meters to Badger. He believed that once the shipment was sent Badger would credit the city’s account. There is a question as to how Badger applies these credits. The Water Department was told that once you ask for the credit it doesn’t get applied to the account. The Water Department recently received checks from Badger for $4,115 and $1,246. Normally a check is not issued. Checks were sent because Councilor Roy requested them. Councilor Roy asked Alan if there are other companies that the City deals with. Alan stated that the Water Department deals with local scrap yards for disposal of copper, brass and even lead. Alan stated that contractors who are working for the city replacing water pipes are keeping the pipes and not returning them to the city. He stated when Front Street was done the contractor took all the pipes. Councilor Roy asked that Alan find out how much local scrap yards are paying for meters. Alan stated that the meter would have to be disassembled before it is recycled. Alan stated that there have been numerous thefts at the water department yard. There is a fence with barbwire but that does not stop the thefts. Councilor Roy asked that Alan and Sharyn look into other companies that possibly owe the city credits. Motion made to place on file. Committee vote 5 – 0 favorable. ITEM #4 Minutes – April 29, 2013. Motion made to accept. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:02 PM. 5