Tree Board

Tree Board Minutes June 12th 2019 at 4 pm Attendance: Wes Powell, Alex Wills, Wayne Masterson, Carter Briggs, Kathrine Killebrew, Dottie Mann, Brian Beuscher, Councilman Ron Erb, and Joey Redman. 1. Kathrine reported that the Downtown Market was very successful. Had a great crowd and 15-20 people requested home visits for their tree concerns. 2. Kathrine reported that many people have voiced concerns for the trees being removed along Madison St. She has explained that the process they were using, remove and replace one tree at a time, was inefficient and the Street Department was able to help with the removal of all of the trees to be replaced. Now, Forestry can go back and just plant the new trees and not have to worry about removal. Dottie Mann asked about the lights that were wrapped around the trees and if they would be going back up. Katherine has an appointment with the Mayor to discuss this, but thinks that he wants some form of light to go back up. Not necessarily the same set up. It could be as simple as up lighting. Additionally, Kathrine is recommending not to fill all of the wells with trees. Possibly, alternating sides to mimic the street lights and adding flowers, shrubs, grasses or planters instead. Mrs. Mann raised the question as to who would maintain the flowers, shrubs etc… 3. Kathrine reported that the TAEP grant for 2019 will be used to purchase 25 trees for Billy Dunlop Park as a riparian buffer. 4. Kathrine reported that the new QR stickers for the Arboretum tree tags work. They look a little odd on the tags and members of the board expressed concerns to their longevity out in the elements. Wes talked about the tree tags that are used at APSU. They are from a company called Plants Map. The tags are very similar in look, but all of the information as well as the QR link is hosted off site. This will eliminate the issue we had earlier this year with the QR codes not working because of the Parks and Rec website change over. There is a $79 membership fee, onetime $500  custom logo fee and the tags are $6.75 each. Carter Briggs made a motion that we adopt these new tags for the trees in the Arboretum. Joey Redman seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 5. Wes discussed the purchases from earlier in the year and the board decided to use the rest of the Tree Board budget for adding to the Arboretum. 6. Alexandra reported that the quote for CDE bill inserts was about $5300 per month. This would be for ~ 62000 1/3 page inserts. The board asked to get an additional price to print the page double sided to get more information in them. 7. APHIS has delivered 10 purple EAB traps and pheromones to set up monitoring stations throughout the city. Kathrine has two locations identified. Dottie mentioned trying to reach out to the local schools to see if they would let us hang the traps on their campus if they have an Ash tree. 8. Wes spoke about filling the vacant position on the board. Brian Beuscher, a former Board member has expressed his interest in again serving on the Board. Wes asked Brian to excuse himself for discussion. Brian works as a tree consultant here in Clarksville and would bring a vast knowledge of trees to the board. Dottie Mann made a motion to recommend Brian as the 7th member of the Tree Board. Carter Briggs seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Wes announced that he would send an email to the Chief of Staff to get our recommendation on the City Council’s agenda for July. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.