SPECIAL TREE BOARD MEETING

1 City of Lake Forest Park – Tree Board Meeting 2 Meeting Minutes: October 15, 2025; 7:00-9:00pm 3 Hybrid Meeting Held in the Forest Room at City Hall and Virtually via Zoom 4 5 Tree Board Members present: Richard Olmstead, Richard Saunders, Victoria Kutasz, Stacey 6 Spain, Doug Sprugel, and Mark Phillips 7 8 Staff and others present: Larry Goldman, LFP City Council; Elizabeth Talavers, Assistant Planner; 9 Sam Kull, Urban Forest Planner; Mark Hofman, Community Development Director 10 11 Members of the Public present: Janelle Loewen, Sarah Phillips 12 13 Tree Board Members absent: No members were absent. 14 15 Call to order: 7:00 PM 16 17 Short Reflection: Chair Phillips gave a short reflection on a Henry Thoreau quote. 18 19 Introductions: The Tree Board members introduced themselves. 20 21 Approval of Meeting Agenda: Board member Saunders motioned to approve the agenda; Vice 22 Chair Kutasz seconded. The agenda was approved unanimously. 23 24 Approval of Minutes: Board member Sprugel motioned to approve the minutes; and Board 25 member Saunders seconded. The September 2025 minutes were approved unanimously. 26 27 Public Comment: Mrs. Phillips gave a comment about the Climate Hub opening on Sunday, 28 October 12, 2025. Mrs. Phillips also announced that the Climate Action Committee received a grant 29 from the Thriving Earth Exchange for the Climate Hub. 30 31 Ms. Loewen stated that she is a resident from Bothell that is concerned about climate change and 32 wanted to sit in the meeting to learn about the LFP tree canopy and Tree Board. 33 34 Next meeting: The next meeting occurs on November 5, 2025. 35 36 Reports and Announcements: 37 Councilmember Goldman Update 38 Councilmember Goldman announced that the city council is expecting the Climate Element to be 39 adopted later this month. The city council will also be working on budget adjustments. 40 41 City Staff Update 42 Sam Kull, the new city urban forest planner, introduced himself to the Tree Board members and 43 gave a brief summary of his background in forestry. 44 45 Old Business: 46 SFI grant – status follow-up 47 Mr. Hofman stated that the letter of interest was reviewed by legal and was sent out to SFI. Mr. Kull 48 gave an overview of the grant scope and steps to fit the SFI objectives and final report. 1  1 2 King Conservation District canopy assessment – status follow-up 3 Chair Phillips stated that the KCD Board approved the scope of work for LFP. Board member 4 Saunders moved that the Tree Board endorse moving ahead with the KCD grant, Vice Chair Kutasz 5 seconded. All board members approved the motion unanimously. 6 7 Future Outreach Opportunities and Farmer’s Table Recap 8 Vice Chair Kutasz gave an update on three outreach events, Picnic in the Park, Farmer’s Market, and 9 Climate Hub grand opening. Vice Chair Kutasz stated that as Tree Board members, they were able 10 to talk to residents about recruitment and tree walks. Vice Chair Kutasz also stated that coloring 11 pages and candy were a huge success in getting kids and parents to come to the table. The Tree 12 Board members also discussed potentially giving away seedlings at the Arbor Day event. 13 14 New Business: 15 Work Plan Review 16 The Tree Board members reviewed items in the work plan that the Tree Board has been working 17 well and where to improve. 18 19 Member Recruitment 20 Board member Olmstead announced that his term will be expiring next February. The Tree Board 21 also discussed taking a more proactive approach to recruiting by sending follow-up emails to people 22 interested in joining. 23 24 Agenda for Next Meeting: The Board will be discussing Arbor Day, Water District Event Recap, 25 SFI grant - follow-up, King Conservation District canopy assessment - follow-up, recruiting ideas, 26 and checking in with the 2025 Work Plan. 27 28 Adjournment: Board member Olmstead motioned to end the meeting and board member Saunders 29 seconded. 30 31 Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM 32 33 APPROVED: 34 35 ______________________ 36 Mark Phillips, Chair 37 38 2