Shade Tree Management Board

Shade Tree Management Board Madison, NJ 07940 Minutes of November 21, 2019 The Shade Tree Management Board held its regularly scheduled meeting at 8:00AM on Thursday, November 21, 2019 in the Committee Room of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, 50 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Call to Order by Chairman Gene Cracovia. Reading of the Sunshine Law. Members present: Gene Cracovia, Judy Honohan, Brian Monaghan, Stephen Miller, Alice Wade, Nancy Bruce, Vince Licari, Alan Andreas, Tom Salaki Members absent: Liaisons present: Maureen Byrne (Council), Joan Maccari (MEC), Paul Allocco (Parks Advisory) Liaisons Absent: Ken O’Brien (DPW) Borough Staff present: Frank Russo Minutes: October minutes approved as corrected. Public contacts/correspondence: Routine only, no major contact concerns. Council Liaison: No report. Maureen will continue as liaison in 2020. Tree Protection Ordinance: Ordinance introduction may be negatively affected by recent tornado damage to trees. Within the ordinance: tree fund plantings should be as near removal site as possible; under a specified diameter up to two trees in two years can be removed without permits. The revised version of the ordinance will come to STMB for review in November or December with plans to introduce at a January council meeting. Borough Tree Status: 10/31 tornado struck SW and NE areas: 18 pines were lost at Gibbons Pines Park. It was resolved to contract to replant the trees using any unencumbered money in our 2019 budget. DPW and Honor did borough tree clean up. Vince recommends removal of a tree at 25 Greenhill, retention of one at 30 Green Village. Trees on Prospect were cleared by DPW but final work must be done by Morris County. Contacts/removals/pruning: to date 226 contacts, all have been responded to with 12 still to be turned in to DPW. Tree City report requires these numbers. 2020 Tree requests: Each quadrant team should review and submit locations for spring planting by integrating requests and candidate sites. Lathrop will be a target street and a further 25 trees will be earmarked for Main Street. TCC (Technical Coordinating Committee): No updates. Financial Report: 2019 Budget $130,500 Expenditures- Honor Tree $2,500 Chat. Printing and Design $522.93 (electric bill insert) Total expended YTD $50,988.53 Encumbered $58,165 Unexpended $79,511.07 Remaining Balance $21,346.07 Parks Advisory Committee: Damaged trees leaning in parks can be left unless they present a danger or hazard. November meeting was rescheduled. A year-end report will be submitted to DPW. Parks will work with Open Space to create a Master Plan for Parks and ensure that funds exist for projects and their continuing maintenance. Funds will be required for a Landscape Architect to assist in the design of the Master Plan. Friends of Madison Shade Trees (FMST): Will help with public education as the new tree ordinance is considered. Old/New Business: Waverly Place Trees: Project has grown and may be delayed until 2021. The funding earmarked will remain in place until completion of the project. Environmental Commission: First Green Connections gathering at Shanghai Jazz is set for Wed., Jan. 8 from 7-9. Action Items: Judy: provide 5-8 key reasons (cite Tallamy) to support the Tree Ordinance. Steve: ask Ken for rough estimate of year end expenditures. Gene: check with Drew regarding free tree seedlings. Maureen and Gene: explore use of an intern for Arbor Pro data entry. All: bring number and species information for spring planting sites. Submitted by Judy Honohan