Tree Board

Tree Board Meeting Minutes August 2, 2012 Memorial Room, City Hall Present: Sarah Hoffmeier, Geoff Beyer, Wendy Blakeman, John Van Deren, Bob ! Troester, Barb Smith 1. July meeting minutes approved. 2. Workdays! a. Saturday, August 25th, 9 am at the Nursery at North Branch Nature Center (behind the community garden plots). Geoff's crew to mow and weedwack before workday. Tree Bd work to include pruning, pulling out trees that have gone by, marking trees ready to be planted out and prepping areas for new saplings. Also Tree Bd to review/discuss irrigation system. The doors for the nursery need to be fixed to keep out a hungry groundhog. Geoff’s crew may take care of this. b. Friday, September 14th, 4:30pm, Location to be determined. Fence the trees at Union Elementary and/or plant 3 new trees downtown to replace those that are nearly dead- In front of Pinky's, Book Garden, and Three Penny Tavern. With enough volunteers, both could be done! Contact Sandy Pitonyak to post workday info on City website. Geoff is back-up for this posting. Also can be posted for free in Times Argus and The Bridge calenders. 3. Geoff's crew will be planting 24 new trees this September in greenspaces around town. This planting is part of The American Forestsʼ Global ReLeaf program. The trees are small and not meant for downtown tree pits. Before and after photo documentation of each site is required by the grant. Possible planting sites were discussed and include: a. Along the bike path near the pedestrian bridge (between path and street) and near the high school. Latter location may conflict with sports activities. b. Planting trees on Main St. between School St. and the Roundabout. John VanDeren contacted Tom McArdle about this possibility. Tom said he thought this green space is used for snow storage during the winter but a few trees would be appropriate. Need to consider smaller trees due to low power cables. He suggested a drawing of Tree Bd. proposal to submit to the City Council for approval. He also suggested contacting the building owners. c. In New Roundabout, Montpelier High School. Carole is contacting the school. More mature tree probably more appropriate. d. Rte 203 Roundabout 1  24 locations for trees need to be identified before September 1st. Take a picture of the spot, and email it to Geoff and the Tree Board. We want to get Owner/tenants nearby to buy-in/help care for these trees. 4. Geoff said he will have VYCC crew in September that may be able to help with Tree Bd projects. Projects discussed were a) Fencing/mulching East State St. trees and b) Installation/relocation of grates/guards per recent review of where most needed. Cutting grates away from trees in 3 locations was also discussed but YCC crew cannot use power tools. 5. Geoff to coordinate purchase new grate and guard which is gift from Conservation Commission. 6. Reminder of meeting with Jim Condos, Secretary of State, to review Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. Meeting Wed., Aug. 15, 5pm, Memorial Room. Next meeting: Thursday, September 6, Memorial Room, City Hall, 5:30pm. 2