Tree Board

Montpelier Tree Board Minutes for June 6, 2013 Meeting: 5:30pm Memorial Room, City Hall In attendance: Jeff Schumann, John Snell, Ellen Doyle, Abby Colihan, Bob Troester, Ken Libertoff, Stephanie Olsen, and Sarah Hoffmeier Ken Libertoff started off the meeting with a fundraising update. He and John Snell met to discuss fundraising options in May. Ken will create a plan for approaching city leaders, business owners, etc. to get involved in Tree Board activities and purchases. It was mentioned that it is easier for an investor to put money towards something specific, like a tree, grate, or guard, or even maintenance work. Ken looks forward to helping in this area and making it fun by having events and creatively raising money. Ken is also willing to help with grant writing. Congratulations to John Akielaszek for successfully getting the EAB (Emerald Ash Borer) $500 grant for the Tree Board! May minutes were approved. Bob mentioned that the website is still not up to date with minutes or terms of office. Sarah will email the new minutes to John A who is leading the website site efforts. The Tree Board’s budget expires at the end of this month. New items needed and discussed were: 3 new 75’ contractor grade hoses , 2‐3 mesh net tree tarps, more closeable water jugs, Ellen suggested fertilizer, and 3 yards of compost from Vermont Compost Company, and 3 new trees to go into wells by Skinny Pancake, Asiana House, and TD Bank – These will be purchased over the next two weeks. If budget, time and space in the truck allow, we may also get trees to replace the one just planted at Bagitos and a declining Norway Maple at Aubuchons. Stephanie Olsen and crew will work on removing the dead trees in the three locations mentioned above, removing the soil, and replacing the soil with compost/top soil. John Snell will remove guards before plantings. New trees will be ordered through Cobble Creek Nursery and Steph or her crew will pick them up next week (after Tuesday). John Snell will ask Tom McArdle to notify DigSafe prior to excavation. Stephanie and other park staff will be hosting a work day for High School students next Tuesday. John Snell and Jeff Schumann will lead a team of 10 students out at the nursery to continue weeding and mulching. Stephanie also agreed to do some ‘bucket truck’ work on some bigger trees to prune them. John Snell will provide her with a list of the ones he knows of needing work. A crew of international volunteers will be coming in July to help the parks. Stephanie said that she could give some of these folks jobs that benefit the Tree Board, such as nursery work. They will be here for three weeks, so if you have ideas to email John or Sarah. Watering downtown – Abby C. and John will create a map of spigots downtown. At the moment all areas are covered, but a volunteer to water the block of Julio’s – Cool Jewels (using the spigot next to Julio’s) would be helpful! Permission is needed from Julio’s to use their spigot, even though they have gladly given it in the past. John S will water the two oaks near the gas station. John Snell and Ken L would like to see some of the fundraising efforts put towards subsidizing adding spigots downtown. Safety when planting was discussed. John Snell would like to see everyone involved in work days wear an orange vest and having an appointed ‘safety person’ during the day to oversee everyone is being safe. It was discussed that the nursery could use root pruning of some of the trees to make it easier to bare root them when they are transplanted in the fall. The Arbor Day Foundation will use an interview John S conducted with Earl F. as part of an ongoing series. Abby C. noted that Jim Keifer wonderfully replaced a tree he transplanted last year for the UU church. Also that the Freeman Maple tree on the right side of the building needed to be pruned. John S offered to prune it. It was agreed that the July meeting will be replaced with a work day in July since the meeting falls on Independence Day. The meeting adjourned shortly after 6:30pm.