Tree Board Meeting

TREE BOARD August 5, 2019 The Tree Board of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in the Study Session Room on the 5th day of August 2019, at 4:00 P.M. ITEM 1, being: ROLL CALL Present: Chairman Menzie and Members Fagin, Huffman, Lavastida, Spain, Tedder-Loffland and Winegardner Absent: Members Grisso Tardy: Member Janaway City Officials Jud Foster, Director of Parks and Recreation Karla Sitton, Administrative Technician IV ITEM 2, being: APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 3, 2019 MEETING MINUTES Member Huffman made the motion and Member Lavistida seconded to approve the minutes. The vote was taken with the following results: YEAH: Chairman Menzie and Members Fagin, Huffman, Lavastida, Spain, Tedder-Loffland and Winegardner NAY: None ITEM 3, being: APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Member Fagin made the motion and Member Spain seconded to approve the agenda. The vote was taken with the following results: YEAH: Chairman Menzie and Members Fagin, Huffman, Lavastida, Spain, Tedder-Loffland and Winegardner NAY: None __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ITEM 4, being: SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Member Fagin said the last couple of months have been too hot to participate in the 2nd Friday Art Walk. He said there is not a lot of traffic at Stash; which is located on east Main Street and is the location they have permission to set up a table. Member Fagin set he will resume participation when the temperatures cool down and will begin promoting the Tree Story Contest at that time. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tree Board Page 2 of 3 August 5, 2019 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ITEM 5, being: ANNUAL TREE STORY CONTEST Chairman Menzie said the Board decided at last month’s meeting to do the Annual Tree Story contest in the fall. He said the prizes can be comparable to last year’s prizes unless someone has another suggestion. Member Fagin said he will promote the Tree Story Contest with the Norman School Peach Jar program. He suggested using the same flyer as last year, but with updated information and dates. Chairman Menzie suggested adding the following information to the flyers/applications: name of the school, name of teacher and grade. He said this will help make it easier to contact the winners. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Member Janaway arrived at the meeting at 4:18 p.m. Member Tedder-Loffland asked Chairman Menzie if he will go to the school(s) and present the prizes to the winners. Chairman Menzie said yes, and his daughter will dress up in a tree costume and help him. He said the kids love that! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ITEM 6, being: MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS Chair Menzie said the Board has discussed in the past having a voluntary sign-up/registration for tree service companies and asked their opinion about licensing tree service companies who wanted to work in Norman. He said, to his knowledge, the City of Nichols Hill is the only city in the metro area that requires tree service companies to obtain licenses before they begin working in their city. Chair Menzie said the City of Nichols Hill requires a tree service company to submit their license application, take a test, and pay a fee the first time they register; however, after that the company only pays an annual renewal fee. Member Huffman asked if Chairman Menzie had the test for Nichols Hill and Chairman Menzie said yes and read some of it to the Board. Chairman Menzie felt requiring tree services to get licensed will cut down on the riff-raff and scammers. Member Fagin said requiring licenses would be an added protection for homeowners and tree health in general. Member Lavastida asked whether the homeowner or tree service would pay fines for illegally removing a tree or trees and Member Spain said the recently adopted Tree Ordinance states there could be a $500 fine; however, the ordinance does not specify “who” would pay the fine. Member Huffman felt the Board as well as the City of Norman cannot be heavy handed about licensing tree service companies. He suggested to incentivize tree service companies to voluntarily register in Norman instead. Member Fagin asked Staff about the City Forester position and Mr. Foster said a few applications have been received to date. Member Fagin suggested bringing this topic back to the Board when a Forester is hired and get their opinion of licensing tree service companies. Member Janaway asked Staff to find out the status of the Main Street Bridge Project. He said he still has a few crepe myrtles that can be planted at that project site. Chair Menzie said the September Tree Board meeting is scheduled on September 2nd, which is Labor Day. He suggested rescheduling the meeting to the following week which is Monday, September 9th and the Board agreed. Tree Board Page 3 of 3 August 5, 2019 ITEM 7, being: ADJOURNMENT Member Huffman made the motion and Member Spain seconded to adjourn. The vote was taken with the following results: YEAH: Chairman Menzie and Members Fagin, Huffman, Janaway, Lavastida, Spain, Tedder- Loffland and Winegardner NAY: None Passed and approved this ____________of ________________________ 2019 Don Menzie, Chairperson