Oakland Cemetery Commission

K L A A N D Oakland Cemetery Commission Meeting Agenda Revised Note: Change in meeting time!!! Tuesday, May 23, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers Conference Room, 2nd Floor, 203 South Commerce, Russellville, AR 72801 Welcome Old Business: 1. Review and approve minutes of the April 9, 2013 Cemetery Regular Meeting. 2. Financial Report – Finance Director Jerry McKaughan 3. Discuss the status of the Cemetery Brokerage Account – McKaughan Late Agenda Items: 4. Discussion of tree removal. New Business 1. Commissioner recommendations to fill 3 vacancies. 2. Discuss items not on the agenda. 3. Prepare items for handoff to City Council for its June 20, 2013 Meeting. Adjourn.  Cemetery Commission Minutes May 23, 2013 The Russellville Oakland Cemetery Commission met on Tuesday, May 23, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., in the City Hall 2nd-Floor Conference Room at 203 South Commerce, Russellville, Arkansas. Attending were Alderman Steuber, Secretary Donna Eubanks, Commissioner Anna Fields, Finance Director Jerry McKaughan, City Planner David Harris, Director Lequitta A Jones, John Harris, and Kyle King. Absent: Alderman Richard Harris and Commissioner Patricia Petray. The meeting was called to order by Acting-Chairman Steuber at 5:35 p.m. Old Business: The First Order of Business was to review and approve minutes of the April 9, 2013 Cemetery Regular Meeting. Secretary Eubanks moved to accept the minutes as written. Commissioner Fields seconded the motion and passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business was the Financial Report given by Finance Director Jerry McKaughan. Mr. McKaughan went over the Statement of Revenue and Expenditures and the Balance Sheet as of 04/30/2013 and both were in order. The Third Order of Business was to discuss the status of the Cemetery Brokerage Account. Mr. McKaughan went over the Charles SCHWAB Account reported the balance of $196,066.89. Mr. McKaughan reported that we have a new investment group, High Street Asset Management. The commissioners were given the Investment Policy Statement that will be sent to the State. The rate will be a .025% annual fee on the investment transactions (no transactions, no fee); if we have no transactions there will be a $35.00 annual fee from High Street. It was the recommendation of the commission that Mr. Davis with High Street Asset Management not come until we get a full board. The Fourth Order of Business was a discussion of tree removal. Mr. John Harris said he saw in the newspaper were trees were going to be cut in the cemetery. Mr. Harris said he was concerned about it. His parents are buried in the outlying branches of the big magnolia tree on 8th Street. Mr. Harris said magnolia trees are extremely slow growing trees, which would take forever to get one to this size. This magnolia is 11 ½ feet in diameter, 4 or 5 feet up the trunk, 70 feet in diameter across the center of both north and south, and east and west. The tree is estimated to be approximate 150 years old. There were usual wear and tear on some of the limbs, but he stated he needed to get an expert and he had located one; Mr. Kyle King, who is 1 present at this meeting). Mr. King came out and looked at the trees and said the trees are healthy. Mr. Harris said he also had a forestry service employee come out and they duplicated everything Mr. King had said. Mr. King said he looked at the trees and he didn’t dispute what the man wrote here (in reference to Mr. Flander’s report). However, Mr. King said he believed the trees are healthy. Mr. King said we could do some simple basic things to strengthen the tree such as crowbar method and fertilize with10-20-10 and fertilize during the month of March. Magnolia trees are slow growing trees and have abnormal structure to the trunk on big ones. Some of the damage to the trees could be from the drought last year. That could cause some of the yellowing of the leaves. Magnolia leaves falls year around anyway. Mr. John Harris said in looking at the magnolia tree on 8th Street, after reading and studying and talking to different people, he felt there is no dead section of that tree. Mr. Harris said he hated to talk about this (cutting the trees) just because there are some dead wood or dead bark and an arch and stated that doesn’t mean that the tree is dying. Mr. Kyle King said the trees that he looked at did not show any sour wood and that is usually when the heart of the trees is gone. It oozes a black sap. It has a very sour smell to it. Acting Chairman Steuber asked Mr. King if he was taking about just that one magnolia tree or all of them. Mr. King said all of them. Mr. John Harris stated they looked at two trees unfortunately the second one that we looked at had good structure to it, but has been ¾ of the way cut down. Mr. Steuber showed a picture of a magnolia tree that showed the whole heart of the tree was gone. Mr. King said he would not say the heart is gone. Mr. Steuber asked Mr. King if that was normal? Mr. King said you never know how long a tree is going to stand. Mr. John Harris stated he had heard from an elderly person that a tree will heal over a crack or wound. Mr. Steuber said we are trying to do what is right. We got on these trees because of the decaying of the trees and there has been a few limbs blown off. We had the County Extension Agent Mr. Phil Sims look at them and he recommended that these trees be taken down. Mr. Steuber said he had Mr. James Flander, Forester, to look at them and he recommended they be taken down. Mr. John Harris said Mr. Gregg Vickers from the U.S. Forestry Service told him they were healthy and they could live 25 to 50 more years. Mr. Vickers said things like the cracks, he showed Mr. Harris the evidence, where it was healing over. Further, that you can have a bad section in a tree, magnolia like that, and it will heal around it. You have so much good wood, if the tree is not endanger of dying who knows when it is going to fall and that the tree falling is very, very unlikely. Mr. Harris said Mr. Vickers stated you could go in and trim the trees because some of the limbs are down below the six-foot mark. You could trim those back two or three feet to the 6 foot or 8 foot level. We talked about the fertilization. We dug into the trunks of these trees and the two that we 2 looked at, the one that is almost totally cut down and the big one on 8th Street, and did not see any signs of “dead tree”. Mr. King said we also talked about putting concrete in that tree to help stabilize it, but they are getting away from that technique. Trees heal themselves just like when you cut a limb you would put a black tar substance over the cut, but they have gotten away from that. Mr. Steuber stated Mr. Flander said if the trees had been maintained over the years they would be in a lot different condition than what they are in. He stated the leaves that are turning was pretty normal due to the fact that magnolia trees shed leaves year around. That is the reason for the turning colors all year long. Commissioner Fields asked if we trim those big limbs would that make it less likely to have damage to the tombstones underneath it. Our concern was if those trees blew down it would cost a fortune for repair. Secretary Eubanks stated we have had damage to stones where limbs have fallen before. Director Jones said yes, and we have been very lucky. Mr. McKaughan said if we get an ice storm on those trees we could have some real damage. Mr. John Harris stated we certainly have had ice storms in the last 10 years. Mr. Harris said the magnolia on Detroit is 100% intact. It has been there for 150 plus years. Mr. John Harris stated if we are going to take that attitude why don’t we just cut every one of them down, and cut every one of them down around downtown so we don’t have trees anywhere. Commissioner Fields said this was not our choice to cut these trees down. We were concerned how much money it would cost the City, assuming the trees are rotten, if a tree blew down to repair the tombstones that are under the tree. Mrs. Field stated we are responsible. Acting-chair Steuber said it’s the damage that is being done to everything around those trees; the retaining walls and tombstones. Mr. Steuber showed the commission where a large cedar tree was cut down in the Boswell Lot and the damages the tree had done around it. Mr. John Harris said he had seen concrete separate from the ground due to the drought for two summers. Mr. Stueber said he agreed, but it will not separate a foot. Mr. John Harris asked if it was worth saving a 150-year old tree that appears to be in pretty good health at this point. Is it worth doing some reinforcement? Mr. Steuber said it depends on what direction you are looking from. The taxpayers of Russellville are paying to maintain that cemetery. We feel we have a responsibility to protect what’s there as far as tombstone and trees. If we can protect them and do it in a manner that is most economical to the citizens of Russellville. 3 Mr. John Harris asked if the people of Russellville want to see a concrete slab cemetery. That would probably be the most economical. Mr. Harris told Mr. Steuber that he wasn’t taking in consideration of the beauty of the cemetery. Secretary Eubanks said she is a tree lover and this decision was not done lightly. It wasn’t just on one or two people’s recommendation. Mr. John Harris stated it wasn’t rot in the middle of the trees. Commissioner Fields referred to Mr. Flander’s report indicating the Magnolia located along East 8th Street. This tree does not show obvious sign of rot as do the other trees; however, there are spots on the stem that indicated the presence of rot is likely. Mrs. Eubanks said when she read Mr. Flander’s report that that was one of the trees that might be salvaged. Mr. Steuber said, “This magnolia tree on 8th Street is in this little yard and there are graves right there at it. The tombstone has a date of 1890, so I’m assuming that tree was not there when they put that grave there. What we are trying to weigh is what is best - to leave the trees or take a chance of destroying those old tombstones.” Mr. John Harris said he would think there would be a greater chance of vandalism than one of the trees damaging a tombstone. Mrs. Fields said we haven’t had any vandalism since we put up the fence. And the commission agreed. Mr. Stueber referred to a little wild cherry tree, showing a photo, that is not on the list but needs to be dealt with because it is turning over tombstones. Mrs. Fields said, “We all love that cemetery. And we care about the way it looks. And as Mrs. Eubanks had said earlier we have not taken this lightly in our decision. We are all concerned about it.” Mr. Harris stated what he was questioning is what’s the likelihood of this particular magnolia tree falling (referring to the magnolia on East 8th) or being blown over in a windstorm. Mr. Steuber said looking at these magnolia trees the one you are talking about if it was trimmed up a little bit, in all likelihood, if it fell it would probably not be very great. But some of the others over there he didn’t feel that way, again, the likelihood of them falling is pretty good. Director Jones asked Mr. King if he climbed up into the trees. He stated he did not climb trees. Mrs. Jones stated Mr. Phil Sims took a ladder and climbed up into those trees and actually took some pictures showing the decay in the trees. Mr. John Harris said that doesn’t mean those trees are dead. Mr. Steuber stated it’s obvious that the trees are not dead, but they are weakened. Mrs. Fields asked Mr. King if he agreed. Mr. King said if there is rot in the trees the trees will eventually die anyway. The trees would be weakened by a storm, and continuous storms weaken trees. Mr. King suggested that we water the trees. 4 Finance Director McKaughan stated if these trees blows over in a storm there will be tremendous damage and cost. Mr. Steuber stated we are not going to make a decision tonight because we don’t have enough commissioners here, we would like to have a full Board. If we get a full Board, we will take it back up next month. Mr. Stueber stated nothing will be done at the cemetery until this Board and the City Council tells them to go ahead. The City Council has approved this in a sense that they appropriated the money. Mr. John Harris stated probably some of the trees need to come down. This one along 8th Street, so happens, I can’t say it is the healthiest, but it appears to be pretty healthy. Mr. Steuber said he agreed it appears to be healthier than the other magnolias. Mr. John Harris said with the 11-foot trunk it would nearly take a tornado to blow it down. Mr. Harris asked the commission for consideration, if you guys decide to go ahead and cut a number of trees I hope you can spare this one. Mr. King asked if we were going to replant trees where you are taking these out. Director Jones said we have an ordinance prohibiting any trees being planted in the cemetery. One reason for this ordinance not allowing trees to be planted in the cemetery was because of what we are facing right now. Mr. Steuber stated we are trying to do what we think is best. In all fairness, this commission has worked real hard to see that the cemetery looks nice. This commission is responsible for getting the fence and the sign at 8th & Detriot. The commissioners take pride in that cemetery. Mr. John Harris brought up the idea of possibly getting insurance to cover damage to tombstones. Mr. McKaughan is going to check and see if it is possible to get insurance and have a decision next month. Mr. John Harris said if something could be worked out to save that magnolia tree on 8th Street he would help financially in redoing some of that curb work around it. Obviously there are limits to it. Mr. King said to trim it up by taking the dead branches off from underneath. Director Jones stated the Police Department had requested the trees be trimmed up higher so the criminals couldn’t climb them. Director Jones asked Mr. King how do we detect how good the trees are on the insides? Secretary Eubanks asked, yes, how do we know? Mr. Steuber said Mr. Flander did just like Mr. King did, visually looked at the trees. Mr. King said we could drill those trees and tell what is in there. The commissioners said that maybe something we want to do if it goes that far, but until we get a full Board we won’t move forward. New Business 5 The First Order of Business was Commissioner Recommendations to fill 3 vacancies. Mr. Steuber asked if we had any recommendations, they are as follows: Tommy Hlass, John Harris, and Mindy Hudson. The names will be sent to the Mayor Eaton. Adjourned. Secretary Donna Eubanks 6