City Council Worksession

Watertown City Council T Work Session Mayor Michael Walters Fred McGuire F Adam Pawelk Dan Schuette Kay Thul A 1/9/2024 - Minutes 1. Call To Order And Roll Call R Mayor Walters called the Watertown City Council work session to order at 5:30 p.m. on January 9, 2024 in the council chambers of City Hall. Council Members Present: Michael Walters, Adam Pawelk, Fred McGuire, and Kay Thul D Council Members Absent: Dan Schuette Staff Present: City Administrator Jake Foster, Logan Pysick, Mike Dressel 2. New Business 2.I. Organizational Statement And Resolution Discussion Each year, the City Council adopts an organizational resolution which approves various City appointments including the official City paper, consulting firms, and staff appointees. This resolution also approves City Council liaison assignments and appoints an acting Mayor. The Council liaison assignments that need to be determined are as follows: • Economic Development Authority Mayor Walters, Councilmember McGuire • Commission on Aging - Councilmember Thul • Carver County Leaders Mayor Walters • Parks Commission - Councilmember Pawelk • Planning Commission - Councilmember Schuette • Fire Advisory Board - Councilmember Schutte  • Parks Commission - Councilmember Pawelk • Planning Commission - Councilmember Schuette • Fire Advisory Board - Councilmember Schutte • Chamber of Commerce -Mayor Walters • Community Education -Councilmember Thul • Acting Mayor - Councilmember Pawelk It should also be clarified that these liaison roles are meant for council members to report to and from the City Council. Liaisons should provide clarification and answer questions when necessary. It is not T within the scope of the role to influence the particular commission/committee. Foster reported the only changes to the other appointments are the following: Jack Brooksbank will be the City Attorney for 2024, Philip Schrupp will be the City Engineer for 2024. F Mayor Walters would like to discuss the rate of pay for the committee members on the variety of committees to ensure we are reimbursing the members fairly, not to include the Mayor or Councilmembers pay. A 2.II. Tree Trimming Foster presented the background information on standard tree trimming. As most cities in Minnesota, the City of Watertown’s Public Works staff trim/prune boulevard trees throughout the winter months when not plowing snow, flooding rinks, or performing other winter tasks. Public Works crews also trim/prune trees located on parks, around ponds, or on other City-owned property. There has been R some recent concern in how the tree trimming has been performed and communicated recently. Staff is looking for discussion and direction on how the practice and communication efforts should be performed for trimming boulevard trees in neighborhoods. Below is a snippet of the relevant City Code that directs this work: (Ord. No. 200, § 9, 9-29-94) Sec. 26- 126. - Public tree care. (a) The city shall have the right to plant, prune, maintain, remove, or perform any D other arboricultural practices as decided necessary within the lines of all streets, alleys, avenues, lanes, squares, and public grounds, as may be necessary to insure public safety or to preserve or enhance the symmetry and beauty of such public grounds. No other planting may be done without consent of the city forester. Rationale: City staff trims and prune boulevard trees for several reasons. Staff also attempts to trim in accordance with direction from the University of MN Extension. Additional resources from the University of MN Extension can be found here: https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/pruning-trees-and-shrubs. There is always a staff member present on the tree trimming crew that is a certified tree inspector. This certification includes courses on pruning. Staff seeks to do the following when trimming trees (below that is a diagram further depicting pruning rationale) • Remove diseased, broken or dead branches. • Remove any downward-growing branches. • If two limbs are crossed, entangled or otherwise competing, remove one of them completely at its base. • Remove any limbs along the trunk that are bigger in diameter than the trunk. • Remove suckers coming up from the roots or low on the trunk. • Remove vigorous vertical branches, called watersprouts. • Remove any limbs along the trunk that are bigger in diameter than the trunk. • Remove suckers coming up from the roots or low on the trunk. • Remove vigorous vertical branches, called watersprouts. • Make pruning cuts close to the branch collar at the base of the limb. For larger limbs, start the cut from the underside of the limb to avoid tearing the bark. • Remove large limbs first, starting with the top of the tree. T • "Thinning" cuts remove entire branches at the branch collar and are usually the recommended type of cut. • "Heading" cuts remove only part of a branch and encourage vegetation growth below the cut and are not as common. F Staff trims and prunes boulevard trees to: • Promote vertical growth, and A • Promote the overall health of the tree by removing dead, crowded, deformed, etc. limbs, • Eliminate branches that scrape and could damage the street sweeper, plow trucks, garbage trucks, school buses, and delivery trucks. R • Removing limbs also makes trees more resilient in wind and snow/ice storms. Communication: Weeks prior to staff being in neighborhoods, letters are sent to property owners who are within an area where boundaries are drawn on maps. Those maps are taken to generate mailing lists for those letters to be sent to property owners in these areas. The maps and mailing lists, as well as the sample letter for the most recent tree trimming are attached. D There is always a certified tree inspector on the crew. Communication is sent out to the residents November 13th, notified 5-6 weeks prior to the trees being trimmed. Foster & Dressel have talked about other options they have regarding communication on future projects, which could include Facebook and web page post. Mayor Walters stated he does not have a problem with city tree trimming the trees that need to be removed but not extensively trimming. There was some discussion regarding the notification process moving forward. Mike Dressel stated last year they trimmed the trees in the Grove Street/Hockey rink area and the Southview/Green Avenue area. Dressel does not recall there being any complaints about the tree trimming being done in these areas. The goal is to trim the different areas every 3-5 years. It is ok to take up to 25% of the a tree every year, without any harm to the tree. Staff grooms/prunes the trees to promote a healthy better shaped tree, several of the sugar maples in this area had taken on the upside down umbrella shape and unfortunately sometime the trees don't look ideal when you get done trimming/pruning them but they do come back even better. If the trees are left untrimmed they can have worse damage done to them by wind or ice and then the tree because a unhealthy/unsafe tree in our community. Mayor Walters stated he is not in favor of our tree trimming program. He would like to expand the notification process, but Facebook, postcard, and web page. We could also include more explanation of why and how we trim the trees. Council also suggested changing the percentage of tree trimming from 25% to more around 15% to 20% of a tree.  of why and how we trim the trees. Council also suggested changing the percentage of tree trimming from 25% to more around 15% to 20% of a tree. 3. Adjournment 309 Lewis Avenue South; P.O. Box 279, Watertown, MN 55388 T __________________________________________________________ F Michael Walters, Mayor ATTEST:__________________________________________ A Jake Foster, City Administrator D R