10-10-18 Street Tree Commission MinutesKALISPELL STREET TREE COMMISSION
MEETING HELD October 10, 2018
Present: Members: Andrea Davidson, Tony Nelson, Terry Richmond,
Martin Rippens
Staff: Chad Fincher, Fred Bicha, and Lisa Simmer
Guest: Ali Ulwelling
Public Comments
Approve Minutes
Members unanimously approved the August 2018 minutes.
Current Business
Street Tree Ordinance
Chad Fincher informed members that the revised and updated draft of the Street Tree Ordinance
is being scheduled to go to a council workshop. Chad explained that he's been working with
legal to update common and legal language to ensure consistency with other existing city
ordinances. Chad explained that the revised ordinance will need to be codified as it was not in
the past. Chad said he does not feel council will have a lot of concerns with the revisions,
however will probably have some questions that require clarifications. Chad said one thing he
came back with after his review with the city manager and city attorney is the value of a tree and
questions regarding how that is determined. Chad explained that since then Fred has reviewed
processes that other bigger cities in Montana use to determine tree value, citing the International
Society of Arboriculture assessment also and this information has been forwarded on the
manager and attorney. Chad said this information has provided a comfort level to move the
ordinance process forward to a council workshop. Chad said he anticipates this will be on the
November 26, council workshop agenda and board members are welcome to attend.
Tree Cycle 2018 — recap
Members mentioned that they were pleased with the media coverage, with Tony, Josh and Fred
all being interviewed. Tony noted that the senior tour included 23 participants and the bicycle
ride had 8 riders, outside of staff and board members. Tony said only one bus was needed for
the tour and his mother has gotten rave reviews from people who attended. Tony said that the
seniors were under the impression that the tour was a fall color tour and were very impressed
with the tree facts and information provided. Tony said Eagle Transit worked out very well,
however if the event grew in future years they would either need a bigger bus or would need to
split staff to allow for someone to speak on each bus. Tony explained that some of the seniors
got off the bus, while others did not and the ones who remained on the bus could not hear the
tree talks. The possibility of having a blue tooth PA system and leaving a speaker on the bus was
suggested. Tony said quite a number of the participants went to Sykes for food afterwards, so
Sykes sponsorship was most likely worthwhile for them.
Tony explained there were 8 people in attendance on the bicycle ride. Members briefly
discussed the event, noting one participant said she had found the event on Facebook. It was
noted that adjoining neighbors and property owners observing the event commented positively in
the event. It was agreed that once again the cooler weather may have been a factor in the lower
participation. Lisa said there were a lot of interested people on the Facebook page. Fred said his
personal feelings on it that this is the second time there has been poor turnout and he feels the
group should look at alternatives including canceling future bicycle tours or spending money to
advertise it on the radio if they want to attempt it again. Fred said he feels the senior tour was
awesome and well received and should be held again. Terry said that he felt sponsors feedback
from Wheatons was negative and they weren't that keen on it, stating they have to pay an
employee to attend. Lisa noted that Patrick from Wheatons did attend. Martin said he felt it was
worthwhile as he learned a lot, the presentations were good and felt like a lot of interest was
showed from the public by asking a lot of questions. Tony said that the news spot was broadcast
in Missoula also because he had a friend tell him they had seen it. The group agreed they were
pleased with the media involvement.
Tony said another thought regarding the bus tour is that it could be later in October when fall
colors are more prominent because it's not a weather dependent event. Members discussed other
options, moving the bicycle tour to a different time of year, a walking tour in a park, tokens and
prizes, planting a tree with seniors, tapping into core bicycle groups/clubs and families that are
devoted to biking. Tony suggested members try to figure out who the biking groups are in the
valley and connect with them and see what they might be interested in event wise. Fred said he
likes the park walking tour idea also. It was agreed to keep Tree Cycle on future agendas for
more discussion.
Recognize and Award Good Tree Work - recap
Fred provided a brief recap of the three Kalispell Urban Forest awards presented at council
presented to Jackola Engineering for landscaping around their building, Patricia Johnson and her
son Evan Hendrickson for their 41h Ave E neighborhood boulevard tree planting project and
Kalispell Middle School for their orchard project. Fred said the plaques made by FHS turned out
very well and the Daily Interlake was there and will be running a story on it. Fred said the
Kalispell Middle School announced it in their weekly newsletter emailed to all parents. Fred
said he thinks that a nominations application should be developed for next year and efforts made
to try and get the Daily Interlake involved early on to make it more of a competition.
Brainstorm Arbor Day 2019
Members brainstormed and discussed Arbor Day 2016, which will fall on April 26. Fred
acknowledged it was a bit early to start planning, however thought it would be beneficial to get a
head start on a few things. Fred suggested the group decide if they want to continue the Arbor
Day celebration as they have in the past, determine a location, start thinking and submitting to
him theme ideas so he can get the winning theme to the graphics class earlier for the logo.
Members agreed that they really like the Arbor Day celebration as it's been with all the 3rd
Graders, the stations, formal ceremony, etc., and would like to continue with this type of event.
Members discussed locations and decided that they would like to have the 2019 event at
Woodland for one more year. Members discussed and agreed they would like to have the tree
planting volunteers plant trees at other city parks that are in need of more trees, with just the
classroom trees being planted at Woodland. Thompson, Washington and maybe a line of spruce
trees at Lions Park to help with highway noise reduction. Fred asked members to email him
theme thoughts by next week.
Misc. Business:
Arborist Update & Misc.
Fred provided an arborist update in Josh's absence, explaining that Josh and two other parks
crew members were attending the Northern Rockies Tree School in Cody, Wyoming. Fred
stated that yesterday two interviews were held for a parks caretaker/arborist to work with Josh
and are moving forward with one of them. Fred mentioned there was a substantial wind event on
October 3rd and a lot of branches did come down. Fred said that even where a lot of pruning has
been done, branches still came down. Fred said there is one insurance claim as result of a branch
ding, however he felt that the city faired quite well considering the force of the winds. Fred said
a bid for pruning of 200 trees in the WN area of town had just been closed and Trees For Life
won the bid, however contracts and paperwork still needed to be completed and signed. Fred
noted that Whitefish Tree Service had recently won the last contract for pruning of
approximately 170 trees on 1" Ave East.
Ali said she noticed the area of Woodland Avenue and 2nd Street East she had mentioned as an
area needing pruning has been taken care.
The group briefly discussed other pruning work that had been completed around 3rd Ave East,
pruning done by Public Works for clearance, and the 14' clearance required over a street versus
the 8' requirement over a sidewalk.
Utilizing the media to promote tree maintenance and pruning workshops were discussed as
possible future projects and goals.
There was no other business and the meeting adjourned at 5:01 pm.
Approved unanimously at the November 14, 2018 meeting.