Loading...
02-13-19 Street Tree Commission MinutesKALISPELL STREET TREE COMMISSION MEETING HELD February 13, 2019 Present: Members: Andrea Davidson, Judy Rosenfeld -Cox, Terry Richmond, Martin Rippens and Tony Nelson Staff: Josh Keene and Lisa Simmer Guests: Ali Ulwelling Public Comments There were not members of the public present. Approve Minutes Terry made a motion to approve the January 2019 minutes as written, Martin seconded and all members voted in favor. Current Business Arbor Day 2019 Members reviewed the Arbor Day 2019 celebration task list and provided progress and updated information to each task. • Media — Judy noted she has a contact at the Flathead Beacon and she will coordinate with Ali and move forward with her writing assistance. Members suggested also contacting Marion of NBC Montana/KCFW, as she had covered Tree Cycle very well. Lisa pointed out that the handout included some pictures of two Arbor Day media posts — one is a slide that will run on the local tv station 190 and the other a KPR FaceBook post that will run later in the day. • Community Outreach — Judy said she will reaching out to Kalispell Brewery and Pam Carbonari to see about getting the wooden nickels for discounts at downtown businesses for the volunteers. • Kids — Lisa informed members that Fred had invited mailed a letter inviting the teachers and students. • Environmental stations — Tony passed around a draft of the environmental stations invite letter, asking for comments and suggestions. Tony also asked for email suggestions on additional booth invitees, should anyone think of any. Lisa asked Tony to collect lunch RSVP's when booths confirm so help manage the amount of food needed. • Sponsors — Terry noted one new sponsors — a dentist has been picked up through the 120 letters had been mailed out. Terry said he would shortly begin following up personally. • Logistics — Josh explained this is his first Arbor Day and asked the group to please provide their input on what would make the event run smoother and not to hesitate to contact him with information regarding logistics. Terry committed to bringing his UTV to help booth people move their equipment to their locations. • Volunteers — Martin said he has gotten some responses for volunteering. Martin said he talked to Sykes who will send a volunteer. Martin said he will have volunteers available however the numbers are undetermined at this time. It was suggested Martin check with the FVCC logging sports team as possible volunteers or lead a demonstration. • Food — Andrea said she would check prices on food other than pizza as it's very easy to order pizza at the last minute if that what needs to be done. Tony suggested checking with Costco about boxed hot dogs. • T-shirts — It was noted that Fred will take care of the t-shirt order • Ceremony — Fred is responsible for the agenda and ceremony. • Trees — Ali stated that the seedlings are ordered. Young Tree Pruning Workshop Josh asked for and received input from the group to assist in deciding to host it at 10 am on a Saturday and wrapping up by noon. Terry suggested Old School Station as a location for the event due to the condition of trees and lack of traffic in the immediate area. Terry also suggested Lawrence Park. Josh said he was planning on having the whole class outside without an indoor component. Tony suggested that after providing pruning instruction, attendees are asked to use flagging or yarn to tie on branches that would cut instead of actually having them start right in cutting. Ali suggested the workshop would be a good lead up to Arbor Day article. Members discussed a date and decided on April 6. Promote Trees at FVCC Judy informed the group that Jane Karas replied back to her, noting Jeff Kimble provides the maintenance care at the college and asking for information on Tree Campus USA. Lisa told Judy she would send her the website link to Tree Campus USA to forward on to Jane. Engage Citizens in Volunteering for Tree Maintenance This was tabled until the next meeting due to lack of time. Expiring terms — April 2019 Lisa noted that Judy, Tony & Terry's terms are expiring in April and if they want to continue serving they would need to fill out the application on the city website. Arborist Update Josh noted the pruning along the 900 block of 2nd Ave West, and will be working in the 800 block as soon as they wrap up the small amount of work they have left in Glacier Commons. Josh said Silverbrook work is also continuing, however snow berms slow the work down. Terry asked Josh to provide at the next meeting a planned pruning schedule for this fiscal year. Logistics regarding the years of no pruning, portions of outdated inventory data were discussed. Josh explained that currently they are making on the ground decisions regarding areas to prune and updating the inventory accordingly. Josh said he will work with Fred and determine what work they plan on completing and will provide information at the next meeting. Josh stated that he feels at least 25% of the urban forest has been pruned in 2018 with crews and contractors. Andrea made the group aware of new information regarding the use of Eagle Transit and procedures that require advertising a route publicly anytime Eagle Transit is used. This would result in an event such as the tree tour with the seniors needing to run a $150 ad. There was no other business and the meeting adjourned at 5:04 pm. Per the November 2018 meeting, board members agreed to include this statement in all minutes: "if you have any questions please contact us". Approved unanimously at the March 13, 2019 meeting.