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12-11-12 Street Tree MinutesKALISPELL STREET TREE COMMISSION MEETING HELD December 11, 2012 Present: Bette Albright, Andrea Davidson, Rebecca Bodnar, Marshall Dressel and Lisa Simmer Excused: Sean Conrad & Chad Fincher Next Meeting Date: Regular Meeting: January 8, 2013 — 4 p.m. Parks Department The meeting was called to order at 4:00 pm by Bette Albright. Agenda Topics: • Old Business Approval of November minutes New Business Ordinance Update Miscellaneous Business Urban Forester Position Update Arbor Day 2013 Trees Misc Old Business The group held discussion on the proper procedure for approving minutes and submitting to the City Clerk. It was decided that Rebecca would discuss this with Theresa White, City Clerk for verification of proper procedure. A motion was made by Marshall and seconded by Rebecca to approve the minutes of the November meeting after corrections by striking out "however not their goals or objectives as they would be reviewing G&O's frequently and possibly changing them" from the proposed ordinance changes of section 3.01 Street Tree Committee Duties of Said "Street Tree Committee". All members voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously. New Business Tree Ordinance Update Lisa distributed copies of latest draft of the "working ordinance" with proposed changes from the last meeting. The group briefly reviewed the changes they made last week. Rebecca suggested the word Director in parenthesis be included after Definition of DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION Director and then Director could be used consistently throughout the document. The group determined that they would not include all of their goals and objectives. They agreed to include the following goals and objectives after the mission statement. • To educate the public on the important role trees play in the urban environment. • To encouraze and promote stewardship of City owned property trees, public right-of-waV trees and private trees. • Review and advise constituted officials of the City of Kalispell on various tree - related issues. It was determined that all other changes made during the last meeting were appropriate and the group moved on to Chapter IV — Species, Cultivars & Varieties. The group worked through wordsmithing changes until reaching 4.02 Planting, at which point they asked Mike Baker to join the meeting to discuss caliper requirements. Mike explained the importance of keeping the 2 1/4" caliper minimum in place for survival rate versus a smaller tree. It was noted that the ordinance does say "unless other specified by the Director". Mike stated there are times that he is flexible and will allow a smaller tree of good nursery stock in locations less likely to experience vandalism, site conditions are appropriate and adequate care is guaranteed. It was further discussed that this caliper minimum does not affect seedling, bareroot or whips plantings on special projects, where deemed appropriate. The group determined they would stop working on the ordinance at this point in the meeting due to remaining time and Chad Fincher's absence. They agreed they would like Chad's input in the next section, and had a couple of other topics to discuss before the end of the meeting. Miscellaneous Business Lisa informed the group that the Parks Caretaker/Urban Forester position had been filled and that Cody Hatton had started working on December 3, 2012. She reminded them that an email had been sent out to members regarding this hiring. She stated Cody would be coming to a future meeting, to meet the group and will be working on projects with board members, per the job description. Lisa noted that Cody is required to become ISA Arborist Certified within one year of employment. Lisa informed the group she had completed the online 2012 Tree City USA recertification and Growth Award applications. Lisa briefed the group on the Arbor Day grant application, she is currently working on. Lisa explained that the grant is $750, which basically buys four trees, two of which will be planted at the elementary school and two at the KYAC. Lisa told the group she had been brainstorming with Mike about improving on the celebration within the limited funding. Lisa said that Mike had come up with a great idea. Mike suggested getting the whole elementary school involved in a portion of the celebration by forming a tree on their play field, holding up either a brown or green piece of colored construction paper and having someone from the press in the parks boom truck to take a photo. Member enthusiastically supported this idea. Andrea suggested tree information on the back side of the construction information to help educate the participants. Bette noted she would know which school Arbor Day will be at by the next meeting. Andrea wanted to talk about the trees in the 600 block of 1st Ave East, as she had gone to look at them. She feels that the boulevards in front of three houses should be looked at when discussing Flathead Electric removal and/or pruning in this location. She suggested we look at these three addresses as a project, contact the owners and address as a whole instead of piecemeal. It was determined that Chad Fincher's input is needed for this discussion and it would be included on the next agenda. There was no other business and the meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. Approved by committee January 8, 2013.