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.