05-10-17 Street Tree Committee MinutesKALISPELL STREET TREE COMMISSION
MEETING HELD May 10, 2017
Present: Members: Terry Richmond, Andrea Davidson, and Rick Moore
Staff: Lisa Simmer & Fred Bicha
The meeting was officially called to order at 4:03 pm by Terry Richmond.
There was no public comment.
Public Comment
Approve Minutes
Members unanimously approved March 2017 minutes.
Current Business
Debrief Arbor Day
Fred also passed around a complimentary letter received on behalf of Kidsports regarding the
Arbor Day celebration and the newly planted trees.
Fred passed around a list of suggestions from Barb for future Arbor Day celebrations which
included the following:
• Invite the winning logo contest winner to Arbor Day. Fred noted that Barb was able to
make that happen for Arbor Day 2017.
• Get schedules of stations to high schoolers ahead of time so they can program their
phones and alarms.
• Less stations before lunch.
• Stations closer together.
Terry asked is Fred received any complaints from classes and teachers about station distances or
other. Fred replied he did not. Fred noted that high schoolers had gotten the stations information
in advance in the past and that hadn't happened this year. Fred stated that the station schedule
does result in the children not being able to eat until 12:35 which may be a long time, especially
for a 3rd grader. Fred said this was done originally to fit in one more station, however suggested
the group might want to back that off. Terry suggested that a solution may be to make each
station visit shorter by three minutes. Terry said he felt that when observing the stations he felt
that he was seeing the presentations were done in advance of the time allotted and the
participants were ready to move on and restless. Terry said this might have only been the case in
the stations he observed. Discussion was held about stations breaks with it noted that not all
stations were able to take a break. Fred said had there been one more station, everyone would
have been able to take a break. Fred said this was a complaint voiced by station volunteers who
did not get a bathroom break and in the future it is important to get one more station to avoid this
problem. Members discussed the possibility of incorporating physical activity booths to provide
a type of organized recess and avenue to burn off energy. Lisa told members that Celeste
incorporated a relay race into her KPR booth that day, on the spot recognizing this need. It was
suggested that the County Health Department and KPR could both be approached about having
physical activity booths next year. Fred mentioned that he thought the distance from booth to
booth was ok, however the distance between the lunch areas for children and lunch area for the
high school volunteers, back to meet their group and then on to the formal ceremony was a
substantial distance for the high schoolers to travel. Fred said he felt that all distances need to be
taken into consideration at future celebrations. Lisa told members that even though the coffee
pot is generally for the volunteers, the teachers were thrilled to have the coffee pot at the
classrooms lunch location and welcomed it's availability in the colder weather.
Members were acknowledged and thanked for the good jobs they did handling their Arbor Day
tasks. It was noted that 21 trees were planted in two hours by 13 people. Three additional trees
were planted by the crew because the planting holes had too much ground water and had to be
pumped out, prior to planting. Rick said it really helped to have the holes pre -dug. Members
agreed that the pizza was easy and inexpensive and seemed to well received, the fruit not so
much. Fred noted when factoring everything served and cutlery, etc., lunch cost $2.75 per
person.
Logistics were discussed and a couple of items for next year mentioned were a working PA
system and cleaning of the Sprig the Squirrel costume. Rick said he would make sure the
costume was cleaned as soon as it is done being used by other community's 2017 Arbor Day
celebrations. Fred told members that the t-shirt process was more difficult this year, as the
students could not start on the graphics design early enough (it was about a month behind),
which resulted in the ordering getting backed up. Members discussed approaching the high
school earlier with the hopes of getting a finalized graphic completed earlier. Fred reminded
members this would mean that the group would need to come with a theme much earlier. Fred
informed the group that staff sent the sponsors a boxed shirt, thank you letter with tax ID the day
prior to the meeting.
Members agreed media coverage was adequate, although they always hope for more. Terry
noted there was great coverage leading up to Arbor Day, however not as much after. Andrea
mentioned that Barb had said she would have liked to see media coverage of kids participating at
a booth. Utilizing the boom truck for an aerial picture was suggested. Andrea suggested that a
drone could be used and possibly Flathead Electric who has a booth could be asked about
bringing their drone.
Terry said that Bette did a great job as always. Members suggested that the honor students get
more information sooner, and also provide their t-shirt sizes. It was agreed that the honor
students arriving on their own bus 15 minutes earlier was very helpful, however there is a $60
cost for that bus and this should be kept in mind for future celebrations.
Terry was commended for the sponsorships he acquired. Fred reviewed the 2017 budget, noting
revenue and expenditures. Fred noted that when it was all said and done the budget was $98 in
the hole. Terry and Fred discussed what they could have done differently and possibly better in
future years. Odd expenditures that were previously budgeted were mailing back the EAB
costume and mailing out of the sponsorship t-shirts/boxes.
Expanding community outreach at Arbor Day was discussed and brainstormed for future Arbor
Days. Some ideas included:
• Get the breweries to give away a tree seedling with every pint sold on Arbor Day.
• Connect with local arborist to see if they would like to participate in the event.
• Work with media to do a series of tv news articles.
• Neighborhood tree planting project in conjunction with Arbor Day.
Lisa told members that Lance Isaak had asked her to tell the board thank you for a great Arbor
Day.
2017 Work Plan
The group reviewed their 2017 work plan compiled at a previous meeting.
Tree Cycle 2017: Members decided to hold off on the Tree Cycle planning until closer to the
date.
Picnic In The Park Information Booth: Members discussed hosting an urban forest awareness
booth at Picnic In The Park. Fred told the group that he had discussed it with Mark, Recreation
Superintendent and found out that the Tuesday night concerts would have a large number of
sponsor booths who had paid money to support the series and that Mark suggested the Street
Tree Committee have booths at the T-tiesday Wednesday lunch hour concerts. Fred suggested
members have a booth and give out the 50150 tree planting program brochures and other forestry
information. Terry suggested the next meeting have a signup sheet for board members to
volunteer their time at a couple concerts.
Host a Young Tree Pruning Workshop: It was decided as spring has come and went that it
should be moved to the fall. Fred said he had an idea to try and tie it in with Tree Cycle.
Members discussed this as a possibility.
Ensure the 50150 Cost Share Trees Are Watered
Members had previously noted that they wanted to develop a system and implement it to inspect
and verify 50150 trees were getting the water and care they needed. Fred said he would get Rick
a list of all the trees that were planted and Rick would be in charge of emailing 50/50 participants
and following up. Lisa and Fred would review the door hangars the parks department used in the
past and update them if necessary for use in the program. Andrea offered to assist with this
program by riding her bike to check trees in close proximity to her residence. Fred suggested a
water probe be purchased for her to use. Andrea suggested that a notice with the probe results
would be handy, indicating directly to the homeowner the probe findings. Fred mentioned a
webinar on tree watering he found very informative and said he would email it to the group.
Terry asked if there was budget to run a small ad reminding people to water and take care of
their boulevard trees. Staff said they would come back to the group with ad costs and budget
considerations for running an ad.
Increase Yd Grader Arbor Day Education: Fred stated he felt Barb had handled increasing the
AD curriculum this year.
Brainstorming on Awards
Discussion was held regarding starting this program and the logistics involved. Terry thought
the board could solicit nominations from city employees that are out and about, doing site
reviews and then the board could vote on winners. Terry suggested that winners be given an
award made by the FHS wood shop, which is personally presented by board members. Members
agreed that this award program would be limited to commercial businesses and would not
include residential. This program would be included on the next meeting's agenda to determine
specifics. The group will need to settle on a name for the program and Andrea suggested it be
tied into the annual Arbor Day theme. Andrea threw out "A Tree At A Time — May The Forest
Be With You" as a possibility. Fred asked that members consider other ways to recognize a
business/organization for commendable landscaping. Lisa proposed tree preservation and gave
an example to the group, explaining that years ago the Street Tree Board recognized a business
owner, through a letter, for his efforts in saving a tree on a site that was undergoing
redevelopment. Fred suggested the group consider giving a media award to someone who writes
or reports on a tree related manner, during the year. Andrea mentioned both the Kalispell Middle
School's orchard and the Audubon Society worked with Glacier High School to plant trees.
Terry suggested the program could be tied into storm water management ponds. Fred offered
Innovative Stormwater Solutions (involving tree planting) as a category within the program.
Fred said it would be nice to think about multiple people who are worthy of the awards so the
program can span multiple years. Fred asked members to bring ideas for the program to the next
meetings.
News Articles
Fred said that Dave Jones had submitted an article to the Daily Interlake a few weeks before
Arbor Day. Fred explained he had suggest to the Interlake they run it in the Saturday home
section, however DIL wanted to hold off and include it in a real estate issue. All members
agreed that to date they had not seen it. Fred said he would email the DIL to check the status of
the article.
There was no other business and the meeting adjourned at 5:08 pm.
Members unanimously approved the minutes at the July 12, 2017 meeting.