Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 10152019

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2019

Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on October 15, 2019 by Andrew Lowry.
Present
Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Manish Shrimali, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Carolyn Jacoby, Susan Nashel, Declan Madden, Steve McCabe, Jean Epiphan
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for September 10, 2019 was made by Andrew Lowry, seconded by Carolyn Jacoby, and approved by all present.
 
 
Tree Inventory Bidding Process
The water department is mapping the entire village infrastructure using Geographic Information System (GIS) software through the company Civil Solutions. Civil Solutions has a state contract and, therefore, the village does not need to go through a bidding process to use their services.
Many things can be layered on top of this GIS mapping including trees. Davey Tree Service is integrated with Civil Solutions. The preliminary proposal from Davey for a tree inventory of 12,000 village trees was $58,000; each tree above 12,000 would be $3.80 per tree. The inventory is planned to start with the trees on village roads. If there are more than 12,000 trees on village roads, the trees on county roads within the village could be added later.
Street Tree and Adopt-a-Tree Planting 2019
Declan Madden will initially train the contracted crews that are planting the trees this fall and then follow-up to ensure that the trees have been properly planted.
One hundred trees in section B and nine Adopt-a-Trees will be planted this fall; the planting has not yet started. The Adopt-a-Trees will be checked to ensure that the correct species have been planted.
Two hundred fifty-three street trees have been removed so far this year.
Schedler Tree Planting
Manish Shrimali is still waiting on the plans for the Schedler tree planting. The village engineering department has not yet shared information concerning the total number of trees cut down or to be planted. Downes Tree Service did the tree work at Schedler.
 
Evaluation of 2018 Planting
The sawtooth oaks that were planted in 2018 have died. Those particular trees were fall dug. Declan Madden says that is not the correct time to dig up this species and that is why they failed.
The warranty specifics for the 2018 trees are still not known.
Carolyn Jacoby gave Nancy Bigos all of the tree care information that was to be included on the door hangers given to residents who had a tree planted in front of their property.
Train Station
The paper bark maples that were transplanted from Broad Street are doing well.
Shade trees will be planted on the perimeter of the parking lot; the species has not been determined yet. Small trees may be planted in the center aisle.
Earth Day Expenses
Susan Nashel has not been reimbursed yet for Earth Day expenditures. Mike Sedon will meet with the village finance office concerning this delay.
Village Priorities
• The 2020 Parks Department budget needs to include line items for the central business district.
• Ian Keller suggested a possible village ordinance that would require the village to plant a tree for every village tree removed.
• The Parks Department needs a separate crew that only performs tree work.
• Mike Sedon will speak to Chris Rutishauser about the trees to be planted in front of the new construction in the downtown area. The STC has guidelines for street tree planting that would be simple to follow for new construction and beneficial for the trees.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:35PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran
Volunteer hours: 12
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