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Tree Board Meeting - January 21, 2025

Oakdale City CouncilWednesday, January 22, 2025
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[0:00] on air we are on air I'm going to call to order um the it's not September anymore [0:06] what's the date today January 21 January 21st um tree board meeting meeting to order um [0:16] so we will do a roll call of everyone [0:21] present um Michael Bender here Laura KD here Dallas Pearson here Mar Sager here [0:30] Mike Sara here Glenn jaalto here and I am Nick Canela I am also [0:36] present um do we want to go uh Tim do you want to go around like do we want to [0:41] go all the way around the room and get everybody on record here or are we just are we good with us I think we're good with just you as [0:49] far as I know in the past we've gone like around the horn we'll just do [0:54] this um okay uh next up on the agenda is the Pledge of [1:08] Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America to theu for it stands [1:16] one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for [1:28] all did everyone have a chance chance to look through the minutes from last [1:33] time yes and I have a correction we've got a correction [1:39] um I have to find it oh it's um on the open form old [1:46] business uh paragraph a the second paragraph there it says uh [1:54] the requirements for a five gallon potted shrub that should be a number five they don't use gallons [2:01] anymore it's just number [2:13] five thank you Mike any other [2:21] amendments okay um then I would look for a motion to approve the minutes as [2:26] amended so moved second second thank you um all in favor of [2:34] approving the minutes as as amended I I I all [2:42] opposed I March [2:48] I the approval of the agenda oh we missed the approval of the agenda son of a gun I went straight to the minutes [2:53] okay um well the minutes are approved um and then I guess I would [2:59] look for a motion to approve the agenda as presented so moved second all in favor I [3:08] I all opposed and we will use this agenda going forward um next up is uh item [3:17] seven open [3:22] Forum yes I don't have anything for the open Forum Tim did you have something you wanted to bring up or are we like [3:27] opening the floor just opens the floor opens the flooor all right we've got an open floor if anybody [3:34] would like to comment on anything that's not on the agenda comment on anything that's not on [3:40] the agenda as Dallas [3:56] said n Clos the open form right well uh since no one is coming forward to uh [4:04] comment I would uh do we need to move to close the open for we just close it we're going to close the open for move [4:09] on to item eight which is uh tree Board review starting with subsection a old [4:14] business uh and uh item I the 2025 work [4:23] plan so we worked through this a little bit informally um [4:30] I guess Tim what would you like to see from us to formalize the 2025 work [4:37] plan yeah well after that I realized I got to update all of this [4:45] um I suppose I'm try I was looking through it another I know basically all the updates and then [4:58] um the is there anything that you guys would like to add to it I would propose that since um do you do you have the [5:06] area already selected for the buck thror removal in Walton Park for the year or is that still TBD I was planning on [5:12] finishing up Walton Park here I'm not sorry it was Walton Park this year right and then it was then we'd be going back [5:18] to the Discovery Center potentially next year my plan was to finish this upcoming [5:25] October event finish Walton Park okay rather than jumping around finished the [5:32] location that we started we basically got halfway done um myself and Lauren went in there and [5:40] did some more clearing for two days after the event Monday and Tuesday and [5:45] we chemically treated all the stumps and everything so it'd be nice to finish up that unless there's a a more pressing [5:52] area or we do tackle the project of the forest garden yeah I think I think finishing [5:59] what we started is probably a good idea okay I would agree let's get it done so we don't have to worry about it y Dallas [6:06] you have comment uh one suggestion I might make is uh as we tal discussed this is last year's information but you [6:13] do know the the trees so it might be nice to read into the record for the public to know what trees will be there [6:19] since it's not our next meeting is close to the time good call Dallas thank you yes I have that actually under my um [6:28] under the Arbor Day which is right below the work plan there I was going to bring that up but [6:37] um yeah so the four trees selected are the Japanese tree [6:44] lilac the Kinder crisp apple the eastern white [6:51] pine and the river bir which will be a combination of three clumps and single [6:58] stem [7:07] wonderful thank you well yeah I think we've got a pretty good handle on [7:13] what the work plan will be like we know the location of the the planting we know [7:19] the location of the buck thone removal um then it's just a matter of what other stuff we want to do working [7:26] with other advisory bodies if [7:33] any maybe I missed it but where is the U spring planting Beth key Park oh Bethy that's [7:41] right thank you and all those trees are or you're [7:46] going to use up the ones that we have at the um correct right at Public Works [7:51] public works yeah y okay thank you gravel bed and just a bunch of bnbs that [7:57] we have planted out perfect 100 trees we won't be doing all 100 trees [8:03] that day will we no you you guys will take care of some we're going to do some [8:08] afterwards but I I'd like to get in and somewhere between 20 and 30 perfect we'll have the all the holes pre- dog [8:15] and everything awesome cool I left a it's roughly probably six to eight [8:22] yards of mulch or chipped wood there for us we can ring all the trees and everything so cool will they be those [8:30] all throughout that Park I mean the locations that you've kind of figured [8:35] that out yet it's mainly if you go by there you'll see oh it's mainly off Still Water Road [8:44] or Boulevard right there yep off that' be the South entrance right there okay um that's where it kind of open it up [8:52] and I would say roughly you know that 10 to 15 we can put right in that front [8:58] location there and then disperse the rest of them evenly out [9:05] the East and kind of south or west excuse me and Southwest end of that [9:11] park has some bigger a few bigger cotton woods and whatnot so just by taking out [9:17] some small you know 6 to 8 in in diameter um dead ash trees that's not [9:24] the ideal spot to then replant so but yeah there's still some more room down there as [9:30] well great and we'll be reaching out to the [9:36] um North High and T here to try and get some students yeah hopefully more than [9:42] the Buckthorn removal okay although two they did help [9:48] out for the hour that they showed up well the ones that we had last spring [9:54] were there was quite a few yeah at the spring planting po year there was a ton we had a good yeah a good amount most of [10:01] you even had appropriate Footwear which was good right and of course we welcome the public to come and join us right I'm [10:08] more the mar intent anyone out there that wants to come help yeah super fun [10:14] you don't even get that dirty yeah and people have brought their up I don't know over 10y year olds or over 12 year [10:20] olds what's the is there a rule about how old the kids have to be anybody know [10:25] and I've been bringing Simon since he was like three oh okay never mind hopefully not there not a rule right I [10:31] don't know I I I don't think as long as they're supervised by an adult I don't think okay there's no limit a guardian [10:38] yeah okay good excellent fun to have some kids there I [10:43] think they really learn a lot [10:49] yeah is there any other questions or comments on the work plan before we move [10:55] on to an update on the tree giveaway which we already did [11:00] I I would have one question at the bottom number two I think this came up in the fall is um what should we as a [11:08] tree board um do to increased Public Communication related to tree board events is there a responsibility that we [11:15] have or is this a city staff responsibility I'm not quite sure on [11:21] this communication piece is this like creating brochures or I'm not quite sure [11:26] what that means it's pretty broad yeah I guess guess maybe [11:32] even coordinating with myself and we can I can relay that to okay this correct [11:39] City staff to you know for different stuff they can post on their [11:46] website and whatnot you guys want our assistance in content creation [11:52] like videos or anything like that we can we can help with I was thinking that too [11:58] so I we didn't get any videos or I didn't I wasn't aware of anyone taking [12:04] pictures at the Buckthorn removal event and that's the only event I've been a part of um I do think that'd be a good [12:10] idea and that would help us not only pictures but like Nick said some some good live videos would [12:19] be I think that's been typical I mean not not necessarily at the Buckthorn but I know I was interviewed twice at the [12:25] spring planting the last two years somebody man came around same guy I think and had me asked me some questions [12:33] and I know I was on a video somewhere um for those two events but I maybe do you [12:38] have to request that from city hall or somebody to get I'm not sure to get that person to come out and I think they even [12:44] had a drone it was kind of cool remember the Drone yeah um and so those would be [12:49] great and then to put them on our Facebook page or whatever you know I don't know if they how often they update [12:55] the website but that kind of thing social media is handful of experts up here who'd be [13:01] happy to answer questions that people from the city might have about trees [13:06] tree care tree maintenance pre [13:12] planting well and I'm thinking about that TV show the cable TV is that that's not going on anymore right that when you [13:18] got interviewed for oh yeah I did do that a couple years ago was it was it Frank who was Frank I don't think he [13:24] does that anymore okay that's not available well then all the more reason to get some and PR at our [13:31] events specifically think it would be good we can get that videographer [13:37] there whatever his title is thanks yeah that'd be [13:46] good next time I'll make sure they interview you no pass it seems like a [13:51] vice chair job I had my two turns in the in the highlights okay all right what else [14:02] yeah I think we got a good handle on what we're going to be working on in 2024 [14:08] 2025 here it is now um yeah then uh did you so I know we [14:16] jumped the gun a little bit Tim on the tree giveaway update is there anything [14:22] else you wanted to add about that yes it will be held at the North fire station [14:29] a drivethru event and then it sounded like they could we could [14:35] put like the Master Gardener booth and whatnot outside in the parking lot once they get their trees and go through the [14:41] station there then they can we can put signs up and people can pull into the [14:47] off to the side of the parking lot there and then they'll be going as directly [14:53] towards Castle Elementary as they leave y okay and will we have City staff [14:59] directing traffic or will there be like yeah Oakdale PD out there like managing [15:05] it or like what's the plan there I know for sure City staff we will yeah we'll keep it moving [15:11] and put Jeremy in a shiny vast and have him stand out in the street get him some air traffic control [15:18] wands yeah yeah okay awesome I'd like [15:25] to talk a little bit more about what I talked about the last time yeah all the people that don't show [15:32] up because there was a huge weight list and only one person from that weight list showed up and got a tree but I mean [15:40] there was a lot of trees left over for being um accounted for so fast right um [15:49] and I kind of like what Dallas said if you know if if we don't do it or if they don't pick their trees up within two [15:56] years then they get put on the waight list because I think a lot of people because it's free they just put their name down [16:04] because it's something that's free so I think we should um watch over [16:10] it a little bit more and not just you know even though I know those trees get [16:15] put to good use and they're not wasted but um you know as as we heard there was [16:21] a big demand for trees um let's make people take [16:27] them so it is there like a followup to people that sign up right before the [16:33] event so don't forget you know the tree giveaway is there no I don't know if there's a reminder sent an [16:40] email anybody know I know you weren't here but you know that would that's a great idea I think is yeah you know [16:47] especially if you're signing up a month ahead of time which I think we are three weeks anyway um you know to remind [16:54] people just a quick email since I believe the sign up was only your name and Poss phone number it would have to [17:00] either be text oril they have to get the email address text you know but a lot of [17:06] services are sending reminders well and especially since we're moving the location here right people come here [17:14] that brings up a good point you'll probably would have put up a sign down on by the park saying location mve this [17:20] year because people will be remembering it being there great excuse me are we to the same like [17:28] time slot sign up where people can sign up for a tree and a time slot correct [17:36] okay because that fluctuates depending on wether if it's bad weather they all come [17:42] at once it seems [17:50] like well that Tim something you can ask the staff to do as s a reminder yes I'm [17:57] not some did you say that Dallas that they just leave a number and I believe my [18:05] memory serves it it was merely the their name and a phone number for the sign up [18:10] so in order to to alert them would either have to sign up for some kind of a uh text service or ask for their email [18:19] as well and I I just don't remember if there was an email I don't think it was okay I will look into if there wasn't an [18:25] email maybe we can add that send out an EMA to add reminder yeah yeah that's a [18:33] great [18:41] idea anybody have any other thoughts opinions contributions on [18:47] the tree giveaway before we move to new business [19:04] well hearing none I would say let's move on to new business which would be the election of the board chair and vice [19:13] chair are you open for nominations I will open the floor for [19:19] nominations I nominate dick cantola for chair Mar seutter for vice [19:25] chair I'll second that oh seconds are not required uh but we do appreciate the [19:30] support says on the thing good reading I'm pretty good at reading [19:41] yeah any other [19:46] nominations feel free to offer I like the talent we've got so I'm [19:52] happy okay all right all right well uh there appear to be no new nominations [20:00] um which means I need someone to make a motion to close nominations I make a [20:06] motion that we close nominations for uh chair and vice chair this one does require a second second second all in [20:14] favor I all opposed well uh do we still need to pass [20:21] out the ballots Tim I don't believe so [20:29] you could do a vote of [Music] acclamation I move that we have by vote [20:35] of acclamation installed Nick cantola and uh March seet has appr the [20:43] nominations second on that one second all in favor I all [20:52] opposed motion carries well thank you guys for continuing to trust us we will [20:57] do the best that we can [21:07] all right on to section nine staff Lea on updates Tim what you got for [21:14] us well what could we possibly not have talked about yet [21:20] yeah ah this fall here after kind of the I guess before and after the [21:26] buckthorne uh event we've been doing a lot of stump grinding and restoration on those [21:33] stumps um then we kind of started getting into the later on in Fall after the event probably towards the end of [21:39] October early November and we started I requested for plow routes um clearance [21:46] pruning for all the plow R drivers um and I got a a good siiz list so we've [21:52] been going around doing a lot of that even still we get them every time they [21:57] go out and do a little bit of snow removal or salting they one or two of them will hand me a list of different [22:04] addresses so that um I had mentioned before that Lauren [22:10] and I were in there and we cleaned up some more after the Buckthorn event um and then chemically treated all those [22:17] stumps um and there is still quite a bit all to the as we from where we stopped [22:23] there Marg and Mike if you can remember it's a lot of fru and Buckthorn all to [22:28] the Northwest kind of as it goes around the ball field there so I think it'd [22:33] look really nice next year if we could finish that little stretch [22:39] up just a question of uh since uh it seems like the ashb has struck um how [22:48] many uh are you in the process of removing do you have to remove them on [22:54] residential or just on Oakdale land and is is there a a a program in [23:02] process yes we are tackling right now kind of the higher priority trees on our [23:07] GIS system but no we are not removing or doing anything with the privately owned [23:16] trees okay is there still a discount for um citizens to with rainbow we had a [23:21] program is that still going yes 2025 to treat them for treating specifically yes [23:28] not any removal just okay [23:34] thanks we are also doing kind of finishing up any summer work orders that [23:40] we had that required some frozen ground Frost in the ground um to make access to [23:46] a lot of the backyards where we have property on ponds and whatnot trees that [23:51] have fallen um we've cleaned up those trees we had a few during storms fall directly into backyards we cleaned them [23:59] up kind of left the piles there and then we've been going in now with frozen ground so we do the least amount of [24:04] damage to the to the yard we go in and clean those up so we've been kind of finishing those up we we're basically [24:11] finished with those we have one in a p that we're kind of trying to figure out [24:16] what route we're going to take then um as I spoke about earlier [24:21] the be Beth key Park reforestation project we were taking down a lot of those ash trees in there getting ready [24:28] for the spring planting this year um we refurbished all the walking [24:34] paths through there with the chips that we got from the ash trees in there um they look really nice really thick we [24:41] put it on there thick cuz it'll settle a little bit and move around in the wind [24:46] and storms but so we have a little bit to finish up [24:51] on that on the west end and then that should be done I would guess in the next few weeks now that we have some weather [24:58] we can work outside again I mentioned earlier also the [25:05] species that we have at the Public Works building we have some swamp and burs and [25:11] our gravel bed that we're going to use in Bethy Park along with um those bnbs [25:18] on the north side of our shop there which are Kentucky coffee Ohio baky [25:25] ironwoods and a couple Autumn Blaze [25:30] and then recently we've been going through just kind of had a list going from when I started in the middle of [25:37] July of all the oak pruning that needed to be done and as they came in along with the plow [25:43] clearance um on the plow routes and so now we've been going after [25:49] now that the Oak Wilt window is closed here for quite some time now we've been doing a lot of Oak [25:55] pruning we get a quite a few from town home associations that butt up to our [26:02] property that we hold off on and so those are kind of tedious just access [26:08] you get the longer units and you have to you know prune a tree that's in the middle of that you can't get equipment [26:14] so it's all by hand and so they're a little tedious but we are working on a [26:20] lot of that and in the next couple weeks also along [26:25] with that Oak pruning we're going to be doing a lot up around the Discovery Center building and the other three the [26:31] schoolhouse building and kind of the shed storage shed down towards Hadley there clearing [26:40] all the the limbs that are rubbing on those buildings how long do you anticipate [26:46] that taking a day yeah a good solid [26:57] day and that is yeah along with some other obviously [27:03] still taking work orders they come in I get calls almost every day different [27:09] things we go out and check out that's it for updates I think [27:17] awesome thank you Tim yeah board members any updates from you [27:24] guys yeah as I talked about a little bit earlier I was watching a other webinar [27:31] in um um December and they were talking about um [27:38] mitigating storm water runoff and talking about the the types [27:44] of trees you know that work better for doing that um you know whether they're [27:50] uh have got um pubescent leaves as opposed to shiny leaves um the uh um [27:57] type of Limbs type of bark uh if the tree is more upward growing and stuff [28:02] like that and as I was watching this I kept thinking about a few decades ago um [28:09] there got to be a big push with people planting rain Gardens for doing the same [28:15] thing and this would be a nice thing to piggyback on that you know that um to to [28:22] um capture some of that rain water so it doesn't go down in the storm source so [28:28] you have any species recommendations for us well uh [28:33] Lyons um I keep thinking about like white spruce but you'd have to be real careful [28:40] where you plant them because if you're trying to do uh runoff and and and the plows come by [28:47] with salt and might do some damage to the spruce but um [28:53] um some of the Oaks because of of their bark um [28:59] would be good ones like that but it's just uh I mean it was strange because I knew all [29:06] this stuff but I never thought about it for for uh holding water or rain water [29:12] for storms to run of Cu I don't know if any of you been in a spruce Forest when [29:18] it's been raining but you don't get wet because all the waters or the rain [29:24] water is being held in those trees so um I thought it's something that we [29:30] could maybe look into a little bit more yeah and maybe uh promote it uh especially you know I wouldn't do it on [29:36] a flat ground because that's going to settle in but if there's slopes and when we were talking about earlier about you [29:43] know um redoing Highway 120 I know there's quite a few slopes that slope [29:49] down into 120 and that might be something to look at there too [30:01] yeah thanks Mike thanks for being willing to take on um sitting through those webinars what's [30:08] that thanks for being willing to take on sitting through those webinars and Reporting back we appreciate it some of [30:13] them are worthwhile sitting through some are about the uh 50 [30:18] different kinds of was that sounds really cool too though it gets old [30:26] fast I I do have a question if we're done with that topic so yes are we done [30:32] okay um tree track um and I know we talked about last fall we finished onethird of the tree track out there at [30:40] the Discovery Center Nature Nature Reserve are you do you think you're going to get to any more that or have [30:45] done huh there we go it just has to be sent into to Laura and make the maps [30:52] right G to do the maps awesome I think this guy needs a a round of applause [30:57] he's done a lot of work really seriously um so those maps are a huge [31:03] Improvement and it's a full page half by 11 instead of a trifold trying to read that little bitty print um and people [31:12] will come in or I hope they put some out front um for people to come through and then learn and we've had had really good [31:19] comments we did a couple of these tracks with the public last year and it's very very well received people are very [31:24] interested to learn about the trees out there um you know and recognize them any time of the year so thank you for doing [31:31] that really appreciate it Mike you went above and beyond well thank you it was [31:36] easy okay well easy for you so thank [31:43] you gold star laa Mike anything from you guys down there anything that end Glenn [31:52] Dallas okay um yeah then moving on to council liaison up stes with our new [31:59] Council on hello Commissioners I am really [32:07] excited learn record my name is Carrie Moore I [32:12] am one of the new council members and um since the board last met I believe uh [32:18] Council has passed a budget we are in the middle of a whole lot of new [32:23] development um some of which I think you can see driving through our community some of which is still kind of in the [32:29] pipeline uh We've brought on new city council members uh so a lot of exciting [32:35] things going on I don't have anything specific to share with you but I'm willing to stand for any [32:43] questions wonderful have a good night you guys [32:49] thank you we're stoked to have you welcome that is the entirety of our [32:57] agenda I move to ajour Second all in favor I I I all [33:05] opposed while hearing none I will uh adjourn the 20 the January 21st 2025 [33:12] tree board meeting G official all right thank you [33:19] chair Mr chair first excellent