04-27-2015 TBMCITY OF HUTCHINSON
TREE BOARD
Monday, April 27th, 2015
5:00 p.m.
City Center
Meeting Minutes
Members present: Newton Potter, Anne Kosel, Dale Redetzke, Kathryn Tierney, Gary Forcier
Others present: Mike Babe, Kirstin Taggart
Absent: John Olson
Meeting began at 5:00 p.m. There was a quorum of members present.
1) Tree Board Members
Newton Potter (to 01/17, 1st full-term) Dale Redetzke (to 01/16,2 nd full-term)
Kathryn Tierney (to 01/18, 1st full-term) Annie Kosel (to 01/18, 1st full-term)
Gary Forcier (Council representative) Mike Bahe (PRCE representative, ex -officio)
John Olson (Public Works representative)
Quarterly Meeting schedules: 01127115, 04127115, 07127115, 10126115.
For meeting schedules & interestforms for serving on the Tree Board, see www.ci.hutchinson.mn.us
2) Review Tree Board Minutes
a) Minutes from 1/26/15 meeting approved as written.
3) Standing Reports
a) Babe mentioned that we had pruned 1200+ trees during the dormant pruning season. Public Works
and Parks employees participated in the pruning effort.
4) Operational Issues and Open Proiects
a) Bahe presented the completed informational door hangers to the board. Mayor Forcier felt that these
will be helpful for communicating with homeowners. Babe mentioned that he had already put them in
use.
b) Bahe introduced the new Tree Board member Kathryn `Maggie' Tierney. Maggie has some
background in Natural Resources and a strong interest in the outdoors.
5) Other Discussions/ New Business
a) Forestry Diversification Project
i) Taggart reviewed the Forestry Diversification Project (FDP) processes and goals. Taggart
discussed that it is a forest management approach approved by council to prepare Hutchinson's
urban forest for invasive species and reduce that chance of wide spread tree canopy loss. Mayor
Forcier asked how fast the emerald ash borer is spreading. Taggart said they are not great fliers
so they spread slowly on their own. The best way to slow the spread is to not transport firewood.
ii) Taggart presented the FDP options for this year. The options were:
(1) Option 1: NE (10 removals); SW 16 (15 removals)
(2) Option 2: SWI 6 (25 removals)
(3) Option 3: SW3 (17 removals)
(4) Option 4: SW8 (15 removals); NEI (10 removals)
iii) Taggart presented a map of the areas with the options and opened the topic up for discussion.
Due to Olson's absence Taggart informed the board that Olson felt Option 1 was the one he
would choose. Mayor Forcicr and Potter agreed that City Staff are the most knowledgeable
about the project and they would lean towards their recommendation for option selection.
iv) Option 1 was selected for this year's FDP. There were no objections.
b) Private Tree Condemnation
i) Mayor Forcicr asked how we handle trees on private property that are potentially high risk.
Bahc said that currently we only condemn trees that are infected with Dutch elm disease, or
harboring the vector beetles, and high risk trees that are a potential hazard to City right-of-ways.
Mayor Forcicr said that he would look into this matter further with City management to see if we
should be doing more.
6) Meeting adjourned at 6:15PM
NEXT MEETING: Monday, July 27th @ 5:OOPM