Mountain Lakes Shade Tree Commission

Minutes of Meeting, April 16, 2009

 

In Attendance:

Commissioners: J. Best, S. Marshall, T. Caine, B. Rosenthall, M. Vyff, J. Eveleth and H. Carr. L. Conner will be unable to attend meetings until June.

Council Liaison: D. McWilliams

 

1.     There where no comments from the public.

 

2.     March minutes were approved.

 

3.     Our CSIP Grant has had final approval but the details pertaining to how the funds will be allocated are still in discussion. Three quotes are needed for tree planting and there is some question as to whether public notification is needed. Bonnie will investigate. Most trees will be planted this fall but some requested tree varieties, may be better suited to spring planting.

 

4.     Prune and remove work will be done by Tree Tech and has begun. Commissioners have been asked to drive through their areas keeping an eye on the work being done. This is the first time this company has worked for the Borough. Joan is in the process of getting the prune and remove information over to her new location at DPW. This is a work in progress.

 

5.     A letter, congratulating The Borough of Mountain Lakes on being a Tree City USA for 12 years, has arrived in the mail along with a press release. Heather will submit the article to the Neighbor News for publication.

 

6.     It has been decided that saplings will not be given out to all students this year due to rising costs. A story about planting trees will be read by the superintendent of schools. Two young trees donated by the county will be planted by DPW in conjunction with Arbor Day. The tree in honor of Susan Landau will be planted at the High School. The other tree may be planted in the triangle at Valley and Reynold, where a large tree had fallen this past winter, but that location is not definite. Wording for the certificate was discussed and Heather will print it. At the Arbor Day celebration on May 1st, Joan will present the certificate to Susan Landau and say a few words about her.

 

7.     Bonnie told us about the Mountain Lakes Service Fair that was held at the High School. She believes the event was better organized than in past years and was a huge success. Students showed interest in our literature. Shade Tree should plan on being represented again, at this event in the future. The Freshman Class has a tree project planned for this spring, planting trees near the new fields. They have purchased the trees through an educational grant. They have more saplings than needed for their project and the extra trees might be available to us to give out at Arbor Day.

 

8.     Old Business:

 

a.    A link to Bartlett Tree Tips will be added to the website by Tom.

 

b.    Marnie has located a draft copy of the November 2008 minutes that will be looked over for mistakes and then posted on the web. We will continue to update our minutes to the web.

 

c.    Mountain Lakes Day power point presentation on landscaping with trees is still in the works. Bonnie is making a list of commissioners who will be in town to man the table on Memorial Day. The announcement of Ò100 Trees for 100 Years,Ó our tree planting fundraiser, will be put on hold until we inform the Mountain Lakes Centennial Committee of our plans.

 

d.    Tom has found a grant from the Dodge Foundation that might be something for us to look into for the future.

 

e.    Bonnie is half way through the FAQs and will continue to submit them to the H&SA Bulletin. Commissioners have had positive feedback on the FAQs from community members.

 

9.     New Business:

 

a.    It was reported that the Invasives Subcommittee is in need of direction from Council. There are questions about pesticide/herbicide use and how the committee should proceed in directing the Woodlands Committee. Shade Tree will continue to be updated on the work of this committee and how it relates to our areas of concern.

 

b.    It was noted that we may need to revisit the permit process to prevent some unlawful tree removals, in the setback areas on private property. We will discuss this next month.

 

Next meeting will be held on May 14th