Mountain Lakes Shade Tree Commission

Minutes of Meeting

Meeting held January 12, 2012

Commissioners in attendance: S. Marshall, J. Best, T. Caine, C. Murtagh, J. Horst

1. There were no comments from the public.

2. December minutes were approved with changes. The newest STC member, Janet Horst’s, contact information reviewed and the membership list were updated. Janet was kindly thanked for her enthusiasm in cleaning up the borough property at Morris Avenue and Powerville Road, and for becoming our newest member. Janet is taking over of Laura Conner’s expired term. Tom Caine’s membership was renewed for another five-year term.

3. Membership/Council Liaison and Territory Assignments. Joan Best reviewed the territory assignments for 2012:

Area one – Heather

Area two – Sue

Area three – Consuelo

Area four - Tom

Area five - Joan

Area six - Janet

Area seven – Marnie

Joan re-iterated the role of the commissions is to be the ‘eyes and ears’ on borough tree matters. Authorization for any actions is with the Borough Manager and the town’s Council.

4. Tree Canopy Resolution Update –Bob Tovo, Acting Borough Manager drafted the resolution and the STC wrote it and STC signed it.

5. P & R update – Work bids are out to all vendors. The bids will be opened on 1/18 for review and then the most competitive bill will be accepted. Next year’s P&R focus will be on catching up with the damage resulting from the storms.

6. Community Forestry Plan/Update – The plan has been submitted as of December 15, 2011. It is hopeful to be passed based on feedback from Todd Wycoff of the Community Forestry Program. The deadline for the 2011 Annual Accomplishments report is due for February 15. Joan and Consuelo will meet to put this together.

7. 2012 Planning & Goals Statement for Council Update – Sue Marshall will report on this in the February STC meeting as she now has the State of Plan Implementation to work from.

8. 100 Trees for 100 Years – Sue reports that she has received additional requests from town residence to purchase tress. She asked Tony Cerbo if this was possible and he agreed to extend the program. Since the request for the tree came from three ML families wanting to buy a tree for a neighbor, some adjustments will be needed for the certificate language to fulfill this request. The current number of trees planted is 55. This number does not include three memorial trees, 2 from the garden club, and a red maple tree, the Arbor Day memorial tree. This brings the total to 63 trees. Certificate of participation did go out to town residents. Heather will confirm that the memorial trees for this year are also provided certificates. The list of honoree trees will be placed on the STC website, and Tom will arrange this.

9. Tree City USA – Sue sent out the application packet in December 2011 for recertification in Tree City USA.

10. Arbor Day Planning – Marnie Vyff has confirmed her willingness to coordinate this year’s program on behalf of the Shade Tree Commission. Consideration will be made in the next meeting to determine who this year’s honoree will be. One suggestion was the winner of the 100 trees for 100 years.

11. Other/New Business – Plans were discussed for the attendance of Janet Horst in the April 2012 CORE training.

Next Meeting is 2/9/2012

Meeting Adjourned at 9:30am.