Mountain Lakes Shade Tree Commission
Minutes of Meeting
May 9, 2013

In attendance: Consuelo Murtagh, Jay Eveleth, Janet Horst, Doug McWilliams (Borough Council representative).
Guest: Heather Scott

1. ACTION: Minutes from the April meeting are still to be published and reviewed.

2. Heather Scott - a new recruit to STC - was introduced. Heather is a Master Gardener and hales most recently from Illinois. She will submit a brief resume (or letter of introduction) to our Borough Council. ACTION: Council needs to approve Heather's STC membership.

3. Consuelo reported on our Arbor Day celebration which took place on Friday, April 26th at Wildwood School. The Borough celebrates this event as part of our requirement as a Tree City U.S.A. member. At the outdoor event the Mayor read a proclamation, the Principal of the school spoke, the 1st graders wore tee shirts that they made to honor Arbor Day, the school band played, the 4th graders performed a skit written by Janet Horst, and all 1st graders got a Red Oak tree sapling to plant.

4. ACTION: Marnie needs to put copies of all the paperwork from Arbor Day in the Tree City file at DPW so that we have documentation needed to apply for our next year's Tree City U.S.A. renewal, in January 2014.

5. This year's tree removals have been completed and tree pruning should be finished soon. ACTION: The STC "Tree Inventory" database needs to be updated with the removals noted. After this is done, reports will be printed and distributed to all STC members to facilitate summer prune & remove updates. ACTION: Borough Manager, Bob Tovo, is to be updated on the status of this year's tree pruning and removals.

6. STC submitted a grant proposal to Town Club requesting $750 to facilitate the purchase and planting of 3-4 shade trees to be planted along side a Wintering Hawthorne recently established to honor Susan Marshall for her 13 year service on STC. All trees will front the Borough parking lot on Pocono Road and will replace a number of Bartlett Pear trees all recently removed due to poor health.

7. Consuelo is working on a N.J. Community Stewardship Incentive Program Grant Application for $20,000. This grant exclusively funds the identification and removal of hazardous trees in the Borough's right-of-ways and "pocket parks" (numerous undeveloped properties under the ownership of the Borough). The grant proposal is required due to the Borough''s membership in "Sustainable NJ".

8. STC is still interested in recruiting 1-2 new members.

9. Doug reported that the Borough is interested in any comments STC has on sites and/or structures that need attention. Comments like these are typically noted by STC members in their annual walks on a separate report.

10. Janet's Emerald Ash Tree Borer article is to be published in the May issue of Mountain Lakes Living magazine.

11. Lorraine Konopka is the Borough's new arborist. She is a N.J. certified Tree Expert and lives in nearby Rockaway, NJ

Next meeting will be held on June 13, 2013.

Respectfully submitted by Janet Horst, STC member.