[00:00] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay, we're on the air. You can start whenever you're ready. [00:01] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Sauce, that's where I—I call to order the September 19th—I would like to call to order the September 19th meeting of the Oakdale Tree Board. Um, do I need to do anything else besides that? [00:02] **Lauren (City Staff):** Nope. [00:03] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Hey, we're going—first thing we gotta do is Pledge of Allegiance, correct? [00:04] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes. [00:05] **All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [00:06] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Right. Roll call then. [00:07] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, I am unprepared, I apologize. It’s funny. [00:08] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** That’s okay. You can have me do roll call, or you can do it. [00:09] **Lauren (City Staff):** Can you do the roll call, please? [00:10] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. Nick Cantola? Here. Mark Sagstadter? Excused absence. Glenn Giacoletto? [00:11] **Glenn Giacoletto:** Here. [00:12] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Michael Bender? [00:13] **Michael Bender:** Here. [00:14] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Alice Pearson? [00:15] **Alice Pearson:** Here. [00:16] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Mike Zarella? [00:17] **Mike Zarella:** Here. [00:18] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** We do have a quorum. All right, did everyone have a chance to look over the minutes from last meeting? Anybody have any changes that need to be made? [00:19] **Mike Zarella:** Move we accept them as presented. [00:20] **Alice Pearson:** Second. [00:21] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. All in favor? [00:22] **All:** Aye. [00:23] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Any opposed? All right, we have approved the minutes from the last meeting. Um, old business. We have some new commissioner applications. [00:24] **Lauren (City Staff):** And if I may? [00:25] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** You may, please. [00:26] **Lauren (City Staff):** I just stuck that in there so—um, I brought it up last time, we had one and I haven't had time to do my part of this job for her yet, and since that time we've got another. Um, so in the next couple of weeks here, I'll be trying to have interviews with my supervisor and them. Um, and if they successfully complete those interviews, I'll be pushing it off to City Council. They'll have whatever they do part of their—I don't know if it's an interview or a phone conversation—and then it'll be up to them to move forward or not. So, if I'll just introduce them quickly: Jacqueline Johnson was the one who I'm really delinquent on, and Susan Lindo has a more recent applicant since our last board meeting. [00:27] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Excellent, awesome. Very excited. Um, next up on old business, Item B: Twin Cities Growth Award updates. We've got an exhibit in here. Lauren, would you... exhibit A is page 11 or 12. [00:28] **Lauren (City Staff):** And Marge was going to talk about this, but basically, um, it's been brought up and it passed Tree Board—the Tree City USA Growth Awards. Um, a couple of board members have discussed it and want the city to apply for it. Um, so Marge has looked up the requirements. It's a—you just need 10 points, I think, on the application to receive the Tree City USA Growth Award on top of our Tree City USA designation. So I'll—I'll just say that, you know, I'll be bringing it up with my administrator and seeing if she wants to apply for it, if she wants to bring it to the Council or what. But so that's kind of where we're at on that. [00:29] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, and just based on what I saw in the requirements, it seems like we should pretty easily qualify for points. [00:30] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, I think we qualified. Yeah, not too stressed about that then. [00:31] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Okay. Uh, and then is everybody—anybody have anything else they want to add on that? Questions, comments, concerns? All right. Lauren, do you want to take us through the 2024 work plan updates? [00:32] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, and I'm going to put this on an overhead because this agenda is—does it go this way? Anybody in the booth? Anita, can you bring out the doc cam, please? Here we go. Okay, and I'm gonna have you guys vote on this. If—if you want to make any changes, let's do it here. If you want to add anything to this, let's do it here and then vote on it so that I can present it. Um, and then it'll—it'll come up again, I think, at the Council-Tree Board Workshop, which will be sometime this fall. So, so far I just have our normal duties on here. If I might... you have to bring it over to your—whoops, there you go. Yeah, there you go. Perfect. So far I just have the normal duties on here. Um, 2024 Tree Board work plan description, tasks, examples from current or previous work. Any changing from the existing events or new actions on the ground will require Council approval. Um, so if, you know, if you guys would vote to bring something to Council and they make a decision on it. The Arbor Day Festival is the first task. Pete Gratzke Arbor Day tree giveaway is how we celebrate Arbor Day here. Um, that celebration and Arbor Day Festival is one of the requirements of the Tree City USA application. Um, so we just have, you know, the date. It's always the first Saturday after Arbor Day. Timing lately, it's been 9:00 to 11:30. Um, the number of trees given away last year... um, was I guess we had two short years in a row. The previous year was weather-related, I think, and last year again was somewhat weather-related, I think. Um, so we're—we're closer to 175 trees, but all the trees get planted. It's not—I mean, I have a budget to plant trees, so if we order 25 extra trees, they're getting planted in Oakdale somewhere. So I'm not worried about it, but definitely the number of trees is always up for discussion if you guys think, you know, we're not getting the turnout we need to, or we're getting more turnout than we have trees for. Um, species selection, we're gonna go over that later as well. Size and cost typically for around thirty dollars a tree. Location and style of the tree giveaway has kind of changed. The location has stayed the same, but the style is changed into a car parade, and people seem to be happy with that. Volunteers and Council arrival times, usually 15 minutes ahead of time. And do we allow other groups to participate? The Scouts have participated in the past; they didn't call me last year. So things that you should be discussing with Council on stuff like that. Next: Jane Klein Memorial spring planting, which was renamed this year by City Council to be the Jane Klein Memorials—you have to slide it up a little bit so it stays in the doc cam, thank you. Um, again, same date. Try to avoid Mother's Day and high school proms. That's usually what we're thinking about when we pick the date there. Um, timing has typically been 9:00 to noon with lunch at 11:00. Type of planting—so it—this is where it varies. Um, trees or landscape beds. In the past, we've tried to revitalize some landscape beds, uh, but we are Tree Board. I really enjoyed last year planting all those trees. It was super fun. It was a great spot. The board used to be composed of a lot more gardeners. I think that's why it kind of did a lot of planting, revitalizing. But, uh, yeah, that's something you should discuss with Council as well. Uh, tree species selection and volunteers from where? So right now we're getting volunteers from the National Honor Societies of both schools—both high schools in 622 School District—and then we get a few walk-ins and Master Gardeners and Tree Board. Um, so next, the Scott Carver Buckthorn removal event, which is always in the fall. Um, the date usually we try to avoid MEA weekend just so that people aren't out of town. Timing again, 9:00 to noon it's typically, um, lunch at 11:00. Location—it's usually in the Nature Preserve, but we have had it at other places. Um, so that's always up for discussion. There's still plenty of regrowth to do in the Nature Preserve. There's actually still some—some old growth, but it's really hard to get to. Um, I've kind of been developing another plan, so it's not something we would have to have a Buckthorn removal event on, but there's plenty of areas where regrowth—we can—we can keep it in the Nature Preserve. But, uh, you know, that's up for discussion so with you and the Council. And again, volunteers from where? Typically right now we're getting them from the National Honor Society. Um, and that's the Tree Board work plan for next year, 2024. If you want me to add anything to that before we kind of finalize the draft for Council to see. I would—and which is what's going to be discussed at your Workshop this fall. Let's hear any ideas. [00:33] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** What's the timeline on—on those through the Arbor Day? When—when do you need the selection of trees by? [00:34] **Lauren (City Staff):** By the first—the first meeting. So I—I think I have it on the agenda. I'm going to bring that up again soon in order to get them— [00:35] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, and I need to order them this or next week. Ideally we'd have those today, right? Like we hammer that out today and— [00:36] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yep, get that sorted. Yep, yep. Which I think we can have that conversation. It'll be really intense, I'm sure. [00:37] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Um, yeah, I think all this—all looks really good. It all seems pretty standard with what we've done in the past. I don't think we need to do like—I don't see a need to reinvent the wheel in any of these. Anybody feel differently? [00:38] **Mike Zarella:** From what I've seen, everything works good so far. I really like the—the vehicle parade giving away trees. It works out really, really well. And last year I thought with the two lanes, that worked out— [00:39] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, that worked out really well. [00:40] **Mike Zarella:** Uh, the volunteers from where? I'm—I'm kind of curious now, I just with climate change and everything, do any of these high schools have like environmental clubs or anything like that? Because this would be something that would be right up their alley, I would think. But I don't know if there is such a thing. [00:41] **Lauren (City Staff):** I don't know. And I have asked the National Honor Society advisors at both schools if there are other groups that—that I should be looking at, and I haven't ever gotten an answer from them. So I can ask that again this year. And if—if there's no changes, I would like you guys to vote on this so that I can call this our draft work plan. [00:42] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah. Well, can I get a—does anyone feel strong enough? I want to make it—make a motion to approve it? [00:43] **Mike Zarella:** I move that we, uh, adopt and accept the 2024 Tree Board work plan as presented. [00:44] **Alice Pearson:** Second. [00:45] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All opposed? Motion carries. We have approved the draft for you, Lauren. Thank you. [00:46] **Lauren (City Staff):** Thank you. [00:47] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** The next item on the list is the naturalist tours of the Discovery Center. Yeah. Okay, we have some background on that, Lauren? [00:48] **Lauren (City Staff):** Uh, yeah. So this was some—this was something else that Marge brought up that she wanted to discuss. Um, I have on the back side of that Tree Board work plan, I added some things for 2023 Council-Tree Board Workshop discussion topics. Perfect. Um, so and I didn't—I didn't get that naturalist tours Discovery Center thing on there, but uh, I will try to add that. Um, if that's Marge's thing, then we should maybe wait till Marge is here to discuss that. [00:49] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, that's fine. [00:50] **Lauren (City Staff):** Um, and basically it was that she—and she said that the naturalist that used to give tours in the park had moved away or something or quit—maybe got too old, I don't know—but had stopped doing the tours. Um, and she was hoping to—to bring it to Council to—to look at getting tours. And I think that would probably be the Rec Department that would set that up. So I mean, if you guys recommend it at the Council and they thought it was a good idea, then they would probably push it at the Rec Department. [00:51] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. Well, I have a Rec Department meeting and at seven. Do you want me to bring it up? Parks and Rec? [00:52] **Lauren (City Staff):** I don't, but I'm sure Marge would. [00:53] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Okay, I can do that. [00:54] **Lauren (City Staff):** I don't, but I'm sure Marge would. And I don't know much about that environmentalist that used to, or naturalist that gave tours. I was—I never participated in any of that tour, so I'm not sure what it was like or what they did. [00:55] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Okay. Well then we can move on to number two there underneath item C, which is the Tree Track program. So we've got an Exhibit B in there, but letter A under that is updates to the map and pamphlet. So Mike, you're out there looking at the trees? [00:56] **Michael Bender:** Yes. Um, my first question is—well, my first comment is that this seems to be a really nice program, but I don't think anybody's using it. [00:57] **Lauren (City Staff):** So this program was originally put forward by the Tree Board, I don't know, seven—six or seven years ago. [00:58] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. [00:59] **Lauren (City Staff):** It took us three years to get it installed. Um, but again, I've never been real happy with the successful outcome. There's some tweaks that need to be done. Um, I had my crew ground-truth that—you guys ground-truth that, Mike Bender, I think and Marge did some ground-truthing. And uh, so we have a list of things that need to get done. I've already talked to the GIS Department. We've got the map working again. The map was always visible, but we couldn't do any changes to it. But now I think I finally can make changes again. So I'll have my crew go out and make the mapping edits that need to clean the map up. Um, they've already tried to straighten some posts and the ground was too hard; they couldn't get them out of the ground. So I have to figure out how we're gonna get those posts out of the ground straight and I'm still—um, some—some kind of a pallet-pinching tool I'm thinking. The one we have at Public Works has got steel prongs on it, so it's going to wreck our fiberglass stakes if I use that. Um, but so I still have a little bit of work to do to figure out or just wait for rain and try it again. We'll see, I don't know. But uh, anyway and again so yeah but— [01:00] **Michael Bender:** Um, I had a hard time finding that map. And went to the Nature Center and had to ask for it, and then they printed it out for me. So that's why I said I don't know if it's being used because, you know, when I went to try and do it, I couldn't find the map. [01:01] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, I'm sure most of the public's experience with it is as they walk through and they see the stakes and— [01:02] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, scan the QR codes. Like that's—I'm sure—but thank you for going out and checking it out and seeing what's there, making sure it's accurate. Like, that's fantastic. [01:03] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** So that's a potential discussion point for you and the Council would be: how can we better get that utilized? Can we advertise it somehow? [01:04] **Michael Bender:** I mean, for what I saw, I think it's a great tool, but I just, you know, from like myself as—as not knowing anything about it uh until I volunteered to help, um, you know, it was hard to find that map. [01:05] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Is—is it readily available on the website? [01:06] **Lauren (City Staff):** It is, yep. If you know where you're going. [01:07] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, that's the thing. Market—Market internet. How do you get everybody to know that it exists? Um, I was over in a park in Minnetonka a couple weeks ago meeting with the city forester over there and they had their Tree Trek set up and I—but I could reach out to Hannibal and see if like they've done anything special, if like they've found good value of it. See just like what other cities are doing, if that'd be valuable. [01:08] **Michael Bender:** Well, I think if people want to know about trees, it's a very valuable—I mean, the—the idea is fantastic. Um, but it's just I don't know if it's being used. So that's—I would like to see it, you know, be more or be used more. So how long do you think it would take to find all these trees? Is it kind of addressed? [01:09] **Michael Bender:** No, find them... it's the only—the only one I couldn't find is a Serviceberry. [01:10] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Where is that one supposed to be? [01:11] **Michael Bender:** East of the—of the Nature Center. East—east or northeast of it. And I walk that whole area and I couldn't find it. [01:12] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Like in the spot behind it? Like in the little... [01:13] **Michael Bender:** No, I walk behind it and I wish somebody would do some trimming in there because it's hard to walk in there. [01:14] **Lauren (City Staff):** Get you a saw, Mike. [01:15] **Michael Bender:** I don't need a saw, I got one. But—um, but as you pointed out, there is a—there is a—a Juneberry elsewhere in—in the Forest Garden. [01:16] **Michael Bender:** Yeah, and I also when I was talking to Marge out there, I—I noticed that the Amur Maple, it's—that's dead. And I couldn't find the, uh, Pagoda Dogwood, but there is an Amur Maple where the Pagoda Dogwood is supposed to be. So you could just switch signs on that. [01:17] **Lauren (City Staff):** And it's quite possible that we would have killed the Amur Maple. [01:18] **Michael Bender:** So it’s pretty good size. [01:19] **Lauren (City Staff):** That’s an invasive species that we chemically treat. [01:20] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** As I say... yeah. Big ups to whoever decided to put the Amur Maple on the Tree Trek. "Here's some invasive species." Cool. All right, well, so some work to do on that for sure. Looks like we're on to Forest Garden updates. We did walk through there; it is quite overgrown. [01:21] **Lauren (City Staff):** So the original plan was to plant that and—and it was all about rebuilding the—the old farmhouse soils on that site. And it was—it was planting vegetation that was going to rebuild the soils and the whole plan was to—to kind of let it go back natural. Marge is, uh, trying to start an initiative to maintain that better and—uh, that's another discussion you guys have to have with City Council. [01:22] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. Yes, it looks like eventually Marge would like plants labeled, a maintenance plan written up, and then yeah, the layout plan. Marge already has going with Paul. We do have an exhibit for that one. [01:23] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah. And—and I think part of her vision is there's a lot of edibles in that garden already, and I think part of her vision is to kind of turn that into an edible garden that can be advertised to residents. Go and pick the fruit. Be very cool. [01:24] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Um, did she talk to you at all about the peach tree? Needed to be— [01:25] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, I have heard a lot about that peach tree and I did make a work order, but we haven't got it staked yet. [01:26] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Anybody else have any questions or comments about anything related to the Forest Garden? And a lot of these items are on the back side of that 2024 work plan, and it's labeled "2023 Council-Tree Board Workshop Discussion Topics." [01:27] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, appreciate under Forest Garden Item 4: Labyrinth reduction. So... [01:28] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Excellent. To describe that, there is a... what's the gray rock? Dresser Trap Rock? [01:29] **Lauren (City Staff):** Um, there is a spiral labyrinth with a—what do they call the trail that cuts across them? Desire line. Desire Line Trail across it. And—and there's the—the trails are close together and the shrubs that were planted in between them have outgrown everything. Um, we used to blow that rock path off once in a while just to—to kind of encourage people that walk up here. Um, but it's getting so overgrown that the last time I told my guys to go up there, I said, "Pick one of those gravel paths and just don't clean it off anymore." And Marge had the same—came to the same conclusion: we should just eliminate one of those. Which, you know, might—might mean just throwing some soil on top of the rock, I don't know. [01:30] **Mike Zarella:** The paths also have like burning nettle right next to them. [01:31] **Lauren (City Staff):** Oh, pretty... excellent. [01:32] **Mike Zarella:** And some—and some—and I don't know which weed it is that with the stickers on it. Oh yeah. It isn't Cockleberry, it's her... Burdock. It's... there's smaller ones. You can ask Deb; she found it. Well— [01:33] **Lauren (City Staff):** I do try to treat the poison ivy where we find it. So I'll look for that. [01:34] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. All right, anything else on the Forest Garden before we move on? Thank you for going out there and doing all that work, Mike. All right. Uh, Shadow Planting Grant. We get some background on that, Lauren? [01:35] **Lauren (City Staff):** And so this is another initiative that Marge wants to get going again. Um, shadow planting is basically where you're planting another tree next to a chemically treated ash tree right now that you don't want to chemically treat forever, and to let a tree start growing um to get established well so that when you do cut down the mature ash tree, you have some shade again as soon as possible. Um, so that is an initiative that Marge would like to—uh, get the Tree Board to discuss with Council again. Um, and—and—and she talked about maybe applying for a grant for money for shadow planting. Um, but so that's what that's all about. [01:36] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Well, we can save that for when Marge is here. [01:37] **Mike Zarella:** And yeah, I was going to say, Nick, what was your thoughts beyond that? Because to me that just seems like you're asking for trouble down the road unless that tree is planted perfectly in the right spot. Because you're adding costs to taking that tree down if you—you don't put that shadow plant in the right spot. [01:38] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, for sure. Um, I mean if the Public Works crew is doing the planting and putting them in the right spots and I think that could be okay, but certainly now you're adding an obstacle to removal. [01:39] **Lauren (City Staff):** And there was some discussion about, uh, having that as a volunteer event. So, you know, that's again a discussion for Council. Where would it be? Replacing um the current spring planting or adding another event? Or actually a really cool thing to do for the spring planting would be to use that as an opportunity to go in and do that. Um, I think we'd probably want to do it the same way where you guys come in and auger the holes and then we just stick stuff in the ground. [01:40] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** That's when you're ready to go. And there will—there will be a lot of logistics involved because I would want to talk to every homeowner's yard that we have an ash tree in. Um, so and—and the volunteer event would be moving—you know, how is it city-wide? Is it this one block and we're only planting seven trees? [01:41] **Mike Zarella:** Yeah, with all those logistics, it's probably better to just like have you guys do that if that's something we can get funding for rather than trying to make it a volunteer event, in my opinion. [01:42] **Lauren (City Staff):** And any grant funding applications have to go through City Hall. And I don't know if that's through the administrator or through City Council. But so we at least have to—any decisions that you guys make on grant applications, I at least have to talk to City Hall about and see where—how we proceed or if we proceed. [01:43] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Right. Anybody have any further comments or questions about that one? Sorry, I feel like I'm ignoring you, Mike. I'm not on purpose. Everybody else is over here. Next time we'll just trade seats. All right, well then next up is normal duties. So these are all underneath the work plan still, which we've already discussed. So normal duties: right, just the Arbor Day Festival, the Jane Kleiner Memorial spring planting, and the Scott Carver Buckthorn removal project. I think we've covered those pretty darn well. Um, should we just move on to the Buckthorn removal event? Does anybody have any questions or comments about what we would consider our normal duties? [01:44] **Mike Zarella:** The only question I've got is, response to one of my earlier questions, it sounded like we needed to make decisions about the trees today. [01:45] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yes. [01:46] **Mike Zarella:** See it on the agenda, so do we need to amend the agenda to include that? [01:47] **Lauren (City Staff):** I think it's down here under "other"... Bailey's Tree Availability. [01:48] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, I would suggest we move that up into new business. [01:49] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay. Yeah, I agree. Um, new business or old business? What did you say? [01:50] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Uh, probably new business. Tree selection. Okay. Vote on—amended—amend a—the amendment to the agenda. Agenda. There you go. Vote on an agenda amendment. Can I get a motion to amend the agenda? [01:51] **Mike Zarella:** I move that we move the Bailey's tree availability topic up to new business as, uh, Arbor Day Tree Selection is Item B under new business. Let me guess the second one. [01:52] **Alice Pearson:** Second. [01:53] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Thank you, Alice and Mike. Uh, all in favor? [01:54] **All:** Aye. [01:55] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Any opposed? And we will—we will add that to new business as Item B. Thank you, Dallas. Yep. Okay. Well then let's move on to the Buckthorn removal event then. I know we've got a map as exhibit C1 and then a flyer to check out too. [01:56] **Lauren (City Staff):** So this is just the—the back edge of the Forest Garden. Yeah, C1 is page 26 and 27. Oh, maybe I'm wrong. 27. 27 is the map. Yeah, 26, 27. Oh yeah. The flyer is 28-29. So basically... and—and it looks like the map didn't all get published like I had it, but—so that is the peninsula north... let's—let me think about it a minute. It's kind of northeast off of the Forest Garden and it goes out in the Mud Lake. The footbridge is kind of through a little bit of a swamp to the west. Um, and there's more Buckthorn removal than just that right there. It's actually all over that peninsula there. And that's—that was my thought for the Buckthorn removal event this spring—I mean, this fall. Marge thought it was a good idea. Um, so yeah, I just want to have a vote on if—if that's where you want to have the Buckthorn removal event this year. [01:57] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, I think it's a great spot for the Buckthorn removal. I think we could do a lot of good in that little part of the park. Make it more usable, make it more inviting to walk back there, because right now it's called like... it does not look like a place you should be going, even though we want to encourage them to go—people to go there. [01:58] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** I'd like to make a motion that we have our Buckthorn removal event in the Forest Garden at the indicated spot. [01:59] **Mike Zarella:** Second. [02:00] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Uh, all in favor? [02:01] **All:** Aye. [02:02] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All opposed? Then we will have the Buckthorn removal event there. We recommend having the Buckthorn removal event there. Does anybody have any questions, comments about the Buckthorn removal event based on what you've seen on the map or what's on the flyer? Is that the flyer as it's going to go out? [02:03] **Lauren (City Staff):** It is, yep. And we'll meet at the pavilion by the large pavilion, which is by the Discovery Center there across the parking lot. [02:04] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Any chance we could get a higher resolution photo on the—the upper part kind of looks like it was taken with a potato. [02:05] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yep, I can certainly work with the Communications Department about that. [02:06] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Cool. Okay. Well then moving on to the EAB removal ordinance. Put info from the Council Liaison. Welcome, Mayor Zabel. [02:07] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm filling in for Councilmember Willenberg tonight. Um, what do you want to know? I guess what am I presenting here? Um, you know, Chapter 22 of the City Code covers um the process for removing trees in the city of Oakdale. It also prescribes how the city goes about abating them from private property um as well. So, uh, personally I'm not quite sure what the Tree Board or staff's trying to achieve with a policy here, since it does seem like it's pretty well prescribed in the City Code. Um, there is one portion of Chapter 22 that talks about a policy, but that really only pertains to um the actual removal, treatment, abatement itself. So everything else is pretty well spelled out. Um, maybe Lauren can shed some light on what the Council Liaison's supposed to be talking about here. [02:08] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, originally my thought was in the wording of "nuisance" and—and the way I originally presented it to the board last meeting, um, was I wanted to find out if the board thought they should have a discussion at all, or present it to City Council to look at if "nuisance" and "hazards" should be looked at. Um, because there's gonna—it's gonna come fast and hard here. Neighbor complaints over a nuisance. Um, and that's where I was trying to get the Tree Board to think about if they thought that was worth going to Council over, if we want to think about changing the wording from "nuisance." [02:09] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Yeah, so... Mr. Chair? Um, my understanding is that under the City Code, you know, "nuisance" is really only defined as presence of. So presence of Dutch Elm disease, Oak Wilt, Emerald Ash Borer—I believe those are the three spelled out in the City Code. Any consequences or results from the presence—whether it's the tree dying or partially dying in some respect—feels irrelevant. It is... you know, my understanding is the purpose of um Chapter 22, Article 6, is to slow the spread by eliminating the specimen. So beyond that, I—I don't think there's much of a conversation. You know, the—it seems like the practice outlined in Chapter 22 is, you know, receive a resident complaint—or it doesn't have to necessarily be a complaint from a resident, it could be an observation from city staff—you know, investigate through the process to find in there, determine if Emerald Ash Borer is present, Abate it or mitigate it. Um, beyond that, I—I'm not sure anything else needs to be defined or redefined. But you know, you are our advisory body. You know, so if there is something you feel—if there's a gray area you feel needs to be addressed, we certainly could look at that. Um, personally I feel like it is covered under the language, but that is just one elected official's opinion. [02:10] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. So like, Lauren, your concern would be that if we were to switch using the word "nuisance," we're not as covered as we would be if it was the word "hazard"? [02:11] **Lauren (City Staff):** So like because like a "hazard" is a defined thing like with an action... I think we're going to get bombarded, no doubt. Like I'm already seeing them in my neighborhood, like with quarter-dead ash trees with people saying, "You need to have my neighbor remove his tree." Sure. Um, and—and eventually it's going to be a hazard. Sure. So I'm wondering if that's going to slow that down if it says "hazards" over "nuisance." We could have them demonstrate that it's—like, poses a real threat to people or property. Then that's a barrier to them just complaining about an ugly tree next door. Right. [02:12] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay, but yeah, I mean I see that now. That's going to be more expensive too, because we don't have any TRAQ-certified arborists on staff. So we're gonna have to hire out TRAQ-certified arborists in to—to make a hazard determination. [02:13] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. TRAQ's relatively easy to go get, for what it's worth. So... [02:14] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Up—Mr. Chair? So um, one—one thing I want to caution um the—the board on, and it's something that the City Council has to be careful of as well, is that very fine line between policy and operations. Yeah. So considerations of, you know, "it's going to be a lot," etc., really aren't um topics of consideration for the advisory bodies or even the City Council. That's something that's handled on the operation side. So with our staff, with our City Administrator, etc. So that is a very firm wall that the City Council has established and we want to keep that. Um, under the current language, you know, I think we would all agree that yeah, there are going to be a lot. Um, because we do have a lot regardless of whether it's a nuisance or hazard, etc. You know, the—the current language merely only addresses presence of. So if the Tree Board wants to make a policy change recommendation to go from "presence of" to "presence of and significant hazard," etc., that would probably be the Tree Board's lane. Um, I—I don't know where the City Council would stand on that. Um, because I think evaluating hazards can be incredibly subjective. If the goal is to lessen the tsunami of complaints, we can certainly look at different ways to handle that or staff can look at that—whether it's outsourcing, you know, to contractors, etc. That is a financial consideration the City Council can absolutely make, but that doesn't currently exist within the budget or within the City Code. So um, so that's one challenge we would have to address and we would—we would address. So um, I think for the purposes of this conversation, it's really the—the Tree Board should consider what are we trying to achieve? It is—is it to get, you know, ash trees down that have been confirmed to have EAB? Or is it to leave them up for a longer period of time because of potential impacts on staff, which would be an operations consideration? In terms of the City Code, we try and just think of the end objective, which in this case, as defined by the City Code, is get them down, get them out, you know, and get them replaced. That's probably where we're at right now. [02:15] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Awesome, thank you for that input. Yeah, appreciate it. [02:16] **Lauren (City Staff):** If I may? Yeah, that's wonderful conversation, which is why I brought this whole thing up at the last Tree Board meeting and Nick, you were gone, which was—it was unfortunate for me because I was hoping you were going to be there because you're in the industry and the Mayor's here tonight to talk about it, which is fabulous. Um, so this is a pet issue of mine. So I am—I am so happy that we just had this conversation. That's—that's the thing I wanted to happen. So this is perfect. [02:17] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Yeah, Mr. Chair? Yeah, I apologize, but I have to leave. Oh yeah, I have to get to another meeting. [02:18] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Thank you, Mike. We appreciate you being here. Did you send your list of tree species to Lauren, Mike? [02:19] **Michael Bender:** Fabulous, thank you. Right there, my man. I just want to make sure your voice was heard on that one because I respect your input on that very much. [02:20] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, does anyone feel strongly that we need to recommend discussing that further, whether—whether we use the word "nuisance" or "hazard"? Does anyone have an opinion on that very greatly? Oh, I do see where the word "hazard" would be maybe beneficial from some perspectives, but like the—the burden of them having to then quantify it as a hazard is real, real high. Um, to actually go out and perform that tree risk assessment... it's a person who does those. Um, I don't—I guess I don't feel strongly one way or another. And if—and if you, Mr. Mayor, are saying that you feel that it's covered well in the current policy, I would absolutely defer to you on that one. [02:21] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Oh, my—my opinion would be that the ordinance does a nice job at prescribing how we address this issue. Um, there are absolutely issues on the operation side that we need to work through and that's—that's a different conversation. You know, that—that's a—that's a budgetary conversation. Um, as for changes to the existing ordinance, personally I don't see what um beyond saying get rid of infested trees or infected trees what the benefit would be. But that it—that is up to the Tree Board. [02:22] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. I can't say I have a strong feeling either way, but I tend to be in agreement that if the City Council and the Mayor's happy with what they have now and it feel—they feel it addresses the issue properly, then that's—that's fine by me. [02:23] **Mike Zarella:** Yeah, like the—the concerns I have about it are probably on the operational side as well, so I don't know. [02:24] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** I think that's outside of our purview. [02:25] **Mike Zarella:** It is. I look at that, but it is outside of our purview. Yeah, it's really purely as Mayor said, subjective at that point. [02:26] **Glenn Giacoletto:** My recollection of why it was brought up was—would be that it was more in the operational side. You know, what—what to do with recalcitrant people who don't want to remove a tree even though it is a hazard. And that is out of our purview really; it was just anecdotally brought up in part of the discussion. [02:27] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Okay. And Mr. Chair and board members, um, that is, uh, prescribed in the ordinance. So under the current ordinance, even on private property, if the city has reasonable suspicion to—to test a tree and it is confirmed, the city can remove it and um assess the cost of that removal on property taxes. So that—there's a—there's a due process provision in there, public notification and all of that. So you know, that is defined in Chapter 22 as well. [02:28] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** So well, that sounds pretty well—pretty well covered then. I think... you feel good about that, Lauren? [02:29] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yep, and I'm happy that it's recorded now. This... excuse me. This hopefully more people will understand that they're gonna—their trees gonna get uh told to be removed. [02:30] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You bet. [02:31] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Then the next item would be the updated EAB plan approval or suggested edits. Um, I should probably recuse myself from any discussion of that. So feel free to take it away. Um, I lost track of where we are. [02:32] **Lauren (City Staff):** Oh, the—the exhibit D, the EAB plan approval. So that updated Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan for the city of Oakdale. Uh, got it, here we go. Um, so Exhibit D page is—doesn't really say a page number here again. Hang on. It's on 31. So that is the—this is the last grant we had um awarded from the DNR for Emerald Ash Borer. Um, we had included in that grant paying a contractor to update our Emerald Ash Borer plan. This is the outcome of that plan. Um, that grant, I'm in the final stages of completing that grant. I think I have a meeting next week to finally complete that grant. Um, so and—and I just wanted the Tree Board to have an opportunity to look at the final version from—from the vendor, see if they have any comments. Um, any changes they think they might see that need to get done. Eventually I am probably—and this is something I'm not sure how this goes if I bring this to the administrator if once I have this final and I want Council to approve it as our EAB plan—I don't know if I go to the administrator or if I have you present it to City Council. I don't know, I'll find that out. But I wanted to get any feedback from you guys on this. So— [02:33] **Mike Zarella:** One thing I can weigh in on, but your recusal as far as I'm concerned should only be taken on the vote. Okay. As for your comments, as one very knowledgeable in the area, I think they would be appreciated. So... [02:34] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Well, I—as a person who works for a competitor to the vendor, I just don't know if that would—if that's legit, if I can weigh in or not. [02:35] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Uh, Mr. Chair, you should recuse. [02:36] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah. [02:37] **Mike Zarella:** Well, as far as I was concerned is not having the expertise that some of the other members here have, I thought it was quite thorough. Um, I was impressed with, you know, kind of the detail of it. Um, and—uh, I was—I was impressed with it myself. But again, I don't have the expertise and that fail like you do. Um, can—can I... is the point that this goes on our website or something so people have a—opportunity to read the history as well as what they can do as far as steps to prevent it? [02:38] **Lauren (City Staff):** If we adopted it as our EAB plan, it would probably go on the website, yes. [02:39] **Mike Zarella:** Okay. [02:40] **Lauren (City Staff):** And by "we," I mean City Council would be the ones that adopted—I mean, it is a little long. I don't know if anybody would want to read the whole thing. [02:41] **Mike Zarella:** Well, several of the things that you've already got in place like Shadow Plant in there—already in process as well. So that's what—the only comment I can make is, I'm certainly not an expert in this. [02:42] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Um, if nobody has further comments or questions about this plan, um, we could probably move on to the next agenda item, which I think would be new business. Um, did you want us to make a recommendation as a board whether we approve this or not? Is that something— [02:43] **Lauren (City Staff):** I don't need to. I—I was just looking for any comments. So we'll just move on. Thank you guys for your input on that. [02:44] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** The Chestnut Crabapple whips that are available. Like those we have to have those picked up um on September 30th around noon. [02:45] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, and I don't remember... it's a Marge thing again. I don't remember exactly what that is. [02:46] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Um, yeah. There are four—she was... four or six? Six trees from the Washington County Master Gardener gravel bed at the fairgrounds um that we were ostensibly going to use as part of the revamped Forest Garden. There were some spots we wanted to put them; we'd have to clear out some trees to make it work. But along the entrance to the Forest Garden, I think Marge had an idea of like putting them around the—like the entrance. I just don't think that's going to work logistically with what's already there that we want to keep. So we have a proposed new place to put them. I think we included that in a map that we sent over to you, Lauren. Um, but yeah, they're just some—some trees that we can get that would look really cool and provide some more edible fruit down there at the Forest Garden. [02:47] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay. Um, yep. So I'll have to check on that. Um, I think that would be considered a donation, so I'll have to check into that. And then um we would need a place to keep them uh until the Buckthorn event then, because they're... are they going to be—they're coming out of the gravel bed, right? [02:48] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, so they're bare root. We'd have to have a place to put them. You guys are dumping out your gravel beds for the season here soon, right? [02:49] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yep, yep. Yeah, I'm sure I could find spots in the ground somewhere for... yep, we could heel them in. I—I have a place I call the hospice. I have a place I call Pete's Nursery. I—we could heel them in in many places. [02:50] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** So thoughts? [02:51] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay, so we can—we can store them until it's time to put them permanently in the ground. Yep. Um, and then as per our amendment to the agenda, next up we get to talk about tree species for the giveaway. This is the fun part. [02:52] **Lauren (City Staff):** If I may? Uh, so Mike Bender on his departure um threw some species at us here. *Prunus mackii*... Papyrus Autumn Blaze, Wasabi Cherry, Contender Peach, and River Birch. Okay. And this is an item I would like a vote on so we—so I could try to get the trees you guys want for this—for the tree giveaway. [02:53] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** And so the—the list that you sent us didn't make it into the agenda, but I know I have it here somewhere. Um, so I guess the—the question then is, you know, what are we looking for in giveaway trees? Do we want like—are we looking for big shade trees? Would you rather have a smaller ornamental? Do we want a mix? Do we—do we want to just give up on trying to ever give away a conifer ever again, or should we try to find something that, you know, will work that isn't a Colorado Blue Spruce? Like, I don't even see that on the list. [02:54] **Lauren (City Staff):** I don't think there are any *Piceas* on the list. No. So that's the thing about evergreens is I cannot get them from Bailey's at all anymore. They have—they have Techny Arborvitaes. This is all they have and they're this tall. Um, so Mike Bender came up with a suggestion tonight for me that I hadn't thought of before was contacting Bailey's and having them get... if I buy trees from them and they get them from a vendor, then I'm actually getting them from Bailey's. [02:55] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. [02:56] **Lauren (City Staff):** Which might work. I hadn't thought about that. So I'll—next year I'll try to uh to maybe think about that and see if that's—I'll contact Bailey's to see if that's a feasibility. I'm going through a salesman change with Bailey's right now, so that'll probably have to wait till next year. [02:57] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Mike's list seemed pretty heavily geared towards smaller ornamental or fruit-bearing trees. Great. Which is great; those were excellent options. Um, I propose we consider some larger shade trees as well. Anybody... what do you guys like? You guys know things about trees. [02:58] **Glenn Giacoletto:** I personally kind of like oak trees for a larger shade tree. Yeah, totally. I've got two of them in my yard. So... [02:59] **Mike Zarella:** Yeah, yeah. I—and I have an oak that's doing very well, but it—it is a—a Prince Royal Oak, and they do tend to kind of go more straight up rather than it being a shade tree. Sure. But uh, my maples are really nice. And I know uh Marge likes the Kentucky Coffee Trees. Sure. And—um, uh for myself, I do like the idea of more fruit trees because I look at them as also provide not only maybe some shade and everything, but also, you know, some food source. [03:00] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. [03:01] **Mike Zarella:** I have a—I have a couple of River Birches. They're doing great, but where I live is close to swamp—the area—so they grow well where I live, but I don't know... and—uh, just because of the nature of the soil and the... it's, uh, you know, I have only a lot of water, but I don't know how well they do outside of that type of environment. [03:02] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah. I mean, if it's a drier area, you're going to provide supplemental water for everything right now because it's crazy droughty, but just generally, Birch trees like water. Yeah. Mike, what do you like? [03:03] **Mike Zarella:** I—I defer to you guys with just a—a variety is kind of like what—what we've done in the past. [03:04] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, that's where my head's at too. Because like last year we gave away both uh Bur Oak and a Kentucky Coffee Tree, which they're both great species. Um, might be cool to do something different. And I was thinking like with an eye towards climate change, doing something like a Yellowwood would be cool because as we shift warmer, that will do better. So thinking about long-term landscape resiliency, that might be a good thing to consider. I'm open to suggestions. If we're going to do an oak tree again, it's Oakdale—you should probably give away an oak tree. Earned Oak, slow growers? No? [03:05] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, generally... [Music] a long-term tree. We don't plant a tree for us, Mike. The only fast-growing ones would be like ash trees, which—yeah, probably aren't the ones—I mean, I would not be opposed to giving away like a really cool white ash, but they need to treat it every two years forever. Well, and quite honestly, what you brought up makes a lot of sense as far as something that um you know we have climate change here and it's you know could be uh permanent. And so something that maybe would do well with uh what we're expecting or anticipating to happen. More like what we have now—maybe not as much—uh, you know, a little more drought conditions than we typically have had in the past. So trees that would be able to handle uh drier conditions. [03:06] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah. Uh, so I'm—I agree that we should be looking toward the future for what we actually might be encountering now on a relatively prominent basis. [03:07] **Lauren (City Staff):** I was giving away weird trees. It'd be fun. Should not discount the fun factor when we pick our tree species. Um, yeah, when I looked at the list, the ones that jumped out to me were that Yellowwood. Um, I really like—um, Ironwood... well, Hop Hornbeam. I don't like the name Ironwood; we talk about that offline. Um, uh then like Ohio Buckeye I think would be cool, and then I really like Eastern Redbud because again that's where—like about the northern end of their range as it is right now, but potentially if we, you know, shift warmer they'll do better here and if you plant them in a protected area now they do all right. So those were the four that jumped out to me, but I'm not married to any of them. [03:08] **Lauren (City Staff):** What's Lauren's opinion? [03:09] **Lauren (City Staff):** I like all of those. Um, very diplomatic, thank you. I—I would say... um, so we haven't—I—I have planted a few Yellowwood around the city, but not very many, and I don't know that we've ever given them away. So I'm a fan of the Yellowwood. I am a fan of the Ironwood. I'm a fan of the Ohio Buckeye, and then I would say choose between Eastern Redbud and some kind of a fruit tree. [03:10] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** I would go for the fruit tree as well, which would be cool. Um, it—so we have planted Eastern Redbuds too; they're a little bit sensitive. They kind of need a little bit of a protected area, but typically around the house would be protected. [03:11] **Lauren (City Staff):** Hammered by aphids right now too, just kind of like metro-wide because it's been so dang dry. And you know, the only problem I would maybe have a little bit with fruit tree—which I dearly love—but you know, like my neighbor's pear that she got through the tree giveaway oh probably five-six years ago... the deer love it. Yeah, I mean, and I think that's one of the things in our neighborhood at least we do have a lot of deer, and—and they gravitate toward those fruit trees and the people don't pick up the fruits; they attract wasps. Yeah, which is always fun. [03:12] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, but that's like the point of the fruit isn't it? Like, bring in animals. That's why—that's what did... tree makes the fruit. [03:13] **Mike Zarella:** Yeah, but you want to use them for yourself rather than feed Mother Nature. If you want fruit, just go buy it at the grocery store. [03:14] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Each tree's not gonna give you enough. [03:15] **Lauren (City Staff):** Um, that—so Mike Bender's—one of his was Papyrus Autumn Blaze, which is a pear tree, but I'm not sure if that's an edible pear. It's just a—like a decorative variety. I can't remember. [03:16] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, and is that a cultivar of— [03:17] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, that's—yeah. [03:18] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, we probably don't want any of those. That's okay. Um, does—we've planted the Contender Peach quite a bit. Yeah, there's some like... yeah, and they—they are fabulous peaches. Might be the one to go with. I'd be okay with that. Would it be appropriate—allowable to ask our commissioner applicants if they have opinions on this? [03:19] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, I think you can do whatever you want. [03:20] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Don't tell me that! How do you guys—you guys have opinions on what we could—should be planting? We got the podium. We want your opinions too. Thanks for coming tonight. [03:21] **Jacqueline Johnson (Applicant):** Um, personally, I love the Ironwood and Blue Beech is also a nice one, but it's very slow growing and I know that's an issue. I—for the large ones I've—I like the idea of the hickories if you—I've done a couple of those myself and that's a possibility because they're more drought-resistant. Um, they're more slow. And the—the beauty of a slow-growing tree is it's usually sturdier. And so for people who are worried about storm damage, that's why I think the oaks, you know, we all love the oaks so much is because they are slow-growing and they're strong. So I love the idea of the oaks and—and maybe a Swamp White Oak. I mean, I love Bur Oak and that's my favorite, so I can't say anything against that. But if your issues with smaller trees, a Swamp White Oak might be a possibility. And I know the fruit—I, you know, I live in a place where the deer are just so... but some of the fruit trees, I think sometimes people want fruit trees because they've got the lovely blossoms. So if you could find one that—that where they don't really have to worry about their fruit so much but they're getting those beautiful blossoms, that might be one way to get around that. Because what I've heard with—and I work with a community garden and I know we'd thought initially about fruit and then backed away from fruit trees because they take so many sprays and there's so much—you know, there's so much care to a fruit tree if you want to eat the fruit. So in that case, if what people really want is the beauty, then you can find some of the ones that don't really produce much fruit but have the beauty of the blossom. So that might be one way to get around that issue. [03:22] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Sure. And I think that might be what that Papyrus Autumn Blaze is. I think it's probably a showy flower in the spring and beautiful red color in the fall. [03:23] **Jacqueline Johnson (Applicant):** So yeah, and that might get around it. And I think you were worried about the Caliper Pear—that's the one—yeah, that you really don't want us—well, you don't want those. They're smelly. Yeah, they're a real issue. Yeah, it's *Pyrus calleryana*. We should maybe not... yeah. Yeah, because they—they turned out to be really invasive and just a real problem. So they're my thoughts. Thank you. [03:24] **Susan Lindo (Applicant):** So I am really for having like the fruit trees. I—I'm wondering if I'm Glenn's neighbor, because I have the Asian pear front that I got about five or six years ago and they are the most delicious pears I've ever had of my life. I love it. Um, and then I've had ornamental trees, but I have also always wondered why we live in Oakdale and we've never—I've never seen Oakdale oak trees on the list. [03:25] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** So I did last year. [03:26] **Susan Lindo (Applicant):** Were there really? Because I actually didn't come last year because I wasn't interested in the selection that was just—was it a swampy or was it a—was it a bird... White Oak was two years ago. Two years ago. [03:27] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** I'm pretty sure I got one of those. Okay. I'm pretty sure it was Bur Oak last year. [03:28] **Lauren (City Staff):** Was it? I'm like 99% positive. That's okay. [03:29] **Susan Lindo (Applicant):** To your point, we don't give them away often. Yeah. And then the whole idea of if we are doing fruit trees, I think it would be mandatory to have them as edible trees. I don't think there's enough education to be giving away in edible fruit trees. Oh sure. Those are my thoughts. Well, I appreciate your opinion. Thank you. Thank you very much for sharing that with those guys. [03:30] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, we've narrowed it down, haven't we? We've got a huge list now. This is great. Um, I like the Contender Peach. I think that's a cool idea. This is not the Nick Show, though. Like this... committee. Like, I want opinions. [03:31] **Glenn Giacoletto:** Oak and an edible peach would be nice. Yes. Okay. [03:32] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** And then any of the others that are on Lauren's list that he wants to present. Um, I'll go with the Yellowwood, the Ironwood, the Ohio Buckeye, and the Contender Peach if you guys want. [03:33] **Mike Zarella:** I'm on board with that. Sounds good. [03:34] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** That's like three-quarters of my list, so that makes me happy. Okay. All right. Well, can I get a motion to approve the list as presented by Lauren: the Yellowwood, the Ironwood, the Ohio Buckeye, and the Contender Peach? [03:35] **Mike Zarella:** I move we accept that list as presented. [03:36] **Alice Pearson:** Second. [03:37] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All in favor? [03:38] **All:** Aye. [03:39] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Aye. Any opposed? [Music] I will... we have our list. It's very exciting. That's my favorite part of this meeting. Apologies to all of the trees that we did not select. [03:40] **Michael Bender:** And Chairman, I—I also have a meetings that I need— [03:41] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Well, I think... are we close? We are really close to done here. I know if you got a bail, you got to bail, but we lose a quorum—we'll lose our quorum if you leave. So if you could give us five minutes, we can wrap this up. [03:42] **Lauren (City Staff):** You might as well just adjourn or something. Yeah, we lose quorum, which means we can't vote, but yeah, we can still proceed with informational. Okay. Okay, that's fine then. Like, you can adjourn with—how am I... you know, we're gonna be stuck here till you come back. All right. Meeting that never ends. Hence the reason I wanted to modify the agenda yeah earlier in the agenda. I didn't realize they were going to leave. Thank you, Dallas, I appreciate that. Thank you, Mike. [03:43] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right. Well, no more voting, but does anybody have any updates? Because that's we're up to now. Uh, there was a question was brought up earlier, I wanted to bring it up for public consumption about oak trees. Because I know my neighbors had had oak tree that died at the top of the tree, and they basically had to cut it down. So I've got an obelisk across the street and a stump in the next one. There was something you suggested for maintenance of oak trees? [03:44] **Lauren (City Staff):** So yeah, oaks uh have a problem with chlorosis—yellowing leaves. It's a lack of iron and our soils around here. So if you have an oak tree that the leaves look yellow on, it's probably chlorotic. You can buy iron supplements at nurseries um and like I think it comes in both pellets and liquid form. You can spread it around your tree to help that. They—it is stressful; iron deficiency is stressful for the oak tree, so it'll be a lot healthier if you give it a little iron. [03:45] **Mike Zarella:** Yeah, Mike could suggest an ironite. Is that one chemical—I'm not familiar with the brand names. [03:46] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Um, there are also available direct trunk injections of iron that bypass the soil completely. A lot of times it's not necessarily—like, it's not necessarily just that there's not enough iron in the soil; it's that the soil pH is binding it up, making it unavailable, right? Right. And so just putting the iron down in the soil might not make it available because the soil pH may just bind it again. Um, so if that's the problem, well, you mitigate the soil and try to lower the pH, which you can do with like a sulfur application around here. It's typically clay soil, so the soil pH is usually high. But if you can use something to bring down the level of the soil pH down to something more neutral or slightly acidic... in the meantime, you can do a direct trunk injection with iron chelate that just goes right up into the tree and provides several years of green leaves, which de-stresses the tree. And then the other thing that the stress invites into the tree is opportunistic secondary pests like Two-lined Chestnut Borer, which is a super close relative of Emerald Ash Borer—they're both *Agrilus* species—and then that causes tip back, die-back, and kills the tree much the same way ash borer does to our ash trees. So there's lots of things going on with oaks right now, and a lot of it stems from the fact that there's just not enough environmental moisture. [03:47] **Mike Zarella:** Great. All good suggestions for people to recognize their oak trees are having problems. That's the main thing. [03:48] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Water your trees! That's just like the—like, I'm gonna just like get on my soapbox for a minute. Just water your trees. Yeah, deep soaking water. Um, trees are very stressed over the last three drought summers, and uh Two-lined Chestnut Borer attacks stressed oak trees. Um, you see a thinning canopy where all the leaves are right next to the great big stem that's at the top of the tree... that's probably Two-lined Chestnut Borer attacking it and because it's so stressed. [03:49] **Mike Zarella:** Answers my question. What do you recommend for watering practices, Lauren? Like how much water are you telling people to put down when they ask? [03:50] **Lauren (City Staff):** Good question. I tell them to buy a soaker hose and wrap it around the tree and uh six feet away from the trunk and let it soak like that for three hours, and then move it out to a 12-foot ring and soak it again for three hours, and then move it out to an 18-foot ring and soak it again for three hours. [03:51] **Mike Zarella:** I don't... if you had to give someone a volume of water, what would you say? [03:52] **Lauren (City Staff):** In a large oak tree, it does depend on the size of the tree. That's true. I don't have a good answer, but I'm gonna say a minimum of 200 gallons. [03:53] **Mike Zarella:** It’s a solid answer. It’s gonna scare people, but it’s a certain... her what time frame? Drip irrigation is the best. So like—like—like over—like so like are we talking 200 gallons a week, two weeks, a month? [03:54] **Lauren (City Staff):** I would say on top of regular lawn watering, 200 gallons a month. Okay. In droughty conditions. [03:55] **Mike Zarella:** A lot of water. [03:56] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yes, it is. I need it though. A big mature oak tree can move up to 500 gallons a day through its water conductive system. It does not need that much; they—some—some of them have that capacity. They need more water. [03:57] **Mike Zarella:** So that’s average of six gallons per minute... that’s like 33 minutes? Is that about the right? [03:58] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Yeah, I guess I—I usually tell people like per diameter inch, about 10 gallons. So like whatever your tree is at four and a half feet, that diameter across, like 10-ish gallons every two weeks per diameter inch. So like a 20-inch tree... yeah, 200 gallons somewhere around there. [03:59] **Lauren (City Staff):** Thank you, Lauren. [04:00] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yep, you're welcome. [04:01] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** So then... board member updates. To ask you a question, Glenn, anything from you? [04:02] **Glenn Giacoletto:** No. All right. [04:03] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** I also don't have anything. Um, who—I am in October going to the Landscape Below Ground Conference at the Morton Arboretum. I'm very excited. You talk about tree roots? A good time. [Laughter] Um, Council Liaison updates are up next. I think we... Mayor Zabel, what you got for us? Welcome back. [04:04] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Well, we're happy to have you—always—always good to be here. Uh, give me one second. Um, just a few tonight. So, uh, at our last City Council meeting, we took our first official action on the 2024 budget, which is adopting our preliminary levy. So this is required by state law; it essentially sets the maximum for our levy going forward or in the year ahead. Um, between now and December when we adopt the budget, we'll be working with staff to kind of trim away at that and really polish up the budget and get it as low as possible. Um, but it's been a lot of—a lot of work. You know, the City Council, we've been working on it since May, I believe, but our staff has been working on it even before then, pretty much every single day. So, you know, a big thank you to our staff for getting it where—where it is now. Um, yes, big round of applause for them. Some highlights of the budget um includes five new personnel: three new police officers, an additional parks worker, and some administrative help. Um, our city is growing; it is time that we staff up to reflect the needs of our community and, you know, having just completed the transition to a full-time career fire department, um, it's time to start looking at the other side of public safety as well as some of our other departments. So that is a big focus. Um, also you know Oakdale has for the last few years had a focus on cutting our debt service as a city and relying more on cash. This has been especially helpful as we see interest rates climbing. You know, anytime we take out a bond and pay on it for 10 years, there—there's a—there's a significant cost of that. So, you know, as those rates continue to climb, we are using more cash for things like vehicles and equipment. This will be our third or fourth year in a row that our debt service is—is declining, which is a really—it's a testament to our financial—our Finance Department um taking action on our priorities as a Council. So that's good. Um, another big topic for the City Council recently has been cannabis. You know, that has been a big topic for most cities across the state as, you know, the state legalized recreational use um starting, I believe, August 1st. Um, as a city, you know, there are um there's a few rules for us. A lot of the regulation and licensure is going to be handled by the state when that eventually rolls out. There are a few roles that—that the city can play. Four actions we took at our last meeting was pertaining to use of cannabis in city parks—it is prohibited; regulating use of cannabis via smoking and vaping in private spaces that are subject to public accommodation laws—so sidewalks in front of businesses, etc.—restricting that. We've also adopted a temporary moratorium on the establishment of new cannabis businesses. This was really um really in response to the state taking over, you know, the regulatory structure. The state hasn't rolled out those rules yet, and until they do, we just want to put a pause on it. As soon as they roll out the rules, we will look at the zoning implications for the city of Oakdale and then we'll respond accordingly. But for the time being, we're just hitting pause on that. And also allowing the sale of THC in liquor stores. So shelters, etc. This was something that was previously prohibited under state law; the state changed their law so now we have to go and change our ordinance—or we don't have to, we're choosing to—to give liquor stores that opportunity. Um, we've also had a lot of events lately, you know, Touch a Truck... um, let me look my notes here... Touch a Truck, Family Fun Inflatables, Farmers Market. Those continue every single week. So I want to offer a big thank you to our Recreation staff; they've done an amazing job, you know, with all of the summer programming, all of the events going on. I've heard nothing but good things from residents, so it's nice to see those—those events are still being well attended and appreciated by—by our residents. Finally, uh earlier this month the city published the State of the City address. It was my first State of the City as Mayor; I had the honor of presenting it at the Chamber of Commerce meeting earlier this month and we also put together a very nice video for our residents um just walking through everything that's happening in our community. Like I said, we're growing, we're booming, um we have a lot going on in business and residential development. I walked through some of the changes in public safety, uh parks, communications, recreation, and more. So if you haven't seen it, you can find it on the city's YouTube channel and Facebook page. Give it a watch; it's just under 10 minutes, so not too long, but just a lot of really good information about what's happening here in Oakdale. There's a lot going on, so we want to showcase that for our residents, say some very important thank yous to the people that make it happen every single day, and we feel like that video accomplishes that. So it's busy—it's busy at the City Council, so I am happy to answer any questions you may have. [04:05] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** A question I get as a personal one: do you know how long the Farmer's Market is going to go on? [04:06] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** I believe we have three—well, four left counting tomorrow. Yep. [04:07] **Lauren (City Staff):** Okay, yep. So mid-October and then we'll take the pause and then the indoor market will start up in the Discovery Center uh during the winter. [04:08] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** So yeah, it's unfortunate when the Farmer's Market ends because we know what comes next. [04:09] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Allergens in the winter. [04:10] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** That's fair. This has been a rough week for my allergies. So... [04:11] **Jacqueline Johnson (Applicant):** So I do a question? Yes. If someone is looking for information about the events that the city puts on, where would we find them? [04:12] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** Oh, there are so many different ways to find out. Our website is by far our best resource: oakdalemn.gov. Everything you need is there. It’s a very helpful calendar if you scroll down on the home page; that's always a good resource. Uh, oakdalefun.com is the Recreation's website—specific website—there's a ton of good information there as well. You can also check out the city's Facebook page; we have all of those events built there. Um, even Oakdale Recreation has their own Facebook page; they're there as well. So we cover—cover all the bases. Or just reach out to any of your City Council members; we'll tell you what's going on. [04:13] **Jacqueline Johnson (Applicant):** Excellent, thank you. [04:14] **Kevin Zabel (Mayor):** You bet. Anything else? Everything for me, thanks everybody. [04:15] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Thank you very much. Deb, you got any updates for us? Okay. Um... [04:16] **Lauren (City Staff):** If I may? Please do. You have a sign up sheet for the Buckthorn event yet? Okay, thank you. Provided by the city, they've got gloves, they like they should, you know... [04:17] **Lauren (City Staff):** Yeah, that's typically the thing. I have gloves, but if they have gloves they want to fit properly, they should bring their own. Pretty particular on my gloves. Yep, yep, yep. And any eye protection they want to fit properly. I have safety glasses too, but they want their own PPE, they should bring it. [04:18] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** At that point, do you have any further... move for adjournment if you were... [04:19] **Lauren (City Staff):** Um, just that October 14th is—we decided that our last meeting was the best date for the Buckthorn removal event, so that's on the flyer. Um, I have made contact with the National Honor Societies. I've—think I've only heard back from Tartan, if I remember correctly. But so anyways, on board. [04:20] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** A second—can I second that? [04:21] **Mike Zarella:** Seconded. [04:22] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All in favor of adjourning the Tree Board meeting for today? [04:23] **Mike Zarella / Glenn Giacoletto / Alice Pearson:** Aye. [04:24] **Lauren (City Staff):** Hi, hi. We don't get—we can't—we can't vote. No voting. [04:25] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** All right, well we're adjourned. I wouldn't stop so... you had brought up one of the trees; it needs a little warmer temperatures. [04:26] **Lauren (City Staff):** Well, it doesn't need it. It doesn't need it. [04:27] **Nick Cantola (Chair):** Thank you. Impacts of climate change shifts—just recognize them.