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Lexington Tree Committee Minutes – February 11, 2010 Members Present: John Frey, Chair; Jeanne Krieger, Selectman liaison; David Pinsonneault, Supt. Of Public Grounds. Members: Jewel Kuljian, Karen Longeteig, Gerry Paul, Anne Senning, Nell Walker, Jim Woods, and Jane Beswick(FOT). Guest: Deb Mauger, candidate for Selectman. Tree Committee members thanked Jeanne Krieger for her participation and support. 1. Jewel Kuljian was appointed as scribe and the minutes of the January 14, 2010 were approved as amended. Members welcomed Deb Mauger and introduced themselves. 2. Tree Warden's agenda items: a) Tree removal applications and activity. David reported 672 sites, 547 closed; 825 to remove, 651 removed; 1,995 to plant, 1,318 planted; 1, 559 total inches removed. Since the by-law change $15,590 has been collected and deposited into the General Fund. b) Tree Inventory/Nursery. John inserted an agenda item here about tree pruning. Many members at the East Lexington Community Meeting are upset about the tree pruning done by the utility companies on Massachusetts Avenue. Dave informed the Tree Committee about a pruning standard change based on the “goal of no outages”. The underwire change is to cut from 8' below, 8' to the side, 12' above to 10' below, 10' to the side, and 25' above. Both Dave and Carl Valente have spoken to legal counsel about this matter. The companies (N-Star and Tree-Tech) have the right to keep the wires clear. They know where there have been previous outages and have met their standards. Dave left it with Tree Tech that if there is a major pruning to be done they should contact him, tag the specific tree and proceed with the other pruning. Each time the companies prune they give Dave their plan and he gives them a permit. Writing a letter to the State Utility Commission was suggested. In the spring there may be a tree hearing regarding tree removal vs pruning whereby new trees would be planted offset, not under the wires. In this instance trees would not be a cost to the town. bi) Budget sufficient to plant trees from the Tree Nursery? Dave will plant the trees from the Tree Nursery to the streets in-house. The budget this year is level funded and is predicted to be so for next year. Dave is looking to hire a fourth person prior to the end of this fiscal year. Gerry raised the issue about the allocation of money for trees. Dave responded by saying that if a Contractor has to be hired to plant then there is less money for the purchase of trees. He will have a better idea about time and material costs for his budget once we have gone through the planting of street trees from the Tree Nursery for the first time. Anne pointed out that we do not know how much time it will take to plant the 18 B&B trees and the 52 bagged trees from the Tree Nursery. th bii) Refer to Special Tree Committee Meeting held on February 9 regarding selection of 54 trees from the Tree Nursery to “out-plant” during the first week of May after all locations are marked with stakes and “dig safe” has given their approval. The dates for planting new stock at the Tree Nursery are Saturday April 24, 2010 with a rain date of Sunday, April 25, 2010. Nell Walker presented a “brand new” list of native