##VIDEO ID:YDLYRnrVDFs## okay let's call this meeting to order my name is Marge Sager Vice chair vice president of the board um let's do a roll call sorry and our president can't make it today I don't have my list yep Tim you want to go through it yes thank you board member Bender present board member Gia Salto jaalto jaalto not not here board member Pearson in there Cher in the back oh actually here it is chair cantola tardy Vice chair Sader that's me yes board member sella board member KD present all right thank you I'm not sure if we have to vote on anything today but we could be short then on our count right we have four four okay all right so all good all right um let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right thank you okay approval of the minutes um did everyone get a chance to read the minutes and any comments approval of the agenda I'm sorry approval of the agenda oh we need to I skipped a uh item we need to approve the agenda for tonight are there any comments or questions think we have seven items I make a motion that we uh approve the agenda presented thanks Mike second I second that thanks Laura all right all right now we need to approve the minutes from June 18th 2024 a regular meeting I do have one comment I'll just start if that's okay um under the arbitrary giveaway um no page number but Item B under old business arbitrary giveaway it looks like there's a typo perhaps about halfway through the paragraph um there was a proposal from Mike um so residents who maybe didn't um come and pick up their tree but uh they asked if the city could make residents who sign up for two consecutive years but did not pick up there and then I think we need to insert tree they would be ineligible for sign up in the future years is the pro was The Proposal okay so just yeah or as Dallas says put on the wait list yeah which is probably more appropriate great are there any other comments or suggestions corrections to the minutes if none uh I think believe we need to vote on that um all in favor of approving the minutes um as is with that last addition oh we need a motion could someone please make a motion okay I'll make a motion to uh approve those minutes with the added um Amendment or the changes that a little change yet okay second thanks Mike okay Laura all right all in favor I I opposed all right okay uh next item open Forum this is an opportunity I think for anyone to um step up and speak I have one announcement that um I'd like to make uh we have been asked about Buckthorn um training or information that's available to the public and the Master Gardeners are offering a Buckthorn class out at the Discovery Center on September 28th believe it's at 10: in the morning um so and it's open to the public it's free um we'll take a little walk outside assuming the weather's nice but so a short uh PowerPoint in the training room there and then I'll walk outside so come and join us for the buck thoring class um if you have any interest again please um September 28th it says Saturday uh at 10:00 a.m. yep and that's offered by the way through the Oakdale 50 plus group they're sponsoring it all right uh anything else on the open Forum anyone like to comment take the floor right we're on item six I figured when we were on open Forum sorry I'm late guys I Tri to get over from minetonka and traffic got oh horrible life goes on all right well welcome I'm turning it right the gavel right back to you oh man Marge I want it okay um okay well on to item s tree Board review then old business do we have an update on uh the zoning code update project that we looked at last time yeah I sent some stuff in because we talked about trees not the plant M and I would recommend that um that the city uh consider adopting the list that the Minnesota DNR establishes for trees and shrubs they discourage planting not that they can't plant them but they discourage them and those trees are Amir Maple black locust Norway Maples and they're called and they subspecies Siberian elm and Russian olive um on the shrub one they had um exotic honeysuckle like um tartarian Honeysuckle and morai Honeysuckle and then they had Japanese Barberry which kind of surprised me because there's still a lot of those on on sale so I did a little bit more digging and super invasive it's the ones that are seated so it's mostly the uh car parel series that they're recommending not planting so okay um and then the other one is a Siberian peash shrub which is caragana which I always know it as and then Wing yanus which you can't even buy anymore so and yet they persist I have I have never seen those things seed themselves even though people tell me they do so seen it a handful of times but not yeah often well I love that uh idea of just adopting the dnrs list think that makes it super easy um Sarah what do you need from us on that do we need to like that since we're recommending it to council do we need to like a motion to recommend that the code be considered I don't think a formal motion is necessary okay um we as staff can share that with the consultant and Max and Luke okay for consideration um as proposed by the board sure well Mike I think that's the way to go yeah there's one other thing because I brought it up about when they were suggesting shrubs they said five gallon which they're not five gallons anymore they're number fives and I said that we should have a minimum because I've issues I've seen in the past and um I would recommend that they for the minimums they should follow the American Nursery standards for nursery stock okay because they've got them in different classes for the type of shrubs and then they have uh sizes for those so I would recommend that [Music] also I'm on board with that I think that makes a lot of sense March do you have no it sounds like great ideas the work's been done yep yeah let's go with it right does anybody have anything else they wanted to bring up on the code update project weren't you going to look into um tree Replacements like the the language like around what's required right I means size and because the right now it says 3 in and we were going to look at that and then ALS Al the am number that they had to plant because we we kind of thought that was the number was a little high yes yes I was going to look into that I did not okay I apologize that is on me guys three months in between meetings is like it just went out my brain and I apologize but I do agree that that when we were looking at the code it was it seemed a little Draconian MH oh my my apologies guys I'm not on it today yeah the diameter seem to be the more important choice to be made absolutely okay well um if we're feeling good about where we're at on the zoning code update project my contribution not withstanding um we can move on to the tree City USA growth award sure I can mention that yeah March um so I just mention to Tim um shortly U before the meeting started is that um you know we put together Mike bender and I of um oh I don't know about 10 or 15 items of the 85 total that are opportunities for us to do um for the twins or the sorry the growth award uh for the Tre City USA there's 85 total categories so um we picked some that we thought were pretty straightforward that were some that we're automatically doing every year um so why not you know take those points and then some things that maybe could happen in the future and if you look at 2024 and um just total up kind of what we've done already um it looks like we have doubled the number of points we need to apply for that so um I can send off if you want Tim or talk to you afterwards about um the suggestions where we can have the points um they're all pretty straightforward and things that we've been doing three tree debris recycling for fall of Buckthorn our our spring planting our fall Buckthorn um your giveaway all of those things count for points so um this award should be pretty straightforward to get every year by even ju even if we just limit it to these this list this shortened list of 80 from the 85 okay and then there's lots of things if we wanted to really go all out some year and do some big festival or something for Arbor Day we could do that so we we tried to you know put the sure things on the list and then maybe some hopeful to- do someday and of course this can change every year okay yes and if you can send that over and then we are working myself and other staff are will work through the application process I believe it's due in like December the same time the Tre City USA award it's like a subset or something so not till December I think but yes um and yeah why don't I send it through and then um I can put in the points for 2024 but you certainly decide what you want to want to provide okay thanks yeah could you also include that the bthl class that you had mentioned to me oh the shade tree short course yes yes because that is one of the items that for continued education we can get um three points every year um and that's something I know the other Foresters have attended I'm not sure if any other staff go to that it's a full two days away from the office so from the workplace but um it's it's very very well done you'd be impressed I think the first year and oh of course you attend as well MH yeah I got to speak at it last year it was great yeah I missed your class that's okay it wasn't that good I'm sure it was great okay all right we'll send that both to you Tim thank you thank you all right thank you march yeah um then the next thing on the agenda is the 2024 Scott Carver buckthorne removal event that is Saturday October 12th um anybody else you have an update on that for us Tim yes 9 to noon um we'll be providing lunch for volunteers we have sent out to Hill Murray North St Paul and Tartan High School for volunteer years um from the Honor Society so we're waiting to hear back I've been busy as I saw Nick today at a tree it's consumed me for two days straight now um so I I'm not sure they might have already heard back um from one of them and yes I had chose Walton Park right here on the back the West and Northwest corners of it behind the ballfields the back stop um I think I think it's a nice location for me just coming on board here to start out with we have The Pavilions nearby um but also just to uh with the sports activities there to kind of clean it up let some air flow through there I imagine it gets really buggy with the swamp in the background there um so that's kind of why I chose that spot to start out with and I did find there's a decent amount of old growth in there the berries and yeah although I do I realize now getting around the city I mean there's numerous spots that we could choose but each year we'll try and narrow it down to the the most advantageous for us that's a great spot yeah you ever want I'd be happy to tag along and show you where we've done stuff in like the Discovery Center where we've been the last several years as well so just kind of have a map of like what has been done yeah see what's up yeah that'd be great I can kind of see where it has been done just from sure noticing that it's cleaned out in the areas and stuff but I yeah I'd love that but it's a super fun event um anyone who wants to come hang out drag brush for a couple hours it's really fun yes doesn't sound fun but it is yeah it's good exercise very good yeah awesome thank you Tim uh and then we've got an update on the tree track at Oakdale Park Reserve it looks like so you guys did some work on this map this is fantastic Mike do you want to speak to this Mike is really You Know instrumental and cleaning this up I guess from when we installed the tree track but you want to talk a little bit about this and what we did this summer I want to be like Nick and it's been so long I forgot well the map but a lot of what we did was if if there was issues we took them off the map because they weren't getting fixed so we figured why have them on the map if they're not getting fixed so um and then um I think on some of them we I also updated the uh GPS um locations on cordinance on them too so cool but um I'm curious to find out if that group that we took around March if they enjoyed that if they if if if they would go on their own and look at those trees again or look at the rest of them or you know that's a question maybe if we do it again we should ask them do they think they'll come back I've only heard positive comments from the Oakdale 50 plus group that we took about what 15 people through um when this was finished maybe mid June or inid July I think it was mid July um so once the map was updated then we had a a guided tree trck so we took the people through you know people were interested in trees um I think they were surprised at how much we had out there some of them are hidden in the woods right you have to take some little bth um walks um but I I just heard some anecdotal comments but I think that would be good um there is another class being held at um the Discovery Center called nature heels um and ARP is the requestor AARP and um after that I'm going to be taking up to I know 20 or 30 people out for a short walk as as many people as want to join for the walk after the nature Hills class we're going to do this again so I'll make sure to add that um and then of course we show them Buckthorn that's you know very important so um I thought this was wonderful and Mike really helped to get this map put together and then um Laura Lin Meer from the discovery center created this um larger map the the existing map was a three trifold and so it was so small like each section this is only oneir of the tree truck so there's twoth thirds that we still have a goal I think to update and um correct make sure everything is accurate and then probably having um a map like this because what do we spend an hour and a half maybe with the folks on this map yeah so there's a lot of questions I just think it's a really nice way to get people involved in trees and um I know the Ginko Pine that was out there that was kind of interesting cuz it's a huge tree and most of us know it as a shrub in the in know home landscape um but so I thought it was a good learning experience for everybody but I really want to thank that was the question I was going to ask is um is Laura back no she's not back till the end of October because I was going to finish off the other two yeah so they could get those corrected and in a format like this cuz this is a lot easier to read than the one they had so much easier yes this is a beautiful map it did good job on this one my only suggestion was that stag horn sumac way down in the bottom the lower left you know I wondered what does that fit better with map two or three I don't know the sequence but um we never made it down there on our well actually it does fit better with this one it does okay we we just never got down there maybe some of those other folks the Walkers did but um anyway so this is a good improvement from the installation I think of the tree track back in 20 21 maybe um to take it to the next level and get um some guided tours going so anyway any questions about this just a fun thing to take around and take a little walk on a nice day see if you could find them they're all labeled does make Tri ID easier when they're labeled yeah there is still always an issue about because when they selected trees they're not always right on the path and so if there's a label on the path and I forget which ones Mike you probably remember they're Eastern red bud the red bud they're they're farther back in you know maybe 30 feet or 40 feet off the path so the sign is here and if you're not there when they're blooming you might have a hard time you know someone who doesn't know what that tree looks like even even the forest garden it's got an apple tree on the pathway but it's it's in about uh 10 yards too but I think people know what an apple tree is so yeah good luck getting back into the forest garden to find it yeah anyway um so that's just a little challenge just because of how we set it up originally assuming people are going to stay on the path but then there's a really interesting tree out there that we want to point out so and there is an incorrect label there there have been some that have been incorrectly labeled or the label was missing or well High Bush cranberry they've got it as uh viburnum op which is European High Bush and this is American so it should be viburnum trilobum like I told March only somebody like me would notice that I will look into the with the DNR about getting was corrected I'm assuming they provide the the signage for that no we did it all inhouse here in oh you did yeah the DNR approved the the writing of the what's on the label okay but they didn't come and look at the tree you know we told them what the trees were from the staff you know the crew went out and identified these trees yeah and I actually wrote the description the DNR approved it and then the um QR code takes the visitors to a I think it's a DNR Weebly site that lists all these trees in much more description than what's on the label okay so that's how it works okay um yeah I I guess I could mention that um Sally manzer Nature Center which is just on the road towards Lake Elmo they're putting one in but they're actually planting new trees along the guided the path so the trees will be like right adjacent to the path so it might be a little easier to follow and then they have a um a medicine man a Native American um man named Paul redel who teaches uh tree medicine classes there so they're they're adding that twist in with their information so that's another one to go investigate if you're want a nice day okay anything else any questions comments okay that's it thank you you margin Mike for the work you put in on that all right on to 7B new business we've got to talk about the Pete grasy Arbor tree giveaway now I'd like to get started on that because last year it got you know because of complications I don't think any of us knew what trees we were getting until we showed up at to give them away I think Tim's got an update for us I do yes so I have already put in an order I did quite a bit of research um through different nurseries to see if there were any other options besides baileyy um I found out that there really isn't um they provide almost every other Nursery with all their stock so I did order four trees um different species just to kind of get ahead of it on the ball um they have an early bird order date especially that pertains to containerized um we have one species in that that will be containerized it's a white pine um then I ordered and this is I ordered 50 of each then I ordered 50 kind crisp apple 50 River Birch and 50 Japanese lilac just a straight one or one of the cultiv Wares nope the straight oh man it's that order isn't necessarily set in stone I just wanted to after working with Amanda Bailey's um I realized logistically you can run into issues um from what it sounded like from last year the they came very close to the the due data when we needed them so I want to kind of get on top of that um it's not like I said set in stone if there's any tweaks to be made I'm open to opt um any different options that you may come up with I got a question about the river bridge that was is it going to be like a single stem selection it's a clump of three okay yeah would you be open to a single stem selection instead of a CLA three yep okay I can check back with her and make sure I'm assuming that they would carry all so with these four species also these are also all local pickup so we're avoiding the shipping cost and the logistics of getting them shipped here from their Nursery in Oregon sure um which was a substantial amount of money where saving on the shipping cost and I just think it'll avoid an extra headache that week if we can locally our staff can pick them up um from Woodburry and their Newport location I believe all four species sure yeah certainly not opposed to that I just would rather see a a single stem rather than a clump just for longevity purposes for those trees rather than giving people a tree that's prone to falling apart okay worth yep Mike I know you got opinions I'd love to hear them no that's fine I mean I just wanted to make sure that we got yeah because typically at Bailey you need to get your order in by August because then uh when they got all the orders in and then when they go through their inventory in the winter time then they can fulfill them and if a lot of the people who get their orders in early do get what they want so she yeah Amanda had notified me I have had multiple conversations and she said it was September 15th cool maybe it changed and and I do know that the uh your salesperson Paul hassing would like to meet you too oh Amanda is his helper yes I believe I've spoke with him actually he was the one did the final invoice cuz she was out of the office when I had called her um what size white pines did you order those were I believe the number five containerized okay holy yes okay I just am imagining people with their two door Honda Civics um trying to go home with a containerized white P um not any worse than those Buckey last year those 2in diameter Buckey those were insane yeah yeah no I like that selection no crab apples I'm happy to see that yeah any other questions or comments on selection anything else to do with the tree giveaway we I have one more thing to to add to that um there has also been discussion about possibly moving it to the North fire station okay for an indoor event through situation yes utilizing one of their Bays um just in case weather were to cause any issues okay um and that is still in discussion yeah I'd support that that'd be cool way closer to my house yeah me too we're good with that awesome we'll keep us posted on that cuz that'd be really cool all right let's talk 2025 work plan then looks like we've got our 2024 work plan for reference back here um are you guys just looking for us to like recommend moving forward with a slightly modified version of this work plan yes okay and if there was anything else you'd like to add I guess I'd have one comment on the increased Public Communication related to our events I'm not sure they've all been in like the Oakdale update this year this past year and I don't know I remember talking to the mayor about maybe it was um our tree planting that wasn't listed in there and that was is always open to the community um but if it's not I know everybody's going online but not everybody's going online we still read that you know I have both and I still look at things in that book that um Oakdale update book um so I just like to remind us and the staff that we should get those you know whatever it has to whatever has to happen to get it in on a deadline for printing uh because I and I know social media is going to be a lot faster but I'd like to see that happen this this year I think we were short um volunteers we still got the work done um with some teenagers that were there to help but it's always nice to see you know we've had Parents with kids come and really make it a CommunityWide event so just my two cents okay yeah I like our three events that we do are super fun I hope we could keep doing those uh as long as the city's got an appetite for it um are you looking for us to like maybe come back to the next meeting with recommendations or like an approval or like what would the timeline be that you guys are looking for from us on this yeah I think next meeting if there was any additions or any other thoughts on it or just an approval of what we currently have so there will be a discussion with the council too before you guys do your final approval so yeah if you can bring your ideas and any suggested changes to the January meeting it won't be approved before you have that discussion with the council lovely we will do that okay I'll make sure I write it down so I do it this time do I have I just have a question since this was our first year I think having the work a work plan so this is like the goal of next year but then when we do things like the tree track or anything else like that that's um something that happens after this is created so do we ever have to capture that or our minutes is are adequate for that uh Mr chair uh tree board Chris vulker City administrator um great question I I want to clarify a couple things so um Sarah's right that the the next meeting you'll talk about it although we haven't set the council workshops yet so however that works you might have the council discussion before or might be even at that meeting meeting actually um then you'll come back and approve your work plan after the feedback from the council okay just so you have a little time this is great that they're getting this to you early that you're the first ones um first commission so um if you do have more ideas I encourage you to to let Tim know about what else my caution though is um the staff cannot take work direction from the tree board that does have to go through Council and me because I'm they're I'm the only one that can give them that work Direction so if you're creating new events like that tree track um that hasn't been blessed by the council yet so it's not a permanent thing and and but it can be so I encourage you to put it on the work plan that's an answer your question let the counil or have that discussion with the council see if the council wants to take it on as a city event and then they'll ask about the workload and stuff and staff will reply and that's kind of how it goes so the be more communication the better I think is what I'm encouraging okay okay thanks thank you thank you thank you Chris Okay cool so uh everybody put some time into thoughts on our work plan for 2025 and we will discuss it with Council when we see them in probably January likely yeah okay excellent we can do that okay um we're on to the second number six on your agenda other the dangers of cut and paste yeah all right can make that an eight but it was funny the other way um yeah staff aison updates [Music] Tim yeah so we have a few updates here um our crews all Departments of the Public Works have been extremely busy uh with all sorts of different tree issues just with storm damage um the amount of rain we've had every tree has soaked up that much more weight this season um and also EAB has kept us very busy in between those few storms since I've been here I've only been here a brief amount of time but we've been very busy and we've had numerous occasions where all departments streets utilities are sending crews out to help us out with that um we however in saying that when we do get the opportunity there are also issues that I would like to kind of per se tackle um one being the Discovery Center parking lot there um you can you all sure I'm sure know um there's an issue Oak Wilt and two line chestn or out there so those are some things and our own parks that still have they have low priority stumps a lot of the EAB trees have been removed out of the parks but the priority on the stump grinding right now Falls towards the residents and the boulevards we're trying to take care of those um with that we also with the more and more utilities that are in the ground that you want to take on as much of that as possible um when you call in locates for those utilities that is a two we window you get on that locate um and so far the seven that I've had ground out our crews um we've had to locate multiple utilities on each one so it's not as fast as you just a lot of residents think you know just come up I need you to come come out and grind our stumps so we are trying to tackle those ones and then move on to the Parks when we kind of get more time to do so but like I said the Discovery Center parking lot there I'd like to uh I have them multiple trees marked right now just for when the leaves do fall that will be removed um yeah and then another one buckthorne curbside pickup starts next Tuesday day the 24th is the first one we already have waivers that have been coming into us people signing up for it and then the next date we have three different dates for that the next one is October 8th and October 22nd and the guidelines are on the city website for What the residents need to do and on the waiver as well the Citywide cleanup is this Saturday September 21st 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Public Works facility and then the Willowbrook Commons grand opening the new park up there is on Saturday October 12th from 1: to 3 open all residents and the Tanner Lake Park concepts are live on the park system plan um this set this survey will close on September 30th so in a couple weeks here that's all I have for updates excellent thank you good question yeah uh I may have missed it earlier because I was otherwise occupied but there's an event coming up on the 28th in the Discovery Center got buckthorne did you guys talk about that earlier yes okay then I won't interrupt and you're invited I'm hoping to come so that I can learn how to identify buckthorne while May I'll be looking for you yeah okay um well thank you for the updates um board members does anybody have any updates that we haven't we've been kind of updating as we go did anybody else watch that University of massachusett not me was it good you didn't you didn't miss anything this was this was the most boring one I've ever listened to it was saying something it was geared mostly for uh management okay umow send it to Tim it was an hour hour something long and I I was going why am I even here this is uh there's nothing the only thing I learned about where I was kind of surprised about was the amount of uh um Norway Maples that they still have in um the upper east coast because I've heard for years that they were banned up there so uh because they don't want them to take over the sugar Maples which is their main crop up there but I was I was surprised that they said that that's still one of the predominant trees on the East Coast so but other than that I mean if you've got your board certified Master arus those management credits are hard to come by for your continuing education so yeah that may have been the goal but there's another one I think on October 8th I mean you sold that last one so well no I sold the first one so well because the first one was interesting well thanks for keeping an eye out for us thank you yeah our education continuing credits nope I think no other updates all right Council liaison what do you have for us well good evening and Tim took all of my updates but I will tell you this I was today I went to the dermatologist for my annual skin cancer check skin cancer Minnesota is the third highest skin cancer rates in the country so I just want to encourage all you to get your cancer checks sunscreen and sunscreen thank you y and happy to answer any questions if you have any no any questions for our council person okay thank you thank you for coming out certain sweet you're cooking well that is everything on our agenda does anybody have anything else before I seek a motion to adjourn I move to adjourn second all in favor I I all opposed we will [Music] adjourn thanks I think we're going to have a little meet and greet just