Tree Advisory Committee (August 20th, 2026)

Franklin (city), IN · 2026-08-21 · More Franklin (city), IN meetings · More Indiana meetings

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[0:01] It's five o'clock. We'll call the tree advisory committee meeting to order. And

[0:07] the first uh point of business is a call roll call. Michelle

[0:14] » here. >> Amy.

[0:18] » No, I'm Beth. >> Beth. Beth. [laughter] I don't know why

[0:21] I was thinking. Beth all Beth

[0:26] » here. >> Kathy

[0:27] » here. >> Jason. Richard here. Chip,

[0:32] » I'm here. >> Okay. We have a quorum.

[0:36] Uh I don't know of any announcements or

[0:40] presentations that's not conducted under the business. [clears throat]

[0:47] Okay.

[0:50] We need a motion to approve the minutes from May 21st, 2026.

[0:58] I move to approve the minutes for May 21st, 2026.

[1:01] » We have a motion. >> Second,

[1:03] » Kathy. A motion, a second. Any question? >> All in favor? I

[1:09] » I >> Okay.

[1:12] Okay. Jason, update on the tree ordinance and a recommendation what the

[1:17] city's doing. >> Uh I know that Brett has looked at it,

[1:22] uh the street commissioner. I do not know where it's at with either the city

[1:27] attorney or the director of planning, but he did say that he was going to try

[1:32] to push that through and get it on the next agenda to get approved.

[1:38] » Do we need to be there for anybody? >> I will find out from him whether we need

[1:42] to or not. I'm assuming once they look it over, if changes need to be done,

[1:46] they'll send it back to me. I'll make whatever appropriate changes need to be

[1:49] done and then give it back to him. >> Okay.

[1:52] » But yeah, I'll let you know. I can send an email out once everything's approved

[1:55] by >> We've been working on that for a year

[1:57] and I think we have it [snorts] pretty well uh settled and just need a city

[2:04] council approval. >> Yep.

[2:08] Did we ever do anything with the inventory,

[2:12] the city tree inventory? >> We have a new GIS guy now. Uh so Chris

[2:18] is working on a lot of different things with uh storm water mapping, sanitary

[2:23] sewer mapping. Uh that will be on his plate at some time for the uh complete

[2:28] tree inventory. We still have the inventory we've been working off of from

[2:33] 2011 I think it was uh when Davey did it. Uh I occasionally add them uh or

[2:39] delete uh trees in there when we remove trees or add trees to the to the list. I

[2:43] know you re removed some here recently with all the wind and rain.

[2:47] » Yep. Yep. But yeah, it's not a I mean it's just a an inventory in our asset

[2:52] management system uh that we keep, but it's not completely up to date. Uh but

[2:58] once once he gets through doing uh the mapping for everything else, then the

[3:02] tree inventories on the list. >> Okay. Keep us appraised.

[3:08] Okay. New business. Uh, our next activity is a fall festival and we have

[3:15] a booth at the festival and I believe it's from 9 to 5.

[3:22] So, we will need to have some staff board members and others to help us with

[3:29] that. Chip.

[3:32] » So, let me give you an update on that. Um, I had our marketing uh coordinator,

[3:37] Victoria, uh, design a new tent uh for the tree advisory committee. So,

[3:43] it'll uh, I think it says Franklin trees and has the city logo and the parks logo

[3:48] and so it'll have plenty of advertising there. We also um, bought you a Arbor

[3:54] Day flag uh, official Arbor Day flag that will can go in the booth and I

[4:00] bought we also bought five I believe. I haven't gotten to Jason about this yet.

[4:03] I bought five Tree City USA signs that um say 19 years on them because we it's

[4:09] been 19 years to help advertise at the booth.

[4:13] » We have a flag Tree City flag. >> Probably do somewhere.

[4:16] » Yes, I believe I've got one. Yeah. Okay. Maybe we can hang that again.

[4:20] » Yeah, we may end up hanging it up at the amphitheater uh permanently, too. But at

[4:24] least we can put we'll have two you can put up at the booth so we can have

[4:27] plenty of advertising for that. Jason, I don't know if the we we got a new DNR

[4:32] person that had contacted me from that was for southern Indiana that um I'm

[4:38] getting ready to meet with. I can't remember. It's in the next week or so.

[4:41] Um that she's going to be coming through uh Franklin and she's going to give me

[4:45] all kinds of uh DNR information about trees and all those kind of things. So,

[4:49] they'll have plenty of stuff to hand out is what I'm trying to get at. And then

[4:52] I'll work with Jason and we'll see if we can't get some kind of tree saplings or

[4:56] something for you to be able to hand out.

[4:57] » Yeah. when she comes in, we may talk to her because that's where I got them the

[5:00] last time. >> Yeah. Perfect. Okay. So, but this time

[5:04] you're gonna have plenty of information to hand out. You got plenty of

[5:06] advertising so people know what the booth is and all that kind of good

[5:09] stuff. Uh like I said, we'll get some tree saplings so we can hand those kind

[5:14] of things out to I think we bought something else. I can't something else

[5:16] to hand out from the Arbor Day Foundations where I bought all this

[5:19] stuff at. And um really all you guys need to worry about is just getting you

[5:23] a schedule of of who's going to be there and if there's any, you know, gaps or

[5:27] something in there, just let us know and I'll get some staff to to to be there

[5:31] when you guys can't be there. So yeah, it should be way better than even the

[5:35] previous years we've had. So >> great.

[5:40] » What are the hours that we need to >> 9 to 5?

[5:43] » 9 to5. >> Yeah. I'll be there all day. 9 to

[5:47] probably midnight. >> Yeah. cuz Jason's already there anyway.

[5:51] » Is there music that night? I think there is.

[5:54] » There is. >> There'll be music and fireworks.

[5:56] » And fireworks.

[5:59] » I think >> and and not I'm sorry. I didn't

[6:02] remember. We'll put you down at that prominent spot, too, as you're walking

[6:05] down Monroe Street right when you go into the entrance. Yeah. Where that

[6:08] grass area is right on the end because that was pretty good that year. We had

[6:11] it there. So, >> Kathy, didn't we normally kind of block

[6:15] this in about three hour? Yeah, I think so.

[6:20] Um, I can do afternoon. I've got we've got cross country in the morning, but I

[6:25] can do afternoon. >> Well, I can

[6:29] bar in any unusual circumstances, I could do some in the morning.

[6:32] » Yeah, I could. I mean, football game is on Friday that

[6:38] So, I probably be free for an hour. >> Okay. Well, okay.

[6:46] You don't need that today or anything. Something you could do between now and

[6:49] then to figure out. >> We don't meet again till then.

[6:52] » Well, you better do it today then. >> Some ideas with uh

[6:57] Okay, Kathy, you're in the afternoon. >> Mhm.

[7:01] » What What's good? 2 to 5 or >> Yeah, I could do that.

[7:05] » All right, [clears throat and cough]

[7:09] » so what time do we open? >> 9 to5.

[7:13] » Yeah, let me confirm. do the morning. >> Let me confirm that's 9. It may be 10.

[7:17] » Okay, >> morning's probably easier for me.

[7:21] » It is 10. So, it the booth actually start at 10:00.

[7:25] » We'll get it all set up for you. So, don't worry about the setup part of it.

[7:28] So, if you just want to get there a little before 10:00, it's fine.

[7:30] » 10 to 12. Yeah, I could do that. >> Okay.

[7:34] » Okay. >> Both of you ladies will be 10 to 12.

[7:37] I'll come then from 12 to 2 or a little longer.

[7:46] and Kathy two to four. And I'll talk to uh

[7:50] Meg and Dana because I know Dana likes helping.

[7:56] » Yes.

[8:02] » Brooke, did not we not take Lindsay Purscell off?

[8:08] » I wasn't told to. >> Chip,

[8:10] » we we did. >> We did. He so he will not be appearing

[8:13] as a member anymore. >> I'll I'll help you do that, Brooke,

[8:16] because I did I did notice that the the dates are out of whack, too. So,

[8:19] » okay. >> I I'll help you.

[8:23] » Okay. So, we have a tentative sign and I will send all of us a reminder.

[8:27] » Okay. >> For that.

[8:33] Any other new business? Jason

[8:38] up give us an update on the city and what's happening.

[8:42] » Uh right now we're doing a lot of tree trimming in heritage. Uh been there for

[8:47] about three weeks. I'm hoping another week and we're done.

[8:52] Uh probably next year though we we get in an addition work and then we get

[8:58] called off and then you have to go back and then you get called off. So, next

[9:03] year with my other role as director of the

[9:08] street department, I'm going to implement a quarterly trimming instead

[9:14] of jumping all over the place. So, I'm going to block the city into four

[9:19] sections and we're going to work into that one section until we're done. If we

[9:23] get a call that we've got something dangerous or the school calls about

[9:28] something, we'll jump off and go do that. But if it's a resident that calls,

[9:31] we'll see you in your section. It may be this year, it may be next year, it may

[9:35] be four years, but we're going to start working like that. We we can't get

[9:39] anything done by jumping all over the place.

[9:42] But, uh, it should work out. Like I said, if there's something dangerous or

[9:46] or it's damaged, you know, something's damaged a vehicle because, you know, the

[9:49] buses are driving through or something, we'll take care of that. But, I got a

[9:52] limited number of resources. I've got three guys that do this every day. So it

[9:57] takes when you're doing a a large area like what Heritage has so many trees, it

[10:02] it takes forever to do it. >> You did a nice job at the college.

[10:07] » Thank you.

[10:11] » Oh yeah. Uh not really. Uh been pretty fortunate storms this year. We've had

[10:17] we've had numerous storms. A lot of brush out there, but very few of our

[10:21] trees have come down. Only [snorts] things really came down of ours uh

[10:25] lynons and pear trees which are typically rid trees.

[10:31] » Yeah, agree. I cut them all down. >> Yeah,

[10:33] » exactly. >> That's it.

[10:37] » Okay. Chip, do you have anything to add on reports?

[10:40] » I do not. >> Okay.

[10:44] Uh open it up for public comment.

[10:50] Advisory comments, Kathy? >> No, I don't think so.

[10:55] » No, I'm sorry. >> Nothing from me.

[10:59] » U sounds like we're in good shape for the fall festival. I will remind

[11:04] everyone to make sure you track hours preparing for a meeting at a meeting or

[11:12] anything involved with uh the tree committee because all those hours Jason

[11:18] takes at the end of the year and we add up and that helps us maintain our Tree

[11:22] City USA. >> Yeah, I'll probably start that report

[11:27] after fall festival, end of Septemberish.

[11:32] So most of there's not a lot of preparation, but there is some. So just

[11:36] kind of think about it. And you're brand new, so we got work on getting ours.

[11:41] [laughter] >> Exactly.

[11:42] » So >> tell me what to do.

[11:43] » Chip, anything else we need to be appraised of?

[11:46] » Nope. >> Okay. There's no other comments. Uh

[11:51] we'll adjourn our meeting. Thank everyone for attending.