Marietta Tree Commission receives $300K in ARPA funds
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The Marietta Tree Commission has America Rescue Plan Act funds and a stump grinder to look forward to this spring.
Marietta City Council at its Feb. 2 meeting approved ARPA funds of up to $300,000 to be used for citywide tree maintenance and purchase of a stump grinder.
In one of council's earlier committee meetings where ARPA fund were discussed, Public Safety and Service Director Steve Wetz said the tree commission was asking for $300,000.
"We need $300,000 to catch up," he said. "The last two years have exhausted the tree maintenance budgets in streets and in lands, parks and buildings. This would all be for trimming and removal."
He referred to the trees labeled "ones," those needing the most attention.
"We want to get all the 'one' trees and maybe some 'twos.’"
The city does what maintenance it can. Even tree commission members have done some field work at times. But then there are the "Big Boys," trees that might run 80- to 100-feet tall, and were here before President Franklin D. Roosevelt's visit. They require the expense of tree service companies and machinery such as very big bucket trucks. Wetz proposed the stump grinder being included to help reduce some of the tree service costs the city hasn't been able to do "in house."
The recent ordinance authorizing the ARPA funds does not mention that the money can be used for tree planting, which is another function of the city tree commission. That is on purpose. Wetz thinks the city should go a minimum of two years without replacing any trees, unless it is a minimum required to keep the city's national Tree City USA designation, which it has held for the past 43 years.
One of the commission co-chairs this year, Grady Smith, admits there are some residential areas that were over-planted years ago. He also said he likes to be selective about what is planted and where, but he worries that the city is losing more trees than are being planted because of finances and he doesn't see that as a good omen for the future.
He agrees that safety dictates money that has to be spent on necessary pruning and removal of existing weak trees, but it hasn't left enough for new trees, which can run $250 or $300 apiece, the price of planting included. He noted several years ago when there was a $30,000 settlement in a tree damages incident, the commission oversaw the planting of about 80 trees. But current circumstances aren't anywhere near that favorable.
"A year ago we planted 20 to 25 trees," he said. "This past year we planted zippo."
The commission's other co-chair, Dennis Cavalier, voiced similar sentiments. He is excited about the news of the ARPA funds, but questions the omission of tree planting.
"A tree commission is not doing its job if it's not planting trees."
The coming year's challenges, Cavalier said, are the ones they always are: having enough money and getting the needed work done.
Smith's assessment: "You can't be a tree hugger on the tree commission. You got to be a tree manager."