[Green] Part 2 of Armory trees discussion with Mayor

[Kelcey Jacobs]

First of all, thank you Dawn, for your well thought out letters to the
mayor.  Your time and energy is truly appreciated and is very important to
our community.  I concur with your questioning of some of Shlichler's
rationale. It is very easy to attribute the damage to someone else (AEP and
Asplundi).
    However, as you also said, we can still disagree and like and respect
the person.  It sounds like Shlichler is very open to ideas and input from
the community.  That means phone calls and letters may actually be heard,
from each of us as individuals, or from Green Sanctuary and UU.  That could
definitely be put to use in the future about other issues and concerns for
our city and surrounding area.

On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 9:38 PM Dawn Hewitt via Green <green at fuusm.org>
wrote:

> I might disagree with Mayor Schlicher on a whole bunch of things, but I
>  must give him huge credit and gratitude for his communication skills.
>
> Synopsis of Part 1: I sent the Mayor a pointed email about the
> clear-cutting of trees in the area behind the Armory. He responded with a
> thoughtful, meaty letter.
>
> Part 2, in which I replied, and he responded again with a thoughtful,
> meaty letter. Here it is in chronological order.
>
> *From:* Dawn Hewitt [mailto:hewitt at earth-maker.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, November 30, 2020 10:00 PM
> *To:* Josh Schlicher <jschlicher at mariettaoh.net>
> *Subject:* Re: Armory trees
>
>
>
> Dear Mayor Schlicher,
>
>
>
> I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful reply to my questions and concerns
> about the Armory trees. I am grateful to know that no herbicides will be
> used in the area as plans progress. I also appreciate attention to areas
> that have been neglected for so long—especially in high-visibility areas. I
> was unaware that a right-of-way tree fell on a house in Harmar! Thank
> goodness no one was injured. Such neglected and potentially dangerous trees
> should be a priority for attention.
>
>
>
> In fact, a few months ago I requested that limbs from a right-of-way tree
> in front of my house be cut. They overhang the sidewalk and my roof, and
> one branch has already fallen, causing hundreds of dollars in damage to my
> porch roof and gutter. I received polite email and even a visit from a city
> employee, who said my tree would receive attention in January. I encourage
> you to prioritize such trees, and those even more threatening than the
> silver maple in front of my house, and *leave the non-threatening
> riverside trees alone!*
>
>
>
> Yesterday I walked the River Trail from the Armory to East Muskingum Park
> and saw that numerous more trees were flagged—as you noted in your reply to
> me. But these are close to the river and pose little threat to those who
> use the trail. *I urge you to make dangerous trees a priority!*
>
>
>
> Because I work from 9 to 6 each day, I was unable to attend the meeting
> Dave Ballantyne organized last Tuesday regarding placement of solar benches
> and riverside maintenance, but I did watch a recording of it that evening.
> And I am confused about the plan for the area behind the Armory. One of the
> city employees at that meeting—either Steve Wetz or Mike Gulliver, I
> guess—said that the city was working with Pickering Associates on a plan
> for that area, but had not yet developed the plan or signed a contract. So,
> the Armory trees were cut before there was a plan in place?  I’m not
> talking about the trees that were in the way of the power lines—such work
> is necessary; I’m talking about the non-threatening trees that protected
> the soil around Goose Run, and that provided habitat for songbirds and
> squirrels. Those trees were cut without a plan. Somebody got carried away
> with chainsaw, and the result was the opposite of public service. It was a
> chainsaw massacre. Shame on whoever denuded that area.
>
>
>
> A beautiful park surrounding the Armory is a great idea, and I support
> that. But cutting those trees with no concrete plan, no public comment or
> input… I just don’t understand that, sir. That’s not okay.  *Why was
> priority given to Armory trees over trees threatening houses, sidewalks,
> streets, and parked vehicles? Such neglected trees must be at the top of
> the priorities list and not non-threatening riverside trees. *
>
>
>
> Please understand, Mayor Schlicher, that I am angry about the decision to
> cut trees without a plan, without public input, and trees that should have
> been low on the list for cutting.
>
>
>
> Again, I appreciate the thoughtful reply to my previous email.
>
>
>
> Best wishes.
>
>
>
> —Dawn Hewitt
>
> 622 N. 7th St.
>
> Marietta
>
>
> *From:* Josh Schlicher <jschlicher at mariettaoh.net>
> *Date:* December 1, 2020 at 4:56:53 PM EST
> *To:* Dawn Hewitt <hewitt at earth-maker.com>
> *Subject:* *RE: Armory trees*
>
> 
>
> Dawn,
>
>
>
> Our city has operated almost unchanged for the last 30-50 years in some
> form. When I took office I had 7 years of city council experience to help
> guide me through the changes that needed to happen. The details are lengthy
> and I am trying to make massive changes and improvements in a short period
> of time. Some have been easy some not so much.
>
>
>
> One change we made almost immediately was in tree work. Tree work was
> haphazardly performed in past years and decades. We had an outdated, unsafe
> and uncertified tree bucket truck. We immediately grounded that truck and
> sold it. We had employees that were not given any or proper training in
> tree work. We inherited employees without any formal safety trainings or
> procedures from the past administration. The list goes on…and on. We also
> have a huge demand and paper trail of documented citizen tree concerns that
> come into our office daily.
>
>
>
> To correct that list of problems we decided to switch gears and get out of
> tree work. To perform tree work as a municipality we would need to invest
> about $200,000 in a new truck, training and ancillary equipment. We still
> do tree maintenance work but from the ground only. We use pole saws and
> chainsaws by employees on the ground. We contract out all high reach work
> and tree removals by a local professional, insured contractor. We work with
> several approved contractors and request competitive quotes to get the best
> value for our taxpayers.  I also reassigned former street department
> foreman Todd Stockel in the city’s new position I created of Community
> Response Specialist. He is the manager of city trees, hazards, citizen
> concerns and liaison to the tree commission under the new Public Works
> Department I created.
>
>
>
> Todd responds immediately to calls for service that come into our office
> from citizens. The trees removed around Goose Run were taken out by the AEP
> contractor. I didn’t have any control over that project. They determine
> what is to be cut around their power lines. The work was supervised by Todd
> and performed by Asplundh and our city crews cleaned up.
>
>
>
> Goose Run as well as the entire area of the Muskingum River we are
> redeveloping is lined with original sandstone walls from the old lock left
> to silt in. Nature, time and neglect allowed trees to grow in and out of
> the walls. The plan is to expose the sandstone walls and they will be used
> to stabilize the banks. We are planning to dredge that entire area down to
> the Army Corps of Engineer’s property. We removed 6 trees due to that
> planned dredging. One was left to grow many years ago next to the railroad
> bridge pier. It is a sycamore but a tree growing up against the pier is not
> an ideal location for a tree. It will be removed at a later time.
>
>
>
> Pickering Associates have submitted a proposal and the work will be funded
> by private donors. I have the project funded and private contractors have
> pledged equipment and labor to develop the area. We met with professional
> engineers from Pickering several months ago and they agreed to thin out the
> area so they could do an aerial survey and plan. The trees removed from the
> area were performed by volunteers and city labor cleaned up the debris.
> There is not a concrete plan developed and sealed yet but there is still a
> plan as to why the work was done.
>
>
>
> So to answer your questions and concerns as to why these trees are being
> removed and trimmed and not other more pressing needed trees is due to
> several factors.
>
>
>
> 1.       The trees at the Armory have been trimmed and removed by
> volunteer labor or AEP contract at no cost to the city.
>
> 2.       The city no longer does high reach tree work, instead we
> contract it out. Our city resources were not used in the Armory location
> removing non-threatening trees and other tree work needed around the city
> ignored.
>
> 3.       The city labor was used to haul out dirt and debris and we
> reused the soil in our cemeteries and parks. By providing some labor we
> saved money by reusing the soil and not landfilling it elsewhere.
>
> 4.       We will spend $80,000 in 2021 on contracted tree work. We need
> about $250,000 to just keep up with past neglect.
>
> 5.       We took multiple progress pictures of trees prior to cutting and
> even did aerial drone pictures documenting the removal process. I can
> assure you we removed threatening and unpleasant trees from the Armory
> location. The Box Elder trees that were removed are listed as an unwanted
> tree by the tree commission.
>
>
>
> I understand your position on this project, but please understand we did
> not just start cutting trees for no reason. The area will be much nicer
> once finished and as I said before an overwhelming majority agree with the
> proposed new park and prefer the new view. I have a Facebook post about the
> proposed park idea that received 38,000+ views and positive comments. That
> is a pretty good indicator of positive public opinion and input.
>
>
>
> Thanks again and I value your concerns.
>
>
>
> Josh Schlicher
>
> Mayor
>
> City of Marietta
>
> 301 Putnam Street
>
> Suite 1000
>
> Marietta, OH 45750
>
> 740-373-1387 Office
>
> 740-516-4901 City Cell
>
> 740-350-1337 Personal Cell
>
>
> Again I say: Josh Schlicher is open and available for communication, even
> arguments, and I am impressed and grateful (even if I still don’t agree
> with him or buy all of his arguments).  —dawn
> _______________________________________________
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> Green at fuusm.org
> http://fuusm.org/mailman/listinfo/green_fuusm.org
>
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