Council Votes to Ax Tree Crew, Will Hold Public Discussion on Forest Plan

Like the Lorax, they came to speak for the trees.

Almost every audience member who spoke at a Tuesday City Council hearing on Davis’s 2012-2013 budget raised the same complaint: the city’s decision to effective July 1.

“The citizens of Davis expect our forests and parks to be exceptional,” said Mike Maulhardt, a member of the city’s Tree Commission, which opposed the move. “Trees can’t advocate for themselves. The citizens have to advocate for the trees and everything the trees bring to the city," he said according to a videotape of the meeting.

A from one of the affected workers to Davis Patch and other media outlets earlier this month sparked a heated discussion on the plan to eliminate two tree trimmers and a vacant supervisory position. The trimmers received layoff notices the same week Davis residents approved , a tax to raise money for city parks.

On Tuesday, city council members voted to move forward with the layoffs as part of a broader budget resolution, but said they will hold a public discussion on a new tree management plan.

City staff will draft a report listing options that could include expanding the city’s current contract with private company West Coast Arborists, using other parks employees or community volunteers, or even encouraging residents to hire their own tree trimmers—something a city ordinance currently prohibits.

“We’re just not sure how we’re going to do it, but we need to do it to make our budget work for this year,” Mayor Joe Krovoza told Davis Patch. “Staff has ideas but the council really wants to follow this closely because it so important to the community.”

Could restoring the tree trimmer jobs be one of the options?

“That is something that potentially could come back,” Mayor Pro Tempore Rochelle Swanson said, adding that it depended on “labor negotiations and if there are concessions [from unions].”

The budget passed unanimously by council members Tuesday relies in part on wringing givebacks from employee unions, including the Davis City Employees Association, which represents the tree trimmers.

Will service improve or worsen?

Currently, Anaheim-based West Coast Arborists prunes Davis’s trees on an eight-year cycle, with city tree trimmers responding to broken limbs and other urgent requests. City Manager Steve Pinkerton said at Tuesday’s meeting that the system can result in down time when one of the city’s two trimmers is sick or on vacation, because federal safety laws require at least a two-person crew for every job.

“We really don’t think we’re going to see a decrease in service [with the changes]; in fact, we may see an increase in service,” Pinkerton said.

But some Davis residents found that hard to swallow.

“It’s comforting to hear that there will be no reduction in service levels due to the reduction in force, but I just can’t see how that can happen,” said Mary Williams.

“We cannot afford to gamble with the care and maintenance of thousands and thousands of trees that have taken decades to mature,” added Eileen Samitz, another resident.

Complaints about tree service in Davis aren’t new, said Swanson. “Our urban forest management is something that has been a concern before those two positions were cut,” she said. “The eight-year rotation of trees being trimmed, the response time when things were down, and just the overall health of the trees. It’s a conversation that’s been coming for a while.”

Council members could discuss the tree strategy as early as their July 17 meeting, just before they take a monthlong recess.

The most recent round of layoffs brings the total number of City of Davis employees to 376, Pinkerton said—the lowest since before 1990, when the city had about two-thirds as many residents as it does now. More cuts could be coming next year, Pinkerton told the council, including in the recreation, water, and finance departments.

What do you think about the council's decision? Which options should they consider as they put together a new tree plan? Tell us in the comments.