APPRO-2025-33 : An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $68,000 to DPW- Parks and Forestry (#475) for tree plantings.

Transcript (~19 min @ 1:58:18)

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▶ 1:58:16 Mark Garipay: That will be recommended. Um, next stop. ID 1, 2, 6, 4 oh and appropriation for pre-cash account 0 1 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 68,002 DPW parks in forestry for tree plantings.

▶ 1:58:32 Speaker 9: Thank you. Um, so this is another annual request. As you were well aware, councilor gpe, we don't have a line item in the budget for trees. I know that you and I both share the interest in eventually someday having a line item for trees, but the budget really has never allowed it, um, in the time that I've been here. So, um, we are requesting 68,000. Um, that has been our typical amount. I think last year we had a little bit less because of just the constraints with the free cash available. Um, this allows us to keep up with our tree replacements. Um, the money that we're requesting allows us to fulfill all of the requests that we have right now, uh, over the course of the next year.

▶ 1:59:19 Mark Garipay: Council, Jamal and Council Williams after that.

▶ 1:59:21 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you chair. Um, so this would fulfill all the requests that we currently have. How do you know how about how many requests do we have?

▶ 1:59:30 Speaker 9: We have about a hundred right now. Um, we don't like to, so a lot of them are a result of when a tree comes down, we replant. Um, we automatically put in a request in our system to replant in that same, along the same frontage. Um, it's not good to replant within a year of removing a tree because the roots are still active. Mm-hmm. Um, so we,

▶ 1:59:58 Speaker 9: we might spread this money over a little bit longer. We wouldn't necessarily do all the planting this fall with this money. Some of it would wait till next spring, so we probably use half of it in the fall. Half in the spring. We have over a hundred requests right now. This is enough money for 120. Mm-hmm. So it means that we'll have enough to, um, you know, take the next handful of requests that come in now as well.

▶ 2:00:22 Maya Jamaleddine: So that means that we are not going to be able to do everything this year. It's going to be expanded over probably next year or so.

▶ 2:00:32 Speaker 9: It will hopefully all be spent within the next fiscal year. So all within fiscal 26? Yeah. Half in the fall. Half in the spring. Okay. Um, but yeah, it wouldn't be spent all in one planting round.

▶ 2:00:44 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And, and can you remind us of how much do you usually allocate for these kind of project? Or do you request, uh, on a yearly basis?

▶ 2:00:53 Speaker 9: Normally 68,000 is what we've requested last year. I think we were only able to request something in the range of 30,040. Was it like 40? 40? Yeah.

▶ 2:01:01 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, so this is what I wanted to say, and that would tie to all the requests that are coming to free. C um, um, I am all for, uh, you know, planting trees. And, you know, this is something that definitely I would appreciate seeing, uh, as improvement in, uh, our community, uh, with all the struggles and the challenges that we are going through. Um, as you know, any, uh, head of a household would set their priority if I wanted to see if this money would be allocated for something that is more, uh, as a necessity. I wonder if you would allocate this project as a necessity in comparison to all the other ones. And I understand this probably not a question that should be asked for or requested from you, but if the administration is not,

▶ 2:02:08 Maya Jamaleddine: is not, um, allocating money for this project or probably for the project that we discussed prior, that makes me wonder and, and, and, and pause in a way, uh, into, is this a necessity that we wanted to allocate that money for it? Or should we consider that money because now we are in a position where every penny and every dollar counts. And I wonder if this money should be considered for other projects that are more pressing, such as the asbestos, such as safety concern? Or is this something that we should prioritize in terms of the tree planting?

▶ 2:02:52 Speaker 9: Um, I would say that it's, it's certainly not the highest of priorities for the city. Um, the addressing the deferred maintenance in our buildings is my highest priority. Mm-hmm. Um, but tree planting, it does, it helps the environment. Obviously it sequesters carbon. It, um, it addresses heat island issues. Um, obviously there are aesthetic benefits. And I think what we found is that, you know, we, we wanna keep a healthy tree canopy in the city. And we were at a point, at one point in the time that I've worked here, where we had over 400 requests that were unfulfilled. Um, and, you know, each individual request might not seem like much of a priority, but to the person who's been on the list for three years, four years waiting to get the tree planted, it becomes, you know, something that we hear about a lot. We hear a lot of complaints about that. And so, probably four years ago, we allocated a big chunk of money to catch up and we finally caught up. And so the last two to three years we've just been maintaining, which is a, a great place to be. And so, yes, it's not the highest priority, but at the same time, if we let it slip back to the point where we're getting years behind in the planting requests, it just means we're just kicking the can down the road to sometime when we're gonna be looking at a couple hundred thousand dollars, um, for tree planting. So I think it's, it's good practice to keep up on it. And like I said at the beginning, I think ideally we would be in a position where it would just be in the operating budget. Um, same with the asbestos removal. Anything that's a recurring expense at about the same value year over year really belongs in the operating budget. We're just in an unfortunate position with chronically not enough money and looking for the easier things to cut, and those things become easier to cut.

▶ 2:04:49 Maya Jamaleddine: Right. And I a hundred percent agree with you. This is something that would benefit indirectly, you know, in terms of the environment, in terms of the greenery, in terms of the, you know, uh, purifying the air and, uh, the, uh, the oxygen. However, my, my also, uh, respond and not to, to you as much as the, the constituents that are asking for, uh, putting those requests is, that's one of the reason why we need the override. This is one of the reasons that even if you don't have student, uh, uh, kids in school, this is one other way that you will feel why this override is important. So if we are, if we are in a position where we don't know if this override is going to pass, we have to set our priorities to where is the most necessity. And unfortunately, we are at the position where do we invest in the safety? Like those, um, uh, buildings make, making sure that our constituents are safe or putting, uh, uh, those trees. I would have to pick and choose and set where, which one is my priority. It's very tough decision, but unfortunately, it's either we have to make that tough decision or we have to ask our constituents to choose, uh, and vote for the override and advocate for it. So thank you so much for being here, for advocating for that. And, um, I just have to say, uh, yes. Thank you. Okay.

▶ 2:06:29 Speaker 5: All set. Um, council Williams. Thanks.

▶ 2:06:33 Ryan Williams: Um, you remember we talked about the watering issue. I was concerned that the contractor that we're paying isn't doing the follow up to water. The gator bags, are they on the hook for like one watering right? When they plan it? Is that the idea? Do they come back around?

▶ 2:06:49 Speaker 9: Yeah, so we have an optional watering service with them. Okay. So, uh, a line item in their contract. So, um, they are required to put water in the gator bag initially. Yeah. And then we do deliver notice to everybody gets the tree recommending that they water it. Um, but in drier years, we have sometimes used that option to have them do one round of watering, two rounds of watering whatever we think is necessary, but they're not on the hook to keep the gator bags watered every week.

▶ 2:07:17 Ryan Williams: Okay. Okay. Great. Um, and I notice in here this police detail. Do you, can you quantify the cost that goes into this appropriation request that would go to the police department?

▶ 2:07:27 Speaker 9: It's a pretty small component. Um, I think we pay right now, do you remember the hourly rate? 60? It's about $70 an hour, I would say for our detail rate. So for an eight hour shift, about $500,

▶ 2:07:40 Speaker 6: Like every tree?

▶ 2:07:42 Speaker 9: No, it's per day. So per day. And we tend to plant, um, when we do a planting round of about a hundred trees, it takes us about five days. Okay. The, the contractors, so, you know, maybe $2,500 of it goes toward, um, police details.

▶ 2:07:59 Ryan Williams: I'm trying to remember when we had a tree planted in front of our house, did, did the police go to every tree or is it just like prioritized based on what's the, you know, so

▶ 2:08:07 Speaker 9: We are required to hire police detail for that work. Anything that's happening basically in the right of way with an outside contractor. DP W's required to hire a police detail required by an agreement with the police union. So it's not a, it's not a state law or anything. I see. That's an agreement that predates me. Yep. But, um, so it's a requirement.

▶ 2:08:28 Speaker 6: Okay. Good to know. Thank you. Okay,

▶ 2:08:33 Speaker 5: Councilor Ro?

▶ 2:08:34 Cal Finocchiaro: Yes. Thank you. Um, for the chair, I just wanna echo, uh, the comments made by, uh, councilor Aldine. Um, I fully support trees being planted in the ci in the city, like never would not support that. I am having a little bit a hard time supporting $68,000 at a time where we don't know where we're gonna end up next year. Um, so I know, you know, you guys know the budget, you've been doing this for a long time. You know what the city needs. Um, like you said, you, you kind of got to a point where you had all of these requests and you didn't have the funds, and you don't wanna get to that point again. Um, I would personally like to see this money go towards more sidewalk repairs. I mean, that's, I think a lot of constituents compare, uh, complain about that. Uh, I know we have free cash, um, for 50,000, uh, snacks in the agenda. Um, or maybe we choose another portion of a school that we, uh, fix. Um, again, love the trees, would love, I want the people that want, or they're on a list to get them. But I am having a hard time, um, like fully accepting this, uh, for, I would like to see that money go towards something else right now. So just wanted to put that out there.

▶ 2:09:56 Speaker 5: Yeah. Understood. Council Stewart,

▶ 2:09:58 Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, uh, thank you.

▶ 2:10:01 Robb Stewart: And, and through the chair, I would agree. Um, I think there's a couple of good points that have been made by the, the council here. Um, but I see your point as well. I, I don't believe that we should fully eliminate the tree planting. Um, I think there's benefits, uh, both from, uh, the maintenance as well as, um, the, uh, the aesthetics of, of what we're doing to continue to, uh, you know, help improve, uh, the city. Um, so with that being said, I would like to make a motion to amend, uh, this order, uh, from 68,000 to 34,000. Cutting at half

▶ 2:10:46 Mark Garipay: Second, we have a motion to amend this order down from 68,000 to 34,000 by Council Stewart, seconded by Council Hamilton on discussion

▶ 2:10:59 Mark Garipay: Councilor Vandiver, and then President merely,

▶ 2:11:03 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, thank you, um, through the chair. I guess I would just say that, you know, it's, it's hard to compare. We have a dozen things in front of us, and, you know, personally, I think trees are more important than sidewalks. Um, despite the fact that I push a stroller around. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I think it's really hard to compare. We've got flowers for the Veterans Memorial. We just talked about the dog, excuse me, at the dog park and putting up a fence. I, I think it's really hard to compare A to B2C here. There, there, there are different types of needs for different types of groups. Um, but I would be disappointed to see this, um, not be spent or less spent on the trees here. Thank you,

▶ 2:11:41 Speaker 5: President. Merely,

▶ 2:11:42 Speaker 2: Um, through the chair, I agree with Councillor Vandiver. I think this is a, to reduce this and not reduce something else, uh,

▶ 2:11:53 Leila Migliorelli: where I understand totally where every other counselors are coming from, that we are in a reduced budget environment. It, you know, this is a free cash, for lack of a better word, plan put down by the administration with input from the departments as to what they think should be funded through free cash. If there was a mechanism, which there isn't for the council to say, say, we're not gonna spend from this. We want, you know, we wanna move it here, then that would be a different conversation. But what, by cutting or reducing one line, we're just sending it back to the mayor to have, um, her decide what to spend it on. And, uh, you know, that could be a strategy, but it, you know, it may not go in the direction that you hope it should. So, um, again, I think Councilor Vandiver hit the nail on the head here, the, just cutting this one line item versus, you know, whatever. We have nearly 15 free cash requests ahead of us. Um, I, I, I don't, I don't support that. Thank you.

▶ 2:12:56 Speaker 5: Counsel Stewart. Um, council Williams on, on the motion first. Sure.

▶ 2:13:02 Ryan Williams: Okay. Um, yeah, I think that the, to, to reflect back on the points that have been made by President re councilor Van Devin, um, the decisions that we make in the council, you know, it took me a long time to realize this. They sort of like, they represent our priorities in our voices, you know, and when we say things like, you know, I think that the free cash for trees, you know, we deserve half as many trees that sends the message to the mayor. And the mayor takes that into consideration when she's thinking about the budget for next year. And I worry that if we, for free cash for something like this, that's a fairly small capital cost, that if we start making cuts here, that things might not come back. That we might be in the same position that we were in years past where we had dead trees littering the city and Norway maples, you know, leafless and falling over like I had on, on the, on the street I used to live on. Um, so I, I think it is a great, it's a great point, um, that we're in a constrained fiscal environment, and that we need to be thinking really carefully about what we spend our money on. And in that context, I think that the trees are worth it. So I would not support emotion to cut this

▶ 2:14:10 Robb Stewart: Council. Stewart? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. Uh, I'm offering this motion because I don't believe that the, the full amount is gonna pass. And this is a concession, this is why I put the motion on the table. Thank you.

▶ 2:14:24 Mark Garipay: Um, just a, I can, I'm, I am not gonna support this motion either. I've been advocating for trees. There's a lot of, um, tough decisions that, uh, need to be made. Um, and as ward counselor, there's, I have, I have, I have cust, I mean, customers, I have constituents that think, that, think, uh, trees, trees are important to them more so than sidewalks. So we're trying to, trying to do the best we can to, to help everyone out. Um, so I would not, uh, support this motion. Um, I appreciate it, um, but I would not support the motion to reduce it. So let's take a roll call. Vote on the motion to reduce, uh, this id, ID from 68,000 to 34,000

▶ 2:15:11 Speaker 4: Vice Chair Jamine?

▶ 2:15:15 Speaker 1: No. Counselor Occhio? Yes.

▶ 2:15:18 Speaker 1: Counselor Hamilton? Yes. Counselor.

▶ 2:15:26 Speaker 1: Karen Chetty? No. Councilor Brosky? No. Councilor Romanul? No. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver?

▶ 2:15:36 Speaker 4: No. Councilor Williams?

▶ 2:15:42 Speaker 4: No. Present. Elli? No. Chair Ape. No. Nose. Half it. Motion doesn't pass.

▶ 2:15:50 Speaker 5: Okay. So we have,

▶ 2:15:56 Mark Garipay: we don't have a motion on the floor to pass. Uh, so what, so what's the will of the, yeah, what's the will of the committee

▶ 2:16:01 Speaker 6: Motion to recommend to the full counsel?

▶ 2:16:05 Speaker 5: We have a second. Someone who second. Oh, sorry.

▶ 2:16:09 Mark Garipay: Yeah, sorry about that. Uh, motion to recommend by Council William. Second by Councilor Romanul Romanul. Sorry. Uh, on discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please call the role

▶ 2:16:21 Speaker 4: Vice chair Jamal?

▶ 2:16:26 Speaker 4: No. Councilor fro? No.

▶ 2:16:30 Speaker 1: Counselor Hamilton? No. Counselor. Karen Chetty?

▶ 2:16:36 Speaker 1: Yes. Counselor Reky? Yes. Counselor Remodel. Yes. Counselor Stewart? No.

▶ 2:16:45 Speaker 4: Counselor Vandiver? Yes. Councillor Williams?

▶ 2:16:51 Speaker 4: Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Gar Pay? Yes.

▶ 2:16:57 Speaker 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Seven. Seven holds four. Yes. It passes. Motion