Arborist Advisory Council Meeting Minutes, February 11, 2008
Members Present
Wes Davis, tish carr, Dave Newell, John Lamanna, Art Batson
Members Not Present
Lois Stack, Ted Armstrong
Staff Present
Debbie Davis, Ann Gibbs
Reading/Approval of Minutes
tish called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m. The minutes from the October 29, 2007 meeting were approved.
Update From Members
Wes – Energy East, parent company of CMP, is being purchased by Ibadrola, a Spanish company that already owns a wind farm in Pennsylvania and Scottish power. There is a rate case with CMP looking into changing the vegetation maintenance schedule from a 4 year to a 5 year cycle. Very few people are interested in entry level tree work.
Art – Lucas Tree is expanding crews in ME, MA and SC. They are utilizing more Hispanic workers through subcontractors and are impressed with their quality work. It is difficult to find local workers to do tree work.
Dave – Cypress Tree has had a steady increase in work over the past 12 years. Hiring and keeping employees is an issue. It is hard to offer enough incentives to encourage people to work for a small company. Several small companies went out of business last year and he has heard others are concerned about a slow down in the economy leading to less work.
John – It is hard finding the right person to work with. It is difficult finding work in the winter to keep them on throughout the year.
tish – Belgrade is having a difficult time trying to pass a tree ordinance that would require notification of tree work done on public property. Belgrade is looking into applying for a project canopy grant. Norway received a development grant that includes tree improvements.
Program Update
Debbie reported that there are currently 594 licensed arborists and 108 people have not renewed their licenses. An exam was given on December 5, 2007 and 16 passed and 18 people took the exam on January 30, 2008.
Education/Outreach
Distribution of Brochures – Dave investigated methods for distributing the brochure on hiring a licensed arborist through real estate agents. The Real Estate Commission has a web site that lists names and addresses of agencies. He suggested contacting the executive director of the Maine Association of Realtors, Cindy Butts to ask if they might put something in their newsletter. Also Arborist Association members could supply them to their town offices and local real estate offices along with promoting their businesses. Dave agreed to followup with Cindy Butts. Art suggested there was a public service link on the web that was included with real estate multiple listings. Ann will check to see if the brochure has been saved as a pdf file to be posted on a web site.
Fairpoint Phonebook Ads – Wes has made calls to Fairpoint, but his calls have not been returned.
Role of the Dept.of Agriculture – Ann indicated that we could provide some help developing information regarding arborist licensing, but that we didn’t have the resources for distribution. She felt that the Maine Arborist Association would be a great group to get the word out.
Presentation of Suggested Rule Changes
Ann will present the ideas for changes to the rules at the Maine Arborist Association meeting. She will check with the AG’s office regarding what to present because we are not at the stage of making amendments in the formal rule making process.
Role of the Council
Ann just asked the group to revisit what they thought was the role of the council and how it should operate in the future. Wes suggested there could be more help with addressing complaints as this is how other boards operate like the pesticide control board. Art suggested the council should do something during arbor week in May. Ann mentioned that project canopy always held some type of event. The group suggested we invite Jan Santerre to the next meeting to see how we could collaborate in the future. Wes suggested we could send out a press release a week before arbor week regarding hiring a licensed arborist. Art suggested brochures be included in welcome wagon baskets distributed to new home owners. Debbie suggested we send brochures to dissatisfied licensed arborist, so they could get the word out regarding the need to be licensed.
Agenda Topics and Date for Next Meeting
Brochure distribution, Jan Santerre to talk about Project Canopy. Meeting date to be determined
Meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm
Respectfully submitted by,
Ann Gibbs
