City drops Tree City USA proposal
BUCYRUS - Following his win at the ballot box last month, Mayor Jeff Reser said he planned to emphasize quality-of-life issues during his first full term in office.
One way to improve the quality of life in the city, Reser said, could come with joining the Tree City USA organization, which 75 percent of the cities in the U.S. belong to. Reser inserted the measure into the city's 2016 budget, a line of $24,000, or $2 per city resident, dedicated to removing dead or problem trees and planting new ones. But during a City Council budget meeting Monday evening, the idea failed to find any traction.
"People want this city to look nice. This is making an investment. In 10 years it will make a difference, in 20 years it will really look nice. These trees will be growing long after we're gone," Reser said.
After noting that he didn't disagree with the mayor, Councilman Bill O'Rourke, who chairs the finance committee, added that the budget for next year, as of Monday evening at least, was still $70,000 in the hole. "I wonder if we really need that," he said of the Tree City USA designation. "Why this year?"
"Because it's time," the mayor said. "If you look at what we spend on parks, there's nothing there. Cities our size, it's incredible what they spend on parks. Norwalk spends $1 million, and they're not much bigger than we are. We spend $100,000."
Reser also observed that the city's budget for next year includes $4.5 million for safety forces. "I'm trying to get $24,000, I can't believe we can't find that," he said.
In addition to O'Rourke, the measure was less than popular with other members of the finance committee. Richard Rockwell said it sounded like something that could work to beautify the city, but Monica Sack was non-committal and Steve Pifer was far from enamored of the idea, adding that "I can't wrap my head around this one." Pifer asked why the city couldn't just find money in the budget to plant or take down trees on its own without the Tree City USA association.
"Why do you need Tree City USA to do that?" he asked.
The mayor countered that if the city was going to spend $24,000 on trees, then it might as well sign on with Tree City USA, which would also require the creation of a five-person board of volunteers to make decisions on which trees in the city should be cut down and where new ones should be planted.
Council president Sis Love pointed out that there were two new items in the budget for 2016 — the Tree City USA designation and a contribution to the Crawford County Partnership for Education and Economic Development, and added that of the two she thought the latter item should be the priority.
Councilman Bruce Truka noted earlier in the meeting that a handful of ash trees in Aumiller Park need to come down before they're destroyed by the emerald ash borer, and said the city should be able to get some money for the timber. He suggested that the city, instead of joining Tree City USA, could perhaps find the funds for beautification there.
But Reser said a handful of ash trees wouldn't amount to $24,000, and O'Rourke agreed with him.
"We don't need five people walking around. I don't see $24,000," he said, removing the item from the budget.
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