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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 10, 2026 Tree Board Minutes from the Jeffersonville Tree Board February 10, 2026 In attendance: Jeff Cover, Carol Dunn, Bob Hill, Kelli Jones, Amber Powell, Chad Reischl, Not in attendance: Eric Bitner, Chloe Motley, Paul Reid, Derrick Wiest, Youth Advisor (vacant) The meeting of the Jeffersonville Tree Board was called to order by Jeff Cover at 4:03 pm on February 10, 2026 in the Planning/Building/Parks conference room at the Jeffersonville City Hall There were no adjustments to the agenda and only one revision — a minor typo — noted in the minutes. Carol motioned to approve the minutes as corrected. Bob seconded it. The motion carried unanimously. Chad will make the correction. Chad announced that Derrick was no longer with the City and therefore would no longer be on the Tree Board. Jeff asked if another appointment would be made. Neither Chad nor Amber had an answer for that question at this time. For the time being the seat will remain vacant. Unfinished business: Following the January meeting, Jeff took all the suggested goals and activities and consolidated them. He passed out a page with the consolidated goals and led a discussion on which were the most important. After much discussion, the board felt that we should focus on the following items. 1. Achieve designation as a Tree City USA with the Arbor Day Foundation, 2. Have at least one hands-on tree-planting/tree care project, 3. Explore and establish a Memorial/In-Honor Tree Planting program, assuming program leadership from the Parks Dept., 4. Expand Community Outreach/Engagement, and 5. Encourage the City of Jeffersonville to contract with a consulting arborist to offer professional services. Committee reports: Funding committee: Chad indicated that the non-reverting fund has been set up and that it now contains $2000. With $500 earmarked for professional services and $1,500 dedicated to supplies. Jeff asked if we could now accept donations. Chad indicated that yes, cash and checks could be deposited to the account. The question of credit cards arose and Amber indicated that she could set that up. Once set up, we could put that link on our website. Jeff asked about spring planting dates for the CUF grant the City received last fall. Chad said that the paperwork had not been finalized and that he was waiting for the go ahead from the state before making any plans. It might be that plantings are postponed until the 4 fall, but he'd keep the board informed. I Carol reported out that she, Jeff and Chad met to discuss a possible Duke Grant for an Arbor Day Event. They felt they needed more info on the timeframe/turnaround for a grant. Carol reached out to Duke and it seems that the turnaround is about two months, depending on when the application is submitted. Duke also said that it might be interested in sending volunteers to an event. The Board had a fair amount of discussion what kind of project we might want to pursue with Duke, but no broad consensus was reached. We do, however, want to have an Earth Day Event (more on that below). Executive Committee: Jeff indicated that there was nothing to report from the Executive Committee. Education/Programming/Tree Planting Committee: Carol reiterated that the Tree Steward class would be happening March 30 & 31 from 9- 3pm at the New Albany YMCA. They have a solid list of attendees, but will be making it public soon. The First Presbyterian Church will be planting a tree at Northhaven Elementary on Friday April 24th. Discussion was had on whether the Tree Board would like to get involved. Carol and Jeff thought there may be room for additional trees at Northhaven. Chad indicated that there is room for additional trees at the Connie Selmers Park across the road. The board thought that maybe we could plant 6 or 7 trees that day. The committee would continue to work out the details. Marketing/communications: Bob indicated that another tree column was coming out in the paper very soon and that he continues to think about and look for content. Amber is continuing to put things together for taking over the memorial tree program. She indicated that they currently have the memorial tree program on their website, but she could set it up so that it sends folks to our page. She'd have more details at our next meeting. New Business: Chad indicated that he had sat down with the parks and streets departments to talk about trees and tree maintenance. The meeting seemed to suggest that it would probably not be all that hard to hit our $100,000+ goal necessary for Tree City USA. We just needed to think about documentation of the city's use of equipment, mileage and employee hours. Chad also indicated that he hired Eric Bitner to do an inventory on all the ash trees in our parks. This way we and look at prioritizing treatment for emerald ash borer and/or removal. Jeff asked if it made sense to have a formal motion to "regretfuly accept" Derrick's Resignation. That motion was made by Amber, Seconded by Kelli, and passed unanimously. 4 Informal discussion/public comment There was no additional discussion or public comment. With that Jeff called to adjourn the meeting. It was adjourned by common consent at 5:13pm. Respectfully Submitted, Chad Reischl Secretary, Jeffersonville Tree Board.