2007-11-21 Arborist Advisory Committee Minutes

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falling down. S. Stanbro thinks it is important to regularly assess the trees, because it takes a great effort to get them listed as exceptional trees to begin with. 5.Discuss Modification of the List of Exceptional Trees – Regarding the request from the Legislative Auditor’s Office to remove the numbers in front of exceptional trees to reformat the County Code. Chair Bisel looked at reformatted list for errors. S. Stanbro added Hawaiian names to list. She asked Native Hawaiians for Hawaiian names for the ficus trees, they call all ficus trees “banyan” trees. She thinks this is a “local” name for ficus trees rather than the authentic Hawaiian name. Hawaiian names could not be found for every exceptional tree. M. Cottle explained that even housekeeping bills need to get Council approval. If there is any controversy in adding Hawaiian names the Council would disapprove entire bill. Chair Bisel suggested two part resolution to separate administrative portion of exceptional tree list changes and the addition of Hawaiian names. This will allow administrative changes to proceed even if Council decides Hawaiian names should not be added to list. M. Cottle will update list with Hawaiian names provided by S. Stanbro and present at next meeting. NEW BUSINESS 1.Sunshine Law Reminder: Review of how the Sunshine Law affects meetings – J. Mecklenburg AAC is a board so all meetings are subject to the Sunshine Law. Committee members are prevented from discussing official business outside meetings, with exceptions. Two members may communicate about AAC business, as long as no commitment to vote or decisions are reached. If committee members have questions outside of meetings, they should send questions by e-mail to Corporation Counsel, rather than to all AAC members. Materials to discuss at a meeting can be circulated to all members, but no discussion about the materials should take place outside of meetings. Two members may be assigned to investigate a matter outside a meeting, but the findings and recommendations must be presented and discussed at a meeting. J. Mecklenburg provided 2004 Sunshine Law booklets and will check to see if any changes were made between 2004 and 2005 Sunshine Law. 2.Discussion on How Committee is Notified of Land Ownership Changes - S. Stanbro inquired whether the private property where the Loulu Palm in South Kona is located has changed ownership. She also wants to know how AAC is notified of ownership changes and how AAC would notify new property owners of an exceptional tree on their property. Chair Bisel suggested that property sellers may include it in the disclosure process. AAC discussed that the current “Acceptance Form” that is signed by property owners during the nomination process states that the property owner must notify the AAC within 30 days of transferring ownership of the property. S. Stanbro suggested creating a friendly letter that can be sent to new property owners informing them of an exceptional tree on their property. AAC would need to determine whether letter should come from AAC or Planning Department. Corp Counsel will check legality of notifying new owners, and if there are current steps or ability in place already. M. Cottle said that ownership has changed on a few of the exceptional trees based upon County Real Property Tax Office records.