HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-27-2024AAC Minutes
2/27/2024
Place Pueo Conference room and via zoom
25 aupuni stre Ste 2601 Hilo HI 96720
Call to Order at 11:04 AM
Mark Odell
Leonard Bisel
Jonathan Sudler
Jill Wagner via zoom
Bobby Command
Jean Campbell
Approval of the minutes
LB Correction header of Agenda November 16 “Not vice chair”
LB approved JS second, all approved
Old Business
Bobby Coomand says the mayor approved the arborist position
MO the corporation council approached me to fill the position, however I am
concerned about a conflict of interests.
LB Right before Mitch came onboard Public works appropriated funds but decided
against it. And Parks and recs decided they would take that position under their
umbrella
JS Parks and recs had agreed to share the arborist position with Planning dept. to share
responsibility of arborist position per the final agreement at the end of Harry Kim’s term
as Mayor.
BC shared News paper article from 6/2/2016 that the arborist had been approved, but
why hasn’t it been filled?
MO when Neil from Public Works walked thru Banyan Drive he was asking for
help/guidance.
BC the AAC can not help, we can only make recommendations regarding Exceptional
Trees.
JS criticized the AAC for not exceptionalizing the Grove of Banyan Drive in spite of the
fact that the Outdoor Circle who created the program has Banyan Drive listed in Their
book Majesty II published in 1991. He challenged the board why they have not moved
forward with exceptionalizing this grove
JC clarified the committee is only able to research and forward Exceptional Tree
applications, recommend proper prodcedures. She recommended requesting County
council review state statute and see if we could expand our authority that route. In the
meantime our actions are limited.
MO Therefore this committee cannot assist public works, the arborist position must be
filled and direction come from that position.
LB the county has thousands of trees that require an arborist’s attention. We need a
dedicated arborist position to oversee their care.
BC if an arborist is not on the job request, they cannot do anything
MO An arborist is needed for preventative care.
BC if the county takes on the position then only they could do that.
MO An arborist cannot have their own company because of conflict of interest. I have
been put in this awkward position.
LB An in-house arborist makes the recommendations and then contractors follow their
advise
MO tighten up the specs of the Arborist position and have them on the American
Society of Arborist so they understand the legal ramifications of your risk analysis.
BC we need to rely upon the AAC to define what we are looking for in the arborist
position.
LB friends from Honolulu county have already defined the position. We could present
that definition to speed up the process.
BC that would be very helpful
LB I can get a couple of examples for consideration
JC You need to approach County Council for recommendation and you can ask them
for an expansion of your responsibilities.
LB I will get those samples
BC I can help you with that and it needs to align with the new budget cycle and
financial impact statement
MO Public works needs help with care and maintenance of the trees.
JC we can make a request to County Council to recommend how we should handle
this area of concern.
JS Defining the scope of the Banyan drive could be a good place to start.
BC I will look for the exceptionlization. DLNR has to give input. Maybe there is something
they need to tell us. I will have to reach out to Dawn Chang.
JW Last time we had a meeting we talked about assessing the status of trees on the list.
Want access to list of trees. Where are we with that.
JC Put the check of the Exception trees on on the next agenda.
BC Orange tree from Kona is alive and well.
MO do we want to expand our responsibilities.
BC be an advisory committee to both the mayor AND the arborist position
Also Jean, would having Mark on the list of providers be a conflict?
JC we need to consider the code.
BC Mark, you can approach the board of ethics
LB Mike Kraus used to be on this committee but he would abstain if there was a
perceived conflict.
Jill Laukahi.org is going to nominate new exceptional trees for the month of April. We
have a lot of trees over 700 years old which are considered Ancient trees.
BC does Exceptional Tree legislation require the trees being available to the public
once a year like it does with historic buildings?
JS I do not believe it does. I will Check.
MO New Business
Our next meeting will be:
Mar 26 11am -1pm for next meeting
JC Draft Arborist position
Expanding scope of committee
Review Exceptional trees
Breifing from DLNR