(Estherville)– The Estherville City Council Monday approved a contract with a consultant firm in accordance with a $25,000 Urban Forestry Development Grant that was recently awarded to the city by the Iowa DNR.
City Administrator Penny Clayton says the agreement with JEO consulting for nearly $24,000 will complete the identified tasks that are outlined in the grant. She says time is somewhat of the essence…
“The idea is to get this done quickly so we can get the next round of funding, so we would probably submit an application for the next round of funding which hopefully will be opening up this fall.”
Clayton says it pertains to trees on city owned land, including parks and right-of-ways…
“They will do a condition report as part of the inventory. It will include species, condition, recommendations for removal or significant trimming. I think there’s like 15 attributes they look at and then that information can all be downloaded into our Beacon system so that we are able to use it going forward when we do go out to remove a tree or plant a new one or do some major trimming.”
Clayton adds having an inventory and a schedule of regular maintenance could also help limit liability claims against the city.
