If you are reading this on Yahoo, the real deal is at www.beacontrees.blogspot.com we are just using Yahoo for its ability to alert you to new posts. I know all of this is not perfect and a little annoying, but it was the fastest and easiest way to consolidate information for $0.00.
Now for some very specific questions:
- Who signed the contract?
- How did we go from removing a few dead or diseased trees to removing 51, mostly healthy trees? (or was the number 61?)
4 comments:
The Mayor probably signed the contract, after the council voted to approve the contract.
I believe if the council looked out the detailed plans before they voted to approve the contract for 384,000 dollars, they would have known there was 51 trees coming down and 61 going up.
The plans would have identified the types of trees and the size.
The council dropped the ball no matter how they try to spin this. T
________________________________________
From: BEACONMAYOR@aol.com [mailto:BEACONMAYOR@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 11:50 AM
To: info@beaconartsupply.com
Subject: Re: Questions
Hi Nicole -
1. All contracts are agenda items, where the Council votes to authorize the Mayor to sign them. The policy is to have the City Attorney approve as to form, and the City Administrator approve as to content. In this case the agenda reads "Bid Award: Main Street Sidewalks. That the Lowest Responsible Bid Submitted by Sun Up Inc., Wappingers Falls, NY in the amount of $394,275.00 be accepted and Mayor is authorized to execute a contract for performance of said work." (I didn't check the resolution but it's unlikely that it says anything more - I 'll check it if you like)
I've asked Colleen to check back for workshop discussions - this goes back a while.
2. The full street tree evaluation by the tree board began last October - there had been checks of various locations before that when problems came up. They tell me that since last October they did the full Main Street walk at least six times, covering the different seasons, apparently. Two of those walks included the engineer, one was with the tree growers that I'm told usually supply trees, for their input on varieties to plant. They made up a list of each tree on the street, its condition, condition of the sidewalk, etc. This was apparently modified after each walk.
I think you were copied on my memo regarding the latest list, which included 11 or 12 categorized as "overgrown", which was certainly not our intention or direction, but apparently was the engineer's recommendation, and another 6, I think the number was, that had cracked sidewalks, but not lifted them. These should certainly be pruned, not taken down., and they were all, or mostly, the larger trees.
Lou Sebesta had given his advice at some time prior to these evaluations, to the Street Department. I have always asked that they get his advice on any tree question, to be sure we have the arborist's point of view and possible solutions to consider along with the engineer's, since that focus is based on safety and there should be a balance. (We have had calls from some of the fairly numerous people who use motorized wheel chairs to get around who have difficulty when the sidewalks aren't level. I've asked the city attorney to try to come up with a list of the suits against the city for Main Street falls, and the insurance company will supply that, which should list some of the problem addresses.)
If you think of anything else, please ask, and any information I get, I'll pass along.
Clara Lou Gould
Mayor Gould,
Thank you for your reply.
You answered my first question, thank you. You signed the contract with the council's authorization.
I still don't have an answer to the second question. How did we go from a few dying trees to 51 mostly mature, healthy trees?
You are giving me a lot of information that is a bit irrelevant, unspecific (for example with the "tree growers" in #2 that you are "told usually supply trees") and redundant.
We know about the evaluations. We know that you've had complaints about the sidewalk. We know Lou Sebasta gave advice, many of us read it here, and you said you "usually ask that they get his advice on any tree question". But did you ensure that "they" asked. Because it doesn't seem like you took it.
So please, as soon as you have a moment, tell me:
How did we go from removing a few dying trees to 51, mostly mature and healthy trees?
Thank you for your time.
Sincerly,
Nicole Ashey
Okay, so my comment to Mayor Gould was a little harsh and unproductive. Sorry, Mayor Gould! Your e-mail was a little unclear to me and I got frustrated.
Now that I've read it a couple of times, it seems like you were saying that the council WAS aware that it was approving a $400,000 contract--by implication,
the council was aware of the scope of the work.
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