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Charlestown council delays action on tree-committee overhaul, asks solicitor to rework draft ordinance
Summary
Councilors debated an ordinance to fold the town's tree-committee duties into the conservation commission and resolve a longstanding lack of appointees, but chose to take no action and asked the solicitor to return a revised draft.
The Charlestown Town Council discussed — but took no formal action on — a proposed ordinance to amend chapter 163 (Public Trees) that would eliminate a stand‑alone tree committee and vest those functions with the conservation commission.
The proposal, introduced at the council's Jan. 27 meeting, responded to years in which no one had been appointed to the separate tree committee and to guidance from state forestry programs. “I’m suggesting you keep the committee, just change the membership and use an existing committee to fill that function,” Attorney Ruggiero said, describing options that include assigning tree‑committee duties to the conservation commission and noting the town’s possible participation in the Tree City USA program.
Why it matters: the tree committee can act as an appellate body for disputes about tree health and help the tree warden. Councilors and members of the conservation commission disagreed on whether the town should retain a statutory committee in name or repeal the ordinance entirely, given the commission's limited membership and the town’s lack of a current tree warden.
Conservation Commission member Williams told the council he believed the ordinance is “meaningless” for a largely rural town and would add “another layer of bureaucracy,” and urged repeal unless the state requires it. Councilor Stokes and others raised a middle path — keeping tree oversight while allowing outside expertise — and suggested specifying that the town may consult a licensed arborist if a tree warden is not available.
Outcome: rather than moving forward with the text as published, the council agreed to take no action that night and asked the solicitor to reformat the draft ordinance and eliminate or consolidate references to the separate tree committee. Attorney Ruggiero said he would return an edited version that removes references across the ordinance so it would read cohesively.
What’s next: the solicitor will prepare a revised draft for a future meeting; the council did not vote to adopt or repeal the ordinance at the Jan. 27 session.
