Commission to help implement arborist plan for Meeker Oak; two commissioners appointed as liaisons

Kelly Adams, who identified herself as an assistant city administrator for Tumwater and a member of the city's Davis/Meeker Oak preservation team, told the Historic Preservation Commission that staff had followed a Level 3 assessment by Todd Frager & Associates and recommends a conservative, staged work plan to preserve the tree while protecting public safety. "We took that resolution and we went back to an arborist and asked for a clear work plan of those options," Adams said, summarizing the team's intent to operationalize arborist recommendations and to return in February with a more detailed implementation plan.

Adams asked that the commission provide a volunteer to help draft materials and to formally certify implementation under the commission's process. She told the commission that the relevant procedural term in the commission's bylaws is a "certificate of appropriateness" and suggested the bylaws be amended so the process explicitly covers trees in addition to buildings.

Commission discussion focused on where authority should sit (tree board versus historic commission), maintaining communication with the tree board, and the practical need for a commissioner liaison. After debate, the chair moved that Dave McCandry and Don Strasburg serve as the commission's representatives to work with the city on the Meeker Tree; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

No new budget appropriation was made at the meeting. Staff committed to bring a refined work plan, proposed bylaw language and a short packet in February, and to continue coordinating with the tree board and the public.