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Ceres council approves grant to plant roughly 1,300 trees; residents press for maintenance plan
Summary
Council voted 4–1 to accept a tree-planting grant that staff said will add about 1,300 trees to the city inventory and assign maintenance to parks operations; public commenters and at least one council member pressed staff to clarify long-term care and pruning schedules.
The Ceres City Council on April 14 approved a grant to purchase and plant about 1,300 trees across the city, with the council recording a 4–1 vote.
Council Member Rosalinda Vieira asked whether arborist and ongoing-care costs were covered by the grant. Parks staff replied that the city’s park supervisor — identified in the discussion as the on-staff arborist — will oversee the project, the trees will be added to the city’s tree inventory, and grant funds and existing contracts will be used for picking up and planting the trees. Staff also said an RFP for an arborist/contractor is scheduled this summer.
Members of the public and the parks community urged the council to confirm how frequently newly planted trees will be inspected and maintained. John Warren summarized the city’s grid-based trimming cycle and noted that some parts of town are on a five-year rotation; he warned that if the city cannot sustain pruning and maintenance, planting large numbers of new trees could create long-term liabilities.
Council Member James Casey voted no on the item, citing concern about the city’s ability to sustain maintenance under current budgets. The council approved the grant by roll-call vote (tally recorded in the meeting as four yes, one no). Staff said the trees would be inventoried and placed on the city’s grid/maintenance system and that special treatments would be applied case-by-case.
Next steps: staff will proceed with grant acceptance and coordinate purchase, inventorying, and planting schedules; follow-up includes contractor selection through the pending RFP and integration into the city’s tree-maintenance grid.
