City abolishes tree board
Functions added to park, art commission
Yuma city officials abolished the Community Tree Board and added its duties to the Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission at a recent city council meeting.
During the Oct. 3 meeting, City Administrator Greg Wilkinson told the council that the tree board has had a “significant issue trying to keep enough people to establish a quorum and it’s been a long time.” He added that PARC can take over the board functions.
A staff report notes that allowing PARC to assume the duties will continue to show “the importance of maintenance and protection of city-owned trees and other woody plants.”
The tree board consists of five board members, one representative of the city in an advisory capacity, and an additional advisory position from a representative from Arizona Public Service Tree Crew.
Since May 2016, the board has failed to have the necessary members to establish a quorum and at this time has only two active board members.
The city believes the functions of the tree board fit with PARC’s role as it relates to public art advocacy. The council created PARC in 2011 to serve as an advisory commission to the council members and the Parks and Recreation Department on matters related to parks, recreation, arts and culture.
The action took two ordinances, with one ordinance abolishing the tree board and the other ordinance adding the board’s functions to those of PARC. The additional duties for PARC now include oversight, advocacy and certain responsibilities of the Community Tree Board “to help sustain and protect the community’s trees” and an advisory role “in matters specifically related to focusing on the integration of the highest quality of public art in public places.”
In other action, the council OK’d the acceptance of a $18,424 grant from the federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program “for the purpose of storing and laundering firefighting personal protective equipment,” according to the staff report. The city must contribute a match in the amount of $1,842, which is 10 percent of the grant.
The award will allow the fire department to use the funds to buy a specialized washer designed specifically for personal protective equipment cleaning and all required connections. In addition, the department will buy specialized storage lockers to allow storage of personal protective equipment away from the truck bay and diesel emissions.
The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources necessary for protecting the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.
The council also OK’d four Housing and Urban Development HOME Investment Partnerships Program agreements totaling $774,935 in accordance with the 2018 Annual Action Plan, which the council approved on June 20.
The city negotiated agreements allocating HOME funds to the following local entities: Housing America Corporation, $162,489 for development of homeownership opportunities; Yuma County Housing Rehabilitation, $196,244 for housing rehabilitation; Catholic Community Services, $116,202 for tenant-based rental assistance; Arizona Housing Development Corp, $300,000 for rental development.