Four grown and healthy maple trees were cut down and their stumps removed from Augusta Common just before the Arts in the Heart Festival, and several commissioners want to know why.
Roy Simpkins, chairman of the Augusta Tree Commission, says he was stunned to learn that the Parks and Recreation Department removed the trees with no explanation.
“They didn’t follow the proper protocol. It seems like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” Simkins said.
The proper protocol, according to Simkins, is for the Parks and Rec Department to communicate with the Tree Commission if they want to remove a healthy tree from city property.
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A storm damaged tree, or any tree that poses a public safety threat, can be removed without specific permission, Simkins says, but healthy trees are a different matter.
“They haven’t given any explanation other than the trees were blocking the view,” Simkins said.
The Parks and Recreation Department check register shows that the bill for the tree removal was $2,305, which is under the $5000 threshold that triggers Procurement Department involvement to bid the project out.
In an email from Parks and Recreation Department Director Maurice McDowell to District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight, obtained by an open records request, McDowell claims the trees were removed to aid in illumination and to prevent the homeless people from camping out in the Common.
McKnight says she can’t understand how McDowell cannot manage to cut the grass at city parks and cemeteries but has no problem cutting down perfectly healthy shade trees.
“I don’t buy any of that, and now Maurice tells me that they are going to replace the trees in November. It is a colossal waste of money, and I still drive by the cemeteries and see knee-high grass. It’s embarrassing,” McKnight said.
Both McKnight and District 10 Commissioner John Clarke have been vocal about the many missteps of McDowell’s department and have made it no secret that they would like to see him replaced.
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District 4 Commissioner Al Mason has also made his frustration clear, musing at the Sep. 20 commission meeting that maybe new leadership was needed after it took four months to replace storm drains at Diamond Lakes Park that kept the bathrooms closed all summer.
For his part, Simkins, a tree expert in his own right, seems to want to steer clear of the politics and simply states that Augusta needs to hire an arborist.
“We are probably the only city of our size in the country that doesn’t have a full time arborist,” Simkins said.
McKnight agrees and says McDowell clearly doesn’t know anything about trees as he has advocated in the past to cut down the trees at Riverwalk near the levee without consulting any experts.
“We need to hire an arborist yesterday,” McKnight said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
