City and County of San Francisco

DEpartment of the ENvironment

URBAN FORESTRY COUNCIL SPECIAL RETREAT MEETING

APPROVED MINUTES

 

GEORGE CHRISTOPHER PLAYGROUND CLUBHOUSE

5210 DIAMOND HEIGHTS BOULEVARD

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.

 

 

ORDER OF BUSINESS

 

1.      Call to Order and Roll Call.  The Urban Forestry Council Retreat Meeting convened at 9:15 a.m.  Present:  Chair Milne, Vice-Chair D’Agostino, Council Members Buck, Cohen, Hillan (9:40 a.m.), LeBeau, Nervo, Sherk, and Vargas; Absent: Member Rodgers; Excused: Member Sustarich (2 Vacant).  Also present were Urban Forestry Council Coordinator Mei Ling Hui and Department of Human Resources Meeting Facilitator Teri Jourgensen. 

 

Ms. Jourgensen presented the ground rules for the meeting. The Council led by Ms. Jourgensen’s facilitation discussed their achievements, strategic planning, developing a guiding statement, critical context issues, future recommendations, underlying contradictions, execution strategies, and selection of a few achievable important issues to advocate for.

 

2.      Public Comment:  Members of the public may address the Council on matters that are within the Council’s jurisdiction and are not on today’s agenda. There was no public in attendance at this time.

 

3.      Urban Forestry Council Members Review of their Achievements to Date.  (Discussion)  The Council discussed their achievements for 2008 that included: (1) Arbor Day sidewalk pocket park garden installation; (2) nomination of three landmarks trees in progress; (3) facilitated a pruning workshop for City employees with increased participation; (4) secured successful responses from city agencies to the Annual Report tree survey and produced the Annual Report; (5) facilitated a well attended Landmark Tree tour; (6) increased media coverage through articles; (7) appointed new Council members with a certain level of expertise; (8) overrode attempt to reduce Council membership; (9) provided ongoing education of the Council; (10) explored the idea of regulating the pruning of street trees; (11) convened all scheduled full Council meetings; (12) saved resources through reorganization of the Landmark Tree Committee into an Ad Hoc Committee; (13) increased outreach and material for Arbor Day; (14) holding an off-site planning meeting; (15) increased credibility and trust between agencies.

 

4.      Urban Forestry Council Members to Discuss Development of a Purpose Statement.  (Discussion and Possible Action)  Discussion was held regarding who the Council serves, what it achieves and its purpose and guiding principles, but no final statement was developed or action taken at this time.

 

5.      Urban Forestry Council Members to Identify and Prioritize Possible Action Items for Future Work.  (Discussion and Possible Action).  Council Members  

 

Council members discussed the need to assist in more efficient use of available resources, to encourage generating more revenue for efforts, as well as supporting the Department’s environmental mission.  Discussion was held on this item, but no action was taken.  It was stated that a future planning session may be held to further discuss retreat agenda topics. 

 

6.      Public Comment:  Members of the public may address the Council on matters that are within the Council’s jurisdiction and are not on today’s agenda.  There was no public in attendance at this time.

 

7.      Adjournment. The Urban Forestry Council Special Meeting Retreat adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

 

The next Regular Meeting of the Urban Forestry Council is scheduled for Friday, December 11, 2009 at 8:30 a.m., in Room 400, City Hall.

Explanatory documents are available to the public at the Department of the Environment, 11 Grove Street, San Francisco, California between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., by clicking on the attachments with each agenda or meeting minutes, or upon request to the Council Secretary at the address listed below, telephone number 415-355-3709, or via e-mail at [email protected].