By Naomi Hatch
At the Aug. 1 Taylor town council meeting Councilman Shawn Palmer requested improvements to the land-scaping in front of town hall, and council members agreed that they would discuss this with constituents and bring those ideas to the Sept. 5 meeting.
Councilman Mark Reed said he had discussed this with a few people and stated, “To be honest with you, most didn’t have an opinion other than it was changed from what it is now.”
Palmer suggested utilizing the water bill survey to ask for improvements.
Town Manager Eric Duthie expressed concern, noting that the survey needs to be consistent, utilizing yes and no questions.
Vice Mayor Jane Lee suggested they use the area where announcements of such things as the Sweet Corn Festival were written and ask them to check the website, stating, “We do want to keep the survey consistent as a yes and no.”
“I think that would be fine,” stated Mayor Fay Hatch.
Palmer then said he had talked with a few different people with concerns that very large trees in the town’s right-of-way had long branches or dead branches extending over their yards, vehicles or homes. “I would like to see what it would cost, if we could figure out what areas need to have tree trimming done before there is a li-ability, and I’d like to see about putting that out to bid,” he said.
Duthie asked Town Engineer Stu Spaulding to report where the town is on this issue and what has been done.
Spaulding reported that there was one property on 600 West and Paper Mill that includes a tree on Palmer’s list, and the property owner will be taking care of it. He further explained that he had talked to Arizona De-partment of Transportation officials, who said that in conjunction with their paving project, they would trim the trees in their right-of-way.
Spaulding said that he previously had driven around town and located 15 to 18 trees in the town right-of-way that need to be trimmed. He contacted contractors, who estimated the cost would be $4,500 for the project, and is moving forward with that.
Sep 142012
