Tree planting divides Charlotte; three officials resign from volunteer board

A stir over tree planting at recent Charlotte Selectboard meetings has left the town without a tree warden and two deputy tree wardens as all three resigned last week from their positions.

What began as an effort to plant trees along State Park Road has turned into a chaotic debacle over process, contracts and how exactly the funds used to plant trees should be doled out.

Typically, money used for trees planted on public lands comes from the Rutter Tree Fund, which was set up in 2006 and now contains $32,000, $20,000 of which has come from a voter-approved spending for ash tree removal.

In November, a group spearheading the tree planting initiative asked the selectboard to approve up to $10,000 from the tree fund to buy and plant nearly 50 trees along State Park Road.

After getting approval from the selectboard, Mark Dillenbeck, the town’s former appointed tree warden, entered a contract with the private property owner, Joshua Golek, since the trees were being planted on his property.

But when complaints began circulating in town about how the trees might obstruct views, the selectboard started to explore the process under which tree planting decisions are made — especially if they happen on private property — and who should control the distribution of Rutter Tree Fund money.

“The goal of this project was to begin an initiative to plant trees along the town trails to enhance them,” former deputy tree warden Alexa Lewis said. “This particular site was checked out of the map of the viewsheds in town that are supposed to be protected. It’s not one of those. It’s not in a scenic district. The property owner had a strong desire to delineate the public trails from his private property, so we had gone through all these steps.”

Although the selectboard approved the fund allocations in November, the board ultimately nixed the State Park Road tree planting at a meeting on April 9, just days before nearly 50 trees were set to be delivered and 40 volunteers were set to begin planting, saying that after attorney review, the tree planting contract with the private property owner was considered “null and void.”

While there was discussion about the tree planting agreements in open session, the contract with the private property owner was discussed in secret.

“The reason this has been pushed forward is that we have a private group putting trees on private land, and we want to just to make sure the taxpayer would not be burdened by this in any way,” selectboard chair Jim Faulkner said. “We want to make sure that the taxpayer, as time goes on and the trees get bigger, that fertilization, mulching, trimming or whatever, that the town has no responsibility because these trees are being put on private land.”

Board member Lewis Mudge said that the entire problem boils down to an issue with process.

“That to me, and I’m speaking for myself, not for the board, is the crux of the matter,” Mudge said.

Just one day after that selectboard meeting Dillenbeck, Lewis and the other deputy tree warden, Susan Smith, all resigned.

Dillenbeck wrote in a letter, “I am resigning because work with the current selectboard has become arduous and unproductive. The selectboard seems to be more interested in creating barriers than in facilitating our volunteer work. Communication has been poor. Important tree warden-related items appear on the selectboard meeting agenda, and I have not been informed. This has felt disrespectful."

Lewis, in her statement to the newspaper, outlined that over the past two decades the town has planted dozens of trees on private property with a simple tree-planting agreement outlining the cooperation of the town and the landowner.

“I am unaware of any property owner coming back to the town with maintenance demands for the trees. Given the cooperation of the community, the property owners and the town, why does the selectboard treat property owners as enemies that the town needs to be protected from,” she wrote.

Although the town is now in the works of updating its tree planting agreement, the town’s website also outlines that roadside trees may be planted on private property, and even gives an outline of how the town should go about that.

“In these instances, the Tree Warden will consult with the property owner and enter into a tree agreement to share responsibility for planting and maintenance of the tree,” according to the town’s website.

According to Lewis, the agreement used for State Park Road was based on a template created by the previous tree warden, Larry Hamilton, and reviewed by the town attorney. It was modified for State Park Road, adding additional protections for the town, she said.

But in a later phone call, Lewis further explained that legal issues arose with the passage of Act 171 in 2020, which inserted the local legislative body into the process when a tree warden enters into an agreement with a landowner.

“To make the contract valid, the selectboard could have, at its April 9 meeting, authorized the tree warden to sign or simply co-sign the agreement; but the board chose not to,” she wrote.

Nearly 20 of the trees were able to be planted at the town garage last week, but at a special meeting on Monday night, the selectboard decided to plant the remaining trees at the Charlotte Wildlife Refuge as part of a reforestation project. The $3,000 cost will come from the $20,000 in the Rutter Tree Fund allocated by voters for ash-tree removal.

Lewis questioned if even that was legally allowed, since the board may need a vote of the taxpayers to authorize a change in the use of the funds.

Board member Kelly Devine said the board heard from multiple residents who feel they have not had the appropriate opportunity for public input on where trees go in town.

“While we all love trees, people have different opinions as to where they’d be best suited,” she said. “So, we hope to open up that opportunity going forward.”