County okays plan for courthouse trees

Six trees on the Courthouse Lawn will be removed immediately under a long-range plan approved by Donley County Commissioners Monday during their regular session.

Jeremy Hogan with Arbor Solutions presented a plan calling for eventual removal of 21 Siberian Elm trees, which are suffering from disease and insects. The Siberian Elms, which are mostly on the perimeter of the square between the curb and the sidewalk, are also presenting a safety hazard with dead branches falling and treating each tree for disease and bugs would cost about $2,000 per tree over ten years.

“We’re at about 100 years,” County Judge John Howard said. “They are at the end of their lifespan, and we have to weigh the cost of treating them for the next couple of decades versus removing and replacing them.”

Hogan and county officials agreed that 12 trees, including several large American Elms, two Siberian Elms, and three evergreens on the interior of the lawn, should be trimmed, treated, and maintained.

Commissioners also agreed to plant four or five, depending on spacing, Lace Bark Elm trees, 15 to 20 feet in height, in the lawn along the sidewalk the north side of the square from the War Memorial walkway to the jail and three Cleveland Pears along the north side of the jail.

Trees along Third Street will all be removed for the aforementioned reasons. Two of the worst trees will be removed immediately; the others will be replaced by flowering trees in a couple of years after the new trees inside the lawn get established

Hogan favored taking down all the north side trees at once and planting red bud and/or white bud trees in their place along with the Lace Bark Elms and Cleveland Pears. But Commissioner Andy Wheatly thought the public backlash would be too much.

“Put the interior trees in,” Wheatly said, “give them some time, and then take down the north side and save the butt-chewing.”

Two Siberian Elms on the east side of the square will be taking down immediately, and Lace Bark Elms planted on that row will be moved to the interior of the lawn as the county begins to line Sully Street with Cleveland Pears, which will flower in the spring and put off red foliage in the fall and mature to a height of about 30 feet, Hogan said.

Hogan also is calling for the eventual removal of all the trees on the south side of the square along the Courthouse Annex. Those trees, which are growing in islands between parking areas are also diseased and are stunted because they can’t get enough water where they are.
Commissioners discussed turning those tree islands into additional parking spots. Judge Howard pushed back against that idea, favoring some type of more aesthetic approach, such as planters or decorative lamps. For now, those existing trees will be trimmed of deadwood.

The court also favored spreading out the young red oak trees placed too close together on the west side of square and planting some Chinese Pistachio trees in that area as well.

In other county business Monday, commissioners adopted a new schedule of bonds for elected officials; changed county policy to allow deputies to receive overtime after 40 hours instead of 43; set December 27 from 10 a.m. to noon as the Open House for the new Justice of the Peace office in Hedley; approved a budget amendment of $13,515 for some concrete work at that new office; changed the structure of the Courthouse Lighting Committee to be chair by an appointed person for two years instead of being chaired by an elected official; renewed the annual contract with the Texas Association of Counties to host the county website; and discussed the need to find a new chair for the County Historical Commission to replace the late Jean Stavenhagen.