Finding urban forester has been challenge
McMinnville officials once again discussed the urban forester qualifications Tuesday evening. Although only one word was changed from the original description, the change seemed to satisfy most of those on the committee.
?Requiring a certified arborist has been our only sticking point,? said Alderman Billy Wood. ?From everything I?ve found, an arborist is a tree surgeon. We used to contract out for that and we can again.?
Although McMinnville?s first urban forester, Nick Kuhn, helped establish the job qualifications, those guidelines didn?t have the support of everyone.
?If you remember, I disagreed at the time,? said Alderman Patti Nunley. ?I think we should seek it but not require it. It takes three years of being an urban forester to take the test. It?s limiting to say that they have to have it. I think we should say that an arborist certification is preferred and give them time to get it.?
In disagreement was Alderman Jimmy Haley who said, ?If we don?t require a certified arborist, we will have to rename the department. If all you are going to do is mow yards and pull weeds, to me it?s not an Urban Forestry Department. We could rename the position to grounds keeper and contract out the urban forestry stuff.?
The city has been looking for an urban forester since Kuhn?s departure in April 2006. The process has been anything but smooth.
After asking Public Works director Bill Brock to oversee the department, the Building and Grounds Committee gave the job qualifications a once over before the position was advertised.
When budget talks began shortly thereafter, elected officials decided to leave the department under the care of Brock due to the financial situation facing the city. Those scheduled for an interview were informed that the position would not be filled at that time.
In September 2006, city horticulturist Patrick Haller, one of the interview hopefuls in the first round, resigned from his job. His resignation left the department with no urban forester or horticulturist.
Given the pay situation ? and two positions open ? city officials decided to experiment by combining the job descriptions and hiring one person who would be qualified to be a department head as well as a horticulturist.
The experiment failed given the inability of officials to agree on one applicant. The situation led committee chairman Billy Wood to pound a table during a head-to-head confrontation with Mayor Royce Davenport when he asked the full board to hire Hank Patton and give him time to get his arborist certification.
The incident happened in February and ended with Davenport threatening to have the belligerent Wood removed from the room.
Given the stalemate, the Building and Grounds Committee agreed to end the current round of interviews. They agreed to again take a look at the job description before advertising for a third time.
The committee agreed to change the word ?required? to ?preferred? within the job description. Haley did not vote on the change because he was called away from the Tuesday evening meeting.