Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

April 29, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tree Stumps, Dead Trees to be Removed by Private Company

For seven years, residents have had to live with large tree stumps, and dead trees on the City right of way which the highway department has not had the manpower to remove.  Within the City’s 34 square mile area, there are thousands of city street trees.  Now, Mayor James J. Fiorentini has asked the city council for a money transfer to bring in a private company to remove some of the backlog. Mayor Fiorentini stated:

“Our new consolidated Department of Public Works performed a computer check of the number of backlogged customer requests.  We found that we had a backlog of up to 300 requests to remove large tree stumps, dead trees as well as for trimming of trees.  Some of these requests go back as far as seven years. 

“Seven years is far too long to wait for good customer service.  We are bringing in a private company to take care of one hundred of the backlogged requests.  This will include large tree stumps, such as the one pictured here on Mt. Vernon Street, and dead trees that are dangers to the public. 

“Our DPW is working hard to find and reduce the years of backlog of outstanding customer requests.  For years, we have been telling people they are “on the list.”  This is not good enough.  People are entitled to better service then we have been giving them.” 

The DPW did an inventory of the backlogged list of customer complaints for dead tree removal and the removal of large stumps.  We found a five year backlog of 100 dead trees and tree stumps.  The large stumps were left after trees were removed and the stumps remained.

We also generated another list, of requests to remove trees, trim trees and remove tree stumps.  This list goes back seven (7) years and has an additional 300 requests on that list.  That list has not been validated, and the next step will be check each of those requests.

“This is a start towards reducing the large backlog of requests in the tree department” said Fiorentini.  “I hope that our residents understand that we can not eliminate a seven year backlog all at once.  This is a great start.”

Fiorentini said that up to 100 dead trees and large stumps would be removed by a private company.  The total cost is approximately $ 59,000 and is being paid by the money saved by not filling the vacant positions in the Parks department. 

“We continue to believe that the best way to provide effective public service is through a combination of public employees and private companies.  Sending this job out to private companies is the best way to tackle this large backlog.”