Trees in the cemetery were addressed in two different actions by the Lisbon city Council Monday, April 25.
The first request came from property owner Mark Smith, who lives near the cemetery directly behind South Jackson Street.
Mark brought up issues with the trees, a complaint he has had for more than five years.
The issue for Mark said the soft pine trees located around the cemetery have become a popular grazing spot for local deer.
“Five out of every six of the trees planted around the cemetery are more soft pine trees,” said Brandon Siggins, Lisbon city administrator. “The hard pine trees that are located in the area, those are trees the deer leave alone.”
The gnawing on the trees, however, makes them unsightly.
Smith was asking for the council to come up with a remedy or look into removing the trees.
Several members of the council disagreed with removing the trees, noting they were planted around the cemetery for people in Grant Circle neighborhood, who wanted the cemetery view to be softened.
“The trees were planted with memorial money, and there were a lot of volunteer hours that went into the project,” said John Bardsley, council member. “I agree that the trees do not look good, but they can easily be trimmed up, and could be mowed underneath to remove some of the underbrush.”
Mayor Doug O’Connor recommended removing the additional trees that have somehow started to grow with these trees, and to have the trees cleaned up by city crews.
“I think if we were to propose removing these trees, we’d have a public fight on our hands,” O’Connor said.
Mark’s additional question was if the trees were planted too close to property lines to begin with.
Council member Mike Williams recommended checking their distance from property lines.
The council made a motion to clear up the trees along the north/south and see how that project looks, and then evaluate if the same actions will help trees along the east/west.
The council also tabled a bid for tree removal in the Lisbon cemetery.
The trees being evaluated are some of the older pines in the cemetery, habitually lose branches, and threaten stones in the cemetery.
“We lost several of these trees during the derecho, and this is to remove some of these aged pine trees for the safety of the trees,” Siggins said.
The city had received a bid from Cy’s Tree Service for tree removal, and the bid was significantly higher than usual.
Lisbon public works director Travis Bagby said the bid was higher because of the need to utilize a crane and would need to be done in stages. The tree service was looking to stage the tree removal to mitigate potential damage to stones in the area of the trees.
“Cy also helped us significantly during the derecho with tree removals, and I’m pretty comfortable with this bid,” Bagby said.
Williams, however, felt the city should try to have other bids for a more competitive bid process.
Council member Nathan Smith agreed.