"We find it curious that our neighbor, who works for the government, could just make a few calls and have the decisions overturned — especially since he has had many trees removed in the past two years that were perfectly healthy."-- says Jim Kercher, Atlanta resident, who was served an arrest citation for failing to remove a perfectly healthy tree after Ainsley Caldwell, head of the city's Arborist Division, changed the inspection report of arborist Stanley Domengeaux to approve a previously determined "healthy" tree as "healthy but hazardous".
So, is this the kind of "team environment" that Tom Coffin was fired for not upholding? I can't help but to wonder if when Mr. Coffin "failed to satisfactorily respond to the constructive criticism of supervisors", as Alfred Elder accused him of doing in his September 29 letter , was it because Coffin refused to let Caldwell change his reports?
Here is an excerpt from The Buckhead Reporter article:
This latest incident involving the city's arborists division began Sept. 2 when the Kerchers received a certified letter from [Travis] Vance, who lives with [Todd] Hall at 2020 Walthall Drive. The letter was titled "formal notice of dangerous tree hazards and conditions."
Vance and Hall wanted the Kerchers to cut down a pine tree that is on the Kerchers' property. Following proper procedures, Heather Kercher submitted an online application for evaluation by a city arborist of all trees on the property.
She met with city arborist Domengeaux on Sept. 11, and he informed her the tree removal permit would be denied, noting the tree was "perfectly healthy." The arborist reportedly responded to a second online application by Hall. She made sure Hall spoke with the arborist and understood his decision.
Domengeaux filed his report with Caldwell the following day, stating he inspected "and denied a perfectly healthy 26-inch pine tree in the rear corner of 510 Collier Road."
"It was his professional opinion "the tree should not be approved for removal."
The Kerchers say their neighbors "were unhappy and apparently made calls to Caldwell and Shelby. Somehow, that decision was overturned."
In response, Caldwell wrote that he had visited 510 Collier Road to "provide an independent second opinion. The tree is healthy but hazardous."
He changed the decision of the report [italics mine] to state the tree is healthy but hazardous and it was approved for removal. ...more
Heather Kercher immediately contacted tree removal companies once she received the arrest citation. She reports that they all asked the same question, "Why do you want to remove a perfectly healthy tree?"
Here is a timeline of the events that occurred between the time her neighbors notified her that they wanted her to remove her pine tree and the time she was served the arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, Coffin, who waited for over two months to find out why he was fired, told The Buckhead Reporter that "he would be meeting with his attorneys to file suit against the city." The Buckhead Reporter also reports that:
... an audit of the arborist section of the Bureau of Buildings and the Department of Planning and Community Development, which was authorized last month by City Council, reportedly has been completed and is being reviewed by the administration. The results of that audit have not been released.
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