From: Eric Franklin
To: City Clerk Group
Subject: RE: CONSENT CALANDAR - ITEM A.6 - AWARD GENERAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR PARKS TREE
MAINTENANCE SERVICES TO WEST COAST ARBORISTS
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 12:42:56 PM
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City Clerk,
RE: CONSENT CALANDAR - ITEM A.6 - AWARD GENERAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR PARKS TREE
MAINTENANCE SERVICES TO WEST COAST ARBORISTS, INC
I have several concerns regarding this Award to West Coast Arborists, Inc.
This is not a transparent recommendation to the City Council.
Public works staff failed to provide the City Council with the required information.
1. Why is there no selection evaluation information provided? Scoring Sheets?
2. Public Works Staff, needs to show each Criteria that was used during the evaluation, and provide a spreadsheet showing the scoring for each of the (8) bidders.
3. Public Works Staff, needs to provide a spreadsheet showing the costs submitted by each of the (8) bidders.
4. Who is on the review team? Are these members of city staff? Independent reviewers?
5. Does each member on the review team have experience in the Tree Maintenance industry for over 10 years, and does each member have an ISA Certification?
6. Public Works Staff, needs to provide a copy of the West Coast Arborist Proposal for review.
7. Public Works Staff, needs to provide a copy of all the other bidder’s proposals for review.
The city council should not make a recommendation on this item tonight, without the required information to review.
This item should be tabled for now, and brought back at a later date when all the information can be provided to the city council, residents of the city, and the other bidders who submitted a bid in good faith.
Sincerely,
Eric Franklin
Executive Vice President
United Pacific Services, Inc.
ISA Certified Arborist # WE-2158AFU
ISA Certified Utility Arborist
ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional
ISA TRAQ Tree Risk Assessment Qualification
562-254-0746 CELL
562-691-4600 OFFICE
562-691-8839 FAX
[email protected]
www.UNITEDPAC.com
December 2, 2025
City Council
130 Cremona Dr
Goleta, CA 93117
[email protected]
cc: [email protected]
RE: Item A.6 – Modify to Protect Nesting Birds and Promote Replanting Dear Mayor Perotte and Members of the City Council:
Your council tonight is considering the City’s first-ever Annual Tree Maintenance Agreement as part of Item A.6 of the consent agenda. The Agreement sets forth important guidelines for trimming and removing park trees within the City of Goleta for the next five years.
The undersigned organizations urge you to pull Item A.6 from the consent agenda and direct staff to modify the Agreement to include stronger language for the protection of nesting birds, and to incorporate replanting objectives. While we appreciate the City’s good intentions to include a provision guiding the protection of birds, the proposed language is vague and fails to ensure that birds and nests are protected. Improving this language now will ensure that the City of Goleta and its contractors take a responsible, sustainable approach to the management of our urban forests for years to come.
The protection of birds is addressed in Section II.J (“Protection of Nesting and Migratory Birds”) on page 31 of the Agreement, as follows:
Contractor shall adhere to all restrictions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 as they apply to the work of this contract. Pruning in the Foothills Preserve during winter months is highly recommended to avoid the nesting season.
Care should be taken not to disturb or destroy bird nesting and habitat when pruning.
Many birds build nest in trees during the spring and summer months and these birds are protected by law. The Audubon Society in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife published a Guide to Bird-Friendly Tree and Shrub Trimming and Removal containing information to help avoid damaging birds and nests.
We believe that more specific language here would help guide the contractor in fulfilling its duties under state and federal law. We recommend the following:
1. Strike the reference to the Foothills Preserve. This seems to be a cut-and-paste error as there is no Foothills Preserve within the City of Goleta. The sentence could read “Pruning during winter months is highly recommended to avoid the nesting season. 2 2. Add language requiring the contractor to avoid work during specific months of bird nesting season. Generally, tree maintenance activities should only occur between the months of September through February to avoid the primary nesting and breeding months.
3. Add language requiring bird surveys if work cannot be avoided during nesting season.
If avoidance of nesting season is not possible, the Agreement should require a survey by a qualified independent biologist with sufficient experience in focused surveys for breeding and nesting birds. The surveys should be conducted to protocol, and the contractor should provide the survey reports to the City for approval prior to commencing work. Surveys already occur for street trees, so contract language referencing prerequisite surveys will ensure uniform expectations by the contractor and the public.
4. Add language requiring compliance with the Audubon Guide to Bird-Friendly Tree and Shrub Trimming and Removal. The contract language refers to an Audubon guidebook, but it simply references it and does not require the contractor to follow its instructions and recommendations. If the City wants the contractor to fully comply with this guidebook—an approach we support—then the language should clearly reflect that.
5. Include a full listing of laws governing the protection of birds. The proposed language only references the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. However, several state laws also require the protection of birds and nests and should be referenced here as well. The contractor must comply with all state and federal laws pertaining to the protection of birds.
In addition, we would like to more fully understand the extent of tree removal anticipated under this Agreement. The scope of work is described in Exhibit A as “pruning, removal, stump grinding, street light line clearance, and other maintenance of trees…along street corridors, and throughout parks, open spaces and facilities within the City of Goleta.” How many trees per year will the contractor remove under this Agreement, and who is responsible for replanting and maintaining replacement trees? We recommend that the Agreement outline responsibilities for replanting.
Thank you for considering our concerns and recommendations. Healthy park trees benefit everyone. Our organizations support the City’s efforts to properly maintain trees in our parks, but they must be conducted in a way that protects birds and their habitat, and that ensures a robust and effective replanting program.
Best regards,
Save Goleta Trees
Jeff Kuyper
Steering Committee
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
Katherine Emery, PhD
Executive Director
Santa Barbara Sierra Club
Emily Engel
Group Chair