Vermillion tears down trees citywide

Over this past winter season, the city of Vermillion Streets Department has been marking and cutting down trees that have been deemed too close to city streets.

Pete Jahn, Superintendent of the Vermillion Street Department, said the winter season works best with cutting down trees near city streets.

“During the cold winter season, the trees’ saps are watered down making the trees easier to cut down,” Jahn said. “The frozen ground also makes clean-up much easier and besides snow removal, we have more time to work with trees during the winter.”

During early January, a numerous amount of trees were marked with white spray paint, leaving residents wondering what that meant for the trees.

According to Jahn, the trees that have been marked with white spray paint were either scheduled for removal or extensive trimming.

Jahn said the trees needed to make the 14-16 foot clearance about city streets and the 8-foot clearance above city sidewalks.

Evan Verway, who lives near the corner of Pine Street and National Street, said they were unaware that one of the dead trees was going to be removed by the city.

“The tree they removed had been dead for the past four years,” Verway said. “I was glad they finally removed it.”

Jahn said trees that are dead or are dying were all being removed this winter in order to prevent any future damage to streets or sidewalks.

The city street department is in charge of maintaining 47 miles of streets, which do not include alleyways. The department is comprised of one superintendent, a supervisor, carpenter and three equipment operators.