2005 Minnesota Statutes

     18G.16 Shade tree pest and disease control. 

    Subdivision 1.    Definitions.  (a) The definitions in 
 this subdivision apply to this section. 

    (b) "Metropolitan area" means the counties of Anoka, 
 Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington. 

    (c) "Municipality" means a home rule charter or statutory 
 city or a town located in the metropolitan area that exercises 
 municipal powers under section 368.01 or any general or special 
 law; a special park district organized under chapter 398; a 
 special-purpose park and recreation board organized under the 
 city charter of a city of the first class located in the 
 metropolitan area; a county in the metropolitan area for the 
 purposes of county-owned property or any portion of a county 
 located outside the geographic boundaries of a city or a town 
 exercising municipal powers; and a municipality or county 
 located outside the metropolitan area with an approved disease 
 control program. 

    (d) "Shade tree pest" means pests or pathogens affecting 
 the growth and life of shade trees. 

    (e) "Wood utilization or disposal system" means facilities, 
 equipment, or systems used for the removal and disposal of 
 diseased or pest-infested shade trees, including collection, 
 transportation, processing, or storage of wood and assisting in 
 the recovery of materials or energy from wood. 

    (f) "Approved pest control program" means a municipal plan 
 approved by the commissioner to control or eradicate a shade 
 tree pest. 

    (g) "Pest control area" means an area approved by the 
 commissioner within which a municipality will conduct an 
 approved pest control program. 

    (h) "Sanitation" means the identification, inspection, 
 disruption of a common root system, girdling, trimming, removal, 
 and disposal of dead, pest-infested, or diseased wood of shade 
 trees, including subsidies for trees removed pursuant to 
 subdivision 4, on public or private property within a disease 
 control area. 

    (i) "Reforestation" means the replacement of shade trees 
 removed from public property and the planting of a tree as part 
 of a municipal disease control program.  For purposes of this 
 paragraph, "public property" includes private property within 
 five feet of the boulevard or street terrace in a city that 
 enacted an ordinance on or before January 1, 1977, that 
 prohibits or requires a permit for the planting of trees in the 
 public right-of-way. 

    (j) "Shade tree" means a woody perennial grown primarily 
 for aesthetic or environmental purposes. 

    Subd. 2.    Commissioner to adopt rules.  The 
 commissioner may adopt rules relating to shade tree pest and 
 disease control in any municipality.  The rules must prescribe 
 control measures to be used to prevent the spread of shade tree 
 pests and diseases and must include the following: 

    (1) a definition of shade tree; 

    (2) qualifications for tree inspectors; 

    (3) methods of identifying diseased or pest-infested shade 
 trees; 

    (4) procedures for giving reasonable notice of inspection 
 of private real property; 

    (5) measures for the removal of any shade tree which may 
 contribute to the spread of shade tree pests or disease and for 
 reforestation of pest or disease control areas; 

    (6) approved methods of treatment of shade trees; 

    (7) criteria for priority designation areas in an approved 
 pest or disease control program; and 

    (8) any other matters determined necessary by the 
 commissioner to prevent the spread of shade tree pests or 
 disease and enforce this section. 

    Subd. 3.    Diagnostic laboratory.  The commissioner 
 shall operate a diagnostic laboratory for culturing diseased or 
 pest-infested trees for positive identification of diseased or 
 pest-infested shade trees. 

    Subd. 4.    Cooperation by university.  The University 
 of Minnesota College of Natural Resources shall cooperate with 
 the department in control of shade tree disease, pests, and 
 disorders and management of shade tree populations.  The College 
 of Natural Resources shall cooperate with the department to 
 conduct tree inspector certification and recertification 
 workshops for certified tree inspectors.  The College of Natural 
 Resources shall also conduct research into means for identifying 
 diseased or pest-infested shade trees, develop and evaluate 
 control measures, and develop means for disposing of and using 
 diseased or pest-infested shade trees. 

    Subd. 5.    Experimental programs.  The commissioner may 
 establish experimental programs for sanitation or treatment of 
 shade tree diseases and for research into tree varieties most 
 suitable for municipal reforestation.  The research must include 
 considerations of disease resistance, energy conservation, and 
 other factors considered appropriate.  The commissioner may make 
 grants to municipalities or enter into contracts with 
 municipalities, nurseries, colleges, universities, or state or 
 federal agencies in connection with experimental shade tree 
 programs including research to assist municipalities in 
 establishing priority designation areas for shade tree pest 
 control and energy conservation. 

    Subd. 6.    Removal of diseased or pest-infested trees.  
 After reasonable notice of inspection, an owner of real property 
 containing a shade tree that is diseased, infested, or may 
 contribute to the spread of pests or disease, must remove or 
 treat the tree within the period of time and in the manner 
 established by the commissioner.  Trees that are not removed in 
 compliance with the commissioner's rules must be declared a 
 public nuisance and removed or treated by approved methods by 
 the municipality, which may assess all or part of the expense, 
 limited to the lowest contract rates available that include wage 
 levels which meet Minnesota minimum wage standards, to the 
 property and the expense becomes a lien on the property.  A 
 municipality may assess not more than 50 percent of the expense 
 of treating with an approved method or removing diseased or 
 pest-infested shade trees located on street terraces or 
 boulevards to the abutting properties and the assessment becomes 
 a lien on the property. 

    Subd. 7.    Rules; applicability to municipalities.  The 
 rules of the commissioner apply in a municipality unless the 
 municipality adopts an ordinance determined by the commissioner 
 to be more stringent than the rules of the commissioner.  The 
 rules of the commissioner or the municipality apply to all state 
 agencies, special purpose districts, and metropolitan 
 commissions as defined in section 473.121, subdivision 5a, that 
 own or control land adjacent to or within a shade tree pest 
 control area. 

    Subd. 8.    Grants to municipalities.  (a) The 
 commissioner may, in the name of the state and within the limit 
 of appropriations provided, make a grant to a municipality with 
 an approved pest control program for the partial funding of 
 municipal sanitation and reforestation programs to replace trees 
 lost to pest, disease, or natural disaster.  The commissioner 
 may make a grant to a home rule charter or statutory city, a 
 special purpose park and recreation board organized under a 
 charter of a city of the first class, a nonprofit corporation 
 serving a city of the first class, or a county having an 
 approved disease control program for the acquisition or 
 implementation of a wood use or disposal system. 

    (b) The commissioner shall adopt rules for the 
 administration of grants under this subdivision.  The rules must 
 contain: 

    (1) procedures for grant applications; 

    (2) conditions and procedures for the administration of 
 grants; 

    (3) criteria of eligibility for grants including, but not 
 limited to, those specified in this subdivision; and 

    (4) other matters the commissioner may find necessary to 
 the proper administration of the grant program. 

    (c) Grants for wood utilization and disposal systems made 
 by the commissioner under this subdivision must not exceed 50 
 percent of the total cost of the system.  Grants for sanitation 
 and reforestation must be combined into one grant program.  
 Grants to a municipality for sanitation must not exceed 50 
 percent of sanitation costs approved by the commissioner 
 including any amount of sanitation costs paid by special 
 assessments, ad valorem taxes, federal grants, or other funds.  
 A municipality must not specially assess a property owner an 
 amount greater than the amount of the tree's sanitation cost 
 minus the amount of the tree's sanitation cost reimbursed by the 
 commissioner.  Grants to municipalities for reforestation must 
 not exceed 50 percent of the wholesale cost of the trees planted 
 under the reforestation program; provided that a reforestation 
 grant to a county may include 90 percent of the cost of the 
 first 50 trees planted on public property in a town not included 
 in the definition of municipality in subdivision 1 and with less 
 than 1,000 population when the town applies to the county.  
 Reforestation grants to towns and home rule charter or statutory 
 cities of less than 4,000 population with an approved pest 
 control program may include 90 percent of the cost of the first 
 50 trees planted on public property.  The governing body of a 
 municipality that receives a reforestation grant under this 
 section must appoint up to seven residents of the municipality 
 or designate an existing municipal board or committee to serve 
 as a reforestation advisory committee to advise the governing 
 body of the municipality in the administration of the 
 reforestation program.  For the purpose of this subdivision, 
 "cost" does not include the value of a gift or dedication of 
 trees required by a municipal ordinance but does include 
 documented "in-kind" services or voluntary work for 
 municipalities with a population of less than 1,000 according to 
 the most recent federal census. 

    (d) Based upon estimates submitted by the municipality to 
 the commissioner, which state the estimated costs of sanitation 
 and reforestation in the succeeding quarter under an approved 
 program, the commissioner shall direct quarterly advance 
 payments to be made by the state to the municipality commencing 
 April 1.  The commissioner shall direct adjustment of any 
 overestimate in a succeeding quarter.  A municipality may elect 
 to receive the proceeds of its sanitation and reforestation 
 grants on a periodic cost reimbursement basis.  

    (e) A home rule charter or statutory city, county outside 
 the metropolitan area, or any municipality, as defined in 
 subdivision 1, may submit an application for a grant authorized 
 by this subdivision concurrently with its request for approval 
 of a pest control program. 

    (f) The commissioner shall not make grants for sanitation 
 and reforestation or wood utilization and disposal systems in 
 excess of 67 percent of the amounts appropriated for those 
 purposes to the municipalities located within the metropolitan 
 area, as defined in subdivision 1. 

    Subd. 9.    Subsidies to certain owners.  A municipality 
 may provide subsidies to nonprofit organizations, to owners of 
 private residential property of five acres or less, to owners of 
 property used for a homestead of more than five acres but less 
 than 20 acres, and to nonprofit cemeteries for the approved 
 treatment or removal of diseased or pest-infested shade trees. 

    Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, an owner of 
 property on which shade trees are located may contract with a 
 municipality to provide protection against the cost of approved 
 treatment or removal of diseased or pest-infested shade trees or 
 shade trees that will contribute to the spread of shade tree 
 diseases or pest infestations.  Under the contract, the 
 municipality must pay for the removal or approved treatment 
 under terms and conditions determined by its governing body. 

    Subd. 10.    Tree inspector.  (a) The governing body of 
 each municipality may appoint a qualified tree inspector.  In 
 accordance with section 471.59, two or more municipalities may 
 jointly appoint a tree inspector for the purpose of 
 administering the rules or ordinances in their communities.  If 
 a municipality has not appointed a tree inspector by January 1 
 in any year, the commissioner may assign a qualified employee of 
 the Department of Agriculture to perform the duties of the tree 
 inspector.  The expense of a tree inspector appointed by the 
 commissioner must be paid by the municipality.  If an employee 
 of the Department of Agriculture performs those duties, the 
 expense must be billed to the municipality and paid into the 
 state treasury and credited to the nursery and phytosanitary 
 account. 

    (b) Upon a determination by the commissioner that a 
 candidate for the position of tree inspector is qualified, the 
 commissioner shall issue a certificate of qualification to the 
 tree inspector.  The certificate is valid for one year.  A 
 person certified as a tree inspector by the commissioner is 
 authorized upon prior notification to enter and inspect any 
 public or private property that might harbor diseased or 
 infested shade trees. 

    (c) The commissioner may, upon notice and hearing, 
 decertify a tree inspector if it appears that the tree inspector 
 has failed to act competently or in the public interest in the 
 performance of duties.  Notice must be provided and a hearing 
 conducted according to the provisions of chapter 14 governing 
 contested case proceedings.  Nothing in this paragraph limits or 
 otherwise affects the authority of a municipality to dismiss or 
 suspend a tree inspector in its discretion. 

    Subd. 11.    Financing.  (a) A municipality may collect 
 the amount assessed against the property under subdivision 1 as 
 a special assessment and may issue obligations as provided in 
 section 429.101, subdivision 1.  The municipality may, at its 
 option, make any assessment levied payable with interest in 
 installments not to exceed five years from the date of the 
 assessment. 

    (b) After a contract for the sanitation or approved 
 treatment of trees on private property has been approved or the 
 work begun, the municipality may issue obligations to defray the 
 expense of the work financed by special assessments imposed upon 
 private property.  Section 429.091 applies to those obligations 
 with the following modifications: 

    (1) the obligations must be payable not more than five 
 years from the date of issuance; and 

    (2) no election is required. 

    The certificates must not be included in the net debt of 
 the issuing municipality. 

    Subd. 12.    Deposit of proceeds in separate fund.  
 Proceeds of taxes, assessments, and interest collected under 
 this section, bonds or certificates of indebtedness issued under 
 subdivision 10, and grants received under subdivision 7 must be 
 deposited in the municipal treasury in a separate fund and spent 
 only for the purposes authorized by this section. 

    Subd. 13.    Wood use.  The Departments of Agriculture 
 and Natural Resources, after consultation with the Minnesota 
 Shade Tree Advisory Committee, may investigate, evaluate, and 
 make recommendations to the legislature concerning the potential 
 uses of wood from community trees removed due to disease or 
 other disorders.  These recommendations shall include maximum 
 resource recovery through recycling, use as an alternative 
 energy source, or use in construction or the manufacture of new 
 products. 

    Subd. 14.    Municipal option to participate in program. 
  The term "municipality" shall include only those 
 municipalities which have informed the commissioner of their 
 intent to continue an approved pest control program.  Any 
 municipality desiring to participate in the grants-in-aid for 
 the partial funding of municipal sanitation and reforestation 
 programs must notify the commissioner in writing before the 
 beginning of the calendar year in which it wants to participate 
 and must have an approved pest control program during any year 
 in which it receives grants-in-aid.  Notwithstanding the 
 provisions of any law to the contrary, no municipality shall be 
 required to have an approved disease control program after 
 December 31, 1981. 

    Subd. 15.    Certain species not subject to chapter 18G. 
  Chapter 18G does not apply to exotic aquatic plants and wild 
 animal species regulated under chapter 84D. 

    HIST: 2003 c 128 art 4 s 14; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 1 s 31-40