Our Trees... and Our Trust
What do trees and trust have in common? Weston taxpayers invested $19 million in the Town Center Improvement Project, but the contractors mishandled the tree planting and our Town leaders – entrusted with managing this important project – have failed to hold the contractors accountable and get the problems corrected.
We have written a few times about the concept of the Social Contract between Weston voters and Town leaders. We believe it should be more than an abstract idea. It should be our governing principle.
There are a number of ways for Town government to violate a trust. One is to intentionally dismiss or disregard a decision by voters; we have two of those – failing to expand the Select Board from 3 members to 5 and and pursuing their water management agenda despite voters' disapproval. Another is the failure to manage tasks or programs in a manner that is timely, effective, and efficient, and to make sure that when the inevitable glitches occur along the way, they are acknowledged and corrected.
Consider the Town Center trees.
This issue is remarkably straightforward. The design of the Town Center Improvement Project specifically included an initiative to bring a beautiful green canopy to Boston Post Road, something that had not been possible among the clutter of utility wires that had proliferated over the years. In 2021, near the end of the construction, 125 new trees and shrubs were planted. We had a contract with a landscape contractor, which was very specific about the planting process, especially regarding preparation of the root ball of the young trees being planted. “Once the root ball has been located at the proper depth within the planting hole, carefully cut rope or wire basket away from root ball. Remove wire baskets completely.”
Weston’s Tree Advisory Group learned at its meeting in October that at least 40 trees had been planted incorrectly, creating the risk that the growth of those trees would be stunted and that the trees would be vulnerable to heat and drought, many eventually dying as a result over time. Reportedly, a group of about 10 Town officials involved in managing the project concluded that the trees they inspected should be left in place, avoiding disruption, probably hoping that the issue would go unnoticed. If and when a significant number of those trees fail over the next 1, 5 or 10 years, the Town will have lost the time that it takes to realize the green canopy that we expected and paid for, we may no longer be able to hold the contractor accountable, and we will experience even greater disruption to Town Center when those trees ultimately need to be replaced.
From our perspective, this raises several simple questions:
Since the contract spelled out "Remove wire baskets completely," why didn't the contractor follow that directive?
Was there someone from the Town responsible for supervising the planting of the trees, and ensuring that the landscaping work conformed to the terms of the contract?
When the Town learned that at least 40 trees had been planted incorrectly, why was the landscape contractor not required to replant all of those trees properly?
Why hasn’t the Select Board instructed the Town Manager to enforce the landscaping contract?
The contract language is clear, our Town leaders were made aware of the problem, and their failure to act will once again cost Weston residents in poor results and additional financial burden. When we cannot trust our Town leaders to handle their responsibilities – in even the most straightforward situations – it erodes our faith in Town government and in them. Their dependability is called into question, and it becomes almost irretrievably difficult to regain the trust of the community. We think that’s where we find ourselves these days.