The tradition of placing a live tree downtown for Christmas could be subject to change this year.

During Tuesday evening’s joint Streets and Sanitation and Tourism Committee meeting, Tourism & Marketing Department Manager Jordan Pupols presented the idea of replacing the live tree with a manufactured one.

“The reason this is before you today is because Public Works, very specifically, Urban Forestry has brought to our attention that the way that we currently procure and manage the Christmas trees is causing quite a few safety concerns,” Pupols said. “So, from that perspective, we would like this to be before you for consideration. John Austin did procure four different quotes. The lowest one came in as Wintergreen Corporation out of Georgia with a quote of $19,977.20.”

Concerns referenced by Pupols pertain to workers’ safety when picking up the live trees and proceeding to set them up each year, which led to the investigation into a synthetic tree.

“I had several employees come to me about the process of how we obtain the tree and set the tree. They all say they don’t feel safe doing it,” Libby Rutledge said. “I have reached out to MES because they let us use their crane truck. I assumed that their guys were tree service guys — they are not. They advised me they don’t have tree service anymore and MES contracts it out, so we do not have that skill and our employees have not been trained to do this.”

Frank Southard, Director of Public Works, explained the tree is set into the ground using a PVC pipe, serving as a sleeve to fit the tree trunk. He described his own brush with near-injury when the tree caught on the edge of this pipe and the crane dropped it suddenly, resulting in it pinning Southard to the ground and leaving him with hurt ribs.

“I had an instance about two years ago when we were lifting it and MES had it with the crane truck. I was underneath it cutting the tree, but I couldn’t hear it because I was running the saw. They were lifting it and taking the slack out of the rope, and I didn’t realize that the rope was not choked correctly,” Austin said. “As I’m under there, the tree was sitting down on me and someone had to come and grab me because I couldn’t hear them telling me to get out from underneath it.”

Austin added there were issues with the tree last year as well. The tree was removed ahead of schedule because the anchors were planted in the soft ground, and copious amount of wind, rain and frozen-thaw cycles compromised the tree’s stability. While adjustments to tension in the straps can be made, Austin reported the effort becomes futile when the tree leans too far and requires a crane truck to be corrected.

“Three years ago, we moved the tree behind the ice rink,” Austin explained. “We came in one morning during the end of the skating season and the tree had fallen over completely. We had to saw it up and get our lights off of it. It was luckily overnight, so that was not an issue of anybody getting hurt, but it was kind of a wake-up kind of moment.”

The prospective custom-made synthetic tree is made on a solid welded frame and, with a topper and some adjustments, could be nearly 30 feet tall. It is composed of quarter sections and assembly involves bolting them all together and building the tower up, which is an engineered frame. A wiring harness comes pre-assembled in the tree and its parts are plugged together as the workers go up. From there, branches — which are 24 to 36 inches depending on where they are placed on the tree’s frame — are installed. The lit bulbs are screwed in, making it possible to change the style and color of the bulb for greater customization.

Austin reports the company’s trees appear to be high quality with some of their 10-year-old models still seeming brand new, making this acquisition a long-term investment for the city. From his estimation, he believes the tree could last 25 to 30 years. When not in use, the tree would be stored at the transfer station.

To address the anchoring of the new tree, Southard recommended placing it on the fountain. According to Southard, the fountain is taken down every year or so to clean it, winterize it and paint it if a touch-up is needed. In addition to placing it on this foundation, the tree would be held down by concrete anchors and cables, meaning there reportedly should be no shifting with wind and other disturbances.

Southard indicated the tree normally takes about eight people to place it, but the new tree would only require three. Installation is expected to take about a day, but Austin reports it will be easier subsequent years once the crew is proficient with the process and will instead only take hours.

Alderman Rachel Kirby mentioned she was not enthused about the symmetry of the tree, which looked more perfect than actual, living trees and reported a downtown business owner had lamented the idea of a manufactured tree when Warren County is the Nursery Capital of the world.

The committee discussed the potential of planting a tree somewhere downtown, but amid concerns for roots disrupting infrastructure, the money involved in procuring the tree from someone’s property, potential for the tree to die and its need of consistent maintenance, the members ultimately decided to table the discussion for the March 25 meeting to afford all parties more time to research.

Money for the tree, if purchased, would be funded 50/50 by the city’s Tourism & Marketing Department and Public Works. Half of the tree’s total is due at the time of order and the rest must be paid upon delivery, which is expected to be in fiscal year 2025/26 if the tree is approved for purchase.