Contractors failed to keep up with tree-trimming backlog

Windsor could finally be catching up on its tree-trimming backlog as city council approved spending nearly $268,000 to prune limbs that have annoyed residents for years.

• Windsor tackles tree-trimming backlog
• Windsor's massive street tree dates back to 1890

The city willaward three contracts to clean up 1,500 trees, which is about two thirds of the 2,200 outstanding tree-trimming work orders.

Financial problems leading to the backlog began about a decade ago with the arrival of the emerald ash borer, but there were also problems with contractors hired to trim trees in the last couple years, according to cty forester Paul Giroux.

"We had some difficulties managing the contractor and getting the performance that we needed," he said. "That's on us, if we don't manage a contract successfully and hold [contractor's] feet to the fire."

Giroux is confident much of backlog will be addressed by the end of 2017.

Contractors take about one to two hours to maintain a tree.