Atlanta Tree Man Fired for Doing his Job

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treeseer

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Atlanta arborist says he was fired for doing his job too well


By ALAN JUDD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/02/08

Tom Coffin thought his bosses wanted to talk about the possible malfeasance he had discovered in the agency that enforces the city of Atlanta's tree ordinance.

Instead, they fired him.

Coffin lost his $50,700-a-year job as the city's senior field arborist on Tuesday after filing complaints against other employees.

He alleged they looked the other way when developers and homeowners illegally removed healthy trees, approved construction sites when violations were obvious, and failed to regularly impose fines even after blatant disregard of the law.

He gave his superiors an analysis of city data that, he said, showed "the near total abdication of enforcement of the tree protection ordinance."

"I followed the book," Coffin, 64, said in an interview Saturday. "And then I got fired for it."

His dismissal has stirred protests to Mayor Shirley Franklin and other officials by an informal network of people, mostly from the northeast Atlanta area that Coffin patrolled, who are concerned about the continual loss of the city's tree canopy.

The episode also exposes how loosely the city enforces its tree ordinance, which allows hefty fines for removing healthy trees without a permit.

"Tom's doing all the work, and the rest of them aren't doing a damn thing," said Sheldon Schlegman, an Atlanta architect and a former chairman of the city's Tree Conservation Commission.

By firing Coffin, Schlegman said, his bosses are telling other arborists that "we'd rather you not do anything."

City officials including Franklin did not respond to requests by telephone and e-mail for an interview Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Planning and Community Development, where the arborists work, e-mailed a statement describing Coffin's dismissal as "a personnel matter" that was not related to recent layoffs of city employees because of a budget deficit.

"We have other arborists who are trained and knowledgeable in the tree ordinance who will handle and protect the city's tree canopy as required by our codes," the statement said. The city will soon seek applicants to replace Coffin, according to the statement.

Coffin spent eight years as a city arborist after helping write the tree ordinance in the late 1990s. He aggressively enforced the law, his supporters say, and bristled when others overlooked violations.

This spring, Coffin said, he began documenting "fairly extreme irregularities" in enforcement, including false reports that construction sites were in compliance with the law. Using a city database, Coffin determined that he had issued 70 citations for illegal tree removal during the first half of 2008. Five other arborists combined reported 29 violations; two of them issued one citation each.

Coffin didn't try to explain the disparities. But he thought the data called for serious repercussions.

"If you were a traffic cop and you went six months without writing a ticket," he said, "would you still have a job?"

Last Tuesday, Ibraham Maslamani, director of the city's Bureau of Buildings, called Coffin and another supervisor into his office. Coffin had been requesting a meeting to discuss his findings about enforcement and assumed this was it.

But without explanation, Coffin said, Maslamani told him, "Your services are no longer required." Twenty minutes later, Coffin walked out, unemployed.

"There had been no prior consultations or discussions or admonishments or any indication I wasn't doing the job I was supposed to do," he said.

Coffin, who is trying to get his job back, doesn't think his frequent jousting with well-connected developers cost him his job.

Some of his supporters aren't so sure.

"The neighborhood suspects that the firing was caused by Mr. Coffin's diligence," Mercy S. Wright of the Tuxedo Park neighborhood wrote to the mayor last week. "He was simply doing his job too well."
 
Sounds like he needs to consult with a good Civil Attorney ! City Council should be notified of his dismissal. Then I would notify the States Attorney General & my State Senator . Let's get the trash curbside for early pick-up. Don't forget the Feds', they supply funding for City Tree Maintainence !!!!!:jawdrop:
 
My understanding of the area is that tract development has wiped out square miles of woodlots and remnant forests. The government was too smalltown and saw the revenue as too good, turned a blind eye the termite people devlopment of McMansions.

Nels, look at it this way, Eau Clair turns into Milwaukee over a 5 year period and all the woods and farmland around you become subdivisions or gated home owner association (HOC) communities. After a while you would get sick of making money off the land clearing and hate seeing the 6000 sqft houses go up on 1.5 acer lots. (Around the corner from me they wanted to put 42, 2500 sqft houses on 8 acres).
 
What a surprise. Corruption in city politics? NO. Joking, you must be. I'm sure there's more to this story but it's the same stuff that happens everywhere. It isn't how well you do your job, it's how well you kiss the arse of the higher ups. And this whole needing a permit to cut down a tree that's in the 'utility' strip technically owned by the city is crap imo. The city gonna pick up the construction tab when it fails and blasts through your roof?
 
I googled the tree ordinance for the City of Atlanta. This is a comprehensive document that gives police power (to issue citations) to the city forester/arborist. It has specific and significant fines established for infractions.

But the best (and I am not necessarily saying this is the best I have read) document in the world is worthless if no one is willing to enforce it. (Our whole justice/legal system is filled with "laws" that are pointless since no one enforces them.)

Requiring permits for the removal of legitimately problematic trees should not be a problem and having that "check" in place could stop people taking down trees unnecessarily.

What I also found interesting is that a Tree Conservation Commission is set up in this City to hear appeals of the citations. This 15 member commission has 8 members appointed by the Mayor and 7 by the City Council. It has specifics on what those people's qualifications should be. However, as you read those qualifications you see that the "powers that be" can slant this commission 6 to 9 in favor of development as opposed to being pro-tree. Yet this is a TREE conservation commission.

This City is a Tree City USA. Which unfortunately means nothing if the City doesn't take it seriously.

I realize we have only heard one side of the story; but I would really like to hear more of the story. Why are the other arborists so much less proactive in their jobs? Are appeals to citations being turned over once they hit the Commission? There is such an appallingly lack of serious and realistic care being exercised in many areas for our mature trees. An attitude by many developers and individuals that "the tree can just be taken down and another planted in its stead". Never mind the fact that a house can be built in 90 days but a tree takes 25 years to become mature.

On the homepage of the City of Atlanta it enumerates all the items the Mayor deams important in her city including quality of life; I am constantly amazed at the mind set that seems to think a landscape devoid of trees would make a better world.

Sylvia
 
Sprawl is sprawl no matter where you go, If Eau Clair became a boomtown in a few years, as Altanta did, I'm saying that the sprawl you would see would probably bunch your undies to all get-out.:rant:

Yeah, but it's already too late for a place like Atlanta, no saving it now. I've been through it. What's some more concrete gonna hurt? It's like littering on a black top highway, doesn't really matter. I don't do it or promote it, just always thought it kind of an oxymoron, lots of poor people make money off those aluminum cans, not to mention I found a brand new Fiskars Multi-tool in my ditch while picking up garbage this year, how's that for quality litter?
 
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Treeseer, when you are done with that can of Spam, make sure you clean the can thoroughly, peel off the label and place it in the recycling.
 
What a surprise. Corruption in city politics? NO. Joking, you must be. I'm sure there's more to this story but it's the same stuff that happens everywhere. It isn't how well you do your job, it's how well you kiss the arse of the higher ups. And this whole needing a permit to cut down a tree that's in the 'utility' strip technically owned by the city is crap imo. The city gonna pick up the construction tab when it fails and blasts through your roof?


Biggest load I've read here in a while.
 
Biggest load I've read here in a while.

+1

The city trees are usually pretty well cared for, and when something fails its usally a leader falling through a parked car in winter.

If the tree was a hazard tree you could have the city adress the problem for free.


This sounds like the one honest guy syndrome, everyone else just wants to collect a paycheck and all sorts of perks from special interests.
 
Not quite sure how you fire someone with no prior warning, formal counselling, written records etc. Like most stories there are two sides to it, but the present facts seem to indicate a flawed HR process.
 
Not quite sure how you fire someone with no prior warning, formal counselling, written records etc. Like most stories there are two sides to it, but the present facts seem to indicate a flawed HR process.

More like a city getting away from paying pension, retirement , etc.

Less paperwork with one person than the rest of the forestry dept.


You hear about it all too often, its pretty low when you lose your job at that age due to your upcoming retirement.
 
Not quite sure how you fire someone with no prior warning, formal counselling, written records etc. Like most stories there are two sides to it, but the present facts seem to indicate a flawed HR process.


It's easy. Many municipalities are hiring individuals as 'contract emloyees'. Every year the contract can be re-written, or cancelled even.
 

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