Council Thursday: Heads up, tree contractors, because Bob Caesar wants to enforce your asses.

Tonight's power poll winner already is obvious. It's the city attorney, charged with enforcement of a whole new and upwardly revised set of fines for not properly disposing of tree limbs, litter, trash and unsold Bicentennial books.

First, at 6:45 p.m. there'll be a public hearing where you can comment on budget items of which you're entirely unaware -- as is Dan Coffey, who skipped two budget hearings as well as the most recent council meeting.

Tonight's agenda is next.

We're not even sure Deaf Gahan signed the last littering ordinance update, seeing as though it smelled a bit too Republican for the anosmatic-in-chief, but this one should pass muster far more readily given Caesar's dual position as lickspittle polisher and unofficial mayor-in-waiting.

All right, tree contractors -- who forgot to make the campaign donations?

2016 council budget hearing: Money for the Tree Board to cut trees, or plant them?

Back in May I attended a Tree Board meeting in search of information about its meetings, which I requested from the board's staff person, Krisjans Streips. This particular ray of sunshine has yet to break through Team Gahan's patented Transparency Prevention Modulator, but I digress.

The following brief exchange from the budget hearings on August 31 aptly illustrates the disconnect. The Tree Board has no budget and no plan -- at leastmore recent than the 1990s or early 2000s.

Dr. Knable identifies this, and CM Blair corroborates. All CM Barksdale can offer is the view that a budget would enable the Tree Board to cut trees when the Street Department is otherwise occupied.

Not plant trees.

Cut them.

How is this not a major problem?

This year alone, the city has felled probably 200 trees. The city's former adversary, now blessed co-developer at Summit Springs, cleared a few hundred more. The Tree Board assures me that it plants far more trees on a yearly basis.

With what, and where? All the board need do is produce the statistics, and until it does, perhaps a mission statement for its "best case" activities would be a fine prelude to funding.