Licensed with the city

jodystreeserv3

jodystreeserv3

Location
central texas
I spoke with the city mayor about making tree services get licensed with the city. He told me to go to a board meeting and give them reasons why. I figure the more reasons the better chance of getting it done. Do any of you live in citys where you have to be licensed to do tree work? If so, what is the criteria?
 
Licensing is a double edged sword and is always purported to be for the protection of the consumer.

At the very best it works to establish minimum standards required by someone performing the work. At the very worst it is merely a revenue generator for some level of government.

I realize that it is very difficult for customers to be informed enough to protect themselves from shysters. However, I am also very much a supporter of the concept of Caveat Emptor.

As such we spend a lion's share of our time and resources educating our community about trees and tree care. It helps build their ability to shop for tree services and helps establish our company as fair and knowledgeable.

We still have the hacks, fly-by-nighters and the ne'er-do-wells but in the short time we have been at this we have seen the bar rise across the board.

We are seeing more CA's, more companies advertising that they have CAs (whether they do or don't) we are seeing better methods and higher quality work even from those who used to be some of the biggest hacks!

Regulating commerce is one of the legitimate functions of government. However the original use of the word "regulating" should never be confused with the word "controlling" which is the current and popular use of the word.

Regulating as used in the days of the founding fathers was much more akin the refereeing. Making sure that all teams played fairly, didn't cheat and to help level the playing field.

That pretty much limited the role of regulators to making sure nobody stole, conspired, bribed, sabotaged or otherwise interfered in someone else's business except within the open market.

That is as it should be.

We should always be on guard for that inevitable feeling that when we cannot compete in the open market and that we need to bring a government hammer down on our competition.

Someday that Hammer may be directed at us!

Just my 2 cents worth, but I'd rather compete in the open and free market and lose than to have to prostitute myself to the policy makers when they realized they have my huevos in their vice.
 
Will they be able to enforce it with their available resources? If not, it sounds like it might be like controlling guns--only law-abiding citizens would be affected, whereas those that aren't following the laws won't be affected much.

Do you mean some sort of tree care license or just a business license? What is the consequence of other businesses not being licensed appropriately in your city?
 
Some of the towns around where I live (Central Missouri) require a city license to work in. The biggest requirement is proof of insurance. There also is a small yearly fee, usually under $50. One town require a $150 deposit for the year, and if you leave the limbs for the City to pick up, they keep the money.
 
One city requires a initial exam (basic, but a lot of people don't pass) & a practical exam (trimming a city tree). After that they only require proof of Gen Liab Insurance and $25 dollar annual fee.

Another city simply wants $50/ year and a copy of Gen Liab.

A couple of city's require a certified arborist on staff and on site. If not, then you don't get licensed. And of course, proper Gen Liab Insurance.

If I were a municipality, I'd require the following:

-Proof of Gen Liab Insurance
-Proof of Workman's Comp Insurance
-ISA C.A. would be nice, but not fully required. However, a test upfront would be a start.
-Reasonable Annual Fee.

If I were a municipality, my expectations would be:

-First, to follow the above requirments
-One time per year on site evaluation. (To see how pruning standards are being done). More evaluations would be ideal, but people would whine too much.
-To not tolerate lion's tailing, topping, stubs, flush cuts, over thinning, etc...

-I would give a 2 strikes you're out rule. Why 2 strikes? Dunno. I sounds fun! I'd basically say, that the 1st strike is a warning. The second infraction means that they aren't going to cooperate. Therefore, they cannot be licensed. How long to suspend a license? Dunno. Maybe a year.

Bottom line, the municipality needs legal backing to enforce their own rules. The City of Longmont (my home town) has no legal "teeth" to enforce their own rules... It frustrates me.
 
It's sad but even though there is a CA parks manager in my town their crews pruning is, I'll just say, a poor example for the hack crews to follow. So we got a way to go, before I'd accept any control from them. I just hate authority, it starts out with a good idea and buerocracy and union's style of working to the lowest common denominator ruins it. The problem is bad work is so visible and next thing you know everyone on the block wants their tree topped. And good work just looks good, not even noticable. So perhaps the ISA could do more public information, trees are getting more and more important. Announce average hourly rates across North America so we're all on the same page, that would be another step toward standardizing.
I like to use the example of yard sales. A noble idea, reclycling, growing community, small tax free business. Anarchy at it's best you'd think, but you probably have noticed what happened, and controls needed to be put in place. So tree care probably needs control and licencing as well. We just need to make sure it's us who makes the rules.
 
Tree buzzers of course-- Merry Christmas from da nort pole.
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I have a business liscense in every town in our valley and they range from 60 dollars to 120 dollars per year, per town. Really sucks to pay every year when I am already lisecnsed by the state. Some small towns I don't work in every year but one job will pay the taxes on it soo I keep dropping the dough
 
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