Emerald ash borer – contributed photo

In order to save costs and manpower the City of Washington is changing it’s Emerald Ash Borer management plan.

At the recent council meeting Nick Duvall with the city explained, they had initially estimated it to cost about $1,000 per tree to have it removed but so far they’ve received bids of about half that. This means it is more cost effective to bid out the work than for the city to acquire the necessary tools and have city crews do the work. Councilman Brendan DeLong said he’s in favor of this because it allows city staff to continue working on other projects. In a memo City Administrator Brent Hinson wrote, “The great news in all of this is that what appeared to be a $280,000 problem [is] now on track to be a $166,000 problem.”