A $300 tree has drawn more than $34,000 worth of fines for a Welches
logger.

Tom Rutledge, 62, owner of Rutledge Logging & Tree Works, took down a
Douglas fir in November of last year for a developer and is now facing a
$34,295 penalty that has been levied by the City of Gresham.

The city claims the tree was not on the developer’s (Matthew Morrell of
Gresham’s Morrell & Morrell Inc.) property at 3868 S.E. Deer Creek Way,
rather on the property of the Persimmon Country Club Community
Homeowners Association.

“I’ve cut a lot of trees for Matt (Morrell), in fact I’ve cut trees all around that
area, for the country club, the estates, for at least five different developers,”
Rutledge said. “But it’s above my pay grade to question the developer as to
whose property it is. I make assumptions in this business. If I’m charging
$300 for a tree, I don’t have the luxury of paying a thousand bucks for a
survey, or to spend time at the city seeking out ownership. It doesn’t work
that way. If you hire someone to install rain gutters on your house, does the
contractor question whether or not you own the house?”

Morrell hired Rutledge because a prospective buyer of the 5,600 square foot
house made the tree removal a condition of the sale, saying it blocked the
view of Mount Hood.

After cutting down the tree, he was confronted by a neighbor in the estates,
Sandie Kenny, and asked if he had permission to remove the fir, according to
Rutledge.

“I said ‘yes,’” Rutledge said. “Of course I had permission. I wasn’t doing it for
laughs. I’ve cut down thousands of trees in my 40 years on the job. I didn’t
need the practice.”

At that point Kenny notified the homeowner’s association, Rutledge said.
The Welches logger was then hit with the fine, and a figure that was arrived at
by the city’s hiring of an independent consulting arborist.

“I don’t know how the arborist came up with that $34,000 number,” Rutledge
said. “The tree wasn’t worth anything. It had no commercial value. It had a
broken top, a sour butt (center of tree not in center of trunk), it wasn’t worth
twenty bucks. I don’t even know what a consulting arborist is. Perhaps he’s a
gardener extraordinaire.”

Rutledge and Morrell have subsequently met with city officials on two
occasions, but the city has not budged from its position.

In a letter to Rutledge dated March 27 from Rita Humphrey, Gresham’s senior
code compliance inspector, she wrote: “We appreciated your time in meeting
with us to discuss the case. However, the information you provided does not
excuse the violation. A request by a prospective buyer to remove a tree in
order to permit the sale of your property is not a defense to violating Gresham
Community Development Code 9.1010(E). Nor is failing to determine whether
a permit is required.”

“They say we owe the fine,” Rutledge said. “They say I did not seek a tree
cutting permit. They’re right. But my explanation is not seen as an excuse (by
the city).”

May 1 is the deadline for paying the citation, and Rutledge is in a bind.
“My insurance company is looking into it,” he said. “I’m hoping they come up
with something.”