Sunnybank Ladies Auxiliary chair Joy Vangen stands under one of several trees that were, in her words, “hacked” by a maintenance contractor.
Lyonel Doherty photo
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
Strother Martin said it in the 1969 movie, Cool Hand Luke, and now the Sunnybank Ladies Auxiliary in Oliver is saying it after several trees were “hacked” at the retirement centre last month.
Auxiliary chair Joy Vangen lodged an official complaint when the maintenance department hired someone to shear the tops off of several trees in the courtyard behind the facility.
“Personally, I was horrified when I saw the damage done to the five mature Linden trees.
“I can only refer to the work as ‘hacking’ because it was certainly not pruning,” Vangen wrote in a letter to an Interior Health official.
Vangen fears the trees will die and umbrellas will have to be purchased to provide shade for Sunnybank residents during the summer.
The ladies auxiliary has been taking care of the gardens for years and previously hired an arborist to prune the trees with good results.
She acknowledged that branches can be a problem when they reach the building, but that is why proper pruning is necessary, she pointed out.
Vangen said the auxiliary would have gladly paid for an arborist as opposed to a “tree cutter.” She noted this will have a definite impact on the residents in the heat of the summer months.
Kathleen Jacobs, resident and longtime auxiliary volunteer, always enjoyed the large Linden tree from the window of her room. But now all she sees is a bare tree.
“I wish I could do something about it . . . they topped that big, beautiful tree and left the big mature trunk with a few branches.”
At the age of 101, Jacobs relies on the shade to keep her cool in the summer. Jacobs said she was happy that the auxiliary raised money to beautify the grounds when Interior Health’s budget was limited.
Vangen attended a meeting with a maintenance official and was told the trees cannot be higher than the roof of the building or they will become a problem. According to Vangen, not even the manager of Sunnybank was notified of the tree cutting.
Ralph Unger, manager of plant services for the South Okanagan, said Interior Health hired a local, professional horticulturalist to prune the trees at Sunnybank.
“The tops of the trees were growing over top of the roof, and the leaves were plugging the roof drains. This situation was resulting in flooding and leakage problems for the building and a safety risk for maintenance staff tasked with clearing the drains.”
He noted that Interior Health is supportive of maintaining attractive grounds on its properties, balancing that with the risks the trees pose to the building and staff.
