(Updated) Atlanta arborist fired, claims department is shirking duties
August 1, 2008 at 2:05 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsTom Coffin, a senior field arborist for the city of Atlanta, was fired on July 29 and has released a letter in which he outlines his concerns for the program that has both generated controversy and praise for its efforts to maintain Atlanta’s green canopy.
In a letter addressed to Mayor Shirley Franklin, the Atlanta City Council, the Tree Conservation Commission and citizens at large, Coffin says he was fired after he raised questions about the lack of accountability expected of the arborists and lack of enforcement of the tree ordinance on certain properties.
He also displays graphs that show he was one of the hardest workers the department had. Compared to his colleagues, Coffin conducted nearly double the number of property inspections. And according to graphs produced with information from the agency, his jurisdiction in the northeast quadrant of the city showed the highest number of ordinance enforcement and activities.
And, of course, in addition to enforcement activities I handle one-third of the total field workload in the arborist division. My firing will not increase either the efficiency or the effectiveness of service to the city. Both are likely to plummet.
Of what this all means in the big picture:
My job is certainly important, especially to me. The greater question, however, is the impact of my dismissal on the urban forest that defines Atlanta and greatly enhances the quality of our lives. If the Bureau of Buildings succeeds in this attempt to silence the demands I have been making for accountability to and enforcement of the law, the Tree Protection Ordinance becomes a dead letter, suitable for framing.
A bit of trivia: Coffin was one of the founders of The Great Speckled Bird, Atlanta’s original alt-weekly.
CL is still waiting for a spokesperson from the city’s department of public works, the agency that oversees the arborist’s office, to return a call for comment.
A city spokesperson responded via e-mail:
Mr. Coffin’s termination is a personnel matter and not related to budget reduction. I assure you we have other arborists who are trained and knowledgeable in the tree ordinance who will handle and protect the City’s tree canopy as required by our codes. The Sr. Arborist position will be opened soon and we will hire the most qualified person for the job.
In a phone interview with CL, Coffin said he’ll appeal his dismissal. His full letter is pasted below the jump. To view it as a document with graphs he says support his claims, click here.
To Mayor Shirley Franklin, City Council members, Tree Conservation Commissioners and concerned citizens:
On July 29 I was summarily fired from my position as Sr. Field Arborist for the City of Atlanta. I have heard no complaints about my work from my supervisor, Ainsley Caldwell. The only meeting I have had with Bureau of Buildings Director Ibrahim Maslamani since I was hired was the one in which I was fired, without cause, without explanation, without a semblance of due process.
Though I know no specifics of my firing, I do know the context. I have been attempting to address (1) the lack of accountability to the tree protection ordinance expected of my field arborist colleagues in their day-to-day work of hazard tree evaluations and building permit postings, and (2) the near total abdication of enforcement of the tree protection ordinance by my colleagues in the more difficult areas of correction notices on construction sites and the imposition of recompense and penalties for the illegal destruction of trees on either construction sites or private residences.
Let me briefly illustrate this second point with a series of charts that I gave Mr. Caldwell on July 21. The data is official, generated from the bureau’s Kiva database. The charts depict, by arborist and quadrant, the sum total of illegal removal cases brought in the arborist division for the first half of this year.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this chart, besides the extreme disparity between me (“TC”) and my colleagues (“PL”, “JB” and “MF”) is that Mr. Caldwell (“AC”), who spends just a small portion of his time in the field, registers more cases than the sum total of the field arborists if my cases are eliminated. The chart also indicates a rather extreme geographical disparity in enforcement actions between the northern and southern halves of the city. This aspect is the focus of the second chart below:
My assigned area of the city encompasses part of the NE quadrant (N and W of I-85) and part of the NW quadrant (N and E of I-75 and E of Northside Dr.). This small slice of the city is the only area in which any semblance of systematic enforcement occurs.
The impact of my firing on the level of enforcement in the city should be even more apparent in this third chart:
And, of course, in addition to enforcement activities I handle one-third of the total field workload in the arborist division. My firing will not increase either the efficiency or the effectiveness of service to the city. Both are likely to plummet.
My job is certainly important, especially to me. The greater question, however, is the impact of my dismissal on the urban forest that defines Atlanta and greatly enhances the quality of our lives. If the Bureau of Buildings succeeds in this attempt to silence the demands I have been making for accountability to and enforcement of the law, the Tree Protection Ordinance becomes a dead letter, suitable for framing.
This letter is a brief introduction to the serious problems in the field operations of the arborist division. I will be glad to discuss them more fully with anyone who is interested. My phone number is [redacted], email address tacoffin(at)mac(dot)com.
Thank you for your interest and attention.
Tom Coffin
7/31/08
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August 2nd, 2008 at 4:07 am
Compare the city spokespersons response (in the article) with Mayor Franklin’s response to Linda Trower, Secretary of NPU-A:
—– Original Message —–
From: Franklin, Shirley
To: Linda@xxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: firing of arborist Tom Coffin
I learned about this yesterday. As I a result I will check. S Franklin
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
The City spokesperson that responded to CL was none other then the person who fired Tom Coffin w/o so much as a reason. His name is Ibrahim Maslamani the Director of the Bureau of Buildings.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
Shel,
For clarification purposes, the person who responded to CL was Tenee Hawkins, a public information officer for the department. She was speaking for the department, but I didn’t want you to think that e-mail came Mr. Maslamani himself.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Tennee was doing her job — here’s the e-mail…
—— Forwarded Message
From: “Maslamani, Ibrahim”
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:15:46 -0400
To: Sarah Mock , “Franklin, Shirley”
Cc:
Subject: RE: Tom Coffin
Please note that Mr. Coffin’s termination is a personnel matter and not related to budget reduction. I assure you we have other arborists who are trained and knowledgeable in the tree ordinance who will handle and protect the City’s tree canopy as required by our codes. The Sr. Arborist position will be opened soon and we will hire the most qualified person for the job. If you ever have any concerns on our level of inspection or enforcement of the tree ordinance, please let me know and will take immediate action.
Ibrahim K. Maslamani
Director, Bureau of Buildings
City of Atlanta
55 Trinity Avenue, SW
Suite 3900
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Office 404-330-6152
Fax 404-494-1979
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Are we going to accept the absurdly counterfactual assurance of Mr Maslamani that the other arborists “will protect the city’s tree canopy as required by our codes”?
Anyone who has had to appeal an approved tree removal or attended a tree conservation commission meeting knows that Tom Coffin was the only arborists trying to do his job.
The mayor has never supported the tree ordinance by any action. She fired all the arborists early in her first term and only reinstated them in face of widespread protest. She has rebuffed every effort to make ordinance enforcement effective. Tree conservation commission leaders and members have quit in disgust during her adminstration. Her building bureau directors naturally look after their clients’ interest and have made the arborists’ office a very difficult environment.
If we want tree protection, we need to make a lot of noise to overcome all this.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
If you want to bust this story wide open the CL should start today doing some Open Records Requests to the city and find out why he was really fired.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Are personnel files subject to open records requests?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am
@ Joe: No. But any email conversations or memos about Coffin’s dismissal are.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I’m on it, you muckrakers.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Mr. Coffin was a little over-zealous in his job. Even if a tree was dangerous he would not approve its removal. I think he was more concerned about trees than people. I’m not sure it was fare that he wrote the tree ordinance and then he was in charge of enforcing them. The laws are a little draconian. If I don’t want a huge oak leaning over my house I should be able to remove it. Still, I don’t think he should have been fired. He did work a lot harder at his job than most of the lazy city workers.
August 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Good riddance to this guy. They need to terminate the lot of them. I’ve never encountered so much crap. I shouldn’t have to beg to take care of my property. If any more damage is done to my house from falling branches, I’m going to sue the arborist, his boss and the city for all damage repairs.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Just so no one gets all misty. This is the arborist who on 2 occasions denied permits to remove trees in my neighborhood. Both trees eventually fell causing considerable damage. After further inspection both trees were suffering from severe internal rot and other foundational problems making them un-safe. I am all about saving the canopy but not at this cost. So I say “GoodBye” to Mr. Coffin. I have also heard that none of the arborists even carry the proper liscense or education to conduct their jobs.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:23 am
I own a private residence in Atlanta. I had the unfortunate opportunity to be a victim of Tom Coffins abuse of his position. A few days after spreading a truckload of composted dirt over my yard to establish a lawn, I was in my yard when Tom Coffin drove up my driveway. He got out of his truck and without introducing himself screamed “get out of my way I’m here on official business!” After several attempts to get his name and him dodging around my yard refusing to speak to me; I called the police. After they arrived and spoke with him he nastily told me his name, position, and that I had to remove the thin layer of dirt or he was going to fine me $27,500 for disturbing my trees root zone! He wrote me a ticket ordering me to remove the dirt and left. No conversation, no explanation.
I made an official complaint to the city of Atlanta as I’m sure many who have had contact with him have had to do. He’s painting a picture of himself as the Joan Arc for the trees of Atlanta, but he was more like the Hitler of the same. I have 13 huge oak trees in my yard which I could have cut down, but I choose to keep. His manner and actions where volatile and unstable and I’m sure his superiors had just reason to terminate him.
When he returned to my house in 2 weeks to ensure that I had complied with his order(I had), he stated that the city arborists had full police power and did not have to speak or even state there name if they did not wish too.
Even if his intentions are wonderful he had the worst people skills I’ve encountered and was ill suited for his position.