TIPP CITY — A special meeting of the Tipp City Council was held to discuss the approval of a resolution for City Manager Timothy Eggleston to sign a grant application for an urban canopy restoration grant.

This is the second time the city has applied for this grant which is a $10,000 grant with a 50% match from the city. According to Eggleston, the city has the funds to put forward to match half of the grant.

Karen Jackson of Tipp City, one of the volunteer members of the city Tree Board, attended this special meeting to explain why the meeting was necessary and to thank the council for meeting on short notice. According to Jackson, in the past five to seven years, 60 ash trees were killed and removed due an infestation of emerald ash bore. However, the city’s funds for planting is limited. Last year, the city submitted an application for the grant on behalf of the Tree Board which was denied due to a lack of proof of Tipp City having a solid tree program.

Earlier this year, the Tree Board created a new plan to apply once again for the grant. However, the resolution for the council to approve the city manager to sign the grant was “found lacking” according to Jackson. The deadline for submission of the grant application is Friday, Oct. 14.

“The Tree Board can’t thank the City Council enough for their last minute help to pass this resolution in support of the grant application … Without your help, all of our other work would have been for naught and the planting of 28 replacement trees would have to be delayed even longer,” said Jackson.

Council member Ryan Liddy moved to approve the resolution, his motion was seconded by Joanna Pittenger. The council unanimously approved the resolution to allow Eggleston to sign the grant application.