SIDNEY — Council passed legislation recently to appoint Warren Koogler to the Sidney Tree Board. He will fill the unexpired term or Jerry Kauffman, whose three-year term would have expired on April 30, 2018.

Koogler, who resides on Mercury Court with his wife Lois, is retired from Sprint Corporation. He is a Master Gardner.

The Tree Board is established by ordinance. The board is charged with working to develop and administer a written plan for the care, preservation, pruning, planting, removal or disposition of trees and shrubs in public parks, along streets and other public areas within the City of Sidney.

The board faces the challenge of finding disease-resistant species of trees to replace the hundreds of ash trees that have been removed from public property as a result of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation. More than five hundred Ash trees, some more than a century old, have been removed from Tawawa Park alone.

Kauffman had served on the Tree Board for several years. He resigned from the board as a result of declining health.