REDMOND, Ore. — The city of Redmond, Oregon, seeks more than $60,000 in a lawsuit filed against a tree-removal company that accidentally cut down a massive spruce in March.
The Bulletin newspaper reports the spruce near City Hall was supposed to become the city’s annual Christmas tree after the completion of a park expansion.
Company owner Wade Fagen says the removal was an honest mistake and criticized the city for taking legal action.
A property management company had asked Fagen Tree & Chips to remove a spruce that had a root problem. Fagen says an employee accidentally went to a property three blocks to the east, where he encountered a similar spruce tree with tape and cones around it.
Keith Leitz, the city’s human resources director, says the tree was marked to prevent it from being removed during the expansion.
