Tree Board honors Blake and DeRoss

The Tipp City Tree Board honored Adam Blake and Tom DeRoss for their many years of service and dedication to the Tipp Tree Board and its goal of preserving and adding healthy trees in Tipp City. Blake has served 11 years and DeRoss 14 years on the Board. Tipp City’s Public Works Superintendent Tony Hunt, standing in for City manager Eric Mack, presented the two retiring members with certificates of appreciation.   

Tom DeRoss spent many years in the financial services industry, including Fifth Third Bank, where he focused on “working with non-profits to assist them with growing their mission with customized investment solutions…” Adam Blake, son of Ellen Cotterman, who was known for her civic activism and promotion of art education, also served as a Tipp City Council member, a founding member of the Downtown Tipp City Partnership, and an advocate for non-profits.

The retirements of Blake and DeRoss from the Tree Board leave the Board with an open position since only one has been filled. If you’d like to serve Tipp City and help increase its growing tree population, pick up a Tree Board application at the City Building on N. Garber Dr.

As one leaves a Tree Board meeting, it’s easy to admire the members’ dedication to root out problems with Tipp’s many trees, stick to the requirements of their jobs while not risking life nor limb, and not branch out to address unimportant issues nor bark out orders to arborists.