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4. Employment and Job Training <br />In 2015 the Treeist was a sole proprietorship with only a couple of employees. Each year we <br />have grown, largely in an effort to keep up with the growth in the demand for our services, a <br />growth almost entirely fueled by current clients through word-of-mouth referrals, as well as <br />through our online reputation. We have been able to double our number of employees since <br />2020, and currently employ 26 people, 23 of which are full time. We anticipate the opportunity, <br />and the need, to double in size again within three years. <br />Our employees are paid well above the $16.60 per hour living wage recognized for Orange <br />County in 2023-24, with our tree workers earning an average of $28 per hour and our clerical <br />workers and consultants averaging $26 per hour. Through our reputation for safety, employee <br />training, pathways for career advancement, and opportunities for working alongside other top <br />arborists and climbers, we have attracted top talent to our company, including from far out of <br />state. Continuing to build on this strength will ensure that Orange County has first-class <br />arboriculture training opportunities, along with first class arborists. We believe this is one of the <br />best things that can be done for our trees, for Orange County residents who care about trees, <br />and for residents who would like a path into arboriculture as a career. <br />Our site plans for the new property include an extensive area of preserved mature trees for <br />climbing training, as well as ample classroom space to allow us to build an apprenticeship <br />program, which we see as needed in our industry. <br />10 This facility will expand our ability to offer <br />training to affiliated organizations, such as municipal Parks and Recreational employees, <br />university and arboretum staff, and climbers from other tree care companies. <br />11 <br />11 At our current location we have provided tree pruning training to the Parks and Recreation staff of <br />Carrboro, climbing training to staff at the NC Botanical Garden and the Coker Arboretum, climbing and <br />aerial rescue training to the arborist team at NC State University and many tree climbers from other <br />companies, both local and not-so-local. Much of this training was provided by the Treeist at no cost to <br />these individuals and organizations. <br />10 A core part of our mission is to train and employ people who want to work with trees, especially in <br />aerial tree work. Aerial tree work tends to be both dangerous to the worker and deleterious to the trees if <br />there isn’t a lot of training, knowledge, and experience. Where does one find this training, knowledge, <br />and experience? It is not found in any formal degree or certificate program, and it is highly difficult to <br />come by it privately. Prospective employers typically require several years of tree climbing experience for <br />their climbing positions. For most, the path into professional residential arboriculture requires a extremely <br />dangerous (starting to climb hazard trees with chainsaws without proper training) or dissuasive time <br />consuming (requiring several years of menial physical work of dragging brush before a coworker or <br />employer lets you try to climb a tree under supervision). Consequently, talented people who might <br />otherwise love to work with trees tend to avoid residential arboriculture. Our pitch for bringing talenting <br />people back towards arboriculture is posted at our webpage “Why Not be an Arborist?” <br />8 <br />25