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CENTERVILLE, IOWA -- A Centerville man says he had permission from the city to cut down trees in a local park.

You may remember KTVO reporting last Friday about 20 large, mature trees taken down by resident Terry Crow.  Crow spoke exclusively with KTVO Tuesday afternoon.  He says he had an agreement set in place with city officials including the mayor. 

The city maintains that they wanted only brush and branches to be cleared away from the Frisbee golf course.  However, Crow says the city approved of him getting rid of dead trees near the course.

"Here I stand today telling the Centerville community, the people of Appanoose County, I had permission to cut dead trees in that park,” Crow said.  “I didn't get up today or yesterday saying I could cut these trees and there's no trouble."

Crow added that he would not have cut the trees down if he didn’t think he had approval from the city.  Before cutting the trees down, he agreed not to charge the city for labor.  Crow says he’s learned not to work with city officials in the future. 

Centerville officials tell KTVO the agreement was a verbal commitment and there were no contracts or documents signed prior to the removal of the trees.