ELKHART, Ind. (AP) _ The mayor of the northern Indiana city of Elkhart wants to hire private contractors to help overwhelmed city crews remove hundreds of trees damaged either by an invasive insect or a fungus.

City council members will be asked Monday to appropriate $150,000 for contractors to cut down about 200 trees.

Mayor Dick Moore tells WSBT-TV the funding for private tree-removal contractors is needed before another storm like one that hit Elkhart in July worsens the situation with dead and dying trees. Many trees in Elkhart are infested by the emerald ash borer, while a fungus also afflicts some in a cemetery.

Moore says the July death of a 10-month-old child struck by a falling limb at the city's Studebaker Park was not a factor in the stepped-up tree operations.