9/2/09

Board of Selectman meeting – Michael Motherway, Richard Powers and Russell Perry present

Mosquitoes

MM called meeting to order at 6:06PM

Mike explained the department of health and human services communicated a positive EEE finding in pools in Brentwood and East Kingston in recent days. Last week an emergency was declared in the Manchester/Candia area.  Both indicate a wide range of EEE activity within our area.

Mike Morrison from Municipal Pest recommends a perimeter spray application around the town common areas.

Mike Motherway mentioned he spoke with Paul Flynn at the school district and discussed what they are doing at the schools. HS is curbing field activities at night and will be doing a perimeter application. As for KES, they were waiting to see what we decided.  KES is already educating students about mosquito awareness, flagging "out of bounds" areas for students, keeping grass trimmed, and being diligent about keeping students away from the wooded areas.

It was noted that the park will have regularly scheduled activity in the evenings with soccer starting soon.

Mike M explained, within our mosquito policy we were moving into moderate risk levels which warrant consideration of a perimeter spray applications around the park and town hall.

Limiting hours of scheduled park activities and operations in the park to 6PM was suggested.

Discussion around how to get the word out about personal precautions while in risk areas. Posting to the web, notices at the library, town hall and park and handing out fliers at the school were mentioned.

Question from resident about mosquito risks at the bus stops and if the town would consider spraying those areas. It was explained that the hours for high school and some middle school students are at the bus stops are early in the morning when mosquitoes are still out. It was also mentioned that these bus stops were not in the individual drive ways, rather in common meeting areas and in some cases near fire ponds.

Discussion moved to why and when the town stopped roadside spraying. No specific date could be remembered of when that happened.

The notion of prevention vs. reaction was brought up and some expressed that our policy should have more measures to proactively protect the residents.

Rich Powers mentioned that he felt that towns that sprayed regularly have not eliminated the problem and suggested that harm to natural predators may have increased mosquito populations. 

Residents followed up by saying that spraying could have just as likely prevented a person from contracting EEE or WN and that if one person was saved it would be worth it.

Richard Powers made a motion to spray the perimeter of the town hall property and the park property as well as to close the park to scheduled activities at 6PM until the first frost.  Included in the motion was to communicate to the town actions taken and personal precaution measures. Russell Perry seconded with all in favor.

Representatives from the school board present at the meeting explained they will follow our decisions and work to coordinate efforts. They discussed they have been working to develop educational practices to pest management and if they thought there was a threat would spray. At this time they felt that it was judicious to spray the perimeter of the school.

It was discussed that the school had to provide notice to the parents prior to spraying and would also communicate that the town would be spraying the park and the town hall.

Both the Board and the representatives from the school committee agreed the application should happen as soon as possible. Mike Motherway mentioned that Mike from Municipal recommended we spray no later than 9/8 and we all agreed that an application on 9/4 would be best, if possible.  Actual scheduling will depend on Municipal’s availability and will be determined Thursday.

Details on the application were discussed. The application would be done in the evening and would dry overnight. The application typically lasts/is effective for 30 days.

The discussion went on to address the pattern of predictability over the past few years.  EEE/WN viruses have arrived in our area around the start of school.  A question was raised as to why the town doesn’t proactively spray late August before school starts, but still within the range of when the EEE/WN are detected. It was brought up that we don’t have to wait for the state to issue an emergency or find a positive EEE/WN. The fact that other towns in the area spray proactively was mentioned. It was also mentioned that other towns do not.

Mike M. explained risk is determined by testing and monitoring mosquito pools. He went on to explain the process from the start of the year. Starting at the beginning of the year and throughout, larviciding is done to help control the mosquito eggs. Pools are mapped and traps set. Counts are done and trapped mosquitoes are tested at 3 sites; Hodge’s conservation property, Park and the Elementary school. Mike acknowledged the results take 1 – 2 weeks after trapped and that the delay is a recognized issue.

Residents discussed that the time delay in testing and sample points are reactive measures and the decision for reactive measures is a cost benefit choice made to weigh out prevention of disease vs. environmental effects of spray.

Further discussion around the possibility of not waiting for a positive test in the area or a state emergency declaration, rather determine a threshold for the # of the species of mosquitoes that carry disease and the best time to apply spray applications when the mosquitoes were at the a vulnerable state.  To use surveillance data to drive our decision rather than delayed testing. It was noted that the state of emergency is a notice of failure to prevent a problem. It was discussed that a 2 part approach should be considered. 1) actions to prevent the problem, and 2) actions if problem arises.

Discussion followed on how far we should go to prevent a problem. Larviciding and its effectiveness were discussed; target proactive and preventative spraying and additional town wide area spraying should be considered.

It was acknowledge by the board that more thought and discussion on potential changes to the policy could be done.

The state plan was brought up and sections pointed out that could be helpful to the town as a resource and guidance for our policy. It was also asked how much of the points in the state plan were used in developing the town policy.  Mike M. explained that some points were considered but not all.

The question of kids at bus stops came up again. How many bus stops and where they are located was discussed, but no one present was sure of the answer.  It was acknowledged by the board that more thought would need to go into the matter and that the school board would have to be involved as well. Possibility of larviciding and spray applications around bus stop areas questioned.

Mike M. asked the audience if anyone would be willing to start a task force to help facilitate education and policy suggestions.

The board clarified the actionable items in the motion:

• Mike M. would work with Municipal to schedule the earliest time to apply the pesticide.
• The school committee representatives noted they would use “Alert Now” to notify the parents.
• Starting Thursday 9/3, the park would be closed to scheduled activities at 6PM until the first frost.
• Signs would be posted at the gate and entrance boxes. “Mosquito Alert. Park closed at 6PM until first frost”
• Mike M. would notify by email the decision to the youth recreation leagues with scheduled activities at the park.
• School committee representatives offered use of the school marquis to state, “Mosquito Alert. Park closed at 6PM until first frost”
• Rich P asked some members of the audience to make up signs for park.
• Notices would be posted on town website and within the town hall.

Final thoughts by the audience stated that the state can offer community outreach info.

Russell Perry moved to adjourn at approximately 7:45.

Mike M. second, with all in favor.

Respectfully submitted,

Russell Perry