4.6. SR 06-04-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PRIVATE MOSQUITO CONTROL Staff researched the possibility of' hiring a private firm to do mosquito control. Staff' contacted Paul Moore of Moore's Ag. Center, located in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and Dana Dunklau of' Clark Mosquito Control. Both companies mainly spray to control adult mosquitoes. They both use Anvil, a pyrcthriod product, which is a synthetic £orm o£ pyretherin. Both estimate that the city will need to be sprayed once a week to be effective, typically from June 1 st to around the first part of August. Both use a dosage of pesticide that is effective for mosquitoes, gnats and biting flies, but does not affect butterflies or fireflies. Moore's roughly charge $.40/persordapplication and every third application is free... Assuming the entire city was sprayed and a population of 18,000, each application would cost $7,200. With every third application being free, the average cost per application would be $4,800. Staff has a hunch that this price may need to be adjusted due to Elk River's large land base. Moore's will also apply a BTI product to wetlands to kill the mosquitoes in their larval stage, if the city wishes. Moore's rent a helicopter to do this. Dana Dunklau of Clark Mosquito Control, charges $40/mile of road to spray for adult mosquitoes. Elk River has approximately 100 miles of city streets alone. However, only roads running perpendicular to the wind (approximately half of them) are sprayed. The insecticide is allowed to drift with the wind between roads. Using 50 miles of road as an estimate, Clark mosquito control will charge approximately $2,000 for spraying just city streets. At least another $1,000 would need to be added for spraying along county roads within the city limits. Large areas of Elk River would not receive the insecticide, because of the great distance between roads in the rural areas. Staff hopes to have more exact estimates for these services to present to the Council by Monday night's meeting. CITY MOSQUITO CONTROL Another option the Council may wish to consider is buying mosquito control equipment and having city employees apply the insecticide. The equipment could be used to supplement the efforts of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, if Sherburne County joins in the future. The Department of Agriculture gave staff a list of three companies that deal in Ultra Low Volume (UVL) mosquito control equipment: London Fog, Clark Mosquito Control and VanWaters and Rogers. Staff contacted London Fog, which is based out of Long Lake, Minnesota. They sell three units that basically differ only in how fast the insecticide can be applied. The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District uses similar equipment. The three units are: The Model 1820 - 18 horse motor - unit mounted on skid for placement in the back of a pick-up - remote controls for operation from the pick-up cab - insecticide can be applied moving at 20 mph. - $9,455.