July 9, 2008 Board Meeting Minutes
Paonia Mosquito Control District
Board Meeting
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Paonia Town Hall
I. Call to order.
The meeting was called to order by President Kris Kropp at 7:00 pm. . In attendance were board members Kris Kropp, Tara Budinger, Michael Soule, Kevin Parks and several members of the public.
II. Announcements.
Kris announced that the next meeting will be in Hotchkiss on August 13, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. He also announced that the old Board Members were present and he wanted to give them time to speak.
III. Approval of minutes.
Tara was asked to read the minutes from the June 11, 2008 meeting. Kris asked for additions and corrections to the minutes, Michael Soule made a correction that they did not know all the breeding sites. Kris asked that the minutes be accepted as corrected. Tara moved that the minutes be accepted as corrected, Kevin seconded the motion, minutes were accepted.
IV. Officers’ Reports
A. Field Report
Kris reported that the trapping program for adult mosquito surveillance is under way this month. Along with input from the public, the results are helping us to find and treat breeding sites. The trapping data will help us determine where and when to fog. However, when the town of Paonia was fogged initially, it was decided to fog the whole town out of concern that fogging might not be as effective if areas were skipped. Effectiveness of fogging in general is estimated at only about 50 percent at best, according to the training attended by Board Members and crew earlier in the season. He also stated some people had expressed a concern that the Biomist was not knocking them down. He explained there were not a lot of alternatives this season other then the Malathion, which would require a recalibration of the equipment. Kris stated he realized there was a lot of disappointment at this time but there still is a lot of learning to do and with the help of the public it will come about.
Kris next ask Ron Seipel to give his field report. Ron thanked the former board for being in attendance. Ron stated that the larvicide team is doing an excellent job knocking them down. Hotchkiss is still a hot spot and the irrigation problems are getting corrected. He stated the ranchers and farmers are clearing up their ditches and doing what needs to be done to help us out. Cattails are still a problem and there is nothing that can be done with those. Hotchkiss route seems to be the hottest part, Bowie is full of adults but no larva to be found. It may still be a little cool, don't know where they are coming from. He has found quite a few new spots this past week, they were hot, and were treated. He is hoping that they will be knocked down in three days. Kevin asked Ron about the calls that are being received. Ron explained that he receives the information on the larvicide sites from Katie, Kevin's assistant, that need to be hit or checked. He has found quite a few of those. He explained that if the public continues to get involved in this it will be fantastic because they will know more about where the mosquitoes are. Kris stated this is what he is happy about with Kevin and Katie taking in all these calls. Also Tara's website is doing great with this. Tara asked Ron how many sites we have now. Ron stated about 320. A member of the former board asked is that sites or areas? Ron stated one spot considered a site. Ron explained that on Mr Kolb's place he has 6 spots on one site. Ron stated he considers it as, if it is all on one property, right now it is one site.
Tara stated that the Board is having operations meeting at the Mosquito shed on Thursdays of every week. This week, Mike Smolen got feedback about where to set up new traps. There are ten new trap sites which will give them better information than last week. Tara explained that preliminary results show that not all locations have lots of mosquitoes. They are using this trapping data to find the “holes” in the larviciding net and to knock down the adults. In this transition year they would like to go to all larviciding but they are not going to stop spraying while the mosquitoes are flying. Tara stated they have to keep the mosquitoes under control in any way they can so eventually the balance will shift. One suggestion from Frank and Rena Collins, who drive the fogging trucks, was to use the same routes they did last year on the same night, which will make notification easier. The public can expect to be fogged the same night and the same route as last year unless there are very few mosquitoes. If no mosquitoes are found in that area, they will not fog. In the beginning there will be a lot of fogging and it might look like calendar spraying, but eventually if the data suggests that we can do less and less they will.
B. Treasurer’s Report
Michael stated it is about what is expected this time of the year, based on previous years. Our income this year is about $73,000.00. Our insurance has been a huge bill, it's almost $13,000 a year. Labor salaries is of course one of higher of the expenses, it's almost $15,000 now. He explained professional fees have been over $4000, three quarters being for the election. Total expenses so far are $41,700. He stated the profit and loss sheet and the balance sheet will be on the table if anyone would like to see them. The current balance is $31,385.59. Kevin moved to accept the Treasurers Report, Tara seconded and the Treasurers report was approved.
V. Committee Reports
A. Public Education Committee
The Public Education committee and the Public Notification committee have a lot of overlap and have been meeting at the same time. They manned an information booth at Cherry Days, which was well-received. There were different repellents for people to try, there were mosquitoes larvae for the public to look at, and there were sample site cards and maps. There was also a list available to indicate breeding sites, though many people indicated instead whether or not they wanted to be sprayed. New additions to the website include a FAQ page that is up and available. There has also been an article published in the Merchant Herald. There will be an article every month that has to do with the mosquito program. Other ideas include printing a newsletter. They will eventually have to obtain a grant for this but for now they will try and get a few copies out. Public education will continue to be an important part of the program. Tara stated she really appreciated the volunteers that have been helping with this and their enthusiasm is fantastic.
B. Public Notification Committee
Tara stated for the notification system, when the Board decides the spray schedule Thursday afternoon, Kris will post it on the website, Katie will change the outgoing message on the hotline, so when people call in they can hear the spray schedule for that week. At the same time Katie will change the flyer on the website and there are various people throughout Hotchkiss and Paonia who have volunteered to print out that flyer and post it at the Library, the Post office, and the groceries stores.. Tara explained that in the beginning they will make notification simple by sticking to the same days and same routes, making it easier for people to know what to expect. Tara explained that as they get better at the larviciding, closing the holes in the net, they might be able to narrow down the spraying, but that is in the future. KVNF is using public service announcements to let people know where the schedules will be and to give people tips to prevent mosquitoes and WNV. Tara stated they are considering having email notification. They are working out the logistics of who could coordinate this and send out emails. They current do not have an email address for PMCD.
C. Trapping and Surveillance Committee
Michael Soule asked Mike Smolen to explain the trapping and surveillance with cooperation with Ken Nordstrom from the County. Mike Smolen stated that starting on June 30th they began setting off live traps for mosquitoes. They have set 17 sets since then, in areas they anticipated higher numbers or areas that were important because of events. Mike stated they now have 6 traps and there is a program to add a few more permanent sites where we go every week to determine the numbers of mosquitoes. There are also sites they are going to, determining why there are more mosquitoes then other sites. Mike stated they spent some time on Hotchkiss Ave, the Fairgrounds, and Orchard Ave in Hotchkiss. Mike stated there is a lot of variation; some people are plagued with over 300 mosquitoes in a trap and then a block away there are only 5 mosquitoes. He stated in time when they get more traps they will begin to understand which areas need more attention and they cannot assume with the few traps that they have they can monitor the entire region. To monitor more thoroughly and effectively, we will need more traps. Now we have 6 traps which will go out at least every other day, and then be analyzed for results, and these results are passed on to the Board and they decide on Thursdays where the serious infestations are and can get a better handle on what these variations mean. Kris thanked Mike Smolen for his report.
D. Finance Committee
Michael explained that the budget is $120,000 of which $90,000 comes from taxes. Michael stated the last thing we want do to increase funding is to increase taxes. They are looking for alternative sources for funding. At the present time they are looking into business, some corporations, some federal agencies and some foundations. In transitioning from calendar spraying and larviciding, focusing more on larviciding takes more labor to find the breeding sites. We could use two more people, in addition to the people we have who are larviciding, just to locate more breeding sites, which is apparently the cause for these hot spots like Hotchkiss Avenue. This is going to take more money and we need more traps, we don't have nearly enough traps. Actually the cost of the traps is not so much, it's the cost of the labor. People set out the traps, collect the traps, sort the mosquitoes, determine what species they are and then determine how to best use that information to whether to spray or fog. There are a lot more things that need to be done, they need more funding and they are looking for that funding now. Michael stated that if anyone has ideas about people with “deep pockets” that want to control mosquitoes they are always happy to hear from them.
E. Search Committee
Kevin reported that we do not yet have a candidate for the fifth Board Member. All suggestions have been followed up on, but although people agree the role is important, they have other commitments. Kevin encouraged everyone to let him know if they or someone they know in the district would be interested.
VI. Old Business
Kathy Browning stated that in the minutes there was mention that she was going to go to the Colorado Press Association. She stated that the attorney stated he thought that, while there hasn't been a challenge like this before, he felt it was problematic for those who do not have Internet access, he said it would probably require the board to rent a room, set up the Internet with a view, so that people would have location. He stated that because the Library has a limited number of computers and people have only a limited amount of time to use them, there would people who did not have access. She stated if the Board wanted his name and phone number she would provide it.
VII. New Business
A. Fogging Thresholds
Tara requested public input on helping us set thresholds for when we need to fog, as trap counts vary widely from one area to another. Tara stated she has done some research and looked at what people commented on. Ken Nordstrom suggested that 25 mosquitoes per trap would be enough to warrant fogging, some studies have shown that this seems to be the level at which people cannot tolerate the mosquitoes. Other communities have thresholds of 30-40 per trap before they spray. Tara stated the Board would like some guidelines for them to decide when they have borderline cases. There is never going to be a hard, fast number because other factors do play a role. Obviously there are areas where West Nile Virus was found will have a lower threshold. Discussion followed regarding determining a threshold. A member of the public expressed doubt that the trap results would be accurate. Bill Kolb reported that he and Ron Wist tried a trap on a night they were swarmed with mosquitoes and it caught very few. (This was a propane trap which is known not to work well. The PMCD uses CDC light traps now). Bill expressed concern about the decision not to blanket fog as he believes the mosquitoes will move into town and get someone sick. Tara stated that more than just trapping results will be used to determine fogging, but we will go by the information we gather and not just fog everything every week.
Many members of the public had concerns about the new system, but no further suggestions for fogging thresholds. Sue Strong pointed out hot spots by the nursing home, by the senior housing and by the school, potentially affecting those people that are most likely to get West Nile. Kris stated they are being sprayed but the discussion from the public is that they spraying is not being done by these places but around. (There was more discussion, tape is available). Michael Soule stated that some people do not want to be larvicided. He asked if the former board had any clues for them on how to convince people that larviciding can be a good thing. Mr. Kolb stated that it's not going to hurt anything except your privacy. If they don't want people in and seeing what you got, there is not a reason they should open arms to larviciding. Mr. Kolb talked about WDG and using it on organically certified growers. Kris stated the organic growers are now approved to use Vectobac now. There was more discussion. After a testimonial by Georgia Hopper on her experience with WNV, Kris explained that all the jobs on the Board and with the larviciders are difficult because they hear these stories and want to keep people safe, but we also want to use methods that are effective. There were more questions regarding spraying. Kris stated that they feel the open areas are more effective than in town. More discussion on fogging or not followed.
Members of the public expressed their fears and frustrations with many of them advocating a return to blanket calendar fogging and a few others pointing out the dangers of unnecessary pesticide exposure.
VIII. Comments
A. Feedback from former Board Members
Bill Kolb, former President of the Board, gave some history of the previous Board’s experience. He advocated bypassing the “no-spray” contingent and addressing the concerns of the rest, whom he believes are in the majority. He explained you need to bypass the no spray people and make the others happy. He criticized the money spent on the OtterTail consultants, whose expertise he downplayed as he believes the former Board was doing basically the same thing. John Marta brought in bags of larvae taken from some fields in Hotchkiss (presumably to demonstrate what was missed by the PMCD crew). Board Members requested the site locations so they could make sure they were being larvicided.
B. Public comments and questiosns
More concerns about the effectiveness of Biomist were brought up, with some anecdotal observation that the mosquitoes returned to the area soon after the fogging. Some people advocated disbanding the PMCD and letting people use their own pesticides. Tara explained this would be too expensive for most people and less effective and we need to band together to make it work for all. Kris approached the idea of using a helicopter for aerial spraying, Mr. Kolb stated it was so expensive that you wouldn't make it through part of the year. Kathy Browning asked about the site cards and maps and Kris explained the correlation to the larviciding. Tara further explained that the cards will hold history per site and give them ideas on the next treatment date and what to try and expect next year. There was a question asked about the spraying machines for sale and how much and why they are for sale. Kris stated the new machines are more efficient. Mr. Kolb explained there is nothing wrong with them, they are good foggers, they just don't fog differently at the rate of running. There was a questions about the temperature in the mosquito shed, Kris explained that the temperature is monitored each morning. Kevin stated he received a call from someone who would like his parents annexed into the district. Kevin stated they didn't know much about it. Mr. Kolb stated that the way it works it is a year process. What you have to do is all the board members have to vote to bring them in or not, then to the assessors office to determine a price value, then the request has to be notarized and then it goes to the judge and then finally it comes back to the Board to bring it in with a public announcement. Tara suggested that people who are interested in being annexed into the district could do this as a group. Kevin asked Mr. Wist to give his opinion of the problems. Mr Wist feels they have to work with the Board and the Board has to work with them. He agrees that the backbone of a good mosquito district is larvaciding. But when the mosquitoes become airborne the only way to knock them down is through fogging. Mr Wist also gave examples on using Malathion.
IX. Adjournment
Michael Soule moved that the meeting be adjourned. Mr. Kolb stated there was one more thing, he explained they did not come to sling “mud”, what they tried to do is come up with an equal solution because this board is in the same position, how do you make this work, how do you keep it from blowing out of the water. He stated his remarks and comments were meant in a good way and he hopes that the board goes home with that feeling. The Board thanked Mr. Kolb and his former board members for coming. Tara seconded the meeting be adjourned, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Diana Crisler
