WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Board of Health on Monday began a conversation about enrolling the town in the Berkshire County Mosquito Control Project.

 

Prompted by a suggestion from board member Marzio Gusmaroli, the panel invited BCMCP Superintendent Chris Horton to explain how his group operates.

 

The Pittsfield-based BCMCP is one of 11 regional programs in the commonwealth overseen by a division of the Department of Agricultural Resources.

 

According to its website, it currently has nine members spread throughout the county, including the City of Pittsfield. The nearest members to Williamstown are Clarksburg and Lanesborough.

 

"We provide full-service mosquito control and disease surveillance for our member towns," Horton said. "The process we use is an internationally recognized mosquito control process called integrated mosquito management.

 

"What we’re doing is using accepted scientific methods to, basically, attack mosquito populations at each stage of their life cycle."

 

The process begins with mapping potential breeding habitats and, if possible, reducing those environments. The project then addresses mosquito breeding in the larval stage with larvicides.

 

"If we do find mosquito-borne disease, then we can also implement adult mosquito control, and it’s a phased process where our continual surveillance feeds back into our control measures," Horton said.

 

"If we want to control flying mosquitoes for disease reasons or if their numbers are too onerous for the local population, we use truck-mounted, ultra-low-volume applications of insecticides. We use two in this district. One is a synthetic pyrethroid, which is a Category 4 insecticide, which has practically no risk according to the EPA, very low toxicity. We use very low amounts with specialized equipment, which does the job, but it doesn’t leave a residue, and it has a very short half-life in the environment."

 

Treatments are done between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active, he said.

 

"We also have another product that is an organic product [Merus 3.0]," Horton said. "It’s a natural pyrethrum, water-based. Also effective. Where there was an organic certification [for food production], that product would be acceptable with an organic certification."

 

Horton explained that there are several levels of local control when it comes to the BCMCP.

 

The first is that a town’s participation is only possible by action of a town meeting. Horton said that if Williamstown’s annual town meeting took that step in May 2027, the town could be enrolled and eligible for treatment by June 2027.

 

Once enrolled, member communities benefit from the BCMCP’s monitoring and testing, but treatments only happen with the community’s approval.

 

Finally, individual property owners can enroll their property on a "no-spray" list.

 

There also would be a local cost. Member communities are assessed a charge to enroll in the program that is partially offset by a state supplement.

 

The state’s contribution for each town is based on a formula that takes into account population, land area and property values, Horton said. He did not have an estimate at Monday’s meeting for what Williamstown’s bill might be.

 

Board of Health member James Parkinson asked Horton about the rate of human cases of mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile Virus and Eastern equine encephalitis.

 

"Only a handful of confirmed human cases," Horton said. "Some were travel-related. When they have a confirmed case of West Nile Virus, it’s usually a serious [case] to get it to the level of confirmation. So we’ve had a handful, but it’s widely accepted that the number of actual infections is beyond what is reported. What’s being reported is severe West Nile fever or encephalitis, something with neurological symptoms.

 

"Generally, the prevalence is not super high, but it’s also not consistent. We find in our mosquito surveillance that … pressure varies dramatically from year to year. We’ve had years with one isolation. We’ve had years with 60 isolations in a 12-week span. It’s not a constant. What we’re talking about is a bird population that comes in carrying West Nile. The local mosquito population picks up West Nile and, in turn, bites other birds."

 

There also is a cyclical aspect, Horton explained. In a year where West Nile virus is prevalent in an area, it thins the bird population, and that leads to fewer diseases the following year.

 

"Then when birds pick it up down south and bring it here, you have a resurgence," Horton said. "You combine that with a big mosquito year with high temperatures, that can lead to an increase in risk.

 

"In the last 10 years, we find West Nile Virus every year."

 

A couple of days before Horton met with the Williamstown board, a mosquito carrying West Nile Virus was found in Clarksburg.

 

The board took no specific action on Monday but left the topic open for future discussion.

 

In other business on Monday, the board heard an update on the status of a unit at 330 Cole Ave. whose tenant was before the body in May.

 

Health Inspector Ruth Russell reported that she did a look at the property on June 9 and that the manager, Hearthway, Inc., has engaged Laureyns United of Pittsfield to work at the site. The board asked Russell to continue checking in with the property manager and tenant and suggested that the town’s building inspector may need to get involved to make sure the moisture barrier in the unit is up to code.

 

Finally, a resident who was the author of a town meeting-approved ordinance banning smoking in residences with four or more units reported that since the town meeting action and the Health Department’s involvement on the issue of second-hand smoke, he has seen a change in behavior by his neighbor at his Stratton Road condominium.

 

"The person involved is making a conscious effort to do things a little differently," Will Raymond said.

 

On the other hand, Raymond told the Board of Health that the town should not rely on landlords and homeowners associations to enforce the ordinance.

 

"The problem is not the good HOAs or the good landlords," he said. "It’s the problematic ones. I can’t get our HOA to enforce the bylaws that it has had in place for decades."

 

Board Chair Devan Bartels told Raymond that the HOA has an interest in enforcing a smoking ban, particularly in common areas, and that the HOA can be fined by the town for failing to meet that obligation.

 

"That seems to be an open legal question," Raymond said. "Mass General Law 270, Chapter 22, Section D, the HOA is responsible for not smoking in common areas and enclosed hallways. The HOA in our case is steadfast in saying, ‘No, this is not our responsibility.’ "

 

"For clarification, the HOA is responsible," Bartels responded. "And now, based on the town law, they are completely responsible. It’s against the law for there to be smoking in those areas. And that will be enforced."