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Citizens raise concerns about herbicide spraying in parks; city says drift caused incident and pledges to prioritize weed‑eating
Summary
Residents complained about Roundup/glyphosate spraying in a city park after a windy day caused drift. Officials said the chemical label is the law, that staff are certified applicators, and that the city will emphasize weed‑eating and retrain staff to avoid drift.
Residents and council members raised concerns at a committee meeting about the city’s use of herbicides in parks after a spray on a windy day caused visible plant damage and citizen complaints.
Dr. Sandra F. Marks told the committee she was allergic and objected to what she called a “poisonous agent” being sprayed in parks, and asked that the city discontinue spraying and use weed‑eating instead. “It doesn’t matter. They don't need to spray in the park,” she said.
Street Commissioner Wesley answered that the product used was glyphosate (commonly sold as Roundup), not 2,4‑D. He said crews do not spray whole parks routinely but sometimes use a sprayer for specific areas; the incident in question occurred on a windy day and was the result of drift. Wesley said staff are trying to teach a new sprayer how to apply chemicals correctly and acknowledged the mistake.
City staff and a council member noted that pesticide labels and EPA registration govern legal use. One official said, “The label is the law. As long as they're following the label instructions, it's legal,” and described drift and application technique as likely causes of the observed damage.
The mayor said the city will emphasize weed‑eating and retraining: “We're gonna weed eat…there's times that we do spray, and they've been spraying since I've been there. This in particular time, we had somebody inexperienced. We're trying to teach them how to spray, and they messed up.” No ordinance change was proposed; staff were asked to limit spraying during windy conditions and to prioritize nonchemical mowing where feasible.
