Somerville committee reviews 2024 rodent data, pilot projects and rodenticide policy

Councilor Jake Wilson, councilor at large and chair of the Rodent Issues Special Committee, opened the Feb. 19 meeting of the Somerville City Council’s rodent issues panel and invited staff to present an updated 2024 data report and program review.

Alicia Privet, environmental health coordinator for the Inspectional Services Department, presented charts comparing 3-1-1 rat reports, residential “rodent assistance” visits and rodent-related violations from 2016 through 2024. Privet said the city logged 484 unique properties visited through the 2024 rodent assistance program and that the program was expanded to two months in 2024 to emphasize more sustained, higher-quality visits rather than single short calls.

The presentation showed a spike in reports beginning in 2020 followed by a gradual decline; Privet cautioned that 3-1-1 calls measure reports, not rat population, and noted other factors such as reporting fatigue and changes in resident presence can affect those counts. “This is not a graph of how many rats there are in Somerville,” Councilor Burnley observed during the discussion.

Why this matters: the committee used the data to map persistent hot spots (notably East Somerville, parts of Ward 2 around Lincoln Park and a single site on Broadway/Dartmouth identified near Winter Hill) and to explain enforcement and outreach choices. Privet said residential trash and overgrowth violations are among the most-issued citations tied to rodent conditions and that vacant and absentee-owned properties can contribute to overgrowth and harborage.

The committee discussed ongoing mitigation and pilot work. Somerville is participating with Cambridge in a fertility-control pilot using a bait product called Evolve; Privet said Somerville High School has consumed more bait at the test site than other locations and that the city is seeking volunteer properties in the Lincoln Park area to expand the study. Privet said data analysis is ongoing and “we should have some interesting information” by the end of the year.

The committee also reviewed the city’s policy on rodenticides after recent reports of birds of prey dying from secondary poisoning. Privet told the committee that city crews and contractors stopped using second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) on public property in mid‑2024 and that bait boxes maintained by the city have been switched to snap traps or a vitamin D-based product for the residential assistance program. “We do not use SGARs on public property,” Privet said, adding that the vitamin D compound (cholecalciferol) is still a rodenticide but that published studies suggest a reduced risk of secondary poisoning to raptors compared with SGARs.

Committee members and staff noted limits on pinpointing the source of secondary poisonings: Privet explained it can be difficult to trace where poisoned rats were consumed because effects can accumulate over time. The Inspectional Services director told the committee the department is monitoring pending state legislation that would impose broader bans on SGARs and that the city has been preparing pilots and alternatives in anticipation of additional restrictions.

Actions and next steps taken by the committee included marking several previously introduced orders as completed for committee purposes, keeping three new orders as standing items to be revisited quarterly, and asking staff to return with fuller data and pilot results at the next scheduled meeting on March 17. Privet said the city will continue outreach such as bilingual workshops, social media posts and an updated PSA video, and that the IPM (integrated pest management) guidance was updated for 2024 with a 2025 revision underway.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes (ID 24-1471) and adjournment: passed by roll call, unanimous (Councilor Burnley: yes; Councilor Klingen: yes; Councilor Jake Wilson: yes).

Ending: Committee members agreed to keep the education, enforcement and mitigation orders as quarterly standing items and asked staff to return with expanded 2025 data, pilot-study details and any further enforcement metrics at the March 17 meeting.