Manistee Street resident urges stronger code enforcement after year‑long rodent problem

Fred Davis, a Manistee Street resident, told the Pawtucket City Council on April 23 that his neighborhood has had a persistent rodent problem for about a year and that he had hired a private exterminator after rodents nested under a shed in his backyard.

"We seem to be experiencing a rodent problem in the city," Davis said during public input, adding that the animals appeared to be nesting near food sources on neighboring properties with poor yard upkeep. He said some neighbors had previously used outdoor bait but that private contractors sometimes remove those bait stations when they use their own products.

President Mercier responded that the matter falls to code enforcement and said he would ask the department to concentrate enforcement in the areas Davis named. "I will speak to code enforcement and ask them to to concentrate on that area, you know, Greenlane and Manistee and Gloria," Mercier said, asking staff to pay special attention to that neighborhood.

Davis also raised a separate, earlier concern about speeding on Bevers Hill Avenue and said he had discussed that issue by phone with Mercier prior to the meeting; Mercier told him one of those matters was already being addressed. The council did not take any formal vote on the rodent complaint during the meeting; Mercier instructed staff to follow up with code enforcement.

Ending: The mayor's office/clerk was asked to have code enforcement review the locations Davis listed; the resident was told the matter would be forwarded to the relevant city department for enforcement actions as appropriate.