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APM Mosquito Control tells Burton council it sprayed 832.94 miles; resident health concerns raised
Summary
APM Mosquito Control briefed the Burton City Council on a July mosquito hatch, reporting weekly night spraying, 832.94 miles covered, 122 opt-outs, and negative arbovirus tests; a resident's claim of illness was raised and the company offered to provide treatment logs for review.
Ben, a representative of APM Mosquito Control, told the Burton City Council on July 7 that the company has been spraying the city in response to a July mosquito hatch and that crews ran four trucks on four routes during recent night operations.
He said the contractor sprayed 832.94 total miles in the city after the most recent run, operating Sunday nights from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and that 122 individual properties had requested to opt out of spraying. The company explained it must observe a regulatory buffer — described in the meeting as roughly 300 feet — around opt-out properties to comply with Department of Agriculture rules and avoid enforcement actions.
Ben said trapping began in early June and that crews collected 355 mosquitoes, organized them into 13 testing pools and that laboratory results so far were negative for arboviruses. He said those surveillance results supported continuing the scheduled spraying and described the operations as a trial year to gather data and public perception information.
Council members and staff asked whether opt-out addresses are confidential. Ben said he had already provided shutoff addresses to city staff (referencing an employee named Charlie) and offered to send treatment logs showing where trucks were and when they treated specific areas. City staff said they prefer not to publicize individual addresses to avoid neighborhood disputes but can identify neighborhood-level reasons why a resident might not see spraying near them.
A councilmember relayed a constituent’s complaint that spraying had made her sick even though she had opted out. Ben asked for the address to check treatment records and said the product used “has no residual” by morning. He characterized the specific complaint as anecdotal, offered to furnish treatment records for inspection and reiterated that trucks avoid a buffer zone near opt-outs.
Ben closed by inviting follow-up questions and offering to provide detailed logs and treatment records to the mayor’s office or public works staff.
The council did not take formal action on the mosquito program at the meeting; the presentation served as an update and an offer to share records on request.
