Moorhead mayor breaks tie to pause aerial mosquito spraying after public outcry

Mayor Shelley Carlson cast the deciding vote Aug. 11 to pause Moorhead’s aerial mosquito spraying for one week, following extensive public comment and a 4–4 roll-call tie among council members.

The pause, which Mayor Carlson said will allow the council to reconsider whether to keep or edit the city’s 2021 aerial-spraying policy, came after residents, advisory-committee members and several councilors debated the public-health benefits of spraying versus potential harm to pollinators and long‑term pesticide resistance.

“There's a lot of comments on social media and people are passionate about this,” Council member Lisa Borgen said during the discussion. Council members who supported a pause emphasized alternatives and additional data; Council members opposing the pause said they wanted to keep the existing matrix in place while the council studies it further.

Residents urged caution. Launice Paquin, a Moorhead resident, asked the council for clearer data and noted the city’s mosquito budget: “I know we have $387,000 in the budget for mosquito spraying,” she said, urging the council to present balanced efficacy and environmental data. Ecologist Libby Sternhagen Schwenk told the council she had surveyed local pollinator plantings and urged non‑spraying options: “Instead of resorting to aerial spraying, let’s use the city’s risk matrix to increase public awareness of West Nile transmission and the steps people can take to protect themselves,” she said.

Advisory-committee members who helped draft the 2021 policy also spoke. Noel Harden, who served on the aerial-application advisory committee after the city’s 2020 insecticide event, said the committee sought to balance pollinator protection and human health and asked the council to ensure its earlier recommendations were still being followed. “We poured over scientific data,” Harden said, and urged the city to follow those recommendations.

Council member Deb White presented trap-count and before‑and‑after data from Cass County Vector Control and argued for evidence‑based decisions, saying her analysis did not show a consistent advantage to area-wide aerial spraying. “If we’re spending thousands and thousands of dollars on something, we should be able to have evidence to back it up that it’s actually doing what it’s supposed to do,” White said.

Council member Emily Moore, who opposed the pause, framed the decision as a public‑health judgment: “I can’t stomach a death in our community because we failed to take action and protect human health and safety,” Moore said, noting the council’s reliance on scientists who developed the existing matrix.

Council member Heather Niesemeyer moved to pause the aerial‑spraying portion of the policy until the council could revisit it; the motion was seconded by Council member Madsen. The roll-call vote was tied 4–4 (Yes: Nicole Matson, Heather Niesemeyer, Deb White, Lisa Borgen; No: Ryan Nelson, Emily Moore, Sebastian McDougal, Chuck Hendrickson). Mayor Shelley Carlson then cast the deciding vote in favor of a one‑week pause and said the item will be discussed at the council workshop on Aug. 19.

Mayor Carlson said the city paused earlier spraying attempts because the contractors could not meet the policy’s required concentration: “We weren’t able to be able to follow our policy,” she said, noting the pause reflected adherence to the city’s matrix and procedures. The pause does not change the policy itself; council members said the workshop will determine whether to retain, edit or rescind the aerial‑spray option.

Next steps: The council will hold a workshop discussion on Aug. 19 before any further council action. The mayor said targeted truck spraying for hotspots can continue under existing procedures while the aerial component is on pause.