Villa Park to deploy metal trap boxes and EPA‑approved carbon monoxide device to target rats

Villa Park village manager Mike Rivas said the village will begin deploying metal trap boxes and an EPA‑approved carbon monoxide device to address a persistent rat problem, with details provided by Cliff Duple of a local pest control company.

Rivas opened the manager's minute by describing devices residents will see around town “to help with our rat and rodent problem,” and introduced Duple to explain the equipment and installation. "The device that we're gonna be using are these metal boxes," Duple said, adding, "We're using metal boxes instead of the usual plastic so that the squirrels cannot chew through them."

Duple said the boxes will contain snap traps and that the company will not use poison. "We're not using a poison, and it's a simple setting of it," he said, describing how the trap is placed and closed inside the metal enclosure. He said each box will sit on a weighted block and be secured with zip ties to poles or similar fixtures so they "can't be readily picked up or taken away."

Rivas and Duple also discussed using a machine they described as "EPA approved" to generate carbon monoxide for treating rat burrows. "It's an EPA approved machine to produce carbon monoxide to to eliminate the rats in the burrow," Duple said. The transcript does not specify which EPA program or certification applies or the operational details the village will follow; those specifics were not provided in the meeting remarks.

As part of the effort, Rivas said the village has reached out to "Metro" and to Union Pacific to request cleanup of garbage, debris and brush along the train tracks to reduce rodent habitat. He added that the village hopes those cleanups, combined with the trapping and burrow treatment, will aid remediation.

Rivas closed the presentation by thanking attendees and saying the village looks forward to follow-up as the work proceeds.