Poplar Bluff City Council members voted 5-2 in closed session Monday to reinstate a mosquito abatement program.
The effort is expected to start Monday, July 26, and run through the end of September, according to city manager Matt Winters.
The 5-2 vote approved expenditures of $10,070 to provide a mosquito sprayer truck Monday through Friday.
The truck will run from 5:30-9:30 p.m. each night, Winters said.
“We’ll have one employee that will work four hours a night and do half of the town each night,” he explained.
Council members Jerrica Fox and Chris Taylor voted against the proposal, but say it was because they preferred a less costly option.
Three options were presented to council members during the closed session, Taylor and Fox explained.
The one approved was the third option. They say they preferred a second option that would have been less costly for the remainder of the spraying season.
“We are halfway through the bad part (of the season), and the higher option just seemed like a lot,” Taylor said.
The second option would have allowed the city to use existing product and spray the town twice per week for a total cost of $3,000, Fox said.
“With not having it in the budget for the year, but wanting to see it brought back for those who have requested it, I felt option 2 was the best decision financially to get us through the next two months,” Fox said.
The city will spend about $6,900 to purchase chemicals and the additional money will go toward salary for a part-time position, Winters said.
City officials briefly discussed the mosquito abatement program during the open session meeting.
Winters said during his city manager’s report the city was reviewing programs other cities had in place, adding he and the council had heard from the public on the matter.
“It’s something that we’re going to see what we can do between now and the end of the summer and maybe have a better plan in place for summers going forward,” Winters said during the meeting.
Winters said this matter fell under the personnel exemption.
Government bodies are allowed to take discussions into closed session for a limited number of topics, including the hiring or firing of a specific individual. Closed session discussion for this topic also included extensive discussion of whether or not to create a program, and what that program should look like. Option 1 was for the council to do nothing, according to council members.
The Sunshine Law states personnel matters can be closed for: “Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they are employed as such, and the names of private sources donating or contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or president at all public colleges and universities in the state of Missouri and the amount of money contributed by the source.”