Presenter
Presented by Mr. Peduto
Title
Resolution repealing Resolution No. 584, effective October 5, 2005, entitled A Resolution authorizing the Department of General Services to contract for rodent control services for the City of Pittsburgh and directing the mayor to immediately implement a rodent control program citywide and to provide for a rodent control program in the 2006 budget.
Body
WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh provided the Mayor with a solution to address the problems associated with rodent control in March of 2005, which has yet to be implemented; and,
WHEREAS, it is estimated that the United States has some 100,000,000 rats. Rats cause enormous economic loss, consuming or contaminating vast quantities of food and destroy property when they cause fires by gnawing the insulation from electric wires. Each rat damages between $1 and $10 worth of food and other materials per year, and contaminates 5 to 10 times more. Thus, rats may cost the United States between $500 Million and $1 Billion annually in terms of direct economic losses; and,
Whereas, rats and mice are responsible for spread of diseases, either directly, as by contamination of human food or indirectly, by way of rodent fleas and mites. Diseases spread by rats include rat-bite fever, leptospi rosis salmonellosis, trichinosis, murine typhus fever, plague, rickettsialpox, lymphocytic choriomeningitis; and,
WHEREAS, in any urban center, controlling rat populations is a matter of public health and is widely recognized as a municipal service function. To rely upon citizen action to control rat populations is ineffective at best and potentially dangerous at worst due to inappropriate applications of poisons that pose a threat to human life, protected wildlife and domesticated pets. Controlling rat populations, not individual rats, is the key to a successful rodent-control program; and,
Whereas, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh finds that due to inaction and lack of an appropriate response to this public health threat the rodent population has reached such proportions that an immediate and effective response is now required.
Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Pittsburgh as follows:
Section 1. That Resolution No. 584, effective October 5, 2005, entitled
"Section 1. Authorizing the Department of General Services to contract for rodent control services for the City of Pittsburgh and directing the mayor to immediately implement a rodent control program citywide and to provide for a rodent control program in the 2006 budget
Intent and Finding
It is the intent of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh to reinstate a city rodent control program in order to protect the public's health and welfare. Despite the financial constraints placed upon the city budget the Council finds that there are adequate resources available to effect an immediate response to this public health threat. The Council also finds that the present rodent infestation has reached such a level that poses a threat to the health and welfare of the residents of the City of Pittsburgh and it requires an immediate response.
Section 2. Authorization
The Director of the Department of General Services is hereby authorized to immediately utilize the Department of General Services contract B-2-05 that provides for "[E]xtermination of pests
to be performed on an as needed basis. Pests to be exterminated include but not limited to the following:
rats" in order to reinstate a municipal rodent control program throughout the City of Pittsburgh. The Director of General Services is authorized to expend up to $30,000.00 (Thirty Thousand Dollars) in order to secure the contracted vector control services.
The Mayor shall immediately direct the appropriate city personnel to consult with the Allegheny County Department of Health's (ACHD) vector control program in order to develop effective and comprehensive plan to be implemented by the contracted vector control service to provide an effective response to the growing rodent problem within the City of Pittsburgh. Priority should be given to the most adversely impacted areas of the city.
Furthermore, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh fully expects that the 2006 budget to be presented by the Mayor on September 20, 2005 to provide for the restoration of the city's rodent control program. Pursuant to the ACHD's rodent control policies, the city shall take full advantage of the technical support and supply of rodent baits supplied offered by the ACHD at not cost to all municipalities of Allegheny County. "
is here repealed in its entirety.
October 21, 2005
I do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution duly engrossed and certified, was delivered by me to the Mayor for his approval or disapproval and the Mayor failed to approve or disapprove the same, whereupon it became law without his approval, under the provisions of the Act of Assembly in such case made and provided.
Linda M. Johnson-Wasler
Clerk of Council