CENTRE WELLINGTON – The Township of Centre Wellington is moving ahead with termite surveying work and future termite management expenses will be considered in 2021 budget deliberations.
A notice of motion in February by councillor Kirk McElwain eventually directed staff to look into working with noted entomologist Dr. Tim Myles and any costs associated.
At Monday’s council meeting, a delegation from Fergus resident Tammy Rutherford began the termite discussions as she outlined her experience with a termite infestation.
Over the past 10 years she said she has had four full treatments and is preparing for a fifth. This has cost her over $15,000, not including cost of repairs.
“Termites are very much a skeleton in the closet in Centre Wellington and this needs to change,” Rutherford said. “Homeowners should know there is a plan in place and they can confidently seek assistance.”
Myles, who was previously served as termite control officer by the City of Guelph, said to council that Centre Wellington’s designated termite control areas identified a decade ago are rather large.
“I think Centre Wellington probably has a bigger problem than Guelph did at the beginning,” Myles said. “There are currently about 1,300 properties in the designated areas and that’s larger than Guelph ever had.”
Myles’ first order of business in the town would be to survey the 1,300 properties in the designated termite control area to understand the scope of the infestation. This would come at a cost of approximately $15,000, covered by the building division’s operating budget.
Councillor Ian MacRae questioned if they should be looking in other areas before the problem becomes larger.
Myles explained that there is a wide perimeter as part of the control areas but could survey more at a cost of $10 per property.
McElwain was concerned about seeing a truckload of mulch being delivered to a property in the control area. Some types of mulch can attract termites.
McElwain said he felt updating the termite control bylaw would be required in addition to any work Myles does.
“We need to have more control I think to help … to make sure that our residents don’t just destroy any good work done by Dr. Myles in the short term,” McElwain said. “I think a better termite control bylaw is almost required to do that.”
As part of this motion, future costs of termite treatment will be deliberated as part of the 2021 budget process. The report to council anticipates this will cost $60,000 per year for five years.
Councillor Steven VanLeeuwen amended the motion to include having staff look into alternative funding methods such as area-specific charges.
McElwain said he felt that it was too early to discuss this and just wanted to get Myles started in his first step.
MacRae and councillor Stephen Kitras both said that it wasn’t a bad idea to have staff begin looking at other options because it doesn’t delay Myles’ work.
However, MacRae said he felt this should be a collective community investment much the same to how bridges are replaced and repaired.
“I think this is an entire community project as well in how we address termites,” MacRae said. “They may not be on my property today but they could be there tomorrow.”
Myles’ survey work is scheduled to begin in August each weekend.
