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Date: 5/18/2021
WILLIAMSBURG – At the Williamsburg Board of Selectmen’s May 13 meeting, the board approved the Annual Town Meeting’s warrant articles and agreed to opt out of the state’s mosquito spraying program.
To start the warrant article discussion, representatives from the Williamsburg Public Library jumped into the call to discuss a request to redo the building’s walkway.
“There was a project that was funded for the library to have the attic insulated, and the project was done but it came under budget and there was around $10,000 from the project that went back into general funds. We would like to take those funds out again and replace the walkway on the old side of the building,” Library Director Beverly Bullock said.
While the initial request was for $9,850, Town Administrator Charlene Nardi said to increase the request because of the bids received for the project.
“It feels odd to post something at $9,850 when we already know that the two quotes you have are over that. I feel if you put the article on for the Town Meeting you need to be honest and say we know it is going to be more instead of amending it on the floor,” she said.
Ultimately the library agreed to increase the request to $12,500 before the board approved the rest of the warrant for Town Meeting.
To start the discussion about opting out of the state’s mosquito spraying program, Board of Health Chair Donna Gibson explained that local boards of health were opting out because of the low transmission of West Nile Virus and Eastern equine encephalitis in the area.
“In previous years the state had towns opt in for spraying for mosquitos and this year the state changed it so you can opt out. The deadline for opting out is May 15 which is quick given that the Health boards did not get notified, but municipal administrators did. So, when the health boards found out about it, we came forward and tried to get towns to opt out in places with low instances of those diseases,” she said.
Gibson added that she wanted the town to opt out because of the potentially harmful toxins used in the spray.
“I would suggest that we opt out because of the danger in at least one of the toxins in the sprays. Not only are they harmful to humans with asthma or other breathing disorders, but they are also causing genetic changes in amphibians, they are eliminating our pollinators, and even birds that feed on those insects,” she said.
Foothills Health Agent Mark Bushee said spraying the chemicals could make the mosquito problem worse because of the other insects it kills.
“There has been a lot of evidence showing that spraying does not even work, it only compounds the problem. It tends to kill off the dragonflies that eat the mosquitoes, so you have a worse problem the next year. On top of that the chemicals are a problem because they only tell you 10 percent of what is in there and the other inert chemicals are proprietary, so we cannot get that information,” he said.
The board unanimously agreed to opt out of the state’s mosquito spraying program.
During the meeting, the board also unanimously approved a motion to finalize the contract with new Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo.