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Date: 8/23/2023
LUDLOW — Resident Ann Van Aller and the Board of Health and Building Commissioner Leslie Ward met with the Board of Selectmen at its Aug. 15 meeting to continue a discussion on a potential rat problem.
Van Aller was able to provide pictures as well.
Van Aller said, “I am here because the rats are not getting better, the rats are getting worse. We are getting them every single day. I came to [the Board of Selectmen] in June and I am here again to see if anything is happening from the town going forward.”
Recently, there have been many Ludlow residents who have been complaining of a rat problem in their neighborhoods.
Residents have taken to social media and different boards in town to express their concerns.
Van Aller said, “My yard is clean. That was Friday at 11:15 in the morning with nine people in my yard when rats were still running through. There’s no mess, there’s nothing for them to get into. Friday night we caught a rat in a trap, Saturday night, caught a rat, woke up Sunday another rat in a trap. There’s nothing else I can do.”
The Board of Health sent out a notice to residents in late June to let everyone know they are aware of the situation and things people can do to help fix the problem.
Selectman Manny Silva said, “It seems like the Board of Health is doing what they can. I don’t know if there is anything else that they can or can’t do as far as trying to combat this.”
Some residents pointing fingers at the Ludlow Mills project and the dismantling of certain buildings.
Westmass Area Development Corporation President and CEO Jeff Daley spoke on those concerns.
He said, “To put the rat issue aside for Westmass, we absolutely do not have rats, we don’t have a rat problem, we never had a rat problem since we owned it in 2011. I have been here since 2019, we have never seen a dropping, a trace or the actual rats themselves.”
Ward and the Board of Health confirmed that they have been working closely with the Ludlow Mills construction and have been provided with a monthly report for their rodent control plan.
Ward has also talked to future owners of certain mill buildings to provide a rodent control plan.
Public Health Director Paulina Matusik said she met with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and they are asking the town to create a rodent control plan.
“That is something that I am doing and meeting with an expert to start the process and get more information on what that process entails, how long that is going to take, who gets involved. The board will also get involved with this, but this is a community issue and a town issue,” she added.
The town is asking people to keep their trash contained, lawns cut and not to keep pet food and water bowls out overnight. Any rodent sightings should be reported to the Health Department.
Matusik added, “The residents need to know that there are multiple different things that are going on. I went through all our complaints, and we have a lot of correction orders out and there are some addresses that have multiple on the same street. If residents aren’t cleaning up and aren’t doing their part, its not going to help the issue even if we do provide more.”
Selectman Derek DeBarge added that he has walked around town and has seen multiple properties that need to be cleaned.
He added, “There are properties all over the place that do not take care of their surrounding area. Sidewalks, backyards, side yards, all of that. We’ve had an incredibly high rain season this year. The river is up and the rat holes they go in on the side banks are filled with water so where are they going to go?”
Other components of the increased rat population could be the warmer winters causing the rats to be able to lay an extra litter or two or the construction at abandoned buildings, according to Matusik.
Ward said she use to be a part of a monthly code enforcement task force that was made up of a representative from the Board of Health, Fire Department, and Building Department along with a member from the Board of Selectmen to discuss problem properties that could be causing townwide issues.
She would like to bring that task force back for at least a month.
Ward said, “That would help us all stay on the same page. Keep us informed so we aren’t duplicating efforts within the departments. We are going to try that here in town for a month at first, and if we find we need to do it more often then that we will increase the frequency of our meetings.”
The Board of Selectmen are open to ideas to fix the problem and think creating a map with the hot spots would be a good starting point.
“We are working on it, but it isn’t going to happen overnight,” DeBarge added.
Board of Selectmen Chair James Gennette said, “I am blown away by how all the departments came together for this. We are doing everything that we can on our side to try and get as big of control on this as we can.”