CENTRE WELLINGTON – A report by Centre Wellington staff is recommending council consider hiring a termite expert as part of the 2021 budget process.
In February, council discussed a motion by councillor Kirk McElwain to hire entomologist and City of Guelph termite control officer Dr. Tim Myles to deal with the growing issue in Centre Wellington.
This motion was ultimately referred to staff to prepare a report on cost which is being presented at Monday’s meeting.
According to the report, the first step is to survey properties in town where termites are known to exist to understand the scope of the infestation. The estimated cost of this work is $15,000, which can be covered by the building division’s operating budget.
This survey work would take place each weekend in August. Similar work was done by Myles’ company, Termite Research Services, for the Township of Woolwich in 2019.
The report said the survey work will determine budget requirements but based on Myles’ experience, the future costs are anticipated to be $60,000 per year over five years.
Eastern subterranean termites have been known to be in Ontario since the 1920s and first spread to Fergus and Elora in the 1970s.
In a phone interview, Myles explained the province funded a grant program in the 1970s for about thirty years to assist property owners with the cost of termite treatment. This program was cancelled as it was found to not be meeting its goals.
While working as the director of the urban entomology program at the University of Toronto, Myles said he developed an area-wide treatment approach to controlling termites, which he calls block-wide termite management.
“It involves all the residents on an entire block, because obviously termites don’t respect property boundaries but they can be managed within discrete blocks,” Myles said. “The roads between the blocks are very difficult for termite populations to cross.”
Myles was hired by the City of Guelph in 2007 as a termite control officer. He said at the peak there were over 1,000 infested properties in Guelph. Last year, he said they were able to get the problem down to eight properties.
At this time, he’s considering proposals from Centre Wellington and Woolwich to enlist his services. He said he’s positive his method of integrated pest management can work in Centre Wellington.
“What my group is doing is installing monitoring traps, checking those traps and doing extractive and quantitative monitoring,” Myles explained. “Whenever we need to, we hire a company to do any kind of treatment that requires doing.”
Monday’s council meeting includes a delegation from resident Tammy Rutherford. In a previous interview, Rutherford said she had been dealing with termites at her house for 10 years.
Centre Wellington council will decide Monday if any future capital expenses will be used for termite management.
