[0:01] Okay,

[0:05] » good evening. I think we'll get started. >> Uh, welcome to the Ask the Expert panel

[0:12] from Milton Township. My name is Jackie McGrath. I'm a Milton Township trustee.

[0:17] I'm going to introduce the speakers and um some other folks and then I want to

[0:23] make sure everybody knows what the format is. Um there's a lot of

[0:26] information tonight. There's some interactive options. There's some really

[0:30] good maps and some handouts. Um, and then what I um also want to add is if

[0:35] you didn't um grab it when you came in, there's a piece of paper. If you do have

[0:39] a question or concern, we're asking for that to be written out and then you're

[0:42] going to pass it to me as the moderator. So, my name is Jackie McGrath. I'm the

[0:47] moderator. I'm an elected official for Milton Township. Um, I want to introduce

[0:51] Supervisor Higgins Beard who's the supervisor for Milton Township. Um we've

[0:56] got our speakers here and um I think maybe um what we'll do is we will start

[1:02] with some biographies and then uh go into the the information from the

[1:07] presenters and um there should be some time at the end to take some of these

[1:12] questions um or uh concerns and I want to add that you know um townships do a

[1:19] lot of things for a lot of people and uh one of the things that's sort of unique

[1:24] is Milton Township also governs mosquito abatement. So what that means is I as a

[1:30] trustee govern how the levy is set, what the budget is. Um but when it comes to

[1:37] the science and the public policy, that's why we really have our experts

[1:41] here tonight to delve into all the layers that are involved. Um so let me

[1:46] um say that uh I want to make sure um we are um uh informational. The whole goal

[1:54] of this panel is to be informational and educational and that's really where the

[1:59] expertise comes in. Right. So, um let me introduce uh first uh we have here on

[2:04] the far end um Jack Fenish who is um with Clark um and I don't think is this

[2:10] being recorded? Oh, this is being recorded. Okay. So, I that's the other

[2:14] thing I should add. So, um here in Milton Township everything is public.

[2:16] It's public information and so this event is actually being recorded. What's

[2:21] really good about that is it'll also be content for down the road for the Milton

[2:25] Township website because then when people do have questions or they want

[2:29] this information later, it'll be preserved. And so um this is um uh some

[2:34] when you I think the camera's there. >> The camera looks this way. You don't see

[2:37] the slides. >> So some of you it'll be the back of your

[2:39] head. It's really for the front stuff. All right. So um Jack Fenish is with

[2:44] Clark and let me tell you about his background. Um he's a bachelor's degree

[2:48] from the University of Detroit and um he has a short course in vectorbor disease

[2:56] transmission from the University of South Carolina. It's called the CDC DOD

[3:01] short course. He's also a certified Illinois firefighter too and an EMT.

[3:09] And he started in mosquito control during summers while attending college

[3:13] with the Northwest Cook County. He's been with Clark since 1991,

[3:19] serving Northern Illinois, working with health departments, municipalities, and

[3:23] townships, and has been involved in every major vectorbor disease outbreak

[3:29] in Illinois since that time. Jack has helped form legislation on mosquito

[3:34] control issues as well as being instrumental in the formation of the

[3:38] Milton Township Mosquito Abatement District. What year that started, I'm

[3:43] not sure I know off the top of my head. 2019 if I got that right

[3:47] » prior to Chris Haid. >> Yeah. So 2000 or something.

[3:54] » Some history but the >> maybe before that.

[3:59] » Okay. >> So we're saying two different things. It

[4:01] was formed in 2000 and then redistricted in 2019.

[4:06] » Correct. >> Okay.

[4:07] » Correct. >> Thank you. Two.

[4:09] » That's okay. >> Two separate occurrences.

[4:12] » Yep. Our second expert panelist is Laura McGawan. Laura McGawan has worked as

[4:18] court spokesperson since West Nile first arrived in the United States in 1999.

[4:23] She's been involved in providing public information on the front lines of every

[4:28] major mosquito outbreak since that time, including on-site work in Dallas,

[4:32] Houston, Orange County, California, Boston, Michigan, and Miami. Working

[4:38] with local, state and national health organizations, she shared critical

[4:42] information on mitigating mosquito-born diseases like Westnile virus, Zika virus

[4:48] and eastern ecquin and sephilitis with news media around the world.

[4:53] So the format tonight is primarily a presentation a lot of information I I

[4:59] would say soup to nuts really right. So, sort of every phase of information and

[5:05] then um what we do want to ask is that you um put any questions or concerns

[5:10] here on this form and that's going to make its way to me as the moderator and

[5:14] so we'll cover some questions and then if there are audience questions we'll be

[5:17] able to ask that tonight. But if what I worry about is running out of time

[5:22] because there is a lot of content. So do include your name, phone number, email,

[5:26] contact so that people can follow up if you have questions or concerns. And

[5:30] there is one question there um that is of interest I think to everybody in the

[5:34] township. Are there other township topics you'd like to know about? This is

[5:40] actually maybe sort of a firstofits-kind event to try to do a public information

[5:45] session about some of the township's work. So if you can think of other

[5:48] township topics that you'd like to hear experts or hear information about,

[5:53] please do put that on the comment card. All right. So I think without further

[5:57] ado, are you ready? >> I am. Okay. Thank you.

[6:00] » Thank you. But just thank you, Trusty McGrath, and thank you uh Supervisor

[6:06] Beard for inviting me here tonight. We uh are more than happy to do this. I

[6:10] have a brief presentation. Well, not so brief, but a a pretty de a detailed

[6:14] presentation, but I'm going to try and not keep you too long and hopefully we

[6:18] won't see any uh you know any yawning or too much yawning.

[6:22] Um, so I I go through this presentation and then uh you know I know there's

[6:27] people are here with specific questions and many of those questions get answered

[6:31] during this presentation. So we'll just hold that's great that we'll hold the

[6:34] questions till the end. We did um you know I'll talk you know some of my

[6:39] history having been with with Clark in this area for such a long time. Um we

[6:43] start the the Milton Township mosquito abatement district started as there had

[6:48] been mosquito abatement district mosquito abatement going on in the

[6:52] township for many years pri I many and many years prior. We treated um

[6:57] Butterfield East and Butterfield West homeowners associations. And there was a

[7:01] group of homeowners associations. And as many of you know, the 80s and then

[7:06] turned into the '9s with um some of these uh homeowners groups and civic

[7:11] groups kind of go by the wayside. It's it's hard to collect, you know, keep

[7:14] collecting money in that. And they said, "Well, why can't we um you know, really

[7:18] make this so we don't have to come back to the well every year and and collect

[7:22] money from our neighbors?" And so they approached uh an actual referendum. So

[7:27] this district was formed by public referendum and it was voted on. And I do

[7:31] remember that one of the supervisor at the time said, "I can't believe they

[7:35] that many people came out in a it was a November uh you know election and it was

[7:40] actually snowed that day. They had light snow that day and they came out for

[7:44] mosquitoes in a snowstorm is what the way he put it. So I you know I'll leave

[7:48] you with that. So um Glenn Allen MAD had been again these districts were formed

[7:55] by referendum. So this is uh there's something in you know in the environment

[8:00] there's there's as you're going to see uh common denominator be habitat low

[8:06] standing water. So there's something here that's producing. We have mosquito

[8:10] production in the area and it and it's not you know this is not something new.

[8:14] So, um, we've been in business since, uh, 1946 here in Northern Illinois. We

[8:19] are the world's largest mosquito control contractor and we are, uh, one of

[8:23] Illinois's very own. So, we're based right here in Illinois. We're we're a

[8:27] global health public health products and service company. Now, uh, again, um, we

[8:32] we are very we have a very large footprint, not only in Illinois, but

[8:36] very our headquarters are in DuPage County. So, um, uh, next slide, please.

[8:42] So we're working a as agents of world health benefit. We're developing

[8:46] mosquito control products with new modes of action to address resistance

[8:50] challenges and align public health with public preference. Uh we've we've again,

[8:56] as Laura knows, we she travels throughout the country to these disease

[9:00] outbreaks and Hurricane Katrina, you know, Hugo, um you you you name it. Any

[9:06] types of of those very large um public health emergencies, as you're going to

[9:12] find out, mosquitoes develop in standing, stagnant water. So, we get

[9:14] these floods. Two weeks later, where did all these mosquitoes come from? Well,

[9:18] you know, they do. You remember that flood that we had? So um we're improving

[9:23] the overall quality of life and relieving uh relieving communities of

[9:26] postweather emergencies and disease vectoring mosquitoes partnering with

[9:29] Puerto Rico uh fighting DA and Brazil fighting disease in India providing

[9:33] animal health products to pro protect livestock and food supplies. Uh next

[9:38] slide please. Our mission is to make communities around the world more

[9:42] livable, safe and comfortable. Um, I think there's another.

[9:47] » Our vision is to create an organization that reaches around the world to help

[9:50] make the lives of more than 660 million people more livable, safe, and

[9:53] comfortable. And our values are caring. Our values are caring for the planet,

[9:57] caring for people, being passionate about what we do, and doing the right

[10:00] thing even when it's hard. We have two core competencies uh with

[10:05] within Clark. It's public health mosquito control products. So, these are

[10:08] the products that are used to control the the insect itself. um and the public

[10:14] health mosquito control services. This is the aspect that that Milton Township

[10:18] falls under. So, this is a service that we provide for the township and other

[10:23] municipalities throughout Northern Illinois. Um we we feel that we're we're

[10:27] in a very unique position because we are the only mosquito control manufacturer

[10:33] company that does both. We there's a lot of players out there that that want to

[10:37] manufacture the product and you know and and be down the road. We we actually uh

[10:42] apply these products. We have an expertise in applying them. We have our

[10:46] own uh you know in-house field sciences. So for efficacy studies for operational

[10:52] uh purposes. Um many of the these districts actually come to our facility

[10:56] and get trained on on proper procedure. At one time we even had a mosquito

[11:01] university. So we were um where people from all over the country came and got

[11:05] trained on on it was really it is such a niche market that there was no one you

[11:10] know there's no one else doing this. So some of it you know passed down like

[11:13] folklore you know with with within these you know within these organizations. So

[11:18] um everything we do is guided by a lens of sustainability. We we produce a

[11:23] sustainability report on uh every two years I believe. Um the some of these

[11:28] numbers have increased. 16% of our energy is sourced from on-site

[11:31] renewables. We have a very high worker uh co-worker retention. We have 43% less

[11:37] waste created, 100% carbon neutral. And in a in a pro in an industry where the

[11:43] image is of the skull crossbones and a pesticide that's this is very

[11:47] impressive. Uh 12 of our what we call nextgen products and next generation

[11:52] products and services created. I'll get into that a little bit. Um but there's a

[11:57] kind of an eco tier that we go through on the on the um and here it is eco tier

[12:02] on our products here conventional will be the old science and technology gas

[12:06] powered oil based ingredients 20 years 25 year plus character smarter science

[12:11] and technology for advanced electric powered synthetic ingredients 15 to 20

[12:16] years old character uh the nextg what we call next generation cutting edge

[12:21] science and technology human and renewable energy powered we're treating

[12:24] the catch basins by bicycle. Uh the the the you're going to see in some

[12:30] of the products you're using here is a natural art product which I'm going to

[12:33] get into uh is really it's won the presidential green chemistry award. It's

[12:37] really at the cutting edge of what of what is possible in mosquito control

[12:41] organic. Uh it's a true organic. This is made in an Omry listed uh facility in

[12:46] Shamberg, Illinois. Really just you know stones throw from the DuPage County

[12:50] line. organic and andor natural ingredients. And that's less than five

[12:54] years old, new life. Uh we're, you know, again, we're very big into the uh

[12:59] community involvement as well as uh we the truck out in the parking lot, we

[13:04] donated that for the food pantry. So um and I hopefully we can continue to do

[13:08] more of that. Uh so we we we do tremendous amount of volunteer hours

[13:13] each on an annual basis as well. Uh so what in in this setting in a municipal

[13:19] township you know government MAD setting what we provide is a turnkey services uh

[13:25] program is built around what's known as integrated mosquito management. There's

[13:29] a very uh in the pesticides control industry it's integrated pest

[13:33] management. We we we term it as integrated mosquito management and it's

[13:37] based on education surveying and mapping which uh we have a

[13:43] map right there that that in the brown tan uh shaded section is your mosquito

[13:49] abatement district within the township. Um I'll get into that too a little bit

[13:54] more. uh the habitat to find and and determine where those where these

[13:59] mosquitoes are developing is is key to any you know in any integrated mosquito

[14:04] management program any mosquito control program. Um we have a tremendous amount

[14:08] of education. I have please help yourselves. I got a lot of material out

[14:11] there. Um and we we provide uh trifolds on not only what you know I I like this

[14:19] part because you you get a lot of people come in and say well what's the

[14:22] government going to do for me? What? What? Well, there's things that, you

[14:25] know, I want you to read the yard and home checklist that you can be doing

[14:28] that you're breeding these mosquitoes in your yard that you need to take action

[14:33] on. The wheelbarrow left upright, the canoe, the rowboat, simply turn it over

[14:37] and you're going to stop production of, you know, could be millions upon

[14:41] millions of mosquitoes. The kitty pool, you know, the dog the the dog bowl, that

[14:45] type of thing. Uh, clog gutters. So, um, education is a big portion of what we

[14:51] do. Uh the surveillance is the actual uh capturing and uh sampling and testing of

[14:58] the mosquitoes, the actual mosquitoes themselves. Do do they have are they

[15:01] carrying the virus? Uh what's the population level? Uh and then the larval

[15:07] control. Um and that's actually treating the standing water where the larvae

[15:11] develops. Uh the the last aspect to it is adult control. And this is probably

[15:17] you know what 99.9% of the population thinks of as mosquito control. They

[15:21] think it's that truck going down the street and you're spraying from

[15:23] mosquitoes. That's actually a very very small, you know, it's probably 20 15 to

[15:28] 20% of what we do. So, um, we get a little bit of a bad rap there. To

[15:33] understand mosquito control, you really have to understand their life cycle. So,

[15:36] I'm going to go through if in tonight's presentation, if you take anything away,

[15:41] take take understand this. So, so pay attention to this. So, mosquitoes in the

[15:46] form in an egg stage and they're microscopic in that egg stage. There

[15:50] there's two species two main species of mosquitoes but there's subspecies about

[15:54] 36 40 mosquitoes in Illinois but the majority of them are under what's called

[15:59] a cullex species or an 80 species. The 80 species is a floodwater mosquito

[16:04] which we are going to have um you know I'm I'll stick my neck out here. We're

[16:09] going to have an abundance a great abundance of adult 80s flood water

[16:13] mosquitoes here in the next two to three weeks because of the st amount of

[16:16] standing water we have. So those eggs are laid intermittent on the flood plane

[16:21] and the water as it rains the water rises. So we're seeing our retention

[16:25] detention ponds. I've never seen it that high that the water's over the road.

[16:30] Every year they lay every little hatch they they lay their eggs intermittent on

[16:35] that, you know, in that mud line, if you will, in that uh soil, and the water

[16:40] comes and activates those eggs. So we can have mosquitoes from the last four

[16:46] or five years that we never because the water level never got that high. And

[16:50] that's kind of what we're going to be into a little bit here. The key we have

[16:53] the water. The key other key ingredients I'm going to talk about is you're going

[16:56] to need heat for that. We need this is kind of a you know we've got a little

[17:00] state of execution here with the cold temperatures. Uh there the that's the 80

[17:06] species. The QX species lays this in an A graft on the water itself. So, so

[17:12] those are the two separate um >> about 200 to 300 eggs at a time

[17:16] » and the uh so so that that water gets activated. They then go into a laral

[17:24] stage and they develop and we need standing stagnant water. If we have a

[17:28] wave action so it's a blue lake, you know, they breathe through an air tube

[17:33] here and they'll they'll suffocate them. The female mosquito won't even lay her

[17:37] eggs there because that, you know, that wave action is happening. So a river, a

[17:41] stream, moving water. It's more of the pocket the back water after the flood.

[17:45] You know that >> retention pond that has aation in it and

[17:48] fountains. Those will all help reduce the risks.

[17:51] » Um so so they're they filter feed in this stage and that's the treat that's

[17:56] the significance of treating that standing water. And the product works.

[17:59] It is it it is a pesticide. It kills the pest but it's not a pesticide again in

[18:04] the skull and crossbones combust you know flammability reactivity. It it is a

[18:08] gut toxin. that reacts with the pH balance in their stomach lining and they

[18:12] don't reach this adult stage. The next stage is is what's called the pupil

[18:17] stage. This is just a resting stage. So this is a metamorphosis just like a

[18:22] caterpillar through a butterfly. So so a metamorphosis is going on. They hatch

[18:26] off and leave their skin behind as a whole separate adult mosquito which

[18:30] again the majority of the population thinks of as that flying mosquito. But

[18:35] they had to go through this this cycle to to hatch as that flying mosquito.

[18:40] Here, if we can go back a little bit. >> How long does that take?

[18:43] » That's what I was. So, this life cycle, egg to adult in a in a what's called a

[18:49] tropical environment, the perfect environment for any insect. And that's

[18:52] defined by 8080. 80 degrees Fahrenheit, 80% relative humidity. That will go in

[18:57] four days in a constant 8080. We get into that here in July and August, we're

[19:02] 86 80 at, you know, midnight 1 2 in the morning. So, uh, again, we have the

[19:08] water, we have the eggs being activated. We just need the heat now. Our in the

[19:12] Midwest here with our we're probably about a 7 to 10 day life cycle. Um, just

[19:17] because of our it depends what our overnight lows do. So, um, and and again

[19:22] the, uh, relative humidity, too. So, 80 80% relative humidity, 80 degrees

[19:26] Fahrenheit. Um, so this is going on, you know, every 7 to 10 days throughout the

[19:32] summer. Um, the best way to describe this is just like we get the the sun and

[19:37] the rain and the grass grows. Well, the same thing's happening with the insect

[19:40] population. I've been doing this, you know, a lot of years of people, Jack, is

[19:44] there any silver bullet that we can just do one thing at the beginning of the

[19:46] season and, you know, knock this out? And unfortunately, there isn't. There

[19:51] it's it's a it's a biological process. And there are some mosquitoes that

[19:55] actually breed in water supplies that are as small as a bottle cap. So it's

[20:00] nearly impossible to a treat all those areas and b be able to reduce them by

[20:06] tipping or tossing out those kind of things. The more that you can do though

[20:09] in your own yard, mosquitoes don't tend to travel very far from where they

[20:13] breed, at least the species that are around here. So it's very important that

[20:18] residents, if they would like to increase their own protection, take care

[20:21] of their own yards. And it's another re by an organized program like this, it

[20:26] moves the needle. We could say you you got the guy, well, I'm just going to

[20:29] take care of my yard and you know, if if you know 16 ounces is good, you know, a

[20:36] gallon's got to be better. And that's something, you know, that's that's as we

[20:39] all know, that's what happens. Um whether we like it or not, but that that

[20:43] that's what's going to go on. And it doesn't as a again you can they travel

[20:48] up to about seven miles to from where their source their source of development

[20:52] is too. So um you you need to do this on a communitywide basis on a you on a very

[20:58] large scale approach. Um next slide please. So again we are big in in in

[21:03] education. I ask you know please feel free to grab some of our data our our

[21:07] literature and take it home. Um and we're very forthcoming with this. we um

[21:12] share it, you know, and we let the the township and the municipalities, we say,

[21:16] you know, feel free to plagiarize and put it on your website. Um it it's it's

[21:21] just great information to get out there. So, um again, there there's a lot of

[21:25] things that the homeowners are doing that are creating mosquitoes in their

[21:28] yard. Um next slide, please. So, surveying and mapping is just that. will

[21:35] we work off USGS uh topographical maps to find our low lowline flood plane area

[21:40] and find these sorts you know these sites that are developing the mosquitoes

[21:44] and I we have some of the they're marked in blue there but um we didn't want the

[21:48] map to get too busy uh some of it gets you know it gets kind of like spaghetti

[21:54] so um and then every street on that that every just like you would snowplow every

[21:58] public rightway is being treated when we do the adult control

[22:04] Surveillance is the actual testing looking for the actual the the larvae in

[22:09] the scanning water. The bring that those samples back to our lab. They're sorted

[22:14] to species to the actual sex as a male or a female. Um the tra the uh what we

[22:21] call carbon dioxide trap or more of a a specific trap is the adult mosquitoes

[22:28] after they they they take the the blood is is not their food. Their food is

[22:33] plant nectar. So they feed on the broadleaf plant um the chlorophyll in

[22:37] the plant that is their food. The blood fertilizes the female's eggs and she

[22:41] goes through diipause and lays those eggs. That's the significance of the

[22:44] blood. Once they they're the viruses, the encphalitic viruses are transmitted

[22:50] by the migratory birds. So, it's in they're they're what we call the the

[22:55] reservoir. The birds are what are called the reservoir. So, it's in that bird

[22:58] population on an annual basis. The birds migrate back in. Everybody says, "Well,

[23:02] you know, it froze. How come the mosquitoes aren't here? You know, how

[23:05] come we how do we get the virus back?" Well, they're in the migratory birds.

[23:09] So, uh that mosquito bites the bird. It lives in her salivary gland and uh then

[23:15] it's it's in vitro. So like she lays those those eggs and then that

[23:20] subsequent hatches those mosquitoes are then infected with West Nile St. Louis

[23:24] and sephilas you know dog heart. So it's logarithmic as the season goes on we are

[23:30] you are more sus we have more a higher percent of mosquitoes infected with the

[23:35] viruses at the end of the season as we do at the beginning of the season. So

[23:38] this is why the trapping is going on and uh we're very interested in what's how

[23:44] soon we get how soon we get a positive we had extremely we had 150 human cases

[23:48] of westnau virus in Illinois alone last year we had a very it was very early May

[23:53] I think it was May right around May 1 in the first week of

[23:58] May they found uh positive mosquitoes in Rockford Illinois so that was uh you

[24:03] know a real eye openener um for our for our district you know for our northern

[24:08] Northern Illinois that's that's really early. Um we will see it in July and we

[24:12] will see you know we'll see high prevalence in in August and then

[24:16] obviously September and everybody's kind of wait you know they're crossing their

[24:19] fingers. So there's some hard there's some rule of thumbs there that I can

[24:22] share. Uh you're about one month from from the the time that you get your

[24:29] first positive mosquitoes. You're about one month from the time you you'll see a

[24:33] human case. So, uh, we used to test birds, migratory birds, and we would

[24:38] sample them. So, we would say by the time we had our first positive bird, we

[24:41] were one month until it jumped into the and and transferred into the mosquito

[24:46] population. So, then we're about another month before it's going to be in the

[24:49] human population. Um, and then you're, you know, depending on your temperature,

[24:54] what the epidemiologist say, heat is the throttle for Westnau virus. So the

[24:59] hotter it gets, the more vymia, the more vymic load we're going to have in the

[25:04] environment. So uh the the theory, and it's it's been a proven theory, is that

[25:10] the as the summer goes on and it gets drier, the mosquitoes and the birds are

[25:14] both competing for the same dwindling water source. And the birds needed to to

[25:19] wash their food and and you know, every animal needs needs water for life. So

[25:23] they were living on, you know, the 40 acre farm and now they're living, you

[25:26] know, in in apartments and and they're living closer together. So they're

[25:30] forced into a tighter environment and the the vymic the virus cycle is

[25:35] amplified. So we uh you know, so again, we're we're very interested in what what

[25:41] month of the what time of the season we have these these positives and that

[25:45] those positives trigger the adult control portion as well. I'd just like

[25:49] to say that West Nile virus is endemic to the area, which means it is always

[25:54] here. It's just that everything with mosquito control is like weather. If the

[25:58] weather conditions are right, we will have a really rough year with voicemail

[26:01] virus. If it's not as aggressive or doesn't have the same characteristics,

[26:05] we may have fewer cases, but we are rarely going to have no cases because we

[26:10] just have that virus load in the environment right now.

[26:15] » So, uh, part of that that testing I was telling you about, it's called PCR. a

[26:18] fancy, you know, acre for polymer race chain reaction test. This is a DNA test.

[26:24] Uh, and we uh have a state-of-the-art PCR lab. It's a bio uh biosafety level

[26:30] two. Um, and we do the testing here in inhouse right right on site. So, we have

[26:35] a a quick turnover. All that data is shared with the DuPage County Health,

[26:39] the Illinois Department of Public Health, and the Centers for for Disease

[26:42] Control. So, all this data is uploaded and shared on on very large databases.

[26:46] Um the DuPage County Health will then which we got into last summer. We'll say

[26:52] we we are at a level two, we're at a level three, we're at a level four. So

[26:56] there's there's varying levels as far as how many positives they are getting. We

[27:00] had a very active year last year. We had positives back probably three to four

[27:05] weeks in a row out of Glenn Allen and out of Weaton. Um that's kind of you

[27:11] that's not good. We don't see that very often. So we we we sounded sounded the

[27:15] alarm bell and uh and we we did the adult control in response to that. The

[27:20] adult control can also be triggered for the flood water mosquitoes too. So um we

[27:25] we'll talk about that natural the the some of the products that are being used

[27:28] is again a state-of-the-art product called natural XRT. I'll pass that

[27:32] around and please uh don't take it home with you.

[27:39] Uh this is 180 up to 180day slow release tablet is releasing slowly releasing the

[27:45] active ingredient. This is as we all know what a catch basin or a manhole

[27:49] cover is uh that's on the pavement that's on this this the right the public

[27:54] roadway the water if we we get an inch rain the

[27:58] cars would hydrop your plane. So the water has to come off the roadway. It

[28:02] goes down into a into the municipal water system. There's probably about a

[28:08] twoft round drain and it's not just a tee like that. If as the water came up,

[28:13] the water would come up and flood the road again. So below that that

[28:17] horizontal pipe that goes into your your public water system, your uh wastewater

[28:22] management is a sump. So that sump holds holds water. And as when it doesn't

[28:29] rain, that's a nice every 500 ft. It's a beautiful little breeding ground for

[28:34] Tullex mosquitoes within your community every 500 ft. And this is the big

[28:38] takeaway from the outbreak in Chicago and that we've had here is where the

[28:43] people from Chicago came where where the everything's paved. Where are the

[28:48] mosquitoes coming from? You know, we have very little cattail, you know,

[28:51] maybe at Lake Calumett, but that doesn't explain the cases in, you know, Logan

[28:54] Square in Austin, you know. So, uh, it turns out every 500 feet there's this,

[29:01] you know, there's this perfect little breeding ground for the mosquitoes. So,

[29:04] um, this this was a big lesson learned and these catch basins since that, you

[29:08] know, 01 since Wnau came here, you know, through New York City, pretty much every

[29:12] major city and and municipality is treating the the catch basins with with

[29:17] these products. Um, it is again it's a it's a winner of the presidential green

[29:21] chemistry award. Adult control is the second is that phase after laral

[29:26] control. It's kind of when you know the that first line of defense has been

[29:30] breached. And now uh you as we all know we we lived here through the 90s and and

[29:37] and 2000s. We we were getting the 500year flood every two to three years.

[29:41] The whole county became a breeding ground. You say you know think just

[29:45] think three four weeks ago where there there was water everywhere. So that

[29:50] happens with a little you know we're 10 degrees below normal right now. If we

[29:53] are 10 degrees above normal we have a real problem. So that you know that

[29:58] comes off everywhere. So the only way you know the the only way to control

[30:02] those mosquitoes is through adult mosquito control. There's there's and

[30:06] especially the only way to control an adult infected mosquito is is through

[30:10] adult mosquito control. This can be done in two ways. This is the backpack

[30:14] barrier and this is what's talked about. I know one of the guys had a question

[30:18] comment. I want to know what my my neighbor's spraying. Well, we we

[30:20] invented that. It's it's they're usually used in a product called peromethine or

[30:24] sumethine. It's a it's a product that's the active ingredient in a dog flee and

[30:28] tick collar. It mixes with water. They put it in a in a backpack and they spray

[30:32] just the foliage. So, the mosquito lands on that foliage and h harbors in that

[30:38] foliage takes that goes for the chlorophyll and they get a contact kill

[30:42] when they land on it. It is completely washed away after it rains. So on a

[30:47] large scale, it's great for, you know, bark in the park for the, you know, for

[30:51] the uh, you know, the softball game, that type of it's it's it's a it's a

[30:55] great, you know, movies in the park. It's a great thing to do prior, but it

[30:59] is not a communitywide answer. You you're you're going to get very you're

[31:05] you're not killing in the laral stage, so all the the disease infected

[31:09] mosquitoes are still going to hatch. So um, you know, like I a lot of people,

[31:13] well, we don't need to do that. everybody just does does their little

[31:16] backyard go up, you know, it's uh it's not going to be affected on a large on a

[31:20] large scale. And again, it's a temporary. It's a band-aid. It's going

[31:23] to it's going to be washed away, you know, when the rain comes. So, um and

[31:28] then the other thing is is the truck. Many of the I think in Glenn Ellen,

[31:31] we're using a lot of electric a lot of electric machines now, too. So, the low

[31:37] so the uh the noise level is very low, very subdued. Um we're putting uh trucks

[31:43] in here on about you know eight to 10 of the eight to 12 at a time and doing we

[31:49] so in conjunction we're using uh Weaten, Glenn Ellen, Milton Township,

[31:54] Bloomingdale Township and it's a blanket coverage so we don't give them anywhere

[31:58] to hide. So we're getting a very we're getting a very nice effic you know of

[32:02] efficacy out of that. Um and again the temperatures need to be above 50 degrees

[32:08] and the wind speed needs to be below about you know 15 20 miles an hour. So

[32:13] um those are the parameters for that. Um we do a lot of emergency response

[32:19] services too in in uh wherever they may be. Want to talk you know a little bit

[32:25] more about you know the mosquitoes themselves. Anything else I can you know

[32:29] other tidbits I can give you on mosquitoes. They live about a month that

[32:33] um the males really are only two weeks. Um they in that month they can do about

[32:40] three sets two to three sets of of egg laying. Um

[32:44] there again their food is plant nectar. The the mosquitoes you're feeling bite

[32:49] you is that's only the female. So that's half the population. That's how many

[32:54] mosquitoes are out there. So there's trillions in the environment in any

[32:57] given July or August, September as well. So um the only the female bites you the

[33:04] male doesn't have the probosus doesn't have the stinger so she can't so she

[33:07] can't physically bite you. Um, it not every mosquito is infected at this, you

[33:13] know, oh my god, I got by by the cullex mosquito, I'm going to get Westnau

[33:17] virus. It's, as I explained it to Jackie, it's like so many other things

[33:20] in life, you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you get bit by

[33:23] that mosquito that has this high vymic load. And they go through in their in

[33:29] their life cycle too, they're, you know, when they first get infected, they're

[33:32] not going to transmit it at a real high high level. they're going to it's uh you

[33:36] know it's going to incubate inside them and then they can transmit it at a

[33:39] higher level. So um you're much any of the any of the mosquitob born illnesses

[33:44] you're much more susceptible to it if you have a condition an existing

[33:47] condition uh you know the the transplant fe patients um other p other pe

[33:54] residents with >> some kind of compromised

[33:56] » compromised immune system um you know the people on chemo and that type of

[34:01] thing >> and even if you're bitten and contract

[34:03] west nile virus the chances that you'll develop severe severe disease is only

[34:07] about 1 in 50 cases. You know, it takes about two to 14 days after the bite of

[34:14] an infected mosquito to show symptoms. So, most people who experience West Nile

[34:19] symptoms, it's just going to feel like you've got a bad flu. Um, you know, your

[34:23] head hurts, you're achy, body aches, um, sometimes even a rash. So the more that

[34:29] you can so when we talk about human cases those are cases that were severe

[34:34] enough for people to first of all seek treatment and secondly they lasted long

[34:39] enough that they needed to find out exactly what was causing this. So enough

[34:43] testing had been done that we can identify that. So we know that even

[34:46] though there were 14 human cases designated in DuPage County inevitably

[34:52] there were quite a few more people that were infected last year just by the

[34:56] numbers. some of the the CDC epidemiologist

[34:59] um mentioned that there's probably you can multiply that by six of the people

[35:04] that actually got um you know heart disease to you know re really were

[35:09] infected bad the a lot of the really good research came this first came to um

[35:14] New York City in 2001 it didn't I'm99 >> 1999 then we had 2000 and um then it

[35:23] moved down the eastern seabboard and came back up through the Mississippi

[35:26] River flyway to the to the Midwest. We didn't we thought it was going to jump

[35:30] over and come right from New York City, but it came down there was a bird flyway

[35:35] down the eastern seabboard messed around in the Gulf there and then it came up

[35:38] and again I'm Chicago 2001. So I got you know tunnel vision on 2001

[35:45] um and then then we had the big outbreak here in in Chicago um and numerous you

[35:50] know years after that. So again, it's there's the birds play a big role.

[35:55] They're that's in that environment of the bird population. Uh but the the

[36:00] reason I bring that up is that um in 99 in New York City, they set up uh kind of

[36:07] tri, you know, uh blood sampling testing centers right at the the subways and

[36:12] that there's some fantastic tens of thousands of people were were blood

[36:17] blood drawn, you know, not you know, I just feel sick or whatever. So they

[36:20] actually and they that's how the epidemiologists came up with this. So we

[36:24] had 150 multiply that by six. They know this from hard science. It's hard hard

[36:28] blood draw hard blood draws. >> The human cases that are reported by the

[36:33] the IDPH are died in the wool. They that was uh

[36:38] » you know it's in spinal fluid. They they take it you know you know spinal fluid.

[36:42] It is >> beyond a shadow of a doubt that person

[36:45] has less virus. It's misdiagnosed. you know, you got the flu, you know, you

[36:50] don't feel good. So, um, I'll just talk real quick about emergency response. Uh,

[36:55] we do that on a, uh, maybe the next slide, just so you know that we we, uh,

[37:01] we do this on a very large scale. We, we partner with a dynamic aviation. They're

[37:05] a very large a sprayer. Uh, uh, they have the largest fleet of King Aircraft

[37:11] in the in the country. Um and we're able to res to to

[37:16] 25 over 30 million acres since September uh since 2004. It's much higher than

[37:22] that. This is about a two or three year old uh presentation. Some of the data is

[37:25] a little old. We do um there's a eastern ecoin sephilitis which is um a whole

[37:33] different animal. It's kind of westnau virus on steroid. It's you know I think

[37:37] you know what is it >> children are more susceptible. Yeah. Six

[37:40] out of 10 people that get it actually pass away. It's it's it's really bad.

[37:44] And we've had an outbreak and we we and 2019 and 2020 in Michigan in Bering

[37:49] County and I would have bet the farm that it would have came down to, you

[37:53] know, with all the people that vacation there in in southeast southwestern

[37:57] Michigan that it would have came to Chicago. Came into a little bit into

[38:01] Indiana, but it didn't make it into Chicago. I was really really shocked. Um

[38:05] and there's there's been uh and and this again is in horses and there's a horse

[38:11] vaccine for Westnau virus but not for humans.

[38:15] Um next slide please and the world needs

[38:21] mosquito control. Um at this we we could open it up if um

[38:27] » questions >> to any questions. Can I prompt you while

[38:30] we wait for this for >> Let me ask if you have questions, please

[38:33] write them down and pass them forward. We're going to pass them to Dave here on

[38:36] the end. Um, and I have some questions too that I want to start with too.

[38:40] » I'll just throw one in just because of just the insider view. You've done I

[38:44] think a nice job describing that surveillance is going on, larvicidal

[38:48] work is going on and then nighttime low volume fogging.

[38:51] » Can you describe do you survey once or twice a month? Do you survey? So sort of

[38:55] frequency there, frequency on large side and frequency of fogging.

[38:59] » Thank you. >> Some people call my it's all my office

[39:02] and they say I want fogging every night. Well, that's not happening. And then

[39:05] others are, you know, hoping it would happen less. So just to understand what

[39:08] the current general pattern is. >> Thank you. I did I kind of I I did kind

[39:12] of race through that. So that that's that's a very good point. So the

[39:17] surveillance and monitoring is there for a reason to give us the tra, you know,

[39:21] to give us the population level of the mosquitoes in Milton Township at any

[39:25] given time. Those traps are running three nights per week.

[39:28] » Um, and that's just telling us the population level. So we have a very good

[39:32] handle not only, you know, in mil in Milton, but we also piggyback on

[39:36] information from Wheaton and from West Chicago. So So we've got a pretty good

[39:41] snapshot of what's uh of what's going on. uh that data is is transferred into

[39:47] hey you know Buffy we you know it's it's we're seeing a high level um

[39:53] then if call this is really off the charts the phone's ringing off the hook

[39:58] um so there's multiple things that would trigger that would translate into an

[40:01] adult mosquito control action would be a number one we had a positive in the

[40:06] district that's we we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's just there's

[40:11] live mosquitoes in the in Glenn Ellen that you know just again be at the wrong

[40:16] place at the wrong time you're going to get bit. So we want to abate that new

[40:20] that risk we want to reduce that risk. Um we have our that's that's a number

[40:26] one the public health uh aspect of it. The second the first sentence of the

[40:30] mosquito abatement district act is to control a mosquito abatement district

[40:33] shall be formed to control nuisance and disease carrying mosquitoes. So, we wear

[40:38] another hat with the with the nuisance uh aspect of it. And this goes back to,

[40:42] you know, why did the people from Butterfield East and Butterfield West go

[40:45] to the ballot box? Because they're tired of getting bitten by mosquitoes. So, we

[40:49] control nuisance mosquitoes as well. That's done through the surveillance

[40:52] through the New Jersey trap. Uh again, three times a week when we get very high

[40:57] annoyance and that will, you know, we'll we'll start recommending it to the to

[41:01] the supervisor. Um again, the tri things need to be in place. We need to have the

[41:05] right temperatures, wind speeds. Um you we don't want to catch the falling

[41:10] knife, too. Um there's another uh sampling that we do.

[41:15] It's called a brood migration uh model. So we actually chart and graph the the

[41:20] average daily temperatures, the relative humidity, and the rainfall. And uh John

[41:25] Clark senior invented a brood migration model. So we actually predict the night

[41:30] that that's going to occur. And we double we double click we double check

[41:34] that on our our our physical the physical mosquitoes in the trap. So um

[41:40] what if we were about 10 20 degrees warmer right now we would be

[41:44] experiencing backtoback hatches. So I would want those mosquitoes to all hatch

[41:48] off. I don't want to come out and spray and then then we get another hatch 20 48

[41:52] hours later and you say well you know this has happened before. You just made

[41:55] them mad you know and come back out again. So um so that that's that's

[42:00] another trigger. All these factors are in place prior to doing the adult

[42:05] » at least three times a week. >> The surveillance is three times a week.

[42:09] » Signing is is actually we're doing uh we're doing six what we call targeted

[42:15] laral sites. These are historically the known

[42:18] » we we we do a targeted management system. So we have we have a database

[42:22] from 20 plus years of what sites actually breed mosquitoes, the species

[42:26] they breed mosquitoes. So after a 4 inch rain, we'll go to those sites and and

[42:31] and and treat those. We do three complete inspections. So June, July, you

[42:36] know, May 15th, June 15th of all the sites within the township. So those are

[42:42] what we call complete inspections. Then we do six targeted uh uh inspections. So

[42:47] there's this standing water is being looked at, you know, nine times

[42:51] throughout the throughout the summer. >> And then the thing that I was surprised

[42:54] about, I'm not trying to, but just I was surprised because this is a hard

[42:57] decision, right, as a group. Is it time to fog? It's not like it gets fogged 15

[43:02] times in a summer. How many times was Glenn Ellen fog last year?

[43:05] » Four. Four. And that was high water mark. that was with, you know, um, you

[43:10] know, unfortunately humans here in in Glenn Allen were

[43:14] hospitalized and had, you know, had unusual amount.

[43:17] » Correct. Correct. That would be, you know, that that,

[43:20] » you know, four to five. I mean, >> yep. So, just so we all get the

[43:23] » By September, we're up >> lots of surveying, lots of laride.

[43:26] » By September, we're, you know, do we get the first frost? A lot of, you know, I

[43:30] think some of the public doesn't understand the kids are back in school.

[43:33] Why are you spraying? Well, you know, you're it's September 10th, but you're

[43:36] actually at 15th. You're actually at the highest level of risk right now. We we

[43:41] had multiple every week we're putting the trap in Glenn Ellen and wheaten and

[43:44] we're getting positives and it's not it's not slowing down. You know, as you

[43:49] remember, it keeps getting hotter and you know, it's kept kept getting hotter.

[43:52] Um so, you know that why why are you why are you rolling the truck? So,

[43:55] » thank you. Um there I'm trying to think of what other

[44:01] » I don't want to take too much air time because I've got plenty of time to call

[44:04] you if I have questions. >> Well, so um let me ask a few questions

[44:07] that we know are kind of the big questions. I think I I don't know if I

[44:10] said this at the start. We get a lot we do get a lot of questions about the

[44:13] mosquito bait and we want to be able to have accurate information. So, one of

[44:17] the top questions is really um when it comes to the trucks and the spraying and

[44:21] even the larvicide, how does this affect other animals, species, pollinators,

[44:27] bees? Can you tell us a little bit more about that because it's it's two

[44:30] different things, the larvaicide and the spray. So, tell us about those.

[44:34] » Correct. >> Laura's Yeah, Laura's a noted expert on

[44:37] it. Um the the actual application is called ULV, ultra low volume cold

[44:42] aerosol mist. So is extremely low dosage rate and I think you're going to be

[44:46] shocked at how how low of a dosage rate that is. The mosquito itself is about

[44:51] 86% water. So they're not a hard it's not like a grub in the ground or um you

[44:56] know a beetle that we need a lot a mouse or you know is a form of pest control.

[45:01] Mosquito control uses the least amount of active ingredient of any form of pest

[45:06] control out there. As a matter of fact, our our products very often get a a pass

[45:11] from the US EPA. the some of the the laws that they passed, they said, you

[45:15] know, mosquito control is so low. We're not you're exempt from that. There's a

[45:19] public health exemption to a lot of our products. So Laura's going to go in much

[45:23] greater detail. >> One of the things that's really

[45:25] important to remember with mosquito control is that there's a very small

[45:28] amount of active ingredient. I bring this as an illustration because it's

[45:33] approximately for the dosage that we use, it is that much treating a football

[45:39] field. So that is our dosage per acre for the products that we use. And the

[45:45] reason why we do adult mosquito control the way we do it where it's this ultra-

[45:49] low volume spray. The droplets are designed to interact with a mosquito's

[45:55] biology. And these droplets are extremely small, very several can fit on

[45:59] the head of a pin. It's designed to be small enough because it actually has to

[46:03] interact with the mosquito while it's in flight. Because the product we use

[46:09] actually has an impact called benign agitation. We talked a little bit about

[46:13] how mosquitoes can harbor, right? They hide under leaves. They're not really

[46:17] excited. They they want to wait it out until the mist goes away. But we have to

[46:21] be able to interact with that mosquito while it's flying. So Duet, the product

[46:25] that we use, has a component that creates benign agitation. It gets the

[46:30] mosquitoes very excited. they tend to fly out and we are able to connect

[46:34] connect with more of them while they're in the air. The great thing about the

[46:38] product is that the minute it starts to come into contact with anything whether

[46:41] it's on the ground um whether you know it falls onto a leaf or or grass or

[46:46] something like that it immediately begins to break down. So these are not

[46:50] longlasting things in the environment. They are very quick. They must come into

[46:54] contact with a mosquito in on the wing. And so once we've had that opportunity

[46:59] to interact with the mosquito, the the swath goes out about 20 feet in the air,

[47:05] 25 ft in the air, >> 300 feet downwind,

[47:07] » downwind, and then so it floats for a little bit

[47:11] in the atmosphere and then drops to the ground. So it's a very quick impact and

[47:15] that's why it's so important that we have the mosquitoes on the wing to

[47:18] affect them. >> It is biodegraded 100% within 24 hours,

[47:23] 80% within 12 hours. And again, you're using a very minuscule amount of

[47:28] product. >> So, just to follow up on that, um, uh,

[47:33] sort of the flip side of it, does West West Nile itself, does does it kill

[47:39] birds? Does it does do other insects? >> And you know what? We didn't actually

[47:43] answer your question about an ontarget species. So, there's been a lot of

[47:46] research done about things like bees and things like that. Um, I have a study

[47:51] here from Louisiana State University. The headline says, "Studies show

[47:55] mosquitoes pesticides do not cause honeybee mortality." Um, another

[47:59] environmental study that just came out recently um said managed honeybees face

[48:04] greater risks from parasites and pathogens than mosquito control

[48:07] insecticide applications. So, this has been definitely something studied

[48:11] because the products can be in in large large doses they can be toxic to

[48:16] non-target. But the way that we use them, the way that we treat, the timing

[48:21] that we do it, we don't treat till dusk where most honey bees are already back

[48:26] in their hives and other bees are back under um in their ground areas. They are

[48:32] not going to be impacted because they're not going to come into contact with the

[48:35] spray. It doesn't have residual effects. It's not being brought back into the

[48:39] hive. So, this is um something that we have looked at for years and there's

[48:44] been extensive research. not a lot of impact at all. Um, the other thing that

[48:48] a lot of people will bring up is whether or not bats can have a huge um impact on

[48:53] mosquito populations and bats are a really great resource for eating

[48:58] mosquitoes. The problem is, as Jack said, trillions of mosquitoes, not

[49:02] enough bats. So, the the bats can have a an impact. They do eat a lot of

[49:06] mosquitoes. It's not going to be a great enough impact for that to have an impact

[49:11] on how many we have in the population. Um, and if we talk about birds, birds

[49:16] can be very strongly affected by West Nile. In fact, if you anybody were

[49:20] anybody around during the West Nile outbreak in 2010, do you remember how

[49:24] you didn't see any birds after that? We were getting reports of dead birds all

[49:28] the time and our crow population was decimated at that time. In fact, it's

[49:33] only just now starting to fully be rebounded.

[49:36] » It was 98% fatal the American crow. >> Exactly.

[49:39] » West Nile virus was. So, West Nile can have a strong impact on certain bird

[49:43] populations. Um, and because West Nile is a it's they're a reservoir um

[49:49] species, mosquitoes are definitely attracted to them to feed off of them,

[49:53] but then we end up being an end reservoir, not a reservoir, an end

[49:57] target for them. So, as long as the birds are being infected with Westnile

[50:01] virus, yes, it can harm them, but it can take a long time. We used to use

[50:04] Sentinel chickens too to monitor to see if birds were contracting West Nile

[50:09] virus and that's still being used in a lot of areas of the country.

[50:13] » That's kind of another early warning is they put the chickens out and then they

[50:16] want to they want to see if they get infected by West Nile. It's like their

[50:20] control, you know, if they're catching the wild birds. So they have this

[50:23] chicken flock um to see if they if it get transferred.

[50:26] » They're just getting blood draws all the time. the um the droplet size is another

[50:31] key factor that it it's not killing anything bigger than a mosquito because

[50:35] of the droplet size. So um and again these have been looked at extensively by

[50:41] you know independent uh university studies and research studies and I want

[50:45] to tell you know all the product all the products are US EPA registered the

[50:50] Illinois Department of Agriculture registered so this is you know this is

[50:54] uh it's not against the law what we're doing it's 100% approved by uh you know

[51:00] the state of Illinois the the federal government

[51:03] » and and we thought all of people that are applying behind these products are

[51:07] they specific training. They have to pass tests to be able to be applicators.

[51:12] We have a great um resource. Clark is one of the best training institutions

[51:17] for mosquito applications in the country. Um and then as applied by label

[51:24] directions, the CDC and EPA both have stated in what they call the joint

[51:28] statement that it poses no undue risk to humans or the environment the way that

[51:31] we do this. to give to give you an example. So we're using half that shot

[51:35] glass half an ounce per acre 10 15 miles from here on corn and

[51:42] soybean and decal county and in Kane County they're using four to six pounds

[51:47] per acre of a much much hotter product called Durban. So um the farmer when you

[51:52] drive by and he's got that tank behind the tractor he gets he's working in his

[51:55] field they weigh you know he gets a pass. what we're doing is in a

[51:59] residential area and I think it's just very visible with this aha you know I

[52:02] you know there's the smoking gun. So um there's just not a there's not enough on

[52:07] the truck product to really you know to to cause a fatality.

[52:14] So, um talk a little bit more about um that idea you touched on which is a lot

[52:22] of people maybe do um have those companies that come and spray and they

[52:26] do it maybe on like a calendar like a regular basis throughout the summer that

[52:29] kind of thing. Talk a little more maybe about the

[52:33] differences between what you're doing from the surveillance to the you

[52:36] mentioned the product is different >> correct?

[52:38] » Yeah. Well, that that's just uh it's spraying on the foliage and on the grass

[52:42] and then you know the grass gets cut and it and it dries on there and it's you

[52:46] know you got your fingers crossed the mosquitoes are going to land on that in

[52:49] your yard. Um and again it's it it's gone as soon as it rains and it's you

[52:55] know that biodegrades rapidly too. >> I would make the the biggest point is

[52:59] that they're not coming out to see if there's anything warranted. They're

[53:03] doing it because it's the third of the month. And when we we work with

[53:08] surveillance, so everything that we do is data driven. This is prescription

[53:12] applications. We are not doing this because it's the third Thursday. It's

[53:16] just because, you know, it's part of the contract. That's not how we operate. We

[53:20] look at the science. We have the opportunity to do it when it's called

[53:23] for, but it's not something that is just a routine operation. And you know, it

[53:28] can be comforting for people to feel like they're getting something done. But

[53:32] we also had a a product several years ago. I don't know if anybody remembers

[53:36] the mosquito magnet where people were literally baiting mosquitoes to come

[53:40] into their yard so that they could trap them in these devices. And it was very

[53:43] popular for a short period of time, but all it kept doing was bringing more

[53:46] mosquitoes to people's yards. >> And it was the worst kind of it was the

[53:49] gra it was the gravit mosquito. gravitate females that you know they

[53:53] were because of the sense of smell they were going there you know to the lights

[53:57] it what it is is it runs on propane and it mosquitoes are attracted to carbon

[54:02] dioxide when we exhale we exhale carbon dioxide

[54:05] » and they they're attracted to to that to that smell and so you're bringing in the

[54:11] infected mosquitoes into your yard but I think another good way to look at what

[54:16] the you know again it's the third of the month or it's it's you know it's it's

[54:20] the every Thursday I'm going to do this this spring is that takes the entire

[54:24] integrated pest management what we call integrated mosquito management theory

[54:28] which the you know the state of Illinois the public department of public health

[54:33] the citizens for conservation everyone you know really refers to as that's the

[54:39] on best practices we're we're doing this integrative this pest management

[54:43] approach that takes that and throws it out the window they're doing it just

[54:47] because it's Thursday and you might have people over on Friday night, there's a

[54:52] beer garden Friday night, so let's go spray. So that takes that whether, you

[54:56] know, whether there's, you know, the insects are present or not. So that, you

[55:00] know, is kind of the anti-thesis to the whole entire, you know, what we call our

[55:05] environmental mosquitoes management program. So the EMM.

[55:09] » So a couple more questions related to water and then and then I have kind of a

[55:13] final question. So if there are other questions or concerns you want to pass

[55:16] forward, now's the time to do it. Um, but let me ask this. um very

[55:20] specifically in Milton Township. Um when it comes to um bodies of water, are are

[55:26] bodies of water like Lake Ellen treated with the water side?

[55:29] » The lake itself is is not if it has wave action and it has a defined shoreline.

[55:34] No, but so more of a cattail marsh, a roadside ditch, um like did you're

[55:39] driving home tonight just wherever there's ponding where the water would

[55:43] sit there between seven to 10 days, you know, or even four or five days in the

[55:47] summer. Um, so it's really more of a standing stagnant water. Um, another we

[55:53] have, you know, a nice commuter train that runs right through Glenn in the

[55:56] middle of town. That, uh, that train needs to be on a level plane. So trains

[56:02] don't do good on, you know, you know, really short hills. So when they're

[56:07] built, they're built to handle that tonnage on of the train on a level on a

[56:13] so it doesn't get the friction the train can work and along. So they have to

[56:17] build that up on grade. So along that train track is a little red ribbon of

[56:22] standing dish line throughout your whole town and and from here going all the way

[56:26] into Chicago. And that will sit there and breed mosquitoes all summer long.

[56:30] Drive down, you know, uh the interstate right now. What's in the middle of the

[56:34] road because they had to build the road up on grade so the water would drain

[56:37] off. There's a ribbon of water, you know, in the middle and on both, you

[56:40] know, east and west sides of 88. So that and that will just breed mosquitoes all

[56:45] summer long. That's part of the tollway. Nobody's treating it. That's all just

[56:48] left to have. It's dangerous to get out there obviously.

[56:52] » Pen the prair path as well. The prairie path was a

[56:55] » it was a train. >> It was a train track. Correct.

[56:59] » Is it? And that's even worse because the the overgrowth the brush overgrowth on

[57:02] that I I've walked on you know everybody's been on you know most people

[57:06] have been on it and you know so that the the ditch on the left and right hand

[57:10] side are breeding mosquitoes and they have every they have the heavy foliage

[57:13] to feed on the on the on the plant life on the brush and then the birds come in

[57:18] there and you know the whole life cycle is going on. So

[57:22] » is there a way for people to kind of call in a standing water?

[57:25] » Absolutely. We're we're very big on we have an 800 number. Do we have a Clark

[57:29] portal? >> The best way to do that is there's a

[57:31] website called clarkportal.com and it's cl a r ke. It will also be an

[57:36] opportunity that people can use that to get their questions answered. It can be

[57:40] a two-way communication where you can ask a question very specific to your own

[57:44] address. Um it fulfills a lot of the the um services that we offer throughout the

[57:49] township and it's available all the time.

[57:53] » 2008 that's we find a lot of our new sources that we find new sources that

[57:57] way as well. So the the people come in, it's one of the first our people sh

[58:00] Yeah, I've got mosquitoes are terrible in my yard. Well, tell me about what's

[58:04] the first thing I when I talk to someone, it's what's going on next is,

[58:07] you know, is there an unopened swimming pool? The neighbor, does he have a

[58:10] swimming pool that he hasn't opened all summer? Well, that's, you know, where

[58:14] that's a big source of where the mosquitoes are coming from. There's 08

[58:17] when we had the housing crisis, you know, not so much Glenn Ellen, but Glenn

[58:20] Ellen's a pretty uh mature community, but the Planefield, Illinois, and the

[58:24] Shorewood and that. Well, there's a whole subdivision of of house

[58:28] foundations that were never, you know, that that everybody walked away from

[58:31] because, you know, because the housing, you know, market seized up. All those

[58:36] house foundations were breeding mosquitoes.

[58:38] But the abandoned swimming pools are a big one, too. We call the 800, you know,

[58:43] you get on the portal. We will come out under your program. We will come out and

[58:46] treat an unopen swimming pool. We'll throw the tablets in there and treat

[58:50] that standing water. >> And that's the other water question. um

[58:54] those tablets when they are treated in the um drains or anything else how is

[59:00] there is there risk that that will enter like the water system the water table

[59:04] how does that impact the water system >> so that again it's a very it's the the

[59:10] laral control is something it's it's a a gut it's a

[59:14] » it's a naturally occurring soil bacterium

[59:17] » we would ingest it would pass right through us

[59:19] » it's this is used in drinking water in many countries it's not an issue and it

[59:24] breaks down over time. It provides a level of control that is designed to

[59:29] release quickly to immediately cut down all mosquitoes and then releases over

[59:33] time as well. Um but it does not provide any I mean it is a a what was it a rum

[59:38] factory that they discovered. >> It's a spiny sugar um molecule that's so

[59:42] it's a sugar a sugar molecule. Um that water is then going back into the storm

[59:48] water too. So that's being recycled into the the Glenbard wastewater treatment

[59:53] plant and they're testing that water for you for everything now especially since

[59:58] you know 911 they're testing it for botula you know any type of terrace

[1:00:02] attack too. So that's that's tested continuously and it's you know on the

[1:00:07] label itself it it is certified for use in in in this wastewater treatment

[1:00:12] plant. So it's >> it's it's it's at a you know at a very

[1:00:15] very low level. want to, you know, just I I get kind of asked this all the time.

[1:00:20] Every time we put gas in our car, we're exposing oursel to a known carcinogen,

[1:00:23] and that's a cancer-causing agent, and it's just at the low, it's at the level

[1:00:27] we do that at is not harmful to to humans. So, um you know, people just

[1:00:33] kind of jump the gun, you know, aha, this is, you know, uh um you know, a

[1:00:39] carcinogen and this is a naturally occurring bacterium. So it's it's

[1:00:44] nothing like gasoline or anything like that that we actually breathe the fumes

[1:00:48] and get in our you know spill on our fans when we put gas in our car.

[1:00:53] We do that every day. So it's you know it's um it's just at what level do we

[1:00:58] you know do we the level of exposure is extremely low.

[1:01:03] » Well let me ask my last question which you've touched on in terms of um people

[1:01:06] can address standing water in their yards. Um, what other practices can

[1:01:11] individuals do to maybe protect themselves or or um, you've got some

[1:01:16] other practicing that everybody should be doing is using

[1:01:20] EPA approved mosquito repellent. And I'm just going to say there there are a lot

[1:01:26] of of urban legends about what works. There's

[1:01:30] a lot of homemade remedies. You know, there's I've heard everything from split

[1:01:34] Tik Toks that show Listerine on your deck, which does absolutely nothing to,

[1:01:38] you know, people swore by skin so soft in the 80s. And right now there are good

[1:01:43] options for people to use that can fit every lifestyle from the tried andrue,

[1:01:50] you know, deep woods off which uses DE to picaridin to IR 3535. Even oil of

[1:01:56] lemon eucalyptus is recognized and recommended by the US EPA for protection

[1:02:02] and they look at two different things efficacy and longevity for that impact.

[1:02:06] So there's opportunities for people to do whatever makes them feel comfortable.

[1:02:11] You know there's but that is the most critical thing. Obviously you want to

[1:02:14] avoid being outdoors at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active

[1:02:18] especially mosquitoes in this area. You would want to um if you are out outdoors

[1:02:22] during that time, wear light colored clothing that covers your arms and legs.

[1:02:27] It's hard to do that when it's 95 degrees in the middle of July, but that

[1:02:30] does help uh protect you against mosquito exposure. Fixing screens that

[1:02:36] might be ripped on your door, like not leaving an open door, a jar like from

[1:02:40] especially from things like the garage during the summer because mosquitoes can

[1:02:44] harbor inside the garage and make it into the house. I mean, there's a reason

[1:02:48] why the Cullex mosquito, the West Nile virus mosquito is called the household

[1:02:52] mosquito. It does like to be around where people are. So, the more that you

[1:02:56] can keep it outdoors and keep yourself indoors, the best you can possibly do.

[1:03:00] Things like um if you're sitting outdoors, put a fan on you. Um a box fan

[1:03:04] works really well. Mosquitoes have a hard time flying in higher wind speeds.

[1:03:09] You know, certainly you want to be able to, you know, be able to enjoy your

[1:03:13] outdoors and that's one of the reasons why nuisance mosquito control is so

[1:03:16] important. It has an economic impact. You know, people began to really enjoy

[1:03:20] dining alresco in the area. Uh we want to make sure that that's able to

[1:03:24] continue. But the more that you can take your own personal protections to protect

[1:03:28] against mosquitoborn diseases, the safer everyone is going to be. And I I would

[1:03:33] say just the containers around the house, the you know the wheelbarrow, the

[1:03:38] the tire off the rim, the kitty pool, the canoe, the rowboat, just simply turn

[1:03:43] it over. That is going to really move the needle on on, you know, the mosquito

[1:03:48] production. And obvious, you know, an unopened swimming pool is not a good

[1:03:52] thing to do that, you know, that type of that type of structure. Any man-made

[1:03:56] structure like that, cloud gutters. Did I notice on one of your slides rain

[1:04:01] barrels? >> Correct.

[1:04:02] » Is that an issue? >> Yeah, if they're, you know, they're

[1:04:06] right now it's not because it's getting cycled through, but in July and August.

[1:04:10] Yeah. >> Yeah.

[1:04:12] Yeah. >> Well, and I I have a rain barrel that

[1:04:15] never seems to have the grip that that's the first thing that rips on it. That's

[1:04:19] the first thing that ends up having a gap between the lid and the cover. I

[1:04:22] love using my rain barrel, but I also treat my rain barrel.

[1:04:30] So, I hope this was educational and

[1:04:34] informative and you probably learn more about this process and thought you would

[1:04:38] know and we're going to make sure that u all these questions and concerns are get

[1:04:42] some followup but if you have more um I you know we have a Milton app that you

[1:04:47] can download that is a good way to forward any questions or concerns and

[1:04:52] then um Clark also has resources for the experts. So I If people have individual

[1:04:58] questions or location based questions, certainly I think our experts can help.

[1:05:02] Um, take a look at this beautiful map. Some cookies. Thank you so much for

[1:05:07] coming.

Board Room C2 MDFP2 5 6 2026 7 06 17 PM

Transcript