Can’t believe it’s January already and a new decade has begun.  Looking back at the last quarter, we wrapped up our season in early October with an end to official control operations.  Since then we’ve been busy with the invoices, correspondence, cleaning, inventories/orders, equipment and vehicle repairs, and preparations for the 2010 season.  The 2009 Annual Report has also been completed and will be presented to the Board of Commissioners as well as to the Mid-Michigan Technical Advisory Committee in March, 2010.  It’s available for viewing at our website www.baycounty-mi.gov/MosquitoControl. 

We gladly took part in the MMCA’s 7F Training Session in December, giving several presentations to the attendees.  Hopefully, there will be continued interest in having these recertification seminars in the future.

The 2010 chemical order was compiled and bid specifications were sent out to vendors in early December in conjunction with Midland County Mosquito Control and Tuscola County Mosquito Abatement.  Chemical bids will be opened in Midland in January and vendors will be notified.

We continue our community-outreach efforts, which include presentations at local elementary schools and planned updates and changes to the mosquito control web page.  Database and map updates continue to take place.

The New Year is always a good time for reflection and for contemplation of future events.  If you define success relative to our primary goal of protecting residents from mosquito-borne disease, then 2009 was a successful year for us all.  There were no human cases of West Nile virus reported from Michigan.  Be aware, though; while the number of human cases has tracked downward since 2002, the disease is not likely to disappear from the State anytime soon.  WNV-positive birds and mosquitoes were seen in Michigan this year and we could be one warm summer away from another epidemic.

 In furtherance of our mission to provide information about mosquitoes and mosquito control, the MMCA held a mosquito control training session in December.  Over 30 pest management professionals attended the training and earned the 4 credits necessary to recertify in category 7F, mosquito control.  If you missed that training, we hope to repeat the session next fall.  Remember also that MDA recertification credits will be available for attendance at the MMCA’s annual conference in Traverse City February 3 and 4.  We hope to see you there.

 Back here in Midland County, Joyce and Charles are continuing integration of Arc GIS information into our control operations.  Parcel boundary information recently developed by our County GIS department will make it easier for field technicians to keep County residents informed about their activities. 

As is typical for this time of year staff are busy on winter projects which include: repair and preventative maintenance of application equipment and vehicles; fabrication of new ULV spray equipment control boxes for truck cabs; body work on damaged vehicles; development of new customized spray route maps; installation of new automatic vehicle location (AVL) system; improvements to moped/quad trailer; and purchase and outfitting two new half ton vehicles for our fleet.

Our 2009 annual report has been completed and can be reviewed or printed from our website at www.scmac.org for those who are interested. 

School presentations by our education department continue to be very popular. This school year our Education Coordinator has already scheduled over 170 classroom presentations at 41 schools. In an effort to minimize H1N1 flu transmission via display items brought into class we recently purchased a UV sanitizing cabinet that we can use daily on items taken into the classroom.

We have already secured permits to conduct our aerial larviciding program for spring mosquitoes on state game areas (Shiawassee River State Game Area & Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area). It also appears that we have met the criteria this year for the federal refuge (Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge) permit process. For once, these permits have been approved well in advance to our aerial program.

In the next couple months we will begin the process of hiring seasonal staff for the upcoming season, and we will also be implementing a new dress code for seasonal employees. Other projects will include revising and updating our yearly Program Plan; and sending out letters to citizens on our No Spray list and Medical Certification list.

As a sign of the times the County is also exploring the idea of Furlough Days for next year’s budget. We will be following this issue closely as it winds its way through the political process.

This winter has been a busy season for us. We are in the process of hiring a new permanent Administrative Assistant. The spray routes are currently being revamped which will allow us to more effectively treat the citizens of the county. Our employee manual has been redone. The insecticide bid opening will be in a couple of weeks. We will also be looking for bids to have our employee parking lot lighted and the agency lot repaired and resurfaced, as well as purchasing three new trucks.

Recently we also ordered new hand held radios for all of our technicians that are digital and have GPS tracking. This new system adds a level of safety for our employees when they are out of their vehicles.

It is hard to believe that in a short time the next mosquito control season will be starting. It seems that the past season just ended. This year we are excited to announce we will be adding a long drive program and a medical certification program to better serve our community.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the upcoming MMCA Conference.

Happy New Year!