Several small towns have come together to join a coalition to bring Vector Disease Control International to spray for mosquitoes using an airplane in preparation of Fourth of July.
A total of 11 regions are involved including Ransom Canyon, Wolfforth, Crosbyton, Idalou, King County, Smyer, Anton, Morton, Whiteface, Post and Ralls.
Ransom Canyon City Manager, Elena Quintanilla, said she organized the consortium and said it took two years to form the group.
“I’ve worked hard to market this program getting cities on board and we are fortunate that the coalition continues to grow as we start seeing the need for aerial mosquito spray,” Quintanilla said.
Quintanilla said the reason they must form a consortium is due to Vector having a 10,000 acre minimum requirement for using an airplane. She also said it is more cost effective.
“Our licensor has changed for our small towns to be able to procure these type of groups so unfortunately that’s made it very costly for them to actually run these kinds of operations,” Quintanilla said.
Darrell Newsom, city manager for Wolfforth, agreed the option is more effective.
“It’s really not a different chemical than what we’re spraying now on the ground, it’s just being applied aerially so we can do it much more quickly,” Newsom said.
Quintanilla said to fly, it will cost the towns 92 cents per acre, and the spray being used is local.
“Work with this company because they’re very reputable, they work a lot with the state of Texas in terms of managing hurricanes, mosqutio control during that time frame and so we were fortunate enough to get together with the city of Plainview and they have an inter-local agreement with all the small towns,” Quintanilla said.