Hamilton’s public health unit apologized for how it’s recently characterized pest control complaints and says it will be deploying a dedicated bylaw officer to mitigate concerns going forward.
The city’s medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, took responsibility for comments that came from her department that minimized the importance of pest enforcement outlined in a CBC news article explaining a pause in service due to the pandemic.
“I want to apologize as well on behalf of the city of Hamilton, as well as Hamilton Public Health Services to those in the community who felt that our level of service for addressing pest control complaints was not up to their expectations,” Richardson said.
“The COVID pandemic provided unprecedented challenges for our team’s ability to continue to provide all of the critical public health services and programs that Hamiltonians continue to rely on and trust.”
The concession comes after the local media report highlighted how the city has not responded to pest complaints since before the pandemic due to those resources being redeployed elsewhere.
In the story, a public health manager suggested there was “little evidence” that certain pests carry pathological diseases.
During a press conference Thursday, Matthew Lawson admitted fault in “minimizing the negative impact” pest infestations have on community members.
“My comments were a lapse in judgment, and they don’t in any way reflect my continued commitment to the people of Hamilton,” Lawson said.
Richardson said “emergency response” amid the pandemic resulted in the city going “deep into the pausing of programs.”
Those programs went under review last year with some being revived.
Mayor Andrea Horwath called the situation “shocking and unacceptable” in a social media post Thursday.
“City staff, I expect an apology to the public and immediate measures to address this issue and restart bylaw enforcement,” Horwath demanded.
“Council and I will work together to make sure this situation is addressed.”
Since pausing pest control services in 2020, the city has logged about 300 pest complaints from residents — some 186 over the past year.
The new officer starts next Tuesday and will be focusing exclusively on current pest control cases along with new submissions that come in.
More discussions are expected between public health staff and council in the next two weeks, according to Richardson.
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