Suffolk County getting serious on ticks

Although the Suffolk County Legislature’s Tick Control Advisory Committee learned at its first meeting in July that it might have only one or two session to help develop a plan to stem the tide of a growing number of tick-borne illnesses, it now appears the group will be around another year.

The county’s public works, transportation and energy committee approved a resolution September 29 extending the committee until Suffolk’s 2016 annual vector control plan is adopted next fall. The amendment now requires support from the full Legislature. It passed in the committee unanimously.

“It was only meant to make suggestions early on,” said Deputy Presiding Officer Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk), who represents the Island and who co-sponsored the bill creating the committee. “But now the committee is expanding somewhat to have a little bit more of an ongoing role while a plan is being implemented.”

Extending the committee’s life for a year “was an obvious act, but it was a very good one. A constructive one,” said Supervisor Jim Dougherty who represents the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association on the committee.

During the tick committee’s meeting September 30 at the County Center in Riverside, the 12-member panel chaired by Dr. Jorge Benach suggested the county’s proposed 2015 spending plan should include a budget for four new employees who would work exclusively on monitoring the tick population and the illnesses they carry.

Members said the budget should give the Suffolk County Department of Health Services enough money to hire a biologist, epidemiologist and two lab technicians. The scope of their work would include researchers going into the field to collect tick specimens and helping to determine the number of ticks in Suffolk County. It would not include any methods for controlling ticks.

“It takes a lot of time to do tick surveillance, but to me, it is a first step,” said Dominick Ninivaggi, the director of the county’s division of vector control who also serves on the committee. “This is a big enough problem where the county should consider putting someone on staff to deal with ticks full-time.”

Mr. Schneiderman said he would meet with county officials to come up with a cost estimate for the new positions. Although members would like to see the positions included in the 2015 budget — which has already been drafted by County Executive Steve Bellone — Mr. Schneiderman said a last-minute amendment would be a challenge.

Mr. Ninivaggi said vector control has submitted its annual recommendations for the county for 2015; however, the report doesn’t offer a comprehensive plan for combating tick-borne illnesses. Instead, vector control’s recommendations for approaching tick control are based using existing resources, he said.

Suggestions include continuing to work with the county’s tick committee and reaching out to more experts in the field of tick-borne illnesses, he said.

“The part on ticks is short because we are limited in our resources, but it is a start,” Mr. Ninivaggi said. “Hopefully, this time next year we will have a little more meat to it.”