Status quo in the Town of Essex.
On Monday evening, council decided to keep its phragmites management program in house rather than upload it to the County of Essex.
Council heard from administration that the town has spent over a decade building and managing a robust program to target noxious weeds and invasive plant species in roadside ditches.
Methods used include: routine roadside mowing, spraying of noxious weeds through contracted services, targeting spraying of groups or stands of phragmites through contracted services, and mapping areas of phragmites by using GPS equipment and GIS capabilities to track progress.
Councillor Rodney Hammond was in favour of the town keeping control.
"I have noticed the vast improvements in the phragmites in our area," Hammond said. "The fact that I'm seeing cattails in their place now is a positive, I'm sure. Keep up the good work, and I'm all in favor of keeping it local because we're doing a bang up job."
Councillor Jason Matyi had praise for the operations and drainage team.
"I do believe that our staff is doing a great job, and has definitely improved over the last couple of year," Matyi said.
Norm Nussio, the town's manager of operations and drainage, was asked which method worked best so that residents could take into consideration for use on their private land.
"The things that work best for us is definitely the spraying, and then the consistency," Nussio said. "It's not one of those things you just do one year and forget the next year. It's a consistency every year hitting those spots with the mowing and the spraying I think keeps up on that and helps maintain, or hopefully eliminate that plant in those areas. So, the mowing and spraying is probably the best."
Essex County Council will meet Wednesday to discuss a county-led effort of establishling a phragmites control program.