A member of Windsor City Council would like to see a bylaw to force property owners to maintain their property free of rodents.
Ward Two Councillor Fabio Costante has asked administration for a report on a possible city wide bylaw to combat rodent problems.
The City of Windsor has been operating a free rat abatement program for several years, allowing home owners to contact the city to come to eliminate any problems.
But Costante says sometimes a neighbouring property is the source of the rats, and if the owner refuses to allow the city on to the property to deal with the issue, there's nothing that can be done by the city or the person who called about the problem.
He would like bylaw officers to have the power to write tickets to force the property owner to address the problem.
Costante feels the city rate abatement program works but there is a bit of a loophole.
"Those property owners, whether their landlords or home owners, that don't want to engage in the city program but do have these burrows, what can neighbouring property owners do to ensure the neighbourhood is clear and clean or rats?," says Costante. "Hopefully, this can address that loophole."
He says under the current program, the city can only encourage an owner to let them onto their property to eliminate any rat issues.
"This just gives us more teeth as home owners and folks who want to keep the neighbourhood clean of rats, to try to enforce it on other property owners that aren't upholding their community obligations to keep not only their backyard free from rats, but the neighbourhood free from rats," he says.
A report on a potential bylaw is expected to come back at a future council meeting.
So far this year, calls for service to the rat abatement program are down just slightly compared to last year, according to Anne-Marie Albidone, Manager of Environmental Services for the City of Windsor.