Centre Wellington plans to lobby for a better solution to the area's termite problem.
Councillors voted at Monday's committee of the whole meeting to write to MP Michael Chong in the hopes he'll lobby a federal agency regulating pesticides to push for a more effective termite treatment.
Right now, people in affected areas have to soak their properties in a termite barrier chemical, which costs thousands of dollars, Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj says.
The barrier often isn't effective and doesn't last for more than a couple of years, the previous councillors heard when the issue came up.
"They're causing a lot of hardship," Ross-Zuj said.
Termites cause the most damage in some of the older parts of Elora and Fergus, with Elora considered the worst affected by the problem.
Last summer when the township decided to put out an information brochure on termite control, chief building official Bob Foster said there were 813 properties in Elora and 389 in Fergus in recognized termite areas.
But a program now running in Guelph offers some hope, councillors heard. Tim Myles has been working out a trap and release system that's created "significant kill-offs," Foster told council in May.
"Our best plan is this trap and release program that goes after the nest," he said Monday.
Councillors decided to get involved by taking part in a monitoring program to determine local concentrations of the pests in the area, but Foster reported Monday the 350 baits set out in Elora and 150 in Fergus have turned up empty.
He doesn't know why – whether the baits are put in front of properties on public land or in the back yard shouldn't matter if the area is infested, he said in response to council questions.
Meanwhile, Foster said that there's now an arrangement for termite-contaminated waste to go to a landfill site in Guelph. People can get a certificate and permit allowing them to take the material to the landfill site, where they have to pay the Guelph tipping fee.
"At least that will reduce the trucking fees" to places further afield. Foster said he's still working on getting local county landfill sites to take the material.
