Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – April 18, 2024 – A Jonesboro City Council committee is interested in better ways to battle Northeast Arkansas’ worst nightmare: mosquitoes.

At its meeting Tuesday night, April 16, Jim Stark and Ted Green of Vector Disease Control (VDC) were questioned by the council’s Public Safety Committee about how to combat the insects.

Currently, Vector does aerial spraying over the Jonesboro city limits and extending up to one mile outside the city limits, mostly near rice fields. A question was put forth how much it would cost to expand that reach to five miles and if the increased coverage would improve the effectiveness of the city’s efforts.

Council member Mitch Johnson, chairman of the committee, said today the council has talked about expanding the spraying in the past. He also said they’re thinking about approaching Craighead County officials about sharing some of the costs for mosquito control.

Stark said winds, which usually blow in from the west, affect aerial spraying. He said VDC would determine how much expanding its aerial spraying would cost around early June.

Vector’s seven-year contract with the city ends this year. The city of Jonesboro pays VDC $460,000 a year for its services.

Vector is in the process of hiring drivers for its spraying trucks and this week and next are hanging traps for mosquitoes.

Green said one of the best ways to combat mosquitoes is to educate the public about draining standing water on their property. He said just a small amount of standing water is all mosquitoes need to breed.

Stark said agriculture, specifically rice fields, is the major source of mosquito breeding areas. He said the south and southwest areas of Jonesboro are the major areas affected by the fields.

Vector’s trucks begin spraying around mid-June, and its aerial spraying begins just before the Fourth of July and continues weekly, weather permitting, for eight weeks, Stark said.

He said to that, “Our job is to keep them down to a tolerable level.”