Hartford's city council recently passed a new ordinance to deal with bed bugs in the city. WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports.
The city says it doesn't have an especially high level of complaints about bed bugs. That said, officials wanted some new tools to address the problem when it occurs.
Raul Pino is the city's acting health director. He says the first goal of the new ordinance is to make sure that the people who treat homes for bed bugs actually know what they're doing.
"The ordinance basically is going to require that a certified, state certified, exterminator is used by building managers and owners. And not just anyone out of the street using any chemical products that they make take from home stores or places like that."
Second, the new ordinance allows the city to collect any furniture or property that may be discarded if there are bed bugs. Finally, if the city pays to fix the problem at a property, it will have the ability to try and recoup the cost of that work from a building's owner.
"You know, someone may need $4,000, $5,000 -- it's an important building, it's large enough, we're concerned it may spread through other areas. And so we will come, pay for the services, and lien the property until we get reimbursed."
The city council approved the ordinance last week.
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.
Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.