Brookhaven aldermen are hoping a mosquito company hired Tuesday night can rid the city of its pest problem.

Vector Disease Control International won the annual contract for mosquito control with its bid of $166,345. The other two bids came in at $217,721 and $186,104.

“I am certainly looking forward to the city having a professional approach to the mosquito problem we have,” said Ward 6 Alderman David Phillips. “I think it will be much more effective and save the city money. I think it’s a win-win.”

Kris New, regional manager of Vector International, addressed the board with plans of what they can offer to help control the mosquito problem.

“I live in Greenville, Mississippi, and if we can kill them up there in the Delta, I’m certain we can here,” New said.

The company started in 1992 in Arkansas and Mississippi. They have contracts in Greenville, Jackson, several communities in Hinds County and also Rankin County.

Vector Disease Control International does fully-integrated mosquito control programs throughout the United States.

New said they’ll set traps to identify which kind of mosquitos are in Brookhaven. With over 60 species in Mississippi, by trapping them, it will help determine how to eliminate them best, he said.

Vector also offers aerial mosquito control.

“We have our own airplane. Two located in this region,” New said. “If mosquito numbers start to get up higher than what we could control with our spray trucks and larvicide, we can then turn to aerial control. We use the same product that we do with our trucks but you can get much better coverage by air. The aerial coverage is included in the price.”

Vector is expected to start spraying for mosquitos immediately.

Business district

The board also discussed an expansion of the business district, which they approved.

“In the central business district, you can have apartments upstairs,” said building inspector David Fern. “In the commercial two district, you can have no apartments. That change will alleviate any zoning issues that there was with the Old Herndon Building renovation.”

Clean up

Patricia Watkins of Della Green Missionary Baptist Church asked the board for help cleaning up the area surrounding Charlie Lane and Zetus Road, where the church is located.

“We are in the process of making that area a better place,” said Watkins. “We want people as they pass by on the interstate to look over and notice that Brookhaven is a very nice place. We’re working on doing our part to make sure that happens.”

Watkins is requesting that the area be cleared of rubbish and brush, that the grass is mowed at least twice a month and ditches cleaned are out monthly. She also asked that street lights be added and the road widened.

“The current issues with these issues is that it could cause accidents on Charlie Lane,” Watkins said. “It needs immediate attention. We encourage our elected officials to observe this area and offer aid in rectifying this situation. Our goal is to beautify and make this area a better place. We know that Brookhaven is a beautiful place and we want to do our part, we’re just asking for some help from the city.”

Other business

• Approved a final payment of $17,743 to Dickerson & Bowen for the Brookway Boulevard paving project.

• Hired Jannarious Jenkins as an equipment operator in the cemetery department.

• Accepted the lowest bid for purchase of a backhoe from Stribling Equipment for $78,000.

The next board meeting will be July 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the city boardroom of the Lincoln County Government Complex on First Street.