Politics & Government
Emergency Meeting On Bed Bugs at McCarthy Senior Housing
A bed bug infestation has spread to more than 50 units at the C.J. McCarthy Apartments, a senior housing complex run by Melrose Housing Authority.
The Melrose Housing Authority (MHA) Board of Commissioners has called an emergency special meeting for Monday night at 7:30 p.m. to handle a bed bug problem at the C.J. McCarthy Apartments that began more than three weeks ago.
Although an exterminator may be able to begin work as early as Tuesday to start eradicating bed bugs, the MHA needs a waiver to bypass bidding rules, according to John Grecko, an attorney representing the housing authority.
Grecko said the MHA senior housing apartments at the McCarthy building on Main Street, which also contains the offices of the MHA, has been infested since the beginning of August, when a resident first reported a bed bug problem. There are 51 infested apartments, he said.
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MHA Executive Director Ann St. Pierre was first informed by a resident a few days before she held a meeting with her maintenance team, according to Grecko.
"She called me Aug. 4," Grecko said.
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Grecko has worked with many local housing authorities, helping them deal with problems like the bed bugs. He said he was aware of the housing authority in Marlborough using an extermination company, Pure Heat, to kill the pests.
Pure Heat, the company which MHA is seeking to award a contract for the extermination, does not use chemical sprays but kills bed bugs and eggs by raising the temperature of the room to up to 140 degrees.
Grecko said the MHA has been acting with expediency in mind, but the state bureaucracy has been an issue for bidding required by the state.
"The bureaucracy has been unbelievable, and meanwhile people are getting bit," Grecko said.