Collier County voters have lots of amendments, jobs and propositions to decide on this election season. Most of these topics receive considerable press coverage, however one has failed to see headlines. Seats for the Mosquito Board in Collier County are on the ballot for Collier residents this election.
Many people may not realize what exactly a Mosquito Board does. The Collier County Mosquito Board was founded in 1950, and has become more and more expansive over the years. Today, their website states that they serve over 400 miles of territory across Collier County. The elections that are held, decide each of the 5 members on the board. The areas they serve in Collier County can be seen in this map on their website. Not every part of Collier County is a part of the Mosquito District as seen on the map, but most of the more populated cities are covered in the district. The candidates for the board are apolitical, meaning that they don’t represent any party while they are running for office. Their terms for the board are 4 years long, like the President’s term is.
According to the Collier Mosquito Control District they “provide valuable service to the community through suppression of both disease carrying and nuisance mosquito populations”. They use planes to distribute what they call “aerial treatments” to reduce the mosquito population among the mosquito prone areas of Collier County.
Collier County is not a unique county in having a Mosquito Control Board. More populated counties in Florida such as Broward, Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas all have mosquito boards. Furthermore, nearby counties Lee and Charlotte both have mosquito boards as well.
This year two candidates are on the ballot in regards to the Mosquito Control Board in Collier County. The two candidates for this year’s election are Russell Burland and Lou Tinel.
Russell Burland is the incumbent for the seat at the Mosquito Control Board in Collier County. He has lived in Collier County for over a half-century and attended the University of South Florida. Before becoming a part of the Mosquito Board, he worked as a sales manager for the Hilton in Naples and the Vice President of the Greater Chamber of Commerce.
As an incumbent, Russell Burland has been on the board for the last four years. As a member of the Collier County Mosquito Board, he accomplished many things for the Mosquito Board. With the help of Ron DeSantis, he helped to expand the district for the Collier County Mosquito Board. Additionally, along with the rest of the board, he helped to reduce taxes on the district while keeping service the way it is. He also achieved goals for the Mosquito Board while not going over the allotted budget.
He plans to give away mosquitofish which can help reduce the population of mosquitoes in Collier County. Additionally, he wants to expand the fleet of the Collier County Mosquito Board fleet to include more drones and planes.
Lou Tinel is the challenging candidate for the seat on the Collier County Mosquito Board. Lou Tinel previously worked at the United Nations in the 1970s. After that, he was a builder for 40 years.
Lou Tinel is opposed to building a new facility for Mosquito Control because he believes it will needlessly spend taxpayer money that could be spent elsewhere. He is very focused on controlling the population of mosquitoes while also preventing the environmental damage done by toxic chemicals. He wants to spread awareness about the harms that mosquito repellent have in them. Additionally, he wants to support “holistic” solutions for mosquito control, instead of solutions that could be toxic.
Election day is November 5th when one of the candidates will take their place on the Board of Mosquito Control in Collier County.
